Pedagogical Category Research Articles

СТРУКТУРА КОМУНІКАТИВНОЇ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТІ МАЙБУТНІХ ВИКЛАДАЧІВ ІНОЗЕМНИХ МОВ

The purpose of the article is to determine the structure of communicative competence of future foreign language teachers. In the process of research, a number of methods was used, among which: analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, comparison, monographic method, abstraction. The article substantiates the need to structure the communicative competence of future teachers of foreign languages, highlights the main factors: 1) competence as a scientific and pedagogical category; 2) competence in general and communicative competence in particular are evaluative categories; 3) foreign language communicative competence requires comparative analysis within its structure. The peculiarities of the classifications of competencies offered by different scientists in relation to different areas of training are considered. The analysis of scientific sources on the problem of structuring the communicative competence of future specialists is carried out. The structure of communicative competence of future foreign language teachers is presented in the set of the following components: purposeful, which reflects the level of students’ interest in further growth of their level of communicative competence, on the one hand, and motivated mastery of modern information and communication technologies; cognitive-linguistic component, which is represented by a set of systematic knowledge of a foreign language and methods of its teaching, as well as a course in psychology and pedagogy of higher education; procedural and technological, which allows, on the one hand, development of communicative skills in the field of foreign language communication and teaching foreign languages, on the other – skills and abilities to use modern ICT in the process of learning (and further teaching) foreign languages; reflexive-evaluative, which involves the ability to assess the level of formation of communicative competence of future teachers of foreign languages with the use of modern information and communication technologies, and to implement their own reflection of these processes. The identified and described components of communicative competence are correlated with the list of professional competencies of the specified specialist. We see the prospects for further research in the development and implementation in the practice of higher education institutions of the model of formation of communicative competence of future teachers of foreign languages.

Understanding How the Perceived Usefulness of Mobile Technology Impacts Physics Learning Achievement: a Pedagogical Perspective

This study investigated how students’ and teachers’ pedagogical roles in mobile learning moderated the relationship between high school students’ perceived usefulness of mobile technology and the actual use frequency, as well as how students’ perceived usefulness impacted their physics learning achievement. We examined 803 high school freshmen who used 20 specific functions of tablets in physics learning for five months. Based on pedagogical roles students and teachers played, 15 of the 20 functions were classified into three pedagogical categories: five for student-led, five for teacher-led, and five for collaborative functions (Journal of Science Education and Technology; Zhai, Li, & Chen, 28: 310–320, 2019). Results indicate that students perceived the collaborative functions as the most useful ones compared to student- and teacher-led functions. Also, the use frequency of mobile functions was highly aligned with students’ perceived usefulness by pedagogical category, and the pedagogical category was found to moderate the association between the perceived usefulness and the actual use frequency. That is, the relationship between the perceived usefulness and the use frequency varied significantly across the three pedagogical categories. We also found the use frequency mediated the relationship between perceived usefulness and physics learning achievement particularly for the collaborative functions. The male and female students tended to have different perceptional accountability of mobile technology for their physics learning achievement. Specifically, male students’ perception of collaborative functions positively predicted their physics learning achievement, while female students’ perception of student-led functions positively predicted their physics learning achievement. Both male and female students’ perception of teacher-led functions negatively predicted their physics learning achievement.

Analysis of the development of distance learning as a modern form of information and education environment

The article considers the essence of development and dissemination of distance learning as an innovative technology in the Ukrainian and foreign education space in the context of the historical and pedagogical approach. The authors study the conditions of implementation of this education technology, teaching aids and features of teaching. An important point of the article is the analysis of the genesis of the educational process at different stages, positive and negative aspects of distance education, as well as the authors' own practical recommendations for using modern distance learning platforms taking into account the needs of education and information environment. A large number of works in modern general and professional pedagogy are devoted to the study of such an innovative education technology as distance learning. Using comparative and descriptive research methods, the history of this phenomenon in education is considered, the main pedagogical categories are identified, the advantages and disadvantages of the distance education application and difficulties of this technology implementation are identified. Despite the high level of the problem elaboration and introduction of distance learning in modern education, there is a need, taking into account modern realities, to analyse the significance and essence of this innovative approach in more details. The authors of the article consider modern distance learning platforms in terms of intensification of foreign language and other humanities learning. The necessity of distance education technologies implementation under conditions of modern technogenic civilisation is proved, when traditional models of organisation of the educational process fail to satisfy the education needs of a large number of population. The result of the work is a substantiated statement of the authors about the necessity to combine traditional and distance learning models to ensure the competitiveness of the modern educational process.

