Having a Voice

The articles this week really challenged me. I was not sure what to think about them at first. After reviewing them and thinking about what they both mean together, I realized both teachers wanted their students to have a voice. They wanted their students to think critically. The students got deep and meaningful information and did not just get the “tourist view” of everything they learned. 

Raquel Cook had a world literature class and got to take her students on a view of many different places they may not have known about. I thought it was interesting that her students considered her like a social studies teacher at first. Everything they read had historical meaning. What the students did not realize though, was that she was teaching them how to have a voice. They were using their language to communicate ideas. They finally understood that “history and culture are the exchange of ideas; language is history is culture is power” (Cook 20).
I loved what the teacher did with her students. This was a classroom that really got the students engaged and let them learn in a way that got them excited. Imagine an English class where you are studying China. Wouldn’t it be exciting to compile a classroom Tao? I think activities like this will get everyone involved in a new and different way than they are expecting. Cook really reached her students in this class in many different ways throughout each place they studied. She pushed for curiosity and inclusion in her classroom. Tolerance was not allowed. The curiosity of the students gave them a voice. They could raise questions and give opinions. Cook wanted her students to embrace others and everything they learned. They should communicate and use their ideas. She influenced their futures by letting them see that they can do anything they want, anywhere in the world!  Students even wanted to become doctors so they can travel to Africa and administer vaccinations. I think that reaching the students in this way is amazing! I hope I can reach even one student in the way that this teacher reached her classroom.

            Karen Wink had an especially difficult time trying to teach her students how to have a voice. With military students, being told every day in boot camp that they are subordinates, they are not used to being able to speak their minds and give their opinions.  I have to admit, if I was a student like them, I would probably have asked the same questions they did. “Why are we doing this assignment when we have no freedom of speech here?” Although those students may not have seen the importance of it, they were learning to have their voice, even if they couldn’t use it in the military. As a student, it is important to have a voice. As a person of society, it is imperative to have your voice in the world. I loved that Wink shared her personal journal with her thoughts. It is important to model to the students so they can understand. After she shared her journal she saw more students taking risks in their own writing. I personally need to take more risks in my writing and I hope that I can model to my future students how to be good writers and thinkers. I liked when Wink said, “I remind myself to feel safe as I work with students to question silent assumptions and to allow a transformation of learning where they oscillate between comfort and discomfort” (Wink 89). This made me think of Dr. Shannon, when she told us at the beginning of the semester that she likes to make us a little uncomfortable. It will get us to think and challenge us to have our own voice within the classroom. I hope to be a teacher who teaches students to have their own voice, who challenges them to use it, and share their curiosity and ideas.