This morning we went back to El Agustino for The Right To Play celebration with the same program that we were with last weekend. I was so happy to be able to go back and spend more time with the students. When we arrived, everyone had to take an oath to play and once everyone was sworn in the children began running around and playing all sorts of games. I spent most of my time facilitating ping-pong, but I also participated in musical chairs, jump rope, dancing and tag. It was clear that everyone had so much fun playing with all of the children and their parents to celebrate play. To add to a great morning, the sun even came out for a little while and we got to enjoy some warm sunshine. For the afternoon we traveled to Mira Flores where we had lunch. First of all, Mira Flores and El Agustino are polar opposites. El Agustino is one of the poorer districts and Mira Flores is wealthy and very touristy with lots of malls and cafes. We had really great seafood for lunch and then went to Manolo’s for fresh churros. After a long day of walking, we came home for dinner and headed to bed to catch up on some sleep. Our Sunday consisted of eating, shopping, coffee, shopping and eating. We started off in Barranco for lunch at a bio café and we did some walking. After lunch, we spent hours walking through different artisan markets buying all sorts of knickknacks. Oh and I can’t forget our stop at Blu for some homemade gelato! YUM. When I think of critical pedagogy I think of inquiry and questioning. Students need to be able to learn or experience something and think about it critically. They should not automatically believe everything that they are told or shown. In the Pedagogy of Freedom, Freire states, “the learners will be engaged in a continuous transformation through with they become authentic subjects of the construction and reconstruction of what is being taught, side by side with the teacher, who is equally subject to the same process.” He also mentions that, “teaching is not only of contents but also of “correct thinking” and that “he/she will never develop a truly critical perspective by indulging in mechanical memorization or rhythmic repetition of phrases and ideas.” This is how one can obtain a critical pedagogy as a teacher. Teachers need to show students how to challenge the material and not just accept it. As we have talked about many times, we know that learning needs to be more just memorization and repetition. Teachers must believe in their students and know that they are capable of so much. Teachers must know how to plant seeds of inquiry into their students. I see this practice happening a lot in my 1st grade classroom. The students come up with really inquisitive questions on their own and will go home to research it and bring back an answer for the class the following day. My teacher does a really nice job of expressing to the students that they are able to inquire about anything they set their mind to and that they have the ability to find out things for themselves. Another aspect of critical pedagogy includes fostering imagination, problem solving and curiosity in students as well as having them engage in critical dialogue. At Colegio Roosevelt, it is clear to see how the students challenge themselves and use their imagination to problem solve and explore. The students are given opportunities to create ideas and solutions to problems in surrounding communities. At the science fair and the market day, students used recycled materials to create toys, games, decoration and more. So much can happen when creativity is promoted in the classroom.
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