review 10.20.09
Victoria Neil
10.20.09
CP III
Essay- reviewing main points from the semester
Block covers a lot of ground in his book: Community: The Structure of Belonging. As I flip through the pages, I can think back to my own old habits of thinking, and I notice my notes and comments on the text slowly changing. At first I was skeptical, and then I began to realize how everything I see around me is evidence of what I am reading in Block’s book.
I was at first troubled and confused when I read that we need to focus on possibilities and not problem solving. How can we make any headway if we do not pinpoint what is wrong and aim to fix it? I then realized what a negative effect this can have, and how it is inconsistent with the belief that we should not “label”. The needed changes can begin through asking questions. When we ask transforming questions, the realization does not happen in the answer, but rather in the thought processes that people begin, as the blinders are slowly removed.
A large part of Critical Pedagogy is to act, and this is backed up by Block’s views on accountability. For people who “know what they know” in the words of Joan Wink, and who, in Paulo Freire’s terms “name, reflect critically, and act.” To create this sense of accountability, it is often good to begin with the social fabric. Once we foster an inclusive and welcoming social fabric, there will be a “willingness to care for the whole.”
Other factors that contribute to this are whether you have a small or a large group. Remember that Block says the small group is the “unit of transformation.” In the small group, members have more individuality and will probably contribute more, as a result of them feeling needed and valued. In the large group, if that is all we have, we must be careful to not “romanticize leadership.” When we do, we are giving up our freedom and succumbing to the leader’s will, thinking that he must know best. This is dangerous in any group but especially in the classroom, where many teachers seek to be romanticized and great value is placed upon what is known as “respect” from students. We must be careful that it does not go too far beyond respect.
Often a leader who has such power can manipulate a population in what Block refers to as “the marketing of fear”. We must lift such burdens from the populace and encourage them to reach out and speak out. The best way to create such a change is through dialogue- Joan Wink’s “change agent-chatter.” Block makes a similar statement, asserting that “all transformation is linguistic.”
All of these factors can be harnessed to create the welcoming community Block envisioned. In his own words, “We all have the skills and capabilities to bring about the needed change.”
