Teaching and Critical Pedagogy
SCHOOL
AND SOCIETY
ES 395
____________________________
"Skim, Scan, and Copy" Materials: Chapter 10
Another important chapter and, by far, one of the more dense. Your job is to try to sift through all of the court cases, making sure to clearly identify how/why these cases affect teaching and education. The fact that courts are involved with schooling should tell you something right from the start. Why are courts involved? What role have the courts -- federal, local, state -- played in fashioning schools as we know them? What's been the history behind the lawmaking? Has it been fair? To all? What has motivated courts to get involved with schools?
These are just some of the critical questions to take a look at while reading Spring and while skimming/scanning/copying the following material:
- Consider an issue such as locker searches . Are they legal?
- Make overheads of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Also, consider putting the Establishment Clause on an overhead as well. Put on overheads to illustrate exactly how/why these amendments are crucial to this chapter. Connect the law and issues related to locker searches , strip searches , school newspapers , textbooks , etc.
- Wear some t-shirts to class the night that you teach. On your t-shirts, have something that might get a student in trouble. Maybe it's a rock concert shirt ; maybe it has a saying or slogan on it. Regardless, use the t-shirt to introduce the issue of freedom of expression and the law. Maybe you could find examples of shirts , cases , etc., and connect your t-shirts to real-life cases.
- Find out more on the 'Bong Hits for Jesus' case currently before the Supreme Court. Why is this case important ? What is being said ?
- What about teachers in the classroom? Start with the Scopes Monkey Trial. How does this case connect to teaching? Do follow up on the laws/court cases surrounding the Evolution debate.
- What about religion and schools? Anything that teachers can or can't talk about?
- Find out more about the debate surrounding intelligent design , biology textbooks , and school boards , and the law . What are some of the things going on?
- Explore some of the key issues in the chapter, such as drug testing , school uniforms , and locker searches . What rights do students have? What rights should they have? Why is clothing such as big deal in schools?
- What about school prayer?
- What about student newspapers? Should they be censored? What is meant by 'prior review'? Shouldn't student newspapers serve as venues for free speech and discussion of critical issues ?
- Check out some of the issues regarding teacher's rights . What is some of the history behind the struggle for rights ? How does school affect teachers? What can you say in your class? What can't you say? What if you are challenged about your teaching ? What is self-censorship ? What about suspensions? Your safety ? How does this issue tie into courts, content, and teaching?
- What about the right to read ?
- Get ahold of some current information of how the law, schools , students, teachers' rights are being affected in the country.
- Revisit the issue of banning books . Maybe, if time, talk to librarians, teachers, etc., to get a sense of how they feel about the issue. Share your results.