“1. What do urban youth, in the context of a ninth-grade conceptual physics course, articulate
as their goals regarding participation in physics, participation in relationships,
and personal and community transformation?
2. In what ways are these goals “critical,” in that they challenge negative perceptions
of low-income, minority youth or reflect students’ desires to tackle power structures
in classrooms, schools, and the world?”
-Powerful Learners and Critical Agents: The Goals of Five Urban Caribbean Youth in a Conceptual Physics Classroom by Sreyashi Jhumki Basu

Students are constantly questioning why they must learn the information that teachers provide for them. They want to understand why it is necessary to know this information and how this information will benefit them in life. I do not believe that these answers should be given to them, but I do believe that we should ask our students to think critically as to how this information can become essential for them outside of the classroom. Continue reading Breaking It Down! →

“While religious communities may understand belonging as communion or taking part in a covenant, teachers in public schools need only recognize the spiritual significance of feeling invited, included, and embraced in a group dedicated to one another’s learning…Experiences like these provide a foundation for identity and relationship development because they allow the adolescent to say “I know who I am because I know where I belong.” Adolescents at school

The reason why I select this passage is, for my point of view, creating a safe, free and inclusive community is a significant and first start for students exploring themselves and it paves the way for the rest of supporting. Continue reading what should we do for students to explore “faith” →

Powerful Learners and Critical Agents: The Goals of Five Urban Caribbean Youth in a Conceptual Physics Classroom

Sreyashi Jhumki Basu

Department of Teaching and Learning, Steinhardt School of Education,

New York University

”

In my interview protocols, I asked students several questions about their goals, the aspect of agency in which I was most interested for this paper. For example,

• What was your favorite part of this science unit, and why?
• What do you want to learn in your physics classroom? Are you learning what you want to? What is missing?
• What are some strong beliefs you hold in your life? What are some of the things you care about the most? What are your most important goals right now?
• Does this physics unit contribute to anything you want to achieve for yourself or in the world? If so, could you tell me more about how you think about this? “

Reply :

These questions are powerful. The thoughts that these questions provoke allow an individual to grow as a student. The questions get students to reflect on what they have learned, how they feel about what they have learned, and what they actually want to learn. The answers can help educators create a more productive learning environment for their students. The ideas of students are at times neglected in schools. Out dated, “in the box,” ways of teaching have prevented growth within our school systems. Taking our student’s words into consideration when developing school curriculum, and  environments, may prove to be beneficial to students, educators, and administrators.

The essential goal for me as an educator is for my students to learn while also expressing the hunger to learn. If my students don’t express or understand the value of knowledge; then I am failing them as an educator. People have to want to learn in order to learn anything. Finding out what my students want to learn should be my goal in the beginning of the school year; then maybe I can teach my students something. Often we are passive in our students learning because of the pressure on our shoulders to have them succeed in standardized testing. We need to stand up and make a change and teach our students how to learn, express what they learn, and act on upon what they learn, to build, and progress as people.

“There is a popular misconception, especially among teachers, educational policy makers, and fellow (mainstream middle-class) parents that parents who are not a constant presence at the school—chaperoning field trips, attending PTA meetings, baking brownies for the bake sale—simply do not care about their children’s education.”

— Reconstructing Home and School, Fabienne Doucet, 2011

I strongly suspected the author’s idea at the first sight that the frequent absence of parents at school does not mean that parents do not care about their children’s education. I mean, if the parents do care about their children’s education, how is it possible that they rarely show up at school, communicate with the teacher, or participate in parental activities. We always say there are no busy parents but indifferent parents. However, professor Doucet showed me a totally new idea that one possible reason for the absence of parents at school is due to a purposeful resistance to Americanization and a protection for home terrain — the absence does not mean that they are indifferent to their children’s education at all.
It is clearly stated that building up a bridge between school and home may not been regarded as helpful by both teachers and parents. Despite what the initial reason is that parents resist to have a frequent link with the school, it’s better that teachers could bare in mind that they have to respect parents’ decision whether they want to largely participate in their children’s education or not. It is more important for teacher to know that there is no way they can get to the conclusion that a certain parent does not care about their children’s education just due to his or her absence at school. I have witnessed what bad result this idea could cause to this certain student who was regarded to have “indifferent parents”: the teacher unconsciously ignored the student and tended to not care about his homework, his academic performance, his small inappropriate behavior… I assume it is because that once the teacher got the conclusion that even the student’s parents do not care about him, there’s no need for her, as a teacher, to care about him. I admit that this teacher does not stand for all teachers, but still it will be helpful to not have this conclusion at the beginning.