Reading the world, reading the word: why Not now, Bernard is not a case of suicide, but self-killing
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Date
2016
Authors
Murris, Karin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of the Free State
Abstract
Philosophical teaching gives permission to learners to explore the meaning of texts by
drawing on their own experiences. By thinking out loud, they construct new meanings
of texts. As a result of this oral work, what texts mean shifts in the unique relationship
between text and reader and include child’s voice. If educators nurture children’s
competencies and abilities in interrogating texts philosophically, their ability to read
against texts will not only be strengthened, but the reading experience itself will also
be transformative – but neither in the sense that South African educator Jonathan
Jansen suggests, nor as proposed by Critical Literacy. Philosophical teaching assumes
a relationship of ‘emptying’, not ‘filling’, and a conscious effort from the teacher to
resist the urge to regard education as a formation of childhood. My argument will
be supported by a transcript of a dialogue I facilitated with nine-year-olds discussing
Bernard’s apparent suicide in David McKee’s picturebook Not now Bernard.
Description
Keywords
Listening, Relational pedagogy, Epistemic injustice, Childism, Developmentalism, Picturebooks, David McKee, Comprehension, Early literacy, Critical literacy, Controversial topics, Jonathan Jansen
Citation
Murris, K. (2013). Reading the world, reading the word: why Not now, Bernard is not a case of suicide, but self-killing. Perspectives in Education, 31(4), 85-99.