I would like to welcome everyone to our
Ethics Seminar.
This blog will be a space to interact with one another respectfully. We will engage in different academic exchanges through our four sessions. I would like you all to establish your own ideas on the different ethical matters we will be considering in class. You are expected to participate at all times keeping a dynamic academic discussion.
According to our discussion in today's ethics class, I think I am going to present a discussion about the language dialect and the accent that some students have in speaking in my classes, I have sometimes noticed how students among themselves criticize their friends for his way of speaking in Spanish. I have seen students from countries laugh and criticize their accent and dialect. I consider this situation to be part of an ethical issue. So I would like you to give me some ideas that I can develop on this topic or I do not know if you have your own views related to this target point.
ResponderEliminarWell, I think you should give some extra details about the characteritics of the ones involved in the issue... For instance, if you are working with highschool students they tend to misbehave due to the fact that they are all going through not only phisical but attitudinal changes that make them behave unpropperly through their classmates. It may be also a matter of genres, that is, boys will usually make bad jokes or critics for girls or the other way around. The point is that you should be really careful when trying to overcome this situation in class... because sometimes what we see as a solution is reinforcing the negative attitude... For me working with adolescents is really hard and demanding...
EliminarElías, I find pretty interesting the matter you are considering. I respectfully do not agree with Normis about how detailed you have to be in this discussion. I think we are going to see all those details during your presentation but also on your paper. Moreover, Normis exposed that bad jokes are going to increase because of your considerations. However, I suggest to establish the discussion with your students because it is a great opportunity to create a safe environment for learning.
Eliminarso,I think that is not an ethical issue, only it is a part of different languages pronunciation. An ethical issue is more than this, I believe is a part difficult situation where our thinking about our student´s problems are involve like how they think about English importance in theirs future life.
EliminarI think you have to consider if bulling can be regarded as an ethical issue or it is just part of a human inner behavior, mainly among children who are cruel! I tend to think bulling is in fact an ethical matter, principally when the perpetrator hides using the social media and pulls the trigger without caring about the outcomes !!
ResponderEliminarHernán, Could please explain your point about bullying as part of inner human bean behavior? I do not consider that every single human been has to be cruel.
EliminarI have always faced the dicotomy of expressing what I consider to be right and what society labels as wrong. Some people consider myself as unethical because I am for capital punishment in certain cases. What do you think ??
ResponderEliminarLet us be Unethical then... because as the teacher stated being ethical or not is a matter of context... and for some cases I am also FOR Capital Punishment...
EliminarWe have to take care of this issue in our high-schools, since this situation can become or consider a bullying problem. I think we must teach to our students that everybody deserves respect because this issue has to be with every single culture and region. Do you think that this situation can involve a bullying in our educational enters?
ResponderEliminarI take into consideration this issue in our discussion because I have some of my students who do not want to participate in any activity due to this fact. That is why I consider this something that can stop or block my learners` learnig process. we have to make our students be awareness about the problem that could be causing damages to the learners. so we are not able to stop it. it can be a problem as the drugs.
ResponderEliminarWhich fact ? Bullying ? Drugs ? As teachers we have to go deeper and search the problems affecting our students ! I like your idea of teaching respect, but just for reflexion I leave you with my own quote, the one my students know well:
Eliminar" We have moved from tolerance and respect to acceptance. Now we should go beyond and
embrace celebration. Let´s celebrate that we are unique, that we are all different. That´s the
essence of life, that´s what makes this life worth living " Hernán Cano Pineda
I just loved your Quote!!! It is part of our job not only to teach English but to form better citizens and human beings...
EliminarNomis, totally agree! We not only teach a language, we develop communicative skills and abilities in order to establish human interaction, where the word: respect in not a simple word. It is a strong obligation.
EliminarI believe that at present being teachers is to be able to touch the hearts of each of our students, understanding their realities with each of their problems so that they can make them feel important in an increasingly consumerist world.
EliminarTo be teachers is to go beyond a subject to address, is to be able to touch their hearts to then reach their minds and transform them.
Alexander, I cannot agree more with you, we have to be truly interested in others to have them interested in us. This also applies for teachers and students, if teachers really care for students (their needs, likes, problems), we, as teachers, will have a higher chance to have them interested in our subject. No matter if we are the professors, the ones with the knowledge and the authority, we are dealing with people and it is very important to find ways to strengthen the connection between the student and the teacher.
EliminarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarDear colleagues, I agree with what Hernán proposes to us, but I consider as well that we must take into account that as teachers we are trainers of students who hope to learn from us not only specific knowledge, but an integral formation that will make them better human beings, Respectful and ethical with their environment, I ask, what do you think is the meaning of freedom and what extent can I be free, without affecting others?
