Blog Post #4

In the chapter titled Preparing Teachers For Crisis: A Sample Lesson written by Kumashiro, it is evident that there is a certain type of student that teachers deem “good” and all other students who do not conform to these standards get labeled a trouble maker or a problem child. The author explained that at the school they taught at “learning meant completing certain assignments and repeating on exams the correct definition or themes or analyses in a strong essay format, and the closer a student got to saying the right things in the right ways, the higher that students grade would be” (21). What this school did not realize is that there are so many different ways that students can learn besides simply memorizing and reciting information, which is the common sense definition of learning. This privileges the students who may respond well to routine and have an easy time memorizing information, but does a disservice to students such as M, who was described in the article as having a hard time conforming to this concept of what it means to be a “good” student, often felt bad about herself and her abilities because in her teacher’s eyes she was not the ideal type of student. Educators need to realize that learning is not a “one size fits all” equation, and that many students will not be able to thrive unless given the opportunity to thrive in different styles of exploration and learning. By focusing more on the process of education rather than the end product, we teach students the value of really understanding and thinking critically about what is being taught to them rather than simply memorizing content that they will soon forget

Kumashiro (2010). Against Common Sense, Chapter 2 (pp. 19 – 33) – “Preparing Teachers for Crisis: What It Means to Be a Student”