Page 79 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 79
a. mladenović ■ feminist classrooms in practice
model of interrelationships that can be incorporated into a developing
vision of a world in which hierarchical oppressive relationships are ex-
changed for autonomy within a community that celebrates difference”
(ibid., p. 9). Empowering students by resisting hierarchical in-class rela-
tions and building a community is something that can be seen in anoth-
er practice Nina says she employs, that has to do with making and correct-
ing the mistakes. She often makes grammatical mistakes while teaching
students in fifth grade and those attending secondary school. These mis-
takes are generally intentional and used as potential moments where pow-
er relations in the classroom could be shifted. At the start of each school
year, she tells the students to let her (and everyone else in the class) know
that she has made a mistake if they notice one – which they do, once they
become a little more familiar and comfortable in class. This is a great ex-
ample of utilising the notion of power as a capability as it creates a dialec-
tical relationship between the teacher and students. Or, in Nina’s words:
Because if I’m the one correcting their mistakes, I also want them to feel in charge
of their knowledge when they spot the mistakes I make, right? /…/ We’re all here to
learn.
When students make mistakes, she tries not to correct them too of-
ten or aggressively. If somebody persistently makes the same mistake, she
uses it as a teaching moment for the entire class to work on and to cor-
rect collectively. Another way she resists the hierarchical structure of the
teacher–student relationship is by rarely providing the solution to prob-
lems: “I don’t want them to see me as a source of knowledge /…/, but a facili-
tator”. She has noticed that it is easier for students to internalise the rules
and they also self-correct more efficiently provided that she only man-
ages the discussion instead of leading it. When children have questions,
she does not answer them immediately, instead pausing and letting them
come to their own conclusions. She encourages peer-to-peer teaching and
helps them if they struggle. She believes that the key to building a better
classroom climate is to apologise to the students if the situation calls for
it. These are all in-class micro practices found in feminist classrooms that
work together to deconstruct hierarchical relations.
Feminist classrooms make a point to notice the specific contexts of
the teaching and learning process, but also more generally to try to con-
textualise different concepts and phenomena in specific social, cultural,
political and economic spheres. Nina explains how, especially with her
secondary school students, she sometimes brings up her genuine mistakes
that she did not notice at the time, in the following lesson. They then dis-
cuss the reasons for those mistakes:
77
model of interrelationships that can be incorporated into a developing
vision of a world in which hierarchical oppressive relationships are ex-
changed for autonomy within a community that celebrates difference”
(ibid., p. 9). Empowering students by resisting hierarchical in-class rela-
tions and building a community is something that can be seen in anoth-
er practice Nina says she employs, that has to do with making and correct-
ing the mistakes. She often makes grammatical mistakes while teaching
students in fifth grade and those attending secondary school. These mis-
takes are generally intentional and used as potential moments where pow-
er relations in the classroom could be shifted. At the start of each school
year, she tells the students to let her (and everyone else in the class) know
that she has made a mistake if they notice one – which they do, once they
become a little more familiar and comfortable in class. This is a great ex-
ample of utilising the notion of power as a capability as it creates a dialec-
tical relationship between the teacher and students. Or, in Nina’s words:
Because if I’m the one correcting their mistakes, I also want them to feel in charge
of their knowledge when they spot the mistakes I make, right? /…/ We’re all here to
learn.
When students make mistakes, she tries not to correct them too of-
ten or aggressively. If somebody persistently makes the same mistake, she
uses it as a teaching moment for the entire class to work on and to cor-
rect collectively. Another way she resists the hierarchical structure of the
teacher–student relationship is by rarely providing the solution to prob-
lems: “I don’t want them to see me as a source of knowledge /…/, but a facili-
tator”. She has noticed that it is easier for students to internalise the rules
and they also self-correct more efficiently provided that she only man-
ages the discussion instead of leading it. When children have questions,
she does not answer them immediately, instead pausing and letting them
come to their own conclusions. She encourages peer-to-peer teaching and
helps them if they struggle. She believes that the key to building a better
classroom climate is to apologise to the students if the situation calls for
it. These are all in-class micro practices found in feminist classrooms that
work together to deconstruct hierarchical relations.
Feminist classrooms make a point to notice the specific contexts of
the teaching and learning process, but also more generally to try to con-
textualise different concepts and phenomena in specific social, cultural,
political and economic spheres. Nina explains how, especially with her
secondary school students, she sometimes brings up her genuine mistakes
that she did not notice at the time, in the following lesson. They then dis-
cuss the reasons for those mistakes:
77
