Cultivating the Genius of Black Children by Sullivan Debra Ren-Etta;

Author:Sullivan, Debra Ren-Etta;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Redleaf Press
Published: 2016-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

SHARING POWER AND CONTROL

For many teachers, the notion of sharing power and control with children in the classroom is either foreign or frightening. It’s not that all teachers are power hungry (although some really are). It’s just that our stereotypical idea of teaching does not usually include children having control. Sharing power and control with children does not mean creating a totally chaotic learning environment. That would be a pendulum swing to the other extreme—which is not sharing. But teachers have power and control over too many things, too much of the time. Teachers decide:

•who speaks, how long, and how often

•the pace of the day, what will be covered, and what will be cut

•what children can touch and use and how they are to touch and use it

•who they expect will perform well and who will not

•to whom children can talk and for how long

•what children should look at (“See the bird?”) rather than asking them what they see

•when children can sharpen a pencil or get a tissue

•how children should resolve their disagreements

•when children should be ready for the next step instead of asking if they are ready

The list goes on. Now, this doesn’t mean that teachers should never decide these things. It just means that teachers don’t have to always decide these things. Teachers have daily opportunities to share power and control in small, yet extremely meaningful ways with children. The question you may be asking right now is, “Why?” Why should children have some power and control? To me, the answer is simple: because it’s their education and they should have opportunities to take some responsibility for it. Black children want some ownership over their education; they want to participate. Teachers want students to have ownership, responsibility, and participation when it comes to learning. Yet we often want children to develop skills and abilities without our being intentional about how and when we give them the opportunities to do so.

Sharing power with children means stepping back and giving them the time and the space to do the things we want them to do, to not be afraid of just observing or listening. Once I was coaching a new teacher, and she put a sentence on the board for her class of four-year-olds to copy. While they were doing this, she and I were standing to the side having a quiet conversation. After about five minutes, the children slowly began talking, not loudly, but definitely talking.

TEACHER: Room D, I need you to quiet down and get back to work.

ME: I’m curious why you told them to stop talking.

TEACHER: I wanted them to focus on writing.

ME: How do you know they weren’t focused on writing?

TEACHER: I have no idea! I don’t even know what they were saying!

I pointed out to her that some of the children could have been engaging in self-talk, coaching themselves through the task. Others may have been coaching another classmate. Or perhaps the students had completed the task in less time than the teacher had planned and needed a more challenging task.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.