Reflection Five: Taking Control of Learning

Critical pedagogy allows a student to comprehend the concepts at hand further and with a deeper understanding. A deeper understanding of scholastic topics can come from many forms. Everyone learns and comprehends topics in certain ways and when it comes down to it analogies and visual enhancements of education further a student understands in ways beyond the norm. 

In class we performed a play called “Snakes and Ladders” (Goldstein, 69) in Goldstein’s work, “Snakes and Ladders: A Performed Ethnography” depicting ways students and teachers intend to educate their peers by way of a week-long event. The “performed ethnography”, our presentation of the play is a way of learning itself. Reading alone the play is one way of learning but when you have others read it to you is another. When you combine the acting that we did with the reading of the play you are able to hear and see the play. This alone generates a deeper understanding of the reading. Those who are auditory learners find it easier to have different people play the roles of the characters and the visual learners will see the roles being performed. The “performed ethnography” then becomes a reflection of the students performing the roles and the students interpretation of what is happening. There are many ways the play enhanced the understanding of what is happening within the play itself. An active participation in the lesson forces the students to look deeper into the meaning of context at hand. The message in the play is another form of critical pedagogy. When reading the play by yourself you may not fully grasp all the concepts. When hearing and seeing the play a student may see aspects disregarded in their own interpretation. Needless to say we all benefit from “performed ethnography” in different ways.

            I personally believe that new innovative ways of incorporating a lesson into everyday life is the best way for a teacher or professor to teach students. A new way of learning every now and then will only keep the students interested and continually wanting to learn. When they themselves can perform and partake in the presentation of the lesson they then can relate the topic to their own life. This reflection onto everyday life allows for understanding of the topic in ways that are unique and deeper than the intended lesson. Critical pedagogy is a critical outlook on how students are taught and asks us to learn in different ways. And the “performed ethnography” is only one way of introducing new ways into the student’s life.

            Students take what they need to from education, just enough to get by. It is not until a teacher or professor is willing to attempt to teach a deeper understanding do the students apply real life situations to school work. Learning does not have to be boring; it can be anything as long as the student takes the lesson and strives for more. This need for more information is places the responsibility of learning upon the students to not only comprehend the lesson but to take control of their learning and apply it. Critical pedagogy can be found in any unconventional way of learning. It includes and surpasses the “performed ethnography”.