Listening and Responding

Abstract

This chapter makes the case that students deserve to be taught how to read texts critically and interrogate norms, givens, and assumptions. This includes re-evaluating what is meant by the word empowerment, revisiting the purpose of raising hands so that the teacher might decide and control who speaks, challenging current discussion techniques that are ostensibly geared toward teaching students how to respond to the comments of others, and interrogating the ubiquitous practice of classroom rules. The goal established here is to help both teachers and students embrace plurality and difference so that social justice is grounded in our engagements with others.