3 - Power and pedagogy

Summary

It is an early October morning, and fourth grade teachers throughout Connecticut, having just administered the state's mandatory Mastery Test, are getting down to the business of establishing guidelines for the year. Veronica Franklin, a veteran teacher at the core urban North End Community School, plans to introduce classroom rules to her fourth graders that day. I am a participant-observer/volunteer in her classroom, and she asks me to print, photocopy, and affix to each child's desk a sign that reads:

OUR COOPERATIVE LEARNING PLEDGE

We the students of room 18 want our classroom to be a fun, happy place. Therefore, we agree to do these things:

1. Take turns talking quietly.

2. Listen to each other's ideas.

3. Praise each other's ideas.

4. Help each other when asked.

5. Stay together until everyone is done.

6. Talk about how we worked well together and how we can improve.

Later the same morning, Franklin instructs her students to look at what she refers to as the “rules” that I taped to their desks. She has them read, in unison, the opening statement: “We the students of room 18 want our classroom to be a fun, happy place. Therefore,we agree to do these things.”

“This is your classroom,” she tells them. “You want it to be a fun, happy place. You have to make everyone happy, including your teacher. Don't act ugly.”

She points out that Renee did not log off the computer when she was instructed to.