THE SPOKEN SELF: RECOGNIZING, RENAMING, AND RECLAIMING by

In the era of standardization, how can educators explore ways to hear the beating hearts of the students they encounter? How can educators recognize the multitudinous sounds of the students when each marches to the beat of a different drum? With these questions in mind, how then can educators affect change in the classroom to cultivate critical thinkers when the curriculum is not designed to feed each student’s own educational diet? There is not one magical quick fix, and I have come to realize that there has been and continued to be a cacophony of voices debating what should be the primary goal of education, what should be taught, how teaching should be done, and who should decide. From these debates evolved distinct versions of curricular philosophies or orientations. During my studies, I have found that to move beyond the complacency in the classroom, teaching—curriculum—must be an understanding, a conversation. This “extraordinarily complicated conversation” (Pinar et. al., 2002, p. 848) between teachers and students across texts allow