Many of the solutions to breaking down boundaries in the classroom require that the teacher takes risks.
In her session, Susan was addressing the barriers that are created for students in the classroom. She described some of the "radical" approaches she uses to reduce barriers.
But the conversation really got started when Susan talked about the challenges of trying to use "different" approaches in the classroom. Some of them included (apologies, Susan if I didn't quite capture the issues):
- Student panic
- Teacher panic because of lack of control
- Students getting upset and admin don?t like it
- Students think they?re paying for you to teach and don't like being challenged to participate in developing curriculum
- Radical methods create internal dissonance
- Changing people?s world view is threatening
- Teaching anit-racism exposes you to charges of racism, e.g.
What's your response?