Philosophy
of English Education
By
Alex Kameen
Language is perhaps the most
powerful tool at a human being’s disposal. Beyond helping us negotiate the
constant social interactions we face in the world, language allows every person
the power to mediate his or her own consciousness in a uniquely individualized
manner. We use the processes of language, in this sense, to speak to and with ourselves. Language empowers and enables us to interact with our
own emotions and reason, as well to engage with the larger communities outside
of our selves with true meaning. In an exclusively human way, language is the
ultimate technology for discovery; it allows us to discover the self, the
world, and everything in between in a manner far superior to any other animal
on earth. It is our avenue between the soul and the mind, the supreme signifier
of human intelligence, and the fingerprint of our very existence–as no two
people use it in exactly the same way.
Before
I explain why I want to teach language and literacy, I need to establish my
vision for the role of a professional
English teacher. First and foremost, I agree with the popular notion that
English teachers must have a passion and understanding of their content area,
but I disagree rather strongly with the limited lens through which we tend to
view the content area of an English teacher. A teacher of English is not a teacher of books, nor a teacher of
form, rather a teacher of process. In
that light, I do not believe it is my duty nor my right to “teach” my students
literary texts, nor do I think there is a specific set of canonical texts that
must be read in order to improve one’s literacy abilities. Shakespeare–in my
opinion–does not magically promote literacy development more so than Gary Soto,
or Walter Dean Myers, for example. It is the genuine interactions between a
student and the processes of reading, writing, and thinking that truly promote
the empowering development of language and literacy. In the modern era,
negotiating the daily world requires a higher level and broader range of
literacy abilities than any date in human history, so the purpose of an English
teacher should be to facilitate the growth of language and literacy skills for
every single student that walks into the classroom–regardless of race, gender,
sexual orientation, culture, religion, socio-economic status, disability, or
attitude. Yet still, English classrooms in America actively avoid the practice
of literacy within the school walls, and many students leave their experience
with little activated knowledge to tangibly impact their literate lives. I do
not intend to nurture these failures within my own classroom walls.
With
all of these concepts on the front of my mind, my goal as an English teacher is
to provide my students the appropriate time, space, and access necessary to
engage powerfully with the reading and writing processes, and to give them
explicit and strategic instruction when proper in order for them to reap the
countless benefits of their daily literacy experiences. I hope to advance the
counter movement against the static pedagogies of the “traditional” English
classroom, focusing instead on the development of true critical literacy skills
through the consistent practice of the craft in a workshop setting. My students
will choose what they want to read, they will write about relevant issues that
have an immediate impact on their lives, they will perform these acts of
literacy inside of the classroom community on a consistent basis, and by doing
so their out-of-school literate lives will be genuinely affected.
