Democratic Classroom

After reading about a democratic classroom it reminded me of the ways corporations get their companies to produce.  It has been a long known fact that if you have a mechanical task for employees to accomplish it will relate directly to the monitory amount made. For example: Take a group of people and pay them based on performance. The people with the least production gets the lowest pay, the people with the average production get middle pay, and the people with the greatest production get the highest pay.   The result would be predictable; people worked hard and tried to get the highest pay possible according to their abilities. On the other hand, if you give a cognitive task to the same group and offer the same monetary values, as before, the top level of pay is not reached.  So why is this? 

According to Karl Marx’s, “Workers were most satisfied when they were able to make key decisions about their job. Under capitalism, workers were alienated from their labor because the employer tells the worker what to do and how to do it. Thus, the harder the worker works, the more alienated he becomes, even if he makes lots of money.”  (Media to teach and learn with, recommended by professors everywhere, 2010.)  The worker has no connection to the work he/she is performing; it is just a meaningless task and when cognitive task are presented further alienate results and performance declines even greater.   It is the purpose and the exploration of the task that allows the worker to be part of something greater than oneself.  All learning must have a purpose to it.

Why am I talking about the work force and the performance that occurs?  It is this type of capitalistic, authoritative scenario where students are forced into learning without meaning that is occurring in the classrooms of today.  Just a Campbell says “The present curriculum is too often divorced from students’ actual lives and experiences.” (Campbell, 2010)  It does not have a purpose to the student’s lives or the world to which they live in.  They get up in the morning and go to school, just like their parents get up in the morning and go to work.  While they are at school, they fill that same alienation that most of the parents fill when they go to work.  Then when they go home, they try to recover from the day and find some activity that brings meaning to their lives.  

To bring meaning to a student’s life a purpose for learning must be set-up in a safe and inviting classroom.  This classroom should promote the student to have a purpose in life and move to the point of self actualization.  Self actualization “is a person's need to do that which he or she feels they are meant to do.” (Maslow's Hierarchy - Online Leadership Training)  When talking democratic classroom each student must have a purpose of being there and what to be there, and if other levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy are not meet then the learning process is not really occurring.   Take for instance this scenario.  If Billy, is being bullied and is hungry before he comes to school.  Billy is not going to care about what is being taught.  He is more concerned with where and when his meal will be coming (Biological) and why cannot fit into the group (Safety, Loved, and Belonging).  So, how can we expect a student to perform in the classroom if they are not feed, feeling safe, being respected, loved, and have high self esteem.

What things can be done to promote a democratic classroom?  The first thing that I do at the being of the year is go over a few of my rules in the classroom and then have the students come up with their own rules for the classroom.  My rules include thing such as classroom preparation, homework, attendance, disruptive behavior and consequences, plagiarism or cheating with consequence, and respectful behavior. The rules are then gone over and discussed with the students allowing them to have a say in the matter.  The rules are then finalized when both the students and I agree on the rules.    I remind them that the rules must address each of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, too which I explain them to class.   By doing this simple act, I give some of the control over to the class and allow them to be a self governing community.

Then I have the students write me a simple essay, create a PowerPoint, or make a video on “What they want to get out of the class?”  I do express to them that getting a passing grade is not acceptable.  I ask them to think about what in Science intrigues them the most and to elaborate on it as much as possible.  I believe that this allows the students to use whatever creative means to get their point across and I also allows me the ability to help shape my curriculum around the needs and wants of the students. For in a democratic classroom it is the student’s classroom and we are the facilitator.

Another thing that I think helps promote a democratic classroom is allowing the students to work in cooperative learning groups when doing projects.  For example, my ninth graders had to make a machine that had the ability to make the letter x and erase that letter by using only the momentum of a small wooden ball.   I separated the groups into different abilities but I allowed the students to separate out the jobs of designing and building the machine.  Not only does this allow them to communicate with each other, just like a real world job, but it also allows them to critically think and problem solve. 

I also have students work on individual projects.  I take one week every semester and tell the students to pick something that they use in their everyday life and try to make it better.  For example, I had a student that had a baby that year and she made a pacifier that landed upright every time it was dropped.  She stated that it had taken her all of 24 hours to come up with the idea and create a solution. The student was excited about what she had made and her attitude towards the class change.  From that point on she now was asking questions and engaging conversations within the class. It is amazing how smart students are and what they can come up with when a real life problem is set in front of them.

