Oppressed

I've always been interested in the history of oppression in general, so I really enjoyed reading Friere's work for today. I think he had a really good point when he talked about considering the history of oppression and its impact on our teaching practices today. Throughout history, there has always been a group in power and a group oppressed by those in that power, and this includes in the realm of education as well.

I would even go so far as to say that as TESOL educators, the issue of oppression is more relevant to us than other educators. Every teacher will encounter some instances in his or her classroom that they will have to cope with, but as TESOL educators, we have chosen to specialize in cultural relations, which is inherently tied to the issue of oppression. Members of different cultures constantly separate the world into "us" and "them," which is the root of all oppression, and it is our job as educators to overcome that xenophobic separation and build functioning, cooperative communities in our classrooms.

Observing has been a part of my training as a teacher for a couple of years now, but I never bothered to think about why it is considered to be so beneficial. It just seemed like the only way to get a peek at at what practicing teachers are doing in their classrooms and thereby learning by or against their examples. I never thought that it could also be beneficial to the practicing teacher. It does make sense after our readings though. I pay far more attention to what I'm doing every day when I know I'm being watched, so it makes sense that teachers would too. I also know that when I'm being watched, I tend to consider how what I'm doing looks to whoever is watching me, which functions as a sort of self-observation.