Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

“these theorists live in a utopian world that is not the world where I teach. They are not eval-
uated on how well their students do on standardized tests.” Or as Melisa Baker, a student
teacher said, “I just don’t do the Dewey.”
Whatever your initial reservations about educational theory may be, I think you will gradu-
ally discover that the “why” of things, the reasons we do them, plays a significant role in shap-
ing the things we decide to do as teachers. By the end of our discussion, Melisa conceded that
maybe the reason she did not “do the Dewey” was because she is a “closet Freire.”
At this point I would like to briefly introduce other educational thinkers and research-
ers who have influenced my work as a teacher. During the course of your teacher educa-
tion program and your career as a teacher, I hope you get to read some of the things they
have written.
In 1932, during the midst of the Great Depression in the United States, George Counts (1969,
pp. 3–4) of Teachers College at Columbia University issued a challenge to teachers and all of
America: “Dare the School Build a New Social Order?” Counts believed that schools were “in
the grip of conservative forces,” but that they could play a transformative role and help create
a more just society. The key was whether educators would “pay the costs of leadership: to ac-
cept responsibility, to suffer calumny, to surrender security, to risk both reputation and fu-
ture” in order to build the new social order. Maxine Greene (1993), another social activist, calls
on teachers to unleash the “creative imagination” of their students. As a product of the turbu-
lent “sixties,” I was eager to join Counts and Greene in this struggle.
But how do you change an institution that appears as monolithic and imposing as THE
SCHOOL? Michael Apple (1979) offered a clue in his work exposing the “hidden curriculum.”
Apple built on Dewey’s idea that students learn from the full range of their experiences in
school, but he gave it his own twist. He argued that children did not simply learn the skills
and information presented by teachers, but that they actually absorbed the values, prac-
tices, and injustices of society from the way schools and classrooms were organized and
people were treated.
Whereas Apple helped me understand the nature of schools, people such as Howard
Gardner (1993), Christine Sleeter (1996), Martin Haberman (1995), and Herbert Kohl (1994)
gave me a better idea of what to do in the classroom. Gardner presented a theory of
“mulitple intelligences” that called on teachers to recognize and develop the full range of hu-
man potential. Sleeter offered an approach to multiculturalism that honored diversity and
promoted social justice. Haberman systematically analyzed successful teaching. Kohl
showed how to navigate the system and survive by utilizing “creative maladjustment.”
The problem still remained of connecting to students. Here, Nel Noddings (1992), Lisa
Delpit (1995), and Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994) were the greatest help. Noddings champi-
oned a feminist pedagogy based on caring and relationships. Delpit called on teachers to re-
spect “other people’s children” instead of blaming them for problems in the classroom.
Ladson-Billings argued for a “culturally relevant pedagogy” that linked instruction with the
“context” of students’ lives.
At any rate, these are the people and ideas that were helpful to me. As you become a
teacher, you have to decide which ones are useful to you. Maybe you will turn out to be a
“closet Freire” as well.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Teachers who want to learn more about the ideas of John Dewey should readExperience

and Education(New York: Collier/Macmillian, 1927/1954) andDemocracy and Education

(New York: Macmillian, 1916). Highly recommended books by Paulo Friere arePedagogy

12 CHAPTER 1