Discussion Post for Bethanne, Emme, Ivette, Nate, and Paola.

Lilia Bartolome's Beyond the Methods Fetish could not be more crucial to our cohort's experiences this semester.  After reading each paragraph, it is impossible to stop and reflect on one's own beliefs to question just how deeply a "one size fits all" instructional mindset may have been assimilated into our own pedagogical practices.  Bartolome's analogy of clothing is incredibly apt here; just as "one size fits all" clothing ends up only fitting a very narrow range of people, methods that come from that same narrow place can only be effective, if at all, on a very narrow set of students in the classroom.  Time and again, we have seen the students that fall outside of the parameters set forth by these methods to fall victim to a downward spiral that the deficit orientation makes even worse. Connecting this reading to Sarah Michaels' Sharing Time, it is not surprising that this downward spiral is made worse when a teacher's expectations and literate style are mismatched with a student's discourse and narrative style.

One of many important areas of focus in Bartolome's piece is where she states that "by taking a sociohistorical view of present-day conditions and concerns that inform the lived experiences of socially perceived minority students, prospective teachers are better able to comprehend the quasi-colonial nature of minority education."  Additionally, she notes that "it is important that educators not blindly reject teaching methods across the board, but that they reject uncritical appropriation of methods, materials, curricula, etc."  As we Donovans move forward through our respective methods courses in our program, how easily will we be able to spot a "one size fits all" method when we see it?  How deeply is that mindset entrenched in the courses themselves and to what degree?  Are the methods that are currently being taught to us by various professors in Campion adequately taking into account this quasi-colonial nature?  Moving forward, it might seem challenging to discern which methods aim to calcify our pineal glands of political clarity.