Theory and Practice

 Now that I have had the opportunity to conduct classes in a small school, I am getting a feel for how to adapt lesson plans. I believe that in some respects, I get to understand where theories of education and practices intermesh, as well as where there is discontinuity and disconnect.  

            There is something especially freeing and wonderful about ‘just doing’—not necessarily knowing the ‘how’ of something but having the means and the space as well as the support to find out the how. I think that in some regards, this supports the view that embodied learning is far more interesting than rote learning or simply learning the theories. Doing often seems to reduce the anxieties of wondering whether I can or I can’t perform a certain task. At the same time, however, performing a lesson gives me the opportunities to understand theory in different ways. In my lesson plans on James and the Giant Peach, for instance, I have often been asking myself whether there are implicit values in how I teach comparison, or metaphor, or even cause/effect---do these categories reinforce a ‘static’ model of the universe, or might there be ways for young learners to get a feel for how different their perspectives might be from fellow classmates? In other words, when I do a lesson on comparison or characterization in books, to what extent do the descriptions I introduce reinforce cultural biases (what a culture values the most in appearance, style, manners etc.) rather than giving the students a chance to think about what they see in the person? Are there analytical and critical skills that I can introduce in this lesson besides the dualistic skills of learning ‘opposites’ or polarizing characters into ‘good’ and ‘bad’?

I think that theorizing about other possibilities allows me to see that even ‘doing’ uncritically can reinforce views of the world that are not necessarily open or compassionate. Theories can open up possibilities for new ways of doing, so long as they are not taken to be absolutes or rules.