Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School Classroom

In the article “Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School Classroom” authors Jeff Duncan-Andrade and Ernest Morrell talk about the importance of critical pedagogy in the class room and the use of it in an actual classroom. The authors first off start talking about the importance of dialog and empowering students in the classroom. In my opinion, the most successful teachers empower students, promote open dialog, and motivate students to think in innovative ways. I want to do all those things in my future classroom, so the fact that the article gives real life examples of that makes it easy to see how to do it all. It’s important to make students of all cultures and races feel at home in our classrooms. Being half Hispanic I faced a lot of problems in the classroom. There were always snide words about my dad not really being my dad (because my complexion is as white as it gets.) Growing up those words hurt and the teachers did nothing to help me; I was told to ignore it and kids will be kids. I liked that the article said that we shouldn’t be oppressing other cultures but embracing them. For me, that is especially important. I want the kids in my class to have tastes of diverse cultures different from their own. I want to build a classroom of tolerance and acceptance, so when my students go out into the real world they can be kind, understanding individuals.

Another point I loved was the article talked about the practical uses of a Secondary English class. I remember in high school people asking why Shakespeare or poetry was relevant and my teachers just used state tests as an excuse. If we teach our students using this critical pedagogy they will be able to be productive members of society. They’ll be able to use their skills in further education, future employment, and “civic participation” (Duncan-Andrade, Morrell 2). I think it’s important to prepare our students for the real world, not just state tests.