ПІДГОТОВКА МАЙБУТНІХ УЧИТЕЛІВ ПОЧАТКОВИХ КЛАСІВ ДО ВИХОВАННЯ ТОЛЕРАНТНОСТІ У МОЛОДШИХ ШКОЛЯРІВ У ПОЗАУРОЧНІЙ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ

У статті розкрито зміст спецсемінару «Виховуємо толерантну особистість» для майбутніх учителів початкових класів, завданнями якого є: розкрити сутність толерантності як педагогічної категорії; зміст та специфіку педагогічної толерантності; ознайомити майбутніх учителів початкових класів з техніками толерантного спілкування; сприяти формуванню практичних навичок толерантного спілкування; розкрити специфіку виховання толерантності у молодших школярів у позаурочній діяльності; ознайомити студентів з методикою діагностування рівнів вихованості толерантності в учнів початкових класів; сприяти поглибленню знань студентів щодо форм і методів виховання толерантності у молодших школярів.
 Під час проведення спецсемінару було проведено лекції («Проблема толерантності в педагогіці», «Форми і методи виховання толерантності в учнів початкової школи»); інтерактивні заняття («Зміст та специфіка педагогічної толерантності», «Специфіка виховання толерантності у молодших школярів у позаурочній діяльності», «Техніки толерантного спілкування», «Вивчення рівнів вихованості толерантності у молодших школярів», «Використання ігрової діяльності як засобу виховання толерантності молодших школярів»).
 Проведене дослідження не вичерпує багатогранності теоретичних і практичних пошуків розв’язання проблеми. Подальші наукові розвідки будуть спрямовані на розроблення проблеми підвищення ефективності післядипломної освіти щодо виховання толерантності у молодого покоління.

Проектирование методического обеспечения процесса формирования компетенций обучающихся технических вузов в сфере международного сотрудничества на занятиях по иностранным языкам

The analysis of third-generation Federal State Educational Standards convinces us that such an important area of activity for graduates of technical universities as preparation for international cooperation has not been adequately reflected in the goals of higher education formulated in the terms of competences. To overcome this shortcoming, the designing of methodical support (DMS) of disciplines related to the teaching of foreign languages for students of all specialties and all levels of education was implemented in order to prepare them for international cooperation. The content of the designing is studied, the author's definition is proposed, the structure and design algorithm are developed. In the process of studying the specifics of international cooperation as a pedagogical category, methodological, cultural and communicative components of this concept are described. The identification of the most significant areas of international cooperation for graduates of technical universities has become the fundamental element in the designing of methodical support. The article describes the designing content in accordance with the developed structure. The obtained results are analyzed and the ways to improve methodical support in order to form students' universal competences are suggested.

Социокультурные и антропоэкологические отличительные особенности педагогического дискурса

The relevance of the study is due to the complexity of socio-cultural reality due to the aggravation of the contradiction between globalization and national-oriented processes, the increasing struggle of cultures, economies and ideologies, and the acceleration of scientific and technological progress. The purpose of the article is to consider sociocultural and anthropoecological distinctive features of pedagogical discourse. The author points out that anthropo-innovations, such as genetic engineering, cyborgization, cloning, integration with artificial intelligence, pharmaceutical advances, and GMO products threaten the existence of a person in his or her mental and physical integrity. The restriction of anthropological innovations is due to spiritual revival, reliance on traditional cultures, as well as the best cultural and pedagogical national experience, and is determined by the understanding of the soul as an integrating component of a person. In the Humanities, the description of an increasingly complex socio-cultural reality is closely related to its description in the context of various discursive plans. This approach is also promising for pedagogy. At the same time, modern trends in the development of the discursive approach “blur” the boundaries of pedagogical knowledge. The article presents a highly specialized definition of pedagogical discourse. During the study the following methods were applied: analysis of legal documents and scientific and methodical literature. It is proved that the pedagogical category “zone of proximal development” in its socio-cultural and anthropo-ecological contexts favors understanding of the distinctive features of educational and pedagogical discourse. It is concluded that orientation to the zone of proximal development of the individual contributes to the consistency of the socio-cultural experience, including nationally oriented components, transmitted by the teacher, with the life experience of the student, favors his or her emotional involvement in the educational process.

