LeAnn Putney, Ph. D. College of Education
Department of Educational Psychology
4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 453003
Las Vegas.NV 89154-3003
702-895-4879
702-895-1658
http://www.unlv.edu/faculty/putney
http://www.unlv.edu/projects/culture

Joan Wink, Ph. D.
CSU Stanislaus
College of Education
Turlock, Ca 95382
209-667-3357
209-667-3358 (fax)
jwink@csustan.edu
http://www.JoanWink.com

Proposal submitted 7-14-02 by Joan Wink

TITLE: Vygotsky and Freire: Linked through the Transformative Power of Language

STRAND Critical Pedagogy

DESCRIPTION

The purpose of this interactive session is to share the theory and practice of Freire and Vygotsky and to demonstrate ways of linking their ideas to improve K-12 classroom practice. Ideas will be shared through visual representations. Participants are asked to bring their blank journals for drawing and doodling.

Type of Presentation Group Interaction

Grade Level All

Intended Audience All

Level of Audience both

Room Set-up Requested Theater Style

Technology n/a

Repeat yes

Brief Outline

PURPOSE

The purpose of this interactive session is to share the theory and practice of Freire and Vygotsky and to demonstrate ways of linking their ideas to improve K-12 classroom practice. Ideas will be shared with through visual representations or graphics.

CONCEPTS TO BE PRESENTED

Freire taught us the power of critical reflection and action that is grounded in our own world, or our own sociocultural context. In classrooms, this Freirian legacy encourages us to create situations where teachers, students, and parents think, talk, read, write, and take action about things, which really matter to them. Vygotsky taught us to negotiate meaning through dialogue in our own sociocultural contexts, or our own worlds. Freire and Vygotsky are linked through the transformative power of language, which is used critically and collaboratively in our own worlds.

The ideas of Freire and Vygotsky and their linkages will be shared initially through visuals. Then participants will receive an overview of a Critical Praxis Framework, which joins the Vygotskian and Freirian perspectives for further critical reflection, action, and assessment.

ACTIVITIES and POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

All ideas will be represented visually with graphics and images. The presenters will share various images and representations and then ask the participants to represent their own thoughts visually and to share with the group.

Hopefully, participants will specifically understand and be able to implement the Freirian legacy of critical reflection and action; and the Vygotskian legacy of the relationship between thought and language; the sociocultural context; and the zone of proximal development (ZPD).

Research Questions Addressed

What is Vygotsky's legacy?
What is Freire's legacy?
How are the two join?
How does this knowledge of Freire and Vygotsky improve k-12 classroom practice?
How can the Critical Praxis Framework be used in schools for critical reflection, action, and assessment?
What happens when teachers reflect and act critically and collaboratively?
What funds of knowledge are created through critical and collaborative reflection and action?

The proposed presentation is aligned with or promotes CABE's Vision of Biliteracy for All in that the Freirian critical perspective linked with the Vygotskian notion of the sociocultural context is the bedrock of biliteracy for all.