The Role of Relevance
“[…] learning must be rooted in the experiences that students come from.” (Fletcher, 2005) Linda Christensen, while speaking at a Symposium at the University of Pennsylvania, asked, “How do you engage students […] to see themselves as activists? You have to bring classes to life by having real curriculum that matters to them.” (Linda Christensen, personal communication) Adam Fletcher and Linda Christensen both argue that a student who can draw from his/her own experience or funds of knowledge will engage more often and more genuinely than a student who is not. Evidence of this is seen in heightened awareness and drawing from information that is not taught during normal class hours.
As seen in the Political Cartoons created by my IB class, students drew from their own funds of knowledge. While discussing immigration during the Industrial Revolution I asked the students to create cartoons that represented how they felt people view immigrants and immigration taking place today. What they drew on was much deeper than what we had discussed because they were bringing in examples from their own lives. One cartoon expressed a student’s perspective on how she felt when she came to Philadelphia. She explained to me that people in the U.S. like the “idea” of immigration but when it comes down to it, they believe it’s a burden on the society. Another cartoon explained how “open” the student who created it believes immigration from the south really is. For these students, drawing on their funds of knowledge is evidence of genuine student engagement as made clear by Fletcher and Christensen; for to draw on prior experiences, connections must be made to the lesson being disseminated in class. What must be assessed as genuine student engagement is not only on the students but also on the teacher. First, the evidence of student engagement in this lesson was the fact that the students drew from their own funds of knowledge to create cartoons. By creating an arena where relevance is significant, students engage in lessons on a personal level. This personal element was certainly evident in the political cartoons the students created.
Second, a self-assessment must be placed on the teacher as learner. While this is not the focus of inquiry here, it is nonetheless extremely important. An educator must assess him/herself on how often he/she is providing arenas for students to draw on their own funds of knowledge. A co-constructive classroom where students are partners in the education process, not just recipients of information, is always a more engaged classroom than one that is teacher-centric.
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As seen in the Political Cartoons created by my IB class, students drew from their own funds of knowledge. While discussing immigration during the Industrial Revolution I asked the students to create cartoons that represented how they felt people view immigrants and immigration taking place today. What they drew on was much deeper than what we had discussed because they were bringing in examples from their own lives. One cartoon expressed a student’s perspective on how she felt when she came to Philadelphia. She explained to me that people in the U.S. like the “idea” of immigration but when it comes down to it, they believe it’s a burden on the society. Another cartoon explained how “open” the student who created it believes immigration from the south really is. For these students, drawing on their funds of knowledge is evidence of genuine student engagement as made clear by Fletcher and Christensen; for to draw on prior experiences, connections must be made to the lesson being disseminated in class. What must be assessed as genuine student engagement is not only on the students but also on the teacher. First, the evidence of student engagement in this lesson was the fact that the students drew from their own funds of knowledge to create cartoons. By creating an arena where relevance is significant, students engage in lessons on a personal level. This personal element was certainly evident in the political cartoons the students created.
Second, a self-assessment must be placed on the teacher as learner. While this is not the focus of inquiry here, it is nonetheless extremely important. An educator must assess him/herself on how often he/she is providing arenas for students to draw on their own funds of knowledge. A co-constructive classroom where students are partners in the education process, not just recipients of information, is always a more engaged classroom than one that is teacher-centric.
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