Parrhesia in the Form of Handshakes
A simple “hello” can brighten up someone’s day, but have you ever given your student a fist bump before class?
I recently came across a video on my Facebook feed of Barry White Jr., a 5th grade teacher at Ashley Park PreK-8th grade school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Instead of greeting his students with a “good morning” or taking attendance, he starts every day doing a special and unique handshake with each of his students before they enter the classroom. Within the video, Mr. White states the purpose behind the handshakes is to have the students be excited to come to school, and in order to do this, he believes that his students first need to buy into himself as a teacher before he can even begin to deliver academic content to them. By establishing their own handshake with Mr. White, it establishes joy and trust within the classroom and it develops a higher and more positive outlook on attending school overall.
Once the video ended, three thoughts were brought to my attention:
- How can someone have the ability to memorize those many handshake sequences while I still fail to remember my co-workers’ names that I worked with all of summer?
- I have never seen or known of a teacher doing anything like this.
- All teachers should be doing something like this.
There are five teaching styles: authority, demonstrator, facilitator, delegator, and hybrid. Many of us have most likely experienced one of the five regardless of the learning environment and what was being taught. The authority method is mostly teacher-centered and lecture based with little or no interaction with the teacher. The demonstrator style displays their expertise by showing the students what they need to know by incorporating different teaching formats, such as slides, videos, and presentations. The facilitator promotes self-learning to help students critically think, retain knowledge, and establish self-actualization through exploration and questions. The delegator method promotes group collaboration and encourages peer learning while the teacher becomes more of an observer instead of an authority figure. These styles are commonly used amongst teachers usually depending on what subject is being taught.
Michael Foucault, a french philosopher, explains parrhesia to be free speech in which the speaker gives an exact and complete account of his thoughts. What the speakers say must be clearly comprehensible towards whomever they are talking to and they must make it obvious that whatever they are saying is their own opinion. Foucault then focuses on how parrhesia is found within the community life specifically through two types of teachers: 1) Those who establish a deeper relationship with their students while they teach, and 2) Those who do not. Teachers who not only take into account the particular circumstances that their students are placed in, but also instill advice and precepts within their lessons, are the ones that help their students discover more about themselves.
The fifth teaching style, the hybrid method, best reflects Foucault’s community life of parrhesia. In this case, it is clear that Mr. White demonstrates this practice with his students. The hybrid style allows teachers to incorporate their own personality and interests with the students’ needs — both academically and personally. Not only does it utilize all five teaching styles and integrate various strategies to produce the best curriculum for students, it also allows teachers to engrain their own knowledge and experiences in order to develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Although the hybrid style is criticized for the possibility of compensating the learning process for an interpersonal relationship, Mr. White thinks otherwise:
“One thing that’s going to stick with them forever is ‘How did Mr. White treat me when I was in his grade?’ The handshake kind of draws them in and once I have them in and have their trust and they’re invested in me then I can deliver my content and see the academic side of it increase. So that’s really why I do it, to bring joy to them.”
Mr. White is not the only teacher taking parrhesia and the hybrid style into account within the classroom. Another teacher at Mueller Elementary School, and Stephen Gernett, a Whitman College men’s basketball assistant coach, have also created special handshakes with each of the students and players on the team that are leading up to positive effects. As Mr. White has emphasized, and from what both parrhesia in the community and the hybrid method has supported, an interpersonal relationship with the ones being guided allows growth in themselves and provides something more meaningful that is more accustomed to their own situation.
Something as simple as a handshake can be the means towards achieving success, sparking a desire to exceed limitations, and even changing one’s attitude and outlook towards school for the better. Although a lot of time and effort are put into making each handshake unique and personalized for each student, it forms a special bond that is only between the teacher, student, and what they both created together. Forms of parrhesia and the hybrid method are not limited to just handshakes. Asking students how they are doing, spending the extra time to explain a certain concept they may have not understood, or using personal experiences in order to relate the subject matter to their own lives are a few examples that can certainly establish a stronger relationship between the student and teacher, as well as help the student become more accustomed with school.
Parrhesia in the community is more than just guiding groups of people towards achieving a common goal; it is developing a deeper relationship with individuals that make those groups a whole. The positive effects of the hybrid method results in individuals creating a greater discovery of their own self and the group flourishing together as an ensemble. In addition to both of these styles complimenting each other, teachers today should take into consideration of incorporting these two methods into their everyday teaching environment.
