Week 7: Sharing Opinions

On Thursday, the topic came up about expressing your personal views and opinions in the classroom. I think that as a teacher it is our job to keep our opinions to ourselves so we don’t influence our students in the wrong way. To me, “wrong” means in opposition to each student’s family values. Inevitably, some of our opinions will come out in the way we teach and present certain topics, but I think that is ok and normal. Students will come up against those types of conversations and interactions in their lives, but I do not think it’s ok for a teacher to say, “Here is what I think about this issue…” That is not part of our job description.

Putting this in terms of Paolo Friere and his idea of critical pedagogy: it is still not the teacher’s job to express their opinions. From my understanding, the teacher’s (or leader’s) job is to guide the discussion and point out different aspects of the issue to focus on. Nowhere in the description of critical pedagogy does it say for the leader to tell the group their own thoughts on the issue being explored. The purpose is for the group to look at a problem and find the reasons for why that problem exists in their community. This is done through many methods which all focus on the group evaluating their thoughts, opinions, previous experiences, etc. in relationship to the issue. Applying this kind of exploration and learning to the classroom is a great idea, but it doesn’t give the teacher any more freedom to express their opinions.

If I were to apply a critical pedagogy process in my classroom, it would most likely be in response to a problem I see occurring or one the students bring to my attention. In that case, it would be necessary for me to let the students know the school rules in relation to the issue, but I would let them come to an acceptable solution on their own, with my guidance and questioning. It could be argued that asking guiding questions could be a display of opinions, but I would do my best to guide the students in a direction that complied with school rules, not my own opinions on the issue. I have been talking more about an elementary school setting, but even middle and high school teachers should not be sharing their opinions with their classes. True, middle and high school students may be at a more developmentally appropriate place to understand that what a teacher says is their own opinion, but that does not change the fact that a teacher has the power in the classroom. For that reason (and that reason alone) teachers should not be sharing their personal opinions in the classroom.

Even though students may understand what opinion means, that will not stop them from going home and telling their parents exactly what you said to them, claiming it as fact! Teachers have an enormous amount of power and control over how and what students learn. Curriculum topics aside, there also exists the secondary curriculum of morals, values, and generally how to be a functioning member of society. This too is arguable, but I believe it is true. Teachers have a sway in the types of human beings their students grow up to be. Something a 1st grade teacher says to a student may be called upon when making a decision about the best course of action during an argument when they reach 5th grade, for example. Everything we say and do in the classroom is absorbed by the students. This lets out enough of our opinions on its own; why would we want to add to it by directly saying what we think about an issue?

In my 1st grade class we have Fun Friday. This consists of board games in the morning rather than the normal Jump Start work. The rest of the day is usually filled with our own art project, some more free time, longer recesses, and other non-academic endeavors. This is also coupled with Computers and Drama in ½ groups and an hour in Art class. The two things we do on Fridays that I consider to be productive are a spelling test and maybe time to finish any unfinished work that has piled up throughout the week. Without even saying ANYTHING to the students, I feel we are conveying a message that Fridays are just for fun and we don’t ever have to do any work on Fridays. Every week I can’t help thinking to myself what these kids are going to think when the time comes for Fridays to be like any other day. I can imagine the shock, disbelief, and resistance they will feel. I know this is very cliché, but as teachers, our actions really do speak louder than our words.