Terminology

Seeing that the Freire essay contains a heavy amount of specialized terminology, I've decided to list all the terms and allusions I think will need to be defined or explained. I've also been compiling a list of more general terms, like "rhetoric," for example.

General Use Terms
rhetoric, Aristotle's rhetoric
discourse
Socratic Method
cognition
metacognition

Freire
oppressed
oppressor
problem-posing
dichotomy
hypertrophied
solidarity
narrative
subject and object
empirical
existential
paternalistic
social action apparatus
euphemistic
pathology
humanism
liberal education
domestication
Heglian dialectic
ontology
praxis
doxa and logos


I think maybe I'll start the course with a general overview of the distinctions between Plato and Aristotle, a priori and a posteriori. For the Freire essay, I may also want to address briefly social and political dimensions of Brazil that may be informative.

Syllabus Changes

It was good to meet some of the other Critical Inquiry teachers last night at Audubon. Josh and Stace talked about some excellent reasons to start the semester with the Paulo Freire essay and gave me some ideas for learning activities to coincide.

First idea:
Before reading/discussing the essay, have students design the perfect "oppressors" classroom and educational system. Propose the activity and give a few minutes for quiet journaling. Then group them to discuss and expand their ideas. Finally, share all the ideas and have an open discussion about how we will implement the plan. A closing journal prompt will encourage students to reflect upon similarities/differences between the "Oppressors' Educational Plan" and their own previous educational experiences.

Second idea:
After reading the essay, ask students to design the ideal classroom and educational system. Ask them to think both about specific classroom activities and the system as a whole. I think they should be prompted to especially consider how they would wish to transform that "bad" year or class growing up.

Tangential idea:
Need to introduce students to Socratic dialogue and teaching methods.

Innaugural Post

This is the first post for Prof. Roy's course blog at Emmanuel College. This blog will be used for Critical Inquiry EN 1103. More interesting things to be posted as soon as class starts . . .