АКТИВІЗАЦІЯ ТВОРЧОГО ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ СТУДЕНТІВ У ПРОЦЕСІ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ

Статтю присвячено вивченню творчого потенціалу студента у процесі його професійної підготовки у закладі вищої освіти. Здійснено теоретичний аналіз психолого-педагогічної літератури з проблеми дослідження, проведено діагностичне виявлення особливостей становлення творчого потенціалу студентів, проаналізовано виховні заходи зі студентами педагогічного університету, організовано систематичне спостереження за проявами творчого потенціалу студентів під час практичних занять та у процесі проведення творчих конкурсів, культурно-масових і виховних заходів.Ученими доведено, що творчий потенціал – це інтегруюча якість особистості, що характеризує міру її можливостей ставити й вирішувати нові завдання у сфері своєї діяльності та має суспільне значення. З’ясовано, що до сфери творчого потенціалу відносяться: задатки, нахили, інтереси (домінування пізнавальних інтересів); допитливість (схильність до пошуку розв’язання проблем); швидкість у засвоєнні нової інформації; здатність створювати еталони для подальшого вибору; вияви загального інтелекту; емоційне ставлення до подій тощо. Нами було надане тлумачення професійної підготовки майбутніх фахівців, а саме: професійна підготовка – це не тільки здобуття певної кваліфікації за відповідним напрямом, а й засіб соціалізації сучасного студента, його гармонізації з реальною дійсністю, набуття ним фундаментальних знань у певній галузі та якостей професійної культури, розвитку його творчих можливостей. Сутність творчого потенціалу розглядаємо у сукупності таких основних компонентів та критеріїв до них: когнітивний компонент (обізнаність про власні творчі можливості), мовленнєвий компонент (вербальна креативність); діяльнісний компонент (конструктивна активність, оригінальність створюваного образу).Результати діагностики засвідчили недостатній рівень розвитку творчого потенціалу студентів, особливо за мовленнєвим і діяльнісним компонентами. Для активізації творчого потенціалу студентів – майбутніх вихователів закладів дошкільної освіти та практичних психологів, ми розробили психологічну програму, що містить систему практичних занять і виховних заходів, серед яких детальніше представлено театралізацію казок.

Specific Features of Educational and Pedagogical Discourse in the Context of Anthropological Challenges: Socio-Cultural Approach

The relevance of the research is due to the destructive influence of digitalization of society, globalization processes, technological and social progress on a person in his spiritual and physical integrity. These are, first of all, such technological and sociocultural factors as virtualization of the individual’s consciousness, cyborgization, loss of subjectivity in the process of merging with information machine complexes, genetic engineering, cloning, pharmaceutical modifying human influence. It is proved that a broad interpretation of educational and pedagogical discourse is adequate for the modern socio-cultural space, which is becoming more complicated for description, which makes it synonymous with such a basic category for pedagogical science as the pedagogical process. The marked tendency is estimated as negative, as the categorical value of basic concepts for pedagogy is lost, the subject of pedagogical science in the system of human Sciences is blurred. Therefore, a highly specialized definition of specific features of pedagogical discourse is justified. It is concluded that the pedagogical category “zone of immediate development” in its socio-cultural hypostasis contributes to the designation of specific features of educational and pedagogical discourse, focusing on specific pedagogical tasks. For example orientation to the zone of the nearest development of the individual in the process of his constant development and self-development assumes permanent diagnostic correction on the part of the teacher in relation to the student. This favors the consistency of the socio-cultural experience transmitted by the teacher with the life experience of the student, the emotional “inclusion” of the latter in the educational process

