The Praxis of Derrida and Classroom Instruction – Increasing Awareness of Chosen Signifiers 

Origin 

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Jacque Derrida, in his practice of deconstruction, has illuminated a point of thought in the delivery of information in a classroom setting.  According to Derrida, the logos and the phone of that the teacher is using to express her thoughts, do not exist as words in her head.  Then, when attempting to translate her thoughts into the logos and then the phone, her selection is dependent upon her applicability of the words within the context i.e. classroom, classroom teacher, student, student learning, and her ability to most clearly, again, only according to her contextual application, select the word that is demonstrative of her thought.   

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Challenge 

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If one were to agree with Derrida's claim about logos and phone – that each is a signifier used to communicate the thoughts that are within someone's head – that the understanding of the signifier is reliant upon a set of culturally derived cues, both in the emittance of the signifier and the reception of the signifier, the question becomes: How does one accurately convey meaning  considering that in a classroom there are students that have dissimilar contextual acquisitions of  the words and language that the teacher is choosing to use?  

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In Wisconsin, where over 90% of the teaching force is Caucasian, not only is there a lack of diversity in the teaching force, but the lack of plurality also limits the opportunity for others to critique selected signifiers, because the pool of critics is ethnically homogenous and educationally homogeneous. Thus, the critic, having similar contextually similar experiences of logos acquisition and application, would reach a predictably similar conclusion to the original teacher, and fail to see the interconnection of why the logos and the phone could be useless in the context in which the signifier had served its utility previously.   Now, when there is a voice that notices that the teacher may not be understood, because of the commonality and acceptance of logos and phone, it is now the teacher that, is unable to comprehend that a student may not be able to understand the signifiers that have proven true and understood throughout her life.   

“In the foreground of this work, there is an obelisk that was confiscated from the Egyptians and now is a favorite sight when visiting Paris.” There is an expectation placed upon the teacher to demonstrate content knowledge and an expectation to demonstrate expertise in the area of instruction. One way that expertise is demonstrated is using language specific to the field of academic study.  As a result, the teacher is attempting to convey information that is inaccessible to her students.  If the teacher were being observed by a peer, who then might raise the question that the choice of language is preventing the students from understanding what the teacher is saying. After all, the observer, being in the same field, trying to meet the same expectations would most likely use the same language in identifying the elements present in the painting that is being examined.   

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Try This 

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When thinking about this challenge in the classroom, I would argue that the teacher needs to be constantly aware of her reliance on the signifier that she is choosing in attempting to convey her thoughts.  Is the signifier known or is the signifier solely assumed to be known to the listener?  Do my students understand me, and if so, to what degree? 

 In what ways can the teacher ensure that the student understand the message beyond the comprehension level?  A check for understanding that might illuminate signifier differences might include the directive to “put what I just said in your own words.”  With that, the teacher can hear back what the student interpreted.  The burden to understand should be shared, not solely on the student.  By increasing the awareness of our signifiers and questioning as to what is being understood by students would increase comprehension and diminish a stress that the student feels when they say, “I’m confused.”