Month: September 2019

Sami K, Lauren B, and Jeff B.

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Topic: 4- Course-based learning. Freire’s essay advocates for a model of learning that is 100% based on student initiative, student choice, and student action. Yet some classes at WCU seem to project a passivity onto students as a model of success. Using one WCU course as a model, analyze the model of learning that this course presently relies upon in order to propose concrete, implementable alternative practices that could achieve Freire’s model of learning at WCU

Team: Makayla Medycki, Maura Kelly, Gwen Jordan

Focus of essay: FYE class- 1 thing that is bad about it and 3 ways to fix it using Freire’s banking concept of learning

Problem: Students are not learning in FYE.

• Ways to fix it
  • Have older students teach the class because they relate more to us and understand us better
    • Friere thinks that you must teach others in order to teach yourself the information
  • Take a survey of what other students wish they were taught and offered their first year in college and ask current first year students what they are already aware of and have been taught so that they know what we still need. 
    • Consult students regularly about what is being taught in the course 
      • What’s being helpful and what is not helpful

Working Thesis: Freire’s “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Learning” relates to West Chester University because of the lack of education that occurs in the First Year Experience class.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MMACs5lYLNet020x1jz_ZPl6c1jSvpJEZWiC4ZGYyf0/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oPvawx24CU35l1qYcPpUW0BAp965oNqI6gVIZTi2TAg/edit?usp=sharing

Topic 2:

-Thesis: In a higher education setting a professor’s role is to educate and to prepare the student for academic success. In regards to Freire, students should become independent from the professor. To succeed at West Chester, they need to experience, learn, and set goals for themselves, not being helped or taught by the professor.

Quote:

-“Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor”

-“Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat.”

I understand that the school is systematically set up in a way that restrains students from learning. However, it is not clear as to how your proposal makes this change in any way. What is the solution that your group has decided will fix this, and build off of this idea.

I like the idea of combining classrooms and dorms, as it will give the students a sense of comfort at their college experience. If classrooms were clashed with the residential living halls it would give students an opportunity to feel welcome in their learning space. I think the quote you chose works perfectly for this ideology, so how can you apply it to the Freire reading to make the connection. It works great just have to be more specific with the details of how this would work better rather than the set up college currently offers.

Paulo Freire expounds the flaw in the current education system, and offers different perspectives on how to mediate the learning-teacher problem. After, examining “The Banking Concept of Education” we saw problems in our own education at West Chester University. Freire proposes a key concept to learning in relation to the world to their education. He presents this concept with the “Problem-Posing” education. This involves students to discuss topics relating to their world in order to understand and learn. West Chester University’s space affects how students learn and socialize. The University can be improved by changing classroom space, changing the space of campus, and changing the generational space between students and professors. 

West Chester University does not utilize concepts presented by Paulo Freire with respect to the space presented by the university. The classrooms found in the university are all desks facing towards the front of the room. This does not allow for students to socialize with their classmates. This also causes students to not properly learn, because according to Paulo Freire, students learn by discussion. The University is also split between two campuses, north and south, which separates upperclassman and lowerclassman.  This only allows students to connect with people who are in their grade and not with people older or younger than them. This could be crucial to students’ understanding of other cultures and other walks of life. This also does not allow lowerclassman and upperclassman to discuss classes, which limits their learning. Lastly, the university has a large generational gap between professors and students. This affects how students socialize with their professors, making it hard for them to relate to each other, making it hard for them to learn from each other.

In problem-posing education, one learns from discussing a topic relating to their world to another student. A way to achieve students discussing with one another is to rearrange the typical desk arrangements in classrooms. Typically, desks are set up in rows facing the teacher, limiting the ability to be able to discuss easily with one another and giving full control to the teacher. A way to mediate the classroom setup is to turn the desks in a circle. ( See Figure 1.) Therefore, the teacher is only the mediator while the students have more control and can discuss with one another more freely. Freire poses this idea by saying, “It follows logically from the banking notion of consciousness that the educator’s role is to regulate the way the world “enters into” the students.” (page 3) In a deeper meaning, the teacher’s role in a students education is to “feed” the students ideas to gain a fuller understanding of the topic. Re-shaping the desks in classrooms allows students to feel more comfortable in a classroom setting, allowing them to take in more of their world. This would be the most beneficial set up in a classroom to ensure students get a more rounded education.  

