Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ddeubel]

I think almost every teacher is - in some way. What way are you subversive?

I've really been informed/effected by Postman and Weingarten's "Teaching as a Subversive Activity". Download and read on my blog post, if interested. They touch on how a teacher, alone in their classroom can "work with the clay of the human spirit" and upend curriculum and get other goals/things accomplished.

How do you think you are "subversive"?

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[calicoe]

"It is our classroom after all, despite all other pretensions. Good teachers know how to be subversive. Not in any rebellious or revolutionary sense but in a quiet way, a subtle way."

hahahaha - funny you should say this. I just gave out some books to my girls in conversation class and told them to not say anything to "management." Technically, I'm not supposed to lend books until the offical opening of the library, but I knew they could use a few good books. I listened to their interests, and watched what they picked out yesterday, and then hand picked some good books for each of them, that would combine with their current interests and push them a little further along: The Story of Harriet Tubman, Jane Eyre, and Pippi Longstocking, lol.

Ok, so it 's not a big thing, but I'm always a little subversive every day with my students. All of my middle school students in Korea now want to go to Africa or Haiti to do good things. Thanks for reminding me that I'm a teacher. Loved your blog.

[The Gipkik]

During my year teaching in Vietnam, I met a surprising number of American teachers who felt a deep need to come to Vietnam. They needed to teach. They had a missionary calling.

I'll say first and foremost that I'm nobody's savior. Least of all mine. I don't try and instill certain "good" ideas into my students about what is fashionable and about what is cool, about what one culture or another values from a relativistic perspective. Yet, subversion, as an incremental and almost imperceptible process is a fundamental part of good teaching. It's almost impossible for good teachers to NOT influence their students. If I reflect for a moment, I would say that I consistently strive to get my students to understand the ramifications and possibilities of accountability. That every action has a consequent reaction. I suppose it is the habit of critical thinking that I unconsciously try and instill in the kids during the many moments between activities, the down time, when the very behavior that I show admits to a certain way of looking at the world. Another way of course, is a particularly egalitarian manner of NOT having favorites in class. The magic is in the tiny details, the ones that pass by at such a breakneck speed that the kids have no clue as to why their point of view, their outlook has started changing.

[Rory_Calhoun27]

why do I feel a need to watch DEAD POET'S SOCIETY now?

[ddeubel]

[Thiuda]