Incident data in enhancing school safety: an example from Finland

Safety and security is a multi-faced phenomenon that is an essential part of students' and staff's well-being at school, which is well documented as the main issue in a good learning environment. However, very little is known about incidents that happen at schools, but a catalogue of these incidents could serve as a learning tool for proactive management of the safety culture. Incidents occur in relation to physical, social, psychological and pedagogical factors. To develop a safety culture, there is need to record, monitor and analyse incidents (near-misses, accidents and injuries). There are no systematic procedures in regular use that would allow schools as organisations to learn from incidents and implement alterations to develop their safety culture. In the study of 168 incidents from three comprehensive schools in Finland, data were collected and monitored in a digital system. The incidents were categorised into physical, social, psychological and pedagogical categories. This paper gives prior knowledge of incidents in pedagogical category regarding what happened, where and to whom.

Incident data in enhancing school safety: an example from Finland

Safety and security is a multi-faced phenomenon that is an essential part of students' and staff's well-being at school, which is well documented as the main issue in a good learning environment. However, very little is known about incidents that happen at schools, but a catalogue of these incidents could serve as a learning tool for proactive management of the safety culture. Incidents occur in relation to physical, social, psychological and pedagogical factors. To develop a safety culture, there is need to record, monitor and analyse incidents (near-misses, accidents and injuries). There are no systematic procedures in regular use that would allow schools as organisations to learn from incidents and implement alterations to develop their safety culture. In the study of 168 incidents from three comprehensive schools in Finland, data were collected and monitored in a digital system. The incidents were categorised into physical, social, psychological and pedagogical categories. This paper gives prior knowledge of incidents in pedagogical category regarding what happened, where and to whom.

ЕВОЛЮЦІЯ ОСВІТНІХ ПАРАДИГМ У СУЧАСНОМУ НАУКОВОМУ ДИСКУРСІ

The article analyzes the phenomenon of the educational paradigm as a philosophical and pedagogical category. The article states the importance of educational paradigms for the modernization and development of the educational sphere as a catalyst for shifts and qualitative transformations in it. The aim of the article is the methodological substantiation of the educational program in the context of modern transformations in society. Attention has been focused on the definitions «paradigm», «pedagogical paradigm», «educational paradigm». The discourse of scientists about these concepts has been provided and the general and distinctive shades between them have been clarified. Various types of educational paradigms have been highlighted and grouped depending on the goals they carry in their contents. Depending on the analysis carried out, it has been indicated that an educational paradigm always, in any historical era, acts as a paradigm idea of the development of education. It has been noted that the mission of pedagogy is in the change and dynamics of the educational paradigm as the one which provides the basis for innovative approaches to the development of education, the contents and organization of training and interaction among the main subjects of education. The synergetic paradigm has been indicated as a new and innovative educational paradigm. Education can be considered as a synergetic system whose self-organization processes can be fully described by such categories as bifurcations, fluctuations, attractors, dissipative structures, etc. This circumstance leads to a revision of the established, traditional ideas about education and makes the basis for qualitative changes in its development.

Понятие «сопровождение» как педагогическая категория

The purpose of the study presented in the article is to clarify the pedagogical aspect of the concept of “support” within the context of modern requirements for the educational process implementation. It has been shown that pedagogical support is one of the areas of work of a teacher with children in educational organizations. When support is provided, the relationships between the participants in the educational process should be subject-subject in nature. In order to achieve this, the author refers to social characteristics of the personality of a teacher, who can provide support in the educational process. The ambivalence of the concept of “support”, the frequency of its use by various specialists gave rise to the need to clarify its meaningful content in relation to a field of knowledge, in order to prevent the substitution of this term with other definitions. Research hypothesis: provided that pedagogical context is singled out and the activities of the support teacher are clear, the concept of “support” will be fixed in pedagogical science, indicating the boundaries of its use by various specialists. Modern approaches to disclosure of the concept of support as a pedagogical category are described. The similarities and differences of the concepts of “pedagogical accompaniment” and “pedagogical support (assistance)” are determined. The author concludes that the process of accompanying students is relevant for the current socio-cultural situation. In organizations of continuing education this process has been understudied and requires further study.