ResponderEliminarEdison, You gave us a nice point to discuss. Freedom has definitions as number of people all over the world. Freedom means what humans defend and catch from other over contradictions and complexity on the different cultures. I do not think that freedom really exist because once we get it, we become slaves of it.
EliminarTalking about Freedom… To which extent do we as teachers educate in freedom and for freedom? How many of us are still afraid of living in freedom? How many of us are still trying to impose not only knowledge but attitudes and values, that we consider “correct”, to our students?
EliminarIn words of Sanabria (2005), teaching for freedom may be only possible when educators and institutions have the agreement to assume attitudes, methods and worries about freedom. Then, it is necessary to understand that education for freedom needs to respect the liberty and autonomy of human beings from a familiar, political, religious and social point of view having in mind that every person is unique. Thus, let us allow our students to reflect and decide about their way of learning and living without interfering negatively in the society.
Sanabria, R., (2005). Educar en libertad y para la libertad. Cuadernos Unimetanos, (3), 42-48.
That's true, I am agree as Edisson says: TTo be teachers is to be able to form integral students who can be competent and achieve from their ethical training a fullness in each of the things that they do.
EliminarGuys, the link that the teacher attached us for watching the film, presents problems with the audio, is more advanced than the image, I found the same movie with voice and image simultaneously. Regards!!! Here I leave the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-beP3VMrg
ResponderEliminarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
EliminarThanks for the link, I´ll try later and I´ll let you know if it is ok
EliminarUndoubtedly, this film "Entre les murs" shows the teacher´s rol accustomed to apply their ideals neglecting the educational context where he or she unfolds. Mr. Marín becomes in a living example of many Colombian teachers, who have to "fight" with students of different ideologies, cultures, tastes and even nationalities, to impart a standardized knowledge by a government, regardless of whether if it is useful for apprentices put it into practice in their daily lives.
ResponderEliminar"The problem is that social, cultural and interindividual homogeneity does not exist, and when distancing oneself from the 'different' one loses the dialogue of pedagogy, which always implies a relationship between different subjects" (Davini, 1995: 27)
" Entre les murs" seeks to define the different perspectives or definitions that can be given to the word Teacher, since in many cases it seems that he became a psychologist, dictator, lawyer or the immediate solution to meet the different needs of The institution where he works.
Taking into account the above mention, it would be important to discuss now a days who is a teacher and how should he or she acts in the different academic situations presented?
After watching the movie, I've been thinking about how we as teachers become emotionally involved with the students. The connection we establish with them is natural since we are not only transmitters of information and academic knowledge, we also share with them our personal experiences, we accompany and advise them. I wonder if this closeness and connection carry us to lose objectivity in situations such as punishment.
EliminarWell my friend... I agree with you on the fact that more than instructors we become parents, psychologists, advisors and even friends... It is common in many schools or universities that students have a special feeling for English teachers... However, I do not consider that those special connections we make with learners make us be subjective, specially not when assessing or when talking about punishment... At least I have never felt like that so far...
EliminarWhat about you???
I beg your pardon Blanca, I had missed your interesting comment post. At Universidad de Antioquia, some people critize me because I have a close relationship with my students! However, I have never had problems with that. I guess your practices speak for themselves, I mean, students understand when not crossing the line if they observe a responsible, devoted teacher ! I have a slogan I always tell my students " In class I am your teacher, then your friend; out of the class I am your friend but you can count on me as your teacher". The line is really thin regarding dual relations, that is why your professional and personal ethical codes come into play !
EliminarI think one relevant point we missed in our discussion today, oops yesterday, was the matter of context and needs. Francois as the French teacher followed contents which did not make sense to the students ! They are learning the language in Paris and I agree when they tell him it is not likely to use "le parfait du subjonctif" in everyday conversations. Another scene we did not deal with was when students questioned Francois on the use of white names as examples. My concern is: Are we teachers not giving a complete scope of diffences found in our classrooms ?
EliminarOh yes... I totally agree with you Hernan on the fact that we sometimes forget our students likes and needs at the moment of teaching, either because we want to educate them the way we were, or because we are just strictly following the school requirements... in any case, that cannot happen... the different individual variables and differences need to be taken into account if we really expect to transform realities in our students. As Freire (1976) states "nobody IS if he/she prohibits others to be"
EliminarFreire, P., (1976). Educaction the practice of freedom
We base on learning tones of knowledge in schools, but we leave behind our values and some people do not learn to live as part of a community with principles that must be applied on a daily bases to live in harmony. In jail, for instance, can be found individuals with great intelligence and knowledge who can score a high grade in a difficult subject in college, who are brilliant in different fields of knowledge; however, they did not care about others and they stole from their company or betrayed their people somehow. According to the previous reflection, do you think it is worth to base education only on knowledge?
ResponderEliminar