I believe that in a democratic classroom the teacher must give up the authority figure and start to facilitate the classroom in a secure and accepting manner that realizes the potential in every student.  I also believe that the classroom is a place that must consideration the opinions of all students and compromise on best solutions to problems that may arise.  Just like a democratic society all ideas and beliefs must be taken in consideration when decisions are made.

Campbell, D. E.  (2010). Choosing democracy: A practical guide to multicultural education. Boston,
 MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Media to teach and learn with, recommended by professors everywhere.. Web. 7 Jul 2011. http://mindgatemedia.com/lesson/great-performance-is-motivated-by-purpose-not-profit/

MindTools.com, . "MindTool.com." Using Maslow’s Hierarchy Building a happier, more satisfied team. © Mind Tools Ltd, 2011. Web. 7 Jul 2011. <http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_92.htm>.

American Culture

The nature of culture is defined by the way that we live.  It is guided by what we have learned though childhood and into adulthood.  Through it, we learn a broad series of assumptions about people and the world, and then we perceive new incidents and new people through the lens of these assumptions (Hansen, 1979).  These assumptions can include ideas, norms, and language(s) that are passed for one generation to another.  The idea behind this is that we take what they have learned and apply it to their everyday lives, making judgments on how we perceive the world around us. Culture can both unite and oppress others that come into that culture.  For in a culture we find security, order, and acceptance. So, when someone is not following the norms of that culture they are oppressed into following the norms or otherwise ostracized.  

                A dominant culture is in existence in the United States due to the fact that students are made to conform to the rules of the social structures set up by Early European culture.  It is this Angio-Saxton view that was established in the beginnings of country that forced the people of this society to conform to the ideas that make this country a capitalistic money making machine.  This type of thinking was ok for the rich and affluent at that time, because education was only intended for the rich.  Just like the old Europe.  This hierarchy of social and economic society status is still in existence today. Take the result from the American Physiological Association comparing low SES school to those that are non low SES school.  The results show substantial evidence that students are in fact failing due in part to economic oppression. See the following web-site for a summary on low SES schools and success rates (http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-education.aspx).

                The county that I teach in is a low SES school in Central West Virginia.  According to the census borough, the racial make-up of the county is primary white 98% with less than 2% of other ethnicity.  The mean income of a family in the county is 17,301 dollars with 22.6% of the population living below the poverty level (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54/54041.html). The language that is spoken is primary English and to my knowledge there are no students in the county that are non English speaking.  The primary source of income for some citizens is associated to the timber industry or the oil and gas industry, but most citizens are employed in the service industry. 

                The culture with the school is similar to that in the community. Since the student model the behavior of their parents.  For those students that are on the middle class level education is value by both the students and parents.  These are often classified as being the good students in the school and are expect to go onto higher education. The second group of students, and the largest group, is considered to be the good students but struggle in school.  These students are over all well behaved students but the value of education is not quit realized by the student.  These are the students that will work the drilling rigs or be welder on the pipelines, which are very respectable jobs in themselves.  The last group of student that exists in the school often rebels against authority and education.  Most of these students come from a poor home life setting if any, have done time in the juvenile system, and often have experience some type of abuse.  These students are often bounces from school to school.

                The majority of teacher in the school is from the area and understands the culture of the area.  For their parents either worked in the oil and gas fields or in the glass factories that dominated the area.  So, as far as differences that exist between the two there is little if none. 

                I believe that what Campbell is saying in regard to economic status is totally relevant to the tiers that exist in the schools and what is in this nation.   There is a great divide between those that are well off and those that are struggling to make a dime and these divisions become most evident when teachers are trying to educate the youth of the nation.  Just like president Obama (2007) said  “ What’s most overwhelming about urban poverty is that it’s so difficult to escape— it’s isolat-ing and it’s everywhere. If you are an African- American child unlucky enough to be born into one of these neighborhoods, you are most likely to start life hungry or malnourished. You are less likely to start with a father in your household, and if he is there, there’s a fifty- fifty chance that he never finished high school and the same chance he doesn’t have a job. Your school isn’t likely to have the right books or the best teachers. You’re more likely to encounter gang-activities than after- school activities. And if you can’t find a job because the most successful businessman in your neighborhood is a drug dealer, you’re more likely to join that gang your-self. Opportunity is scarce, role models are few, and there is little contact with the normalcy of life outside those streets.” (Campbell 2010).  

Campbell, D. E.  (2010). Choosing democracy: A practical guide to multicultural education. Boston,

"Education and Socioeconomic Status Facts Sheet." American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association, 2011. Web. 29 Jun 2011. <http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-education.aspx>.

State and County Quick Facts. , 2011. Web. 29 Jun 2011. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54/54041.html>.