Мовленнєвий вчинок на уроках української мови в ліцеї

The article considers a speech as a psychological, linguistic and pedagogical category, emphasizes peculiarities of a speech act, justifies feasibility of introducing the topic Speech act into school curriculum of Ukrainian language at a lyceum. By analyzing findings of psychologists, linguists and educators, the author emphasizes importance of issues of theory for educational practice and modern methods of Ukrainian language teaching and offers techniques that are systematically able to ensure efficiency and effectiveness at forming a competent speaker. The researcher takes into account a linguistic opinion that even speech genres can be considered as a speech act, for example, a genre of apology, sympathy, confession and so on. By offering texts for analysis of linguistic phenomena, the author draws attention to substantive essence of a speech act, communicative intentions of an author, and linguistic expression of the act. Thus, a speech is a testimony to an appropriate level of speech culture, reflects communicative-moral side of linguistic behavior of an individual and its qualitative characteristics.

Особенности читательских интересов детей младшего школьного возраста, воспитывающихся в семьях с различным социокультурным статусом

At present multiple publications and surveys on children’s reading challenges offer controversial findings. While some observe a reduced interest in reading among children and adolescents, others state that these readers are drawn to new books on subjects which they deem relevant, and which many parents and educators know little about. In their wish that children should read, parents and educators are often guided by their own current and childhood preferences. This notion essentially has shaped the research objective to study the reading preference specifics in young learners from different sociocultural family backgrounds. The paper uses reading preference as a psychological and pedagogical category, as it determines the attitude to reading, a preference for certain kinds of books, a reading range, and an impulse to discuss the books one is reading or has read. Although a number of factors may impact a child’s reading preferences and their development, this research focuses primarily on families. The term sociocultural family background is used as a differentiator to analyze the family upbringing environment as well as its educational and schooling capacity. The survey involved 204 respondents (102 children and 102 parents) and its outcomes established the reading preferences of young readers from different sociocultural family backgrounds. The paper identifies the differences in attitudes toward reading, reader preference profiles (from mandatory school reading to books by contemporary children’s writers), and towards the ability to have and to support one’s reading preferences. The identified profiles are aligned with the criteria of the reader’s preference survey. The article also contains a reference list of books popular among today’s primary school children.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER OF INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION OF CHILDREN IN THE CONDITIONS OF A MIXED AGE GROUP IN A PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

The article reveals specifics of interpersonal interaction of children in the conditions of a mixed-age group in a preschool educational institution.The purpose of the article is:to analyse theoretically the interpersonal interaction of educational process participants in a preschool educational institution as a psychological and pedagogical category;to investigate the influence of interpersonal interaction on the development of abilities and activity of pupils in the conditions of a mixed-age group.The concept “interaction” has been specified in the article. Theoretical and methodological foundations to the formation of interpersonal interaction of children in the conditions of a mixed-aged group in the preschool educational institution have been considered, too. Views of native and foreign scientists on the determinants of the group behavior of preschool-age children have been analyzed. The stages of the development of interpersonal interaction of preschool-age children and playing games as the formation environment of interpersonal interaction skills development have been characterized. The main determinants of the formation of a preschool personality in the conditions of a mixed-age group have been determined. The peculiarities of pedagogical activity of the teacher in the conditions of a mixed-age group have been clarified. It has been underlined that the effectiveness of the organization of children’s life of all ages is caused by the establishment of active interpersonal interaction between them; the main forms of educational work of a teacher with children of different age have been revealed. The ideological characteristics of a teacher’s interaction with children have been characterized, in particular: orientation of actions; emotional state; degree of teacher’s involvement in communication with children; specially organized process of mixed-age interactions; variation of methods and forms of educational process organization. It has been established that the different age interaction is the factor which has the most effective influence on social and mental development of a child, providing its expedient and purposeful inclusion in pedagogical process.

