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.”
Positive: Your thesis is very strongly presented and you proved your point very clearly.
Negative: Make sure that you can back up your proposal of how the brain works from a different way of teaching with evidence from Friere.
Leah:You have a strong thesis. Changing the classroom will benefit students because having a different way of learning will make a bigger impact on the student. Teachers have taught the same way for hundreds of years, and if you think about it, the classrooms have always looked the same. If teachers should teach students in a different way, the first step is to change the physical atmosphere of the classroom.
Amanda: I think your concept could be better if you talked about the process of the procedure in how to achieving it. The two quotes you have there matches your thesis.
Riley: I like the way you express the need for change in teaching styles. Many teachers feel as though they must teach a certain way because other teachers teach that way. You did a good job showing how teacher need to change their styles and why they should change it. The idea of presenting information with a new class in a different way is very interesting.
Gabby: Good job presenting your ideas in your thesis thoroughly and with back up in quotes. I like what you said about having students create a different atmosphere in the classroom.
Proposal Peer Review:
Your thesis is very solid and brings a great comparison to Freire’s ideas as well as your own ideas on how to change the learning of a specific class. I think if you go into more depth such as talking about how long the class should be, and how it should be really shaped. For instance, You should get assigned reading before class and then have the class to talk about the subject with students and interact with both the teacher and students. It will help get your point across better.