How do lived experiences enrich teaching and learning?
Exposure to stories and lived experiences is an ethical and effective method for growing practitioners who are culturally attuned and dedicated to empowering others. Despite systemic pressure to standardize results, K-12 classrooms can be enriched by inviting in student stories and better understanding the perspectives young people gain through navigating their daily lives, because the teaching and learning environment is not only enhanced when difference and disparities are humanized, but also becomes a pathway to eliminate, minimize, and/or mitigate barriers to quality education for all.
The field of medicine provides an interesting example; multiculturalism in medical education is a critical component when developing students into practitioners who advocate and care for individuals different from themselves (Kumagi & Lypson, 2009). Curriculum and activities are designed to awaken awareness of power and privilege, as well as other inequities. Through active recognition of societal problems and searching for solutions, medical practice can be an outlet for social justice by delivering high-quality healthcare to all (Kumagi & Lypson, 2009). Furthermore, stories and first-person narratives are useful teaching tools for shifting focus to others and conditions of injustice (Kumagi & Lypson, 2009). Dialogue is an important element; by visiting with families and hearing stories of illness, medical students gain empathic connections to others, which arouse compassion and responsibility (Kumagi & Lypson, 2009).
Because little attention is afforded to K-12 teaching and learning contexts, and pre-service education and in-service teacher training offer minimal support for how teachers can connect to the daily cultural experiences of their students, classroom practice can inadvertently transmit inequities and dominant ideologies (Kozleski & Waitoller, 2009). However, lived experiences, when encountered in pre-service coursework, provide transformative learning situations and enable the development of teachers who are “weavers of difference” by embracing teaching as a cultural practice (Kozleski & Waitoller, 2009). Additionally, the K-12 classroom setting itself is a rich environment to continue the encounter with lived experience. Cultural modeling is an approach to linking teaching methods to students’ backgrounds; in this way, young people are encouraged to show and explain prior knowledge and the expertise informed by their daily lives (Kozleski & Waitoller, 2009). Uniqueness and difference are then honored as cultural assets in the classroom.
Stories are methods for breaking down barriers. By embracing lived experiences as valuable assets for teaching and learning, the delivery of quality education for all is prioritized.
References
Kozleski, E., & Waitoller, F. (2009). Teacher learning for inclusive education: Understanding teaching as a cultural and political practice. International Journal of Inclusive Education. 14(7), 655-666.
Kumagi A.K., & Lypson M.L. (2009). Beyond cultural competence: Critical consciousness, social justice, and multicultural education. Academic Medicine. 84(6). 782-787.
+++
