In "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," Professor Paulo Friere discusses a radical teaching
method in which he attempts to create a dialogical classroom where the students
themselves take responsiblity for and participate in the educational process as
active learners. Friere suggests that instead of the teacher or professor walking
into the classroom with a preset rigid agenda, that instead the teacher or professor
should engage in dialouge with the students to discover their hopes, aspirations,
and interests, relative to the class. The teacher and student/s then work
interactively to bring about a cooperative learning environment. So for example,
I teach a property jurisprudence seminar in law school, while I devote the early
part of the semester to presenting jurisprudential material relating to property law,
the students are allowed to pick out their own research topics for their classroom
papers. Each student then presents his or her paper in class. It would also be possible, for example, to teach a current events class in a law school or other
context and develop the subject matter of the course based on what is actually
happening locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, having the students
do internet, periodical, or book research on their own and then having presentations
or discussions in class. Even in a more conventional classroom where institutional
constraints require that certain subject matter be covered or certain academic
skills developed, it is still possible to have a dialogical encounter in the classrooom,
engaging in soctratic question and answer educational interaction rather than just
lecturing on the part of the professor. This is an excellent book. A must read forl
parents, students, teachers, and administrators.