Journal 8

 In the session of today, I continued enjoying the learning about critical pedagogy, this interesting approach that have becomed my goal as a teacher. I watched two videos that I found it great and helpful to understand better how a classroom focused on critical pedagogy would be. I always have enjoyed working with kids because they usually contribute to a better and dynamic environment in the classroom. However, I used to think that for students to be critical consisted on talking about political aspects, so in that way, this would be very difficult to work with kids. But now, I can be sure to say that, critical pedagogy consists more on students empowerment and autonomy, students as desicion makers, and students as relevant agents in the classroom who have a voice that matters. 

I understand now the importance of dialogism in the classroom, that is to give my students more opportunities to speak in the classroom, to express their thoughts and to choose the select some activities or topics they would like to work. I would like to emphazise the respect to others in the classroom, so students will feel confortable when they talk and feel free to express what they want because their classmates and me would be open to listen to every contribution and thought they have. I know that me as the teacher am the one who create and develop the curriculum but students have the right to choose how to carry out the tasks I ask them to do. Finally, something that I found interesting from the video was this new concept "funds of knowledge", these funds are different in each students and have to be taken into account at the moment of create the tasks in the classroom since they contribute to a better development of the tasks and to increase students' instrinsic motivation. 

Glossary:

Dialogism: Equal opportunity for all members to speak, everyone respects another’s right to speak and all ideas are tolerated.

Funds of knowledge: Students' connection to their families and social context. 

Autonomy: The ability to make your own decisions without being controlled by anyone else but being responsable and respecting others.