The Student Center
*technology - various forms
*language - new definitions, new forms
*multitasking - the 7 intelligences
*visuals - video editing, photography
*border crossings - Skype, social networks
*mutiple languages and dialects
To be direct, it is the intention of this facilitator to have the audience understand that the expectation I have is to teach students how to read and write. And, it must be understood that to read and write, for sustained engagement, means that the content and purpose must be relevant to the participants.
In Freirian terms, it means that the margins must come to the center.
That is the purpose of the stories. It is designed to engage students and contribute to the development of their critical thinking skills.
The written narratives are meant to capture their attention and widen the scope of their vision as they examine the world around them and identify any voices that exist on the margins.
The narratives work as examples; they work as guides, and as engaging pieces that are used to bring students and their multiples abilities to the center.
It is the turn of another century, the 21st, and we are caught in another revolution - a revolution of technology. At the end of the 19th century there was a long list of inventions (the phone, the phonograph, the machine gun, the skyscraper, the radio waves, automobile combustion engine, etc.) that stunned citizens and changed the world.
Today, we are caught in a whirlwind of technology. Unlike the industrial revolution, there is not much room to breathe because the change keeps happening on a similar foundation - the computer. Exponentially, from the computer we have multiple extensions and expansions. And each new function is faster than the last. This revolution spits technology out faster than we can fully comprehend. But, the younger generation adapts faster and faster and their multitasking abilities prepare them for what comes.
Consequently, literacy is also being shaped and reshaped daily.
The rapid creation of technology that gives "language" new meanings also gives us the ability to manipulate the structure that we have falsely come to understand as static. Language is forever evolving and this revolution is "in your face" with its fluidity.
I attended a neurology conference called "Saving the Brain." At this conference the neurosurgeons made it clear that the advancement of technology has given them unbelievable possibilities, and that the only way to deal with this explosion of capabilities is to work as a team; each expert dependent on the other.
Education calls for this awareness, this very same attitude, and this approach.
I believe that educators of the 21st century and the future will have to work alongside linguists, computer analysts and programers, cultural and social theorists, political scientists, various artists, and more in order to make the citizen-student globally ready to cross multiple borders simultaneously.
Critical conscious pedagogy rises to the top under these circumstances.
Why narratives?
The narrative tradition is as old as Lucy. Historically, it has always been the vehicle for the exchange of information. This tradition of telling stories has been passed on from generation to generation.
Why prose and poetry?
Competition for attention to reading and writing permeates our society. Students have many more choices to engage their senses: various social networks, youtube, blogs and more. Language of old, long paragraphs and combersome sentence structure, can no longer demand the kind of commitment they did before. The classroom has lost it's place as the center of "learning." Students do not have to adhere to these contructs in order to communicate, nor do they necessarilty have to bend to the authority embedded in the traditional tearcher-student relationship.
Therefore, as the society evolves and the future changes, language must also follow as it always has; it must serve its users.
A combination of prose and poetry (a form of prose poetry) has a place on the platform of academic performance today.
Why women?
More than 50% of the globe's population are women. They are also a perpetually oppressed group that needs recognition. According to the ...... report women are often deprived of an education, women are often the victims of many forms of violence.
Consequently, women circumstances, along with other marginalized groups, require immediate and continuous attention. In order to hear these voices, various avenues must be used to bring them to the center.
How is it political?
Teaching for social justice.
To acknowledge students in the center of a pedagogical approach is to take a stand for change.