The campus space of West Chester University can be drastically improved. This can be done by breaking the barrier between north and south campus. To do this the university would need to buy the land between north and south campus. On this land, the university would move all housing on this strip of land. This would allow all on-campus living students to socialize and interact with each other, no matter what year the student is. On north campus to replace where the dorms used to be the university would move the health and science building there instead of on south campus. This would allow students that attend class in the health and science center to feel more included in the university. Lastly, the university would keep the sports fields where they are located now (see figure 2). This will allow student-athletes to be able to be within a short walking distance between classes and practice. These ideas come from Freire posing the idea “Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, problem-posing education involves a constant unveiling of reality”(page 4). This can be interpreted as education is meant to create creativity. This can be done when everyone comes together as one and is not separated by age or class. 

Connecting to a student’s world is vital in their learning process. In order to mediate the generational space between students and professors, the university should have a mandatory class to update the out of date professors on changes in the student’s world. This would contain a panel of juniors and seniors in the educational department discussing topics of the world as a graduation requirement. The panel would meet every year, to ensure the professor would gain the knowledge of changes a student’s world is going through. This class would meet every Monday during the summer, to ensure the professors are up to date for the following school year.  In this class, the professor and students would discuss how to effectively teach the students generation in order to make sure classes are designed to fit everyone’s “world”. This class would be designed in the same fashion as the other proposed classes in order for it to be more of a discussion than a lecture (see figure 3). Freire proposes this idea by saying, “Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it.” Transforming the world allows the generational space between students and professors to disappear. Allowing students to feel more of an equal with their professors. This idea is necessary in order to fill students’ social and academic needs. 

By changing the space of the classrooms, campus, and generational space at West Chester University allowing all students to be more successful in completing their degree. Therefore, these changes to the university will benefit the students in order to fulfill their academic and social needs. Freire proposes the notion of problem-posing education as a way to benefit the student’s overall education. This allows the student to identify how they can use the information given in a set class later in life. This connection is important for the student, so they value their education more than someone who is taught using the banking concept of education. 

figure 1

figure 2

figure 3

New Proposal
Team Members Nick Gamba, Donny Lessing, Tj Fitzpatrick

Topic
2)Student power. It’s easy to see the role of teacher as oppressor in Freire’s analysis of education, and to recognize the ways in which teachers must change those oppressive behaviors. But Freire argues fairly directly that teachers can’t produce student learning or student freedom. On page 6, Freire says “people subjected to domination must fight for their emancipation,” suggesting that progress–where it occurs–is going to result from student power, not professors changing their actions. Use your understanding of Freire’s ideas to analyze the role of student power at WCU, identifying and proposing ways in which students can achieve their own emancipation.

Thesis

In “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education” by Paulo Freire, Freire points out the disconnect that we commonly see in todays learning systems between the teachers and the students. Education is a complex system that is in a general form when most students need a more hands on and helpful approach. We will be discussing how students will take their own education into their hands, by forms of organization and a sense of togetherness needed for change. Students should use the power they have to form an education system by the students for the students.
Quotes

“Education as the practice of freedom—as opposed to education as the practice of domination—denies that man is abstract, isolated, independent, and unattached to the world; it also denies that the world exists as a reality apart from people.”Page 4-5

“Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat.”Page 1

Bella and Noah

Constructive: The wording for your thesis is confusing and the solution is not conveyed effectively. In order to fix this, you can shorten your thesis and remove unnecessary details, making it straight to the point.

Substantial Feedback: Good topic selection and the quotes strongly support the problem, not the solution. Work on connecting Freire’s ideas to your solution, and cut quote out of thesis.

Bella: You should find some quotes that support your solution in order to make it applicable within Freire’s “banking system”.

Noah: Something to think about is how you’ll be able to connect the idea of communication with professors regardless of gender, race, or class with Freire’s work.

