Reading Review Paper #1
Directions: Please respond to all parts of the assignment listed below.
Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning. The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the student’s thinking. The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them. Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible. (Friere, 1970/2000, p. 77)
Freire posits that “praxis: [is] reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it” (1970/2000, p. 51). This, combined with the quote provided above, leads us to the two simple (yet complicated) tasks below.
TASK ONE:
Talk with me. Communicate with me regarding your thinking about Friere’s text (Chapters 1-2). What has this text allowed for you to consider that you haven’t considered before and/or reconsider in ways that you might never have reconsidered without this text? Point to specific quotes from the text that resonated with you and explain how they: (1) prompted you to reflect, and (2) how you plan to act upon the world in order to transform it as a result of these quotes/this text.
TASK TWO:
Re-read pages 65-69 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed and:
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Write a one-page summary of Friere’s specific pedagogy. This should be your own words and not rely on direct quotes from the text or from other sources.