Are your a Reconceptualist?

Are You a Reconceptualist?


Bernice Reagon: People “know that nobody can survive in a minority position with only one point of view -- we have always had to understand the majority view as well. In the effort to understand the story of America, we're still not getting enough help from many people who share the story, because they come from a culture that says that their view is the only one. Well, I say to them: Welcome to prekindergarten! You will not die if you discover that there are more lines out there than just your own. In fact, you'll discover that you will have an advantage if you know more of them!” 
(Utne Reader, March/April 1996)
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Thinking about the nature of this course, I happened upon this conceptual outlook on AERA’s webpage.

Reconceptualists, consider the “cultural-sociological-political implications of the curriculum taught. Reconceptualists are not only, or even primarily interested in the official curriculum, as curriculum developers are, but seek to examine the hidden curriculum, the subtext that comes with teaching a specific curriculum a certain way to specific groups of students. Reconceptualists, in other words, are interested in much more than subject matter. They are interested in the messages or ideologies (hidden knowledge) that underlay not only subject matter, but also pedagogy, social interactions, and classroom settings, and educational practices as well as institutional contexts that have long come to be taken for granted. Many reconceptualists ultimately ask the question, who benefits from these configurations, and who loses…. in the cultural-sociological-political implications of schooling with respect to social justice, citizenship, or the role education is or should play in society at large.” Source: American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division B - Curriculum Instruction. (Retrieved August 7, 2007).

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Considering your emerging philosophy of education, are you a Reconceptualist? Is there a need for Reconceptual thinking in education? Please weigh in your thoughts below. Add your reflection about this to your individual webpages.
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As a critical theorist, I understand that education and language are not neutral landscapes and that they are highly politicized and controlled by the mainstream, dominant society. As an educator, I am an advocate in giving voice to those who may be underrepresented culturally, linguistically, politically, economically. I continue to challenge content in textbooks and in the curriculum and expose students to these incongruencies so they too may recognize, question and begin to think critically on their own. In preparing our students for their future, my philosophy of education has changed to better preparing our children to be productive in flexible and adaptable environments working with diverse others, culturally, linguistically, educationally, economically. Learning within environments that are meaningful, relevant and authentic has become an important focus of my methodology.

Reconceptualism is a synonym for critical theory and in this way, I do believe my teaching foundation resonates with both. Neil Postman said: "The lives of our children are shaped by what they will see and hear in the media" and "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.''

Source: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness (2007).