Topic Proposal = 1

Thesis/ Defense

West Chester University is divided between academic buildings and the dorms in which students live in. Freire wants students to recognize that with education, the divide between academic buildings and student’s home’s separates living and learning into two individual concepts that aren’t cohesively intertwined in the world. Due to this, teachers and students interact differently and absorb information in a variety of different ways. West Chester University can link these two concepts together by moving academic classrooms into residence halls. This can create a more unified bond between the students and the teacher by helping both recipients of the matter retain information for further use. In doing so, West Chester can also create more flexible seating in classrooms so that students feel more comfortable and relaxed in their environment, as they do in the homes of their dorms or houses. Lastly, the school should implement more online classes where students can learn in the privacy of their own home. This concept can help bridge the gap between school and home lifestyles. Online schooling can offer a more private and enhanced way of learning for students since they can communicate with their teacher, one on one, without worrying about the intimidation that face to face contact brings.

Quotes:

 “The teacher teaches, and the students are taught”

• Freire suggests in society that education has its constraints
• I can use this quote to help emphasize if academic classrooms are relocated into residential halls, then teachers and students will be able to build a new foundation of learning.

Why?

• Students will be in the convenience of their own homes and can sleep in
  • Students can come prepared to class and have no reason to be late or forget course materials
  • This relocation of academic classes in a residence building can provide the opportunity for students to find other students in their residential buildings to study with
  • Teachers learn from the students’ study habits in the residential halls and how they should prepare next lecture for the students and advise them otherwise

“The truth is, however, that the oppressed are not “marginals,” are not people living “outside” society. They have always been “inside”—inside the structure which made them “beings for others.” (page 2, 4^th paragraph)

• Teachers and students can evolve through developing a new grit in learning. (a new sense of passion and perseverance toward something and this something can be school work for a successful future)
• Students have always been structured to listen and comprehend what is being ask of by the teacher, reinstating the teacher teaches and the students are taught.
• This quote helps emphasize students are more than just beings that live in residential halls and attend classes in the academic buildings. West Chester university can redesign the school by creating classrooms more comfortable to attend by creating flexible seating so students feel more at ease and at home during their studies.
• Dorms are a quiet place where one can study, and the library offers the same purpose
• We are able to live outside society if we can eliminate the separation between academic buildings and residential halls
  • There is a sense of the unknown in the outside society because we are so structured to learn facts and not build from experiences
  • Discussion circles is an example of having flexibility with seating in classes – this helps build off of one anthers idea’s based on experiences and/or previous knowledge

***need help making ideas more flowing and clear***

Freire’s analysis of education argues that in order for students to be able to learn, they must take control of their own education without help from teachers. I believe the students at WCU have a lot of power over their education, but in different ways, can achieve their own emancipation.

One way is through FYE. If students stop showing up to FYE they cannot fail everyone. We won’t show up until there is an educational value to this class. Currently it is a waste of time and more educational for the professors who will continue to teach it in the future.

         Connection to Freire- Freire says Teachers aren’t teaching to the level that students need, but instead they teach to/for themselves (p1, par6)

Another way is by not showing up to certain Gen eds. As students we are forced to take general education classes that usually have no relation to their major.

         Connection to Freire- Students are being taught things that they are not involved in and don’t care about (list p 1 h. )

Kyle Owens 

Topic 2: student power

Thesis:

 Freire encourages students to use their power to overcome the systematic oppression in the classroom, and to reject previous outdated techniques.West Chester students can use this inspiration to lead endless amounts of movements on campus such as boycotting classes, withholding tuition payments, and even physically block off streets on campus. Freire wants students to recognize this power they hold. 

Quote 1: “The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interests of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed.” pg2

Quote 2:  “Based on a mechanistic, static, naturalistic, spatialized view of consciousness, it transforms students into receiving objects. It attempts to control thinking and action, leads women and men to adjust to the world, and inhibits their creative power.” pg3

Quote 3: “Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of women and men as conscious beings, and consciousness as consciousness intent upon the world.” pg4

Sam Livorno

WRT 120

24 September 2019

Adam Griffin and Bella Bedore and Noah Heslop Review

Adam:

Adam’s thesis has a great general topic, discussing the belief of how teachers are responsible for their students’ grades. However I felt that his problem and solution were not working together well. Although they are both good ideas on their own I feel that there needs to be a more clear connection between the problem and solution. His quotes support his idea and are strong arguments to support his thesis. In all, I feel he has his general topic of his project and with a little fine tuning,  has lots of potential.