Фахові компетенції з постановки голосу як складова професійної компетентності майбутнього вчителя музичного мистецтва

The article is focused on the problem of vocational training of students in higher educational establishments. A sequence of vocal and choral disciplines including voice production, plays a leading role in the art faculties of higher education. The reason is, it is determined by specific work of a specialist whose aim is to provide a practical solution to problems related to formation of spiritual development amongst the younger generation through solo singing. In these circumstances forming of vocal competences is carried out by classes of staging voice. Thus, aiming to solve the problems of professional improvement oftraining future music teachers. The result is visible by perfect mastery in the basics of the singer’s breath, the right position of voice, variety of voice, ability to adjust dynamics of sound, singing orthoepia, articulation, diction and so on. The importance in the concept of "competence" as a pedagogical category is determined. The main competencies that constitutes the three blocks are characterized as personal, professional-pedagogical and functional. Each block is delimited by the main components that make up the content and structure of professional competences to be mastered by a vocal student. The focus is on the specifics vocal teacher’s professional activity. It is concluded that the work of the student in the class of voice-overs involves mastering the complex ofprofessional competences. They are related to mastering music-theoretical knowledge, vocal skills and abilities by acquiring individual personal qualities needed for the competent organization of solo singing of pupils.

Implementation of The Technology: “Pedagogical Partnership of Pre School and Primary Stages of Education”

The main priority of modern pre-school education is to ensure the self-identification of individual, the spiritual formation of children, the interaction between family and social institutions. Continuity of education is recognized as its guiding principle, which is ensured through continuity of the contents and coordination of educational activities at different levels of education. “Continuity” as a pedagogical category is the interconnection of various stages of development, the essence of which is to restore and preserve at the new stage the elements and characteristics of the previous ones. The pedagogical condition for the implementation of the principle of continuity of pre-school and primary stages of education is the technology of partner cooperation between the educators of pre-school educational institutions and primary school teachers. Pedagogical partnership is a process of joint activity of a teacher-educator, pupils, parents, and teachers of primary school aimed at prevision of the result of educational and cognitive activity; it serves the interests of all parties and contributes to the needs of senior pre-school children; planning, control, correction and coordination of activities of educators and administration of a pre-school educational institution; primary school teachers and administration of secondary schools; the emergence of interpersonal relationships for the purpose of lytic transition and preparation of children of senior pre-school age for schooling. Due to the effective implementation of the principle of continuity of pre-school and primary education by means of pedagogical partnership, the processes of individual development of personality of a senior pre-school child, as well as gradual inclusion of a child in the system of personal and public relations, individual socialization, and the formation of life competence of preschoolers take place [1]-[3]. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the technology of pedagogical partnership between pre-school and primary stages of education in order to ensure the principle of continuity and also ensure the transition of senior pre-school children to the first-year educational process. To achieve the purpose of the research, the following tasks were set: 1. To reveal the essence and structure of the concept of “pedagogical partnership between pre-school and primary stages of education”; to clarify the concept of “interaction”, “pedagogical interaction” in the context of the initiated research. 2. To investigate the experimental methodology of the technology of pedagogical partnership of pre-school and primary stages of education. A set of research methods was used in order to solve the set tasks, including: theoretical methods: the definition of the conceptual and categorical apparatus of the research; empirical methods: diagnostic methods (questionnaire, polling, testing), pedagogical experiment (ascertaining, formation and control stages); determination of the levels of pedagogical partnership; observational methods (supervision, method of self-evaluation).

The Master as a Historical, Cultural and Pedagogical Category: An Introduction

The Master is a semantic category which exists in every culture and in every historical moment in the world. The tasks and the role of the master in society are changing, but nevertheless, masters continue to support the development of science, art, education or moral systems. There are many different contexts for this category that reveal specific aspects of being the master, as well as the value of the relation between a master and a student. The aim of this text is to characterize them and take readers on a literary and scientific journey through different cultures, past centuries, and social institutions that will help us to better understand the phenomenon of the master(s).

