In 2024 I presented two keynote addresses to a national gathering of the
150 leaders of ‘Christian Schools Australia’. To do so, I drew on the ideas outlined in my book 'Pedagogy
and Education for Life: A Christian Reframing of Teaching, Learning and
Formation'. I suggested
that Christian education and pedagogy must be rooted in an understanding of
God's people in-between this life and the next.
As I suggest many
times in my writing, we are shaped as we engage with others, and as we inhabit varied
'communities of practice'. That is, we move in and out of many situations and
groups, all of which have an impact on us in varied ways. This is reality for
our students as they attend our schools, and inhabit many groups. The term “Intertextuality”
helps us to understand what this means. It was coined by cognitive
anthropologist Julia Kristeva (1991).
It describes how we
‘inhabit’ the varied groups in life. And as we do we learn things, and take on
many of the same concerns, passions, values and beliefs of the groups or
‘communities’. As teachers and school leaders, we need to understand this as
we teach, educate and point students in wise directions for life.
1. Imagination and COMMUNITY
Martin Buber suggested as we build relationships, our ‘Character’ requires
us to have and preserve a level of freedom, expressed in any human communion. Conversely,
‘compulsion’ illustrated by rules, can create disunion, sometimes humiliation,
and hence rebelliousness.
In many ways, this is why the informal networks of life beat the formal structures of education hands down, in influencing the heart, life priorities,
hopes and dreams. Why? Because in such less formal gatherings young people are
able to ‘speak into’ the lives of their friends in ways that few teachers and
even parents cannot. So, the varied communities our children inhabit, help to shape
minds, lives, expectations, imaginations and hoped for futures.
Ironically, sometimes families (and some schools) only end up reinforcing
the things that matter much less than faith in the living God. Even in
faith-based schools, teachers and leaders can end up promoting worldly success,
starting salaries for future jobs, career status, achievement etc. This is at
the expense of faith and character, wise choices and growth. School for many, can
become an annoying imposition that one endures, knowing that one day they can
escape to find what they see as ‘true’ freedom. The communities that matter most can end up being outside
the formal structures and life of school.
2. Creating different and more
effective communities within our classrooms
What we
need to consider as teachers and schools, is how we can build more effectively
different within our classrooms and the school at large. That is, communities which
can shape imaginations, and how our students use them.
But how can this be done? Let me offer a fuller vignette that might help
to reinforce this key point. How can we assist our student imaginations to be shaped
within our school communities of practice?
A number of years ago, I spent 12 months team teaching within a Year 1
classroom in Wagga Wagga, a wonderful town in inland Australia. My partner
(Inta) was teaching in a Lutheran school, at a time when we were not plagued by
the current education system’s desire to test children for the sake of testing.
Rather, Inta’s key priority for these early learners was to embed them within
an exciting classroom, that in its own way was a well-focused and exciting
community that both taught and shaped at the same time.
One of my first observations as I entered the grade 1 classroom, was the
rules within this classroom for 6 year old students in their second year at
school weren’t dominant, and yet all seemed to know where the boundaries stood.
As a result, there was movement, shared learning and intertextuality
everywhere.
3. What do I mean by 'Intertextuality'?
What is intertextuality, and why is it important? As I have already
alluded, it is the relationship between one text or experience and another. By
‘text’ I’m using a term linguists use to refer to a spoken or written unit of
meaning, of whatever length that forms a unified whole (a caption, headline,
story, joke, play, essay, musical lyrics, letter etc). This term was first
coined by philosopher Julia Kristeva in the 1960s. In essence, intertextuality
involves “the connection or relationship between similar or related stories,
images, songs, ideas and so on”. The interconnections we see can of course
influence other learners to create very exciting classroom communities.
When I entered Inta’s classroom on my first day, it was obvious that the
talk, drawing, writing, play etc, were being ‘collectively’ shaped as students
read and wrote together, as extensions of their relationships with the teacher,
and other students. Such interconnection didn’t stop within the classroom. I observed them in the playground, on the bus
going home, and at home itself, with the texts playing a key role in
establishing and extending their relationships. Sometimes the response of one
child would lead naturally to the response of others.
I became involved very quickly and in my second week I read them the delightful book 'The Jolly Postman' (Ahlberg & Ahlberg, 1986). The children's interactions with the book as they sat on the floor in front of me was very exciting. They loved the book!
After finishing the book, I allowed time for
students to chat about it, then sent them back to continue with a range of
language activities (including writing). Within 10 minutes of reading the Jolly
Postman, one student returned to show me a letter that she had written which
was obviously inspired by the book we had just read (see PPT). She announced:
“Look Mr Cairney, I've written my own Jolly Postman letter. Chlorissa is writing one too.”
Within 20 minutes there were at least 10 letters in preparation, and by
recess the whole class was writing "Jolly Postman" letters. Within a few days the class had produced many letters to favourite characters in books.
The next day I was confronted by a small group of students who politely suggested (almost demanding):
“Mr Cairney, we'll
have to write our own Jolly Postman book.
Can we do one?”
And of course, Inta set about putting the wheels in motion to do just that. This was to dominate the next day or so at school.
When it was time for me to leave the classroom after a few months I was presented with the class version of its own 'Jolly Postman' book.
With the class letters inspired by ‘The
Jolly Postman” Inta used the words from the book and the children's letters, and turned
it into their own book, which they presented to me when I left them.
4 What can we learn from this example
about imagination and character development?
This literacy lesson illustrates how classroom environments provide an
opportunity for students to build textual histories, as they relate to others
and share their experiences. These and other events in and outside school, help
to shape them and to establish their hopes, dreams, values and priorities in
life. As James Smith famously suggested, “we are what we love”. And this class had been inspired by Inta to love books!
This type of shared experience is a vital part of any classroom environment. Straight rows and "eyes to the front" and "heads down" will maintain discipline and focus on the teacher's agenda. This is of course is important and essential at times, but for younger learners, creativity and enthusiasm for reading, writing and even arithmetic (to use an old adage) are critical. So too, are creativity, joy in learning and collaboration with others, are also key skills for life.