Bella and Noah: 

Bella and Noah decided to create their own prompt and venture away from the other 5 prompts. They want to rewrite the FYE course in a Career Development course. The two feel that FYE is trying to change the way students think about their college career, which according to Friere, does not work. Their prompt is professional and focuses on a central point that they go into more in their thesis. In all botht the thesis and prompt are harmonious making the proposal strong.

Members: Meghan Kidd and Samantha Pawluczyk

Topic: 1

At West Chester University, the campus is divided into two major sections, academic and residential. This style of campus can be very effective as to how students and professors interact and learn from one another. If West Chester was redesigned, adding multipurpose buildings and mandating on campus living for both students and professors would make the overall experience more beneficial.

Quotes:

“The teacher teaches and the students are taught;”

“The teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply;”

Team: Sabrina Lindley

Topic #4

Freire advocates for learning practices that are based on student initiative and action. Students would benefit from reading the course information on their own and utilizing class time to apply what they learn to reality, collaborate with other students to learn different perspectives, and ask teachers for clarification. A psychology course can be changed to independent reading and then in class experiments and group activities to see how the brain works in action rather than from information in a textbook.

Quotes:

“This is the “banking” concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. They do, it is true, have the opportunity to become collectors or cataloguers of the things they store. But in the last analysis, it is the people themselves who are filed away through the lack of creativity, transformation, and knowledge in this (at best) misguided system.”

“Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible.”

Topic: 2 
Team: Myself 

Thesis: Freire’s idea in “The Banking Concept of Education” is that teachers do not produce students learning, but can occur when students take action in order to make their own learning success by their own. Most of the students at WCU have the power to control and make their own choices, the job as a student is to develop those choices in to society in order to have success in their own learning.

Quote 1: “ Education as the practice of freedom- as opposed of education as the practice of domination- denies that man is abstract, isolated independent and attaches to the world; but it also denies that the world exists as a reality apart from people” (Freire’s pg 4)

Quote 2: “The world- no longer  something to be described with deceptive words- becomes the object of that transforming action by men and women which results in their humanization.” ( Freire’s pg 6)

Topic: Topic 3

Team: Joshua Rogers

Thesis: According to Freire, when students learn by memorizing and repeating information, they do not actually learn anything. Freire believes that “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction”. At West Chester University, the vast diversity between the students and professors is key to providing a successful learning experience for everyone.

Quotes: “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.”(1)

“The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the students’ thinking. The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them.”(2)

Topic #1

Thesis: Changing the spacing between the dorms and classrooms would be a huge mistake. Grouping people in the dorms by major and making them attend classes in that same building would be limiting a person’s education/social growth. Gaining knowledge from the professor is very important, but as Freire states it’s also crucial to learn from one’s peers. I think changing the location of your learning space and interacting with new people can only be beneficial.

Quotes:

“The truth is, however, that the oppressed are not “marginals,” are not people living “outside” society. They have always been “inside”—inside the structure which made them “beings for others.” The solution is not to “integrate” them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become “beings for themselves.” (Freire 2)

“The distinction, however, is essential: the objects which surround me are simply accessible to my consciousness, not located within it. I am aware of them, but they are not inside me.” (Freire 2)

Topic 1: The Space of Education at WCU

Team: Emily Strassner

Thesis: There are various aspects of space at West Chester University that have an impact on the education of students. The dorms are separate from the academic quad, creating a line between work and relaxation. Not only is the campus impacted by space, but the classrooms are as well. The relationship between students and professors is determined not only by the space of the classroom, but also by the space between their beliefs and personalities. The space of the layout of campus as well as the space in the classroom are two examples of the impact of space on students’ education at WCU.

Quote 1: “The truth is, however, that the oppressed are not “marginals,” are not people living “outside” society. They have always been “inside”—inside the structure which made them “beings for others.” The solution is not to “integrate” them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become “beings for themselves.”” (Freire 2)

Quote 2: “The distinction, however, is essential: the objects which surround me are simply accessible to my consciousness, not located within it. I am aware of them, but they are not inside me.” (Freire 2)

Team Selection: Nick Nolan, Isabella DeSario, Abbey Johnson

Topic 2: Student Power

Thesis: Although it is generally thought of that it is a teacher’s responsibility to control a student’s learning, a students at WCU must take their own initiative in order to not waste this time of growth in their education.

Quotes:

“The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students” (Freire 1).

” Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible” (Freire 3).