I was sitting in RS 383 class (Justice, Peace and Development) the other day, listening to the presentations being given by my fellow Beyond Bordians and I had a minor revelation. Maybe it was just me being really slow to catch on (that's most likely it, so forgive me if I'm pointing out what should of have been obvious) or maybe I stumbled across something unbeknownst to others! (probably not)

I realized that both of our RS classes and our Beyond Borders preparation was employing Freire's concept of interacting teaching (pedagogical learning). According to Freire, there are two forms of teaching: one we are currently experiencing and the one that we should strive for. The one currently being used by every school system is the banking method. It's basically what it sounds like. The students are objects into which knowledge is "deposited" by the teachers, the subjects. The objects are acted upon and have no say in the course material, the way it is taught, or the way class is conducted. Teachers expect students to learn and memorize what the teachers believe is material students should know, and then regurgitate it back to them - somehow this demonstrates that the students have learned and come to understand the material. The other method, the one that schools and teachers should be employing is one of interaction (lets call interaction learning). This type of teaching/learning is when teachers and students are equal. There are questions posed by both parties and discussions about the material in which everyone contributes to other's learning. There is no set schedule, no memorization involved - its learning through talking and problem solving, question posing and taking a hands on approach.

This form of teaching was present in RS 283, is present in RS 383 and throughout all Intercordia Seminars. Scott Kline had classes revolve around discussion of the books we had read for class, allowing us to take notes as we needed and pose questions about material we hadn't understood or needed clarification on. There was no "Here is the material - memorize it". Most students are not used to this form of learning - we often find it intimidating and unproductive to have discussions in class. The same idea applies to RS 383. Not once has Joanne told us to memorize something or tested us on our knowledge. We have learned about our countries through presentations about economics, politics, history, developmental needs, etc. about each country, taking a more personal and in depth look at our future summer placements. We volunteered at the Working Centre to literally experience service learning and its importance. This entire Beyond Borders experience has taken such as direct and hands-on approach to all material and information and in a way I think it has made it that much more exciting. We are subtly preparing ourselves for the summer - doing volunteer work, not having any structure in class like we are accustomed to, learning by interacting with others, etc. We all know that life in our countries is going to be drastically different from Canada and this preparation has begun to just give us a taste of what we will experience.

I know that when I first found out there was no real syllabus, no real structure to our classes - even marking schemes were subjective - I was nervous and didn't feel like I would enjoy the classes. I usually hate class discussions and unstructured environments. But as the terms progressed I came to learn what was expected of us and the direction we were gradually going in. I now realize this was all in prep for the summer. Maybe indirectly, maybe on purpose. I don't know. But if it was on purpose, if it truly was meant to prepare us for the summer then well done Scott and Joanne! You guys are brilliant. If it was by accident, well....its a good thing.

That's my epiphany. Like I said, maybe its really late, maybe I'm just slow to catch on. But the point is that I did come to understand the method to the madness. If anything, I think its important because it demonstrates that I learned something from our discussions and have come to apply it in everyday setting. The interactive teaching method does work. That's got to count for something.

Later days
:)