Wow, Christy, I am really sorry to read that you felt like that on Saturday. I can't speak for anyone else in the class, but my interpretation of what people were saying was not an attack at you personally. In fact, I felt that there was a real respect for how you were so adamant to include critical lessons within the restraints that you have (your situation seems to be the most difficult in terms of having space to do what we are talking about every week).
I think there is a sense that idealistically all these ideas that we trawl through every week are great in situations such as those who work in the university setting, but for people like me and you, it’s not so easy. We live in a system where standardized testing is not only a reality, it’s the most important part of the students’ education (in terms of progressing and/or succeeding beyond schools). And that is true in the UK as much as it is here.
What struck me the most when I read your blog, is that you felt uncomfortable about how you were positioned in the class on Saturday. It is far easier for some people in the class to advocate that critical pedagogies are easy to implement in their classrooms, without fully understanding the different realities that we are all faced with every day. I also feel that when I talk about the obstacles that I am faced with I come off sounding defeatist and negative, and like I am not fully invested in moving toward achieving our goal. Like you and I have discussed, it isn’t easy to be vocal in class at times as we leave ourselves open to attack and we can often lose face when others’ misinterpret what we are saying. However, it is still incredibly brave to do so, especially in a situation where there are lots of louder voices ready to react and where silence has its own rewards.
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