Dzieciństwo, dziecko i jego dobro w perspektywie Korczakowskiej

This article is an attempt to specify the meanings of a child’s category, childhood and the best interest of the child made on the basis of analysis and interpretation of pedagogical thought of Janusz Korczak and literature analysis. The interpretations and references to Korczak’s thoughts have been there included. The research project were based on document content analysis. Korczak – the figure undoubtedly the foreground in Polish pedagogy and the world doctrine of children’s rights. It is his pedagogical practice and contemporary reception of his thoughts, made by educators and lawyers, that will become the basis for seeking the meanings of categories on which the modern doctrine of children’s rights and the system of their protection are built. As a result: the principle of the best interest of the child as a determinant of the pedagogical practice of Janusz Korczak has been normalized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other acts of Polish and international law. This category is interpreted dynamically in the context of changes in the discourses of a child and childhood functioning in social and political life, especially in the area of education and upbringing of the young generation. As a pedagogical category, it is visible in the reflection of many pedagogues as a central category, most often identified with the goal of all adult activities for the child.

Teaching Hemingway and Race ed. by Gary Edward Holcomb (review)

Reviewed by: Teaching Hemingway and Race ed. by Gary Edward Holcomb Alyssa Young Gary Edward Holcomb, ed. Teaching Hemingway and Race. Kent State UP, 2018. 142 p. How do we take the works of America's machismo male figure, Ernest Hemingway, and utilize them strategically with pedagogical objectives for enlightening students about race? As an English Composition instructor, I feel the urgent need to verse my students in the topic of race, and how it appears in texts. Unfortunately, there is a lack of material that provides examples of literature and pedagogical strategies for teaching about the presence of race. That is, until I found Teaching Hemingway and Race, part of Kent State University Press's The Teaching Hemingway Series. The series exhibits varying topics found within [End Page 207] Hemingway's works, which include gender, modernism, war, race, and more. Teaching Hemingway and Race contributes a vital lens of pedagogical approaches to teachers, instructors, and professors alike who seek a detailed guide for how to instruct students about race. Divided into two categories, the essays describe accounts of teaching experience in accordance with the goal of instruction on race. Holcomb introduces a synthesis and general overview, giving the audience a framework to have in mind. The pedagogical category features essays on approaches with strategies to teach students how to read and interpret representations of race and ethnicity. All chapters have a clearly stated purpose and a rationale for support. The second category compares the writings of Hemingway and similar raceoriented authors, and demonstrates how to use them together in the classroom. Marc Dudley's essay guides instructors in teaching "The Battler," and provides background, "Hemingway works as an impressionist of sorts, painting character and landscape for striking sensory effect; but he also works as a reporter, a historian, and sometimes a political agitator, looking both to document and manipulate truth for optimal psychic effect" (8). This information gives teachers who are not familiar with Hemingway's life and work the foundation to appreciate his writings and contributions made to teaching race. Analysis of the characters of ethnic background helps students form questions and thoroughly dissect "The Battler" to discover how it portrays race. Dudley maintains explanations of his academic moves in the classroom and details what students gain from each reading and exercise. Margaret Wright-Cleveland elaborates on the unique racial education Hemingway received while living in Oak Park, Illinois, which ultimately influenced his works (16) and builds the foundation of historical events in order to apply them to activities such as the Critical Race Theory. Ross Tangedal addresses the lack of scholarly attention pertaining to race, and encourages attentive reading from students towards complexities of race in literature. He analyzes the benefits that "Death in the Afternoon" and "Green Hills of Africa" bring to the classroom. After reading the works, he suggests questioning students about the roles of the fighter's ethnic backgrounds and characterizations, and states the imperative nature of the activity, "If race is to be understood in either work, attention must be given to [End Page 208] Hemingway's treatment of his experts and their activities," noting that experts were people of ethnic background (39). The remaining three pedagogy chapters follow suit by detailing historical context, introducing the works analyzed, explaining the sections that make students uncomfortable, encouraging instructors to push through to ensure that they arrive at the cognitive state to ask intelligent questions, and expounding upon the final understanding of the lesson. I suspect that the first category of essays is more appealing to instructors who are seeking step-by-step outlines of how to approach a lesson and focus on race because of the introduction of learning outcomes, scaffolding recommendations, and exact questions that should be used. The comparison category contains entries on teaching Hemingway's work in combination with the texts of additional authors who write about race. Each essay begins with the objective and personal interests of the essayist, and the learning outcomes they hope to stimulate within their classrooms. These comparisons act less as a guide and instead present the commonalities between Hemingway and additional writers. The essays integrate the topics of the Harlem Renaissance, dislocation and questions of...