Kindall Jackson

Informed by the works of Freire and other likeminded pedagogy theorists, who sought to establish a radical alternative to the “banking model of education” (which privileges memory over engagement and obedience over dialogical discourse), Dr. Demson, Amanda Henehan and I collaborated to compose a textbook that aspired to go beyond what is traditionally expected of students in a core English course. In undertaking this project, we hoped to refine the unique voice of each student through both the writing process and through a series of unusual assignments that focused on community involvement, governed by the disciplines of ecopedagogy  and radical pedagogy. Consistent with our philosophy, Amanda and I performed each of the assignments before creating their directions to grant us greater insight regarding the particular demands associated with each task.

Unit I was comprised of our ecologically-­‐focused ethnographic interviews. This section involved two to three guided interactions with a person located within our community, with the purpose being to gather information about how their environment shaped the world in which they operated their lives. For my interview, I chose an estranged, severely mentally ill family member who lives in poverty in one of Houston’s most neglected residential neighborhoods. Prior to conducting our interview, however, Amanda and I examined books on ethnography from experts in the field such as James Spradley, and I read Johnathan Kozol’s novel Rachel and her Children to give substance and provide framework for our instructions. We drafted each section of this unit, mindful of all the issues a student might encounter, and then transcribed our interviews. After completing a draft of all the sections from Unit I, we then completed an outline of a research paper for Unit II that might be performed in response to the data gathered from our interview. For the final Unit, we studied utopianism and were told to imagine a world that resolved the social issues and worries that people like our interviewee faced in their day-­‐to-­‐day lives.

This project was an immeasurably valuable learning experience, and helped me employ critical thought to interrogate topical social issues, particularly related to our environment. I am very grateful to Sam Houston State University for this educational opportunity as well as Dr. Demson for his patient guidance.