Democracy in Schools

Here's an entry from my SELI journal from twenty years ago—enjoy!

June 7, 1999  I’m teaching Second Language Methodology to ten teachers from five schools who are teaching, or have been assigned to teach, one of the indigenous languages in Sierra Leone. We start with a short dialog journal session (partners write in indigenous languages). The first session is theory, and then someone (either I or another participant or a video) teaches a lesson using one of the seven teaching methodologies we're focusing on for the 1st, 2nd or 3rd time, which we discuss.  I try to elicit an underlying concept the methodology illustrates and add it to my display board, heading for ten underlying concepts of effective second-language classrooms. We end with a writing workshop, writing our personal experiences in English.

I was nervous about today. Our topic was democracy in schools/classrooms. However, because it's important for this topic to be a discussion, drawing out the points was essential. I asked three participants to present what they thought about democracy in schools, and then asked for class reactions.  There was a great debate—more than once someone brought up that if a taxi driver drove badly in the street and you protested, he’d shout, “This is democracy!” at you. 

When it seemed everyone was agreeing that character education destroys African cultural values, and that democracy is too much freedom for overcrowded classrooms where order requires respect, I pointed out that we had already gained consensus on the concepts on the display board. And that they actually describe a democratic classroom. I reminded them that some types of learning can take place in autocratic classrooms, but not second language learning. I was delighted that someone mentioned that maybe democracy should not just be everybody-do-what-you-want, but consists of both rights and responsibilities. I presented the 7th grade class constitution in ASCD’s book, Democratic Schools[1], emphasizing that students and teachers drew it up together.  

Just last week Fourah Bay College students stormed and damaged the college principal's house in a protest over water and transport. The college closed and the principal is bringing charges against those he could identify.  One of our class participants was attacked similarly a few years ago as matron of one of the FBC hostels. She still lectures there and has been firmly against a student project underway to draw up a student rights document. She said that after our discussion today she sees the value in it but it should be a negotiated rights/responsibilities document, co-constructed by students, lecturers, and administration. Hooray!

I had a chance at the end to tie in a handout about the inequality inherent in ability grouping in schools—how it predestines one for success or failure. We take it for granted that all class six students whose mark in the public exit exam falls below a threshold, end up in the less-than-best secondary schools. And that in most secondary schools, the best students are put in JSS 1A and the worst in 1E. Can teachers do anything about that? We used another handout from Democratic Schoolsabout teachers not giving up when things are hard to fight against.

Then came a TTTV video demonstrating the problem posing method in an ESL classroom—a perfect sequel.  We evaluated the video lesson by sharing our ideas on how it was the same as, and different from, one of our class participants’ problem posing class last week. Excellent discussion. They were impressed at how the emotional impact of the "code" stimulated the students in the video to express personal opinions even though they struggled to come up with the language they needed to do it.  There was a good discussion about how and when the two teachers brought in the elements of the problem posing method.

Then in the writing workshop, we had time for two author sharings (members of the class reading aloud pieces of writing they had drafted). The first wrote about a childhood experience, how she had once told on some students who cheated in school, and although she was right, she lost all her friends.  Another told about a recent PTA meeting he attended as a parent which in his view was unusually successful because of the unifying of Sierra Leone cultures the invasion of Freetown in January had brought about.  The question was asked: did we really need a rebel invasion to teach Sierra Leoneans they need to unite?  

We ended by agreeing that both these pieces of writing were closely related to our lesson on democracy. What a class we had today!

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[1]Apple, M. & Beane, J. (1955). Democratic Schools.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Linked Activity: Second Language Methodology (SLM) Courses

While director of the American International School of Freetown, I taught three sixty-hour courses in second-language instructional methodology to teachers of Sierra Leonean languages in fifteen junior secondary schools in the Freetown area. The duration of these courses were: September 15, 1997 - January 5, 1998 (SLM I); April 20, 1998 - June 29, 1998 (SLM II); and April 19, 1999 - June 23, 1999 (SLM III).

There were ten participants in each course, two from each of five schools. All were teachers of either Mende, Themne, Limba, or Krio in their schools. We met two or three times per week. Each session began with 10 minutes' dialogue journal writing. At the beginning of the course, we set up journal partners that were maintained throughout the course. In the first journal session, participants began writing in their own journal in a Sierra Leonean language--in most cases, the language they were teaching. In the next session, the partners would exchange journals and reply to what their partner had written, in the same language.

The lessons each day consisted of theories of second language acquisition and how to set up a class environment in which second language learning happens. Everyone learned seven teaching methods, or structures, which have been found effective in second language instruction. We used teacher training videocassettes borrowed from SELI to demonstrate the methods; I demonstrated the methods in class; and then each participant chose a method to teach the group one aspect of his/her language of instruction. Once we used this drawing one of the teachers made of her language class as a symbol when I demonstrated Freire's Problem Posing method.

We maintained a class library of literature that is available commercially in each of these four Sierra Leonean languages, and participants borrowed from the library during the course. To emphasize that literature only expands if there are authors, and that each of us can be an author, we dedicated part of each session to a writing workshop. We wrote in one language (English) to make it possible for us all to conference together, but kept emphasizing that we hoped they would begin to feel like authors and launch out into writing in their languages of instruction. The SLM courses were held during a period of extreme civil unrest in Sierra Leone when schools were not operating normally. This prevented our carrying out follow-up instructional support in the teachers' own schools; however, we all took courage from being able to share what was happening around us through our writing.