M. Gadotti ("Reading Palo Freire") quotes Freire's memories of his own learning as largely unsuccessful because (Freire) was always hungry. He couldn't learn because of physical hunger. I remember as part of a food chapter to teach Spanish, I assigned the students a "Food Log" where they recorded every food and drink they had during a period of two weeks. They were to list their entries in Spanish, noting how much of both, foods and drinks they had every day. They listed the days in Spanish, wrote the date in Spanish for each day (using the Spanish format, which is different from the English way to note the date) and practiced such new words as "spoons, cups, bowls, glass, packets" to measure their food consumption. With their gathered data they were to apply the "Scientific Method" to conduct a mini-descriptive analysis of their diet for the two-week period, using internet sources such as government nutrition websites (Myfoodpyramid.org...) and websites of popular restaurants like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Subway to determine caloric intake and other nutritional information. They also used labels posted on some of the products consumed at home and school.
The students tallied their data, charted it and presented their information in graph form. They then described their results in basic Spanish and wrote conclusions and recommendations to better their diet. I helped them with cognates such as "proteinas, vitaminas, minerales, calcio, carbohidratos" and taught them new words like "porciones/servings." We practiced structured sentences requested by each student as they went on with their analysis. In English, we discussed the importance of good nutrition in all ages, especially at their present age, activity levels and occupation as students. Yet I sensed a deeper problem behind some of the students' analysis. I found that most of the students did not eat breakfast (and dinner) at home, and several did not eat at school either. Some said they just "left home too quickly and did not have time to grab their breakfast"; others said they did not like what their mothers left on the table for them. Many described being provided breakfast bars or having boxes of cereal and milk and not feeling like eating either. Others listed "crackers/ cookies / a burrito" as their sole meal.
I was troubled by the findings, which led me to theorize many students could not learn because they were hungry. With the hope of helping solve this problem, I discussed this information with the principal, who told me he couldn't force the students to use the cafeteria to supplement their lack of food at home. I requested permission to provide food to the students myself. My principal allowed it, as long as the food was "part of teaching culture or language."
Looking back, I regret my lack of time to conduct a general meeting with the parents to share the results. In my defense I have to say that our teacher days in the school were filled with duties and responsibilities that left us struggling to fulfill our basic teaching duties. Planning periods were used for meetings to discuss such important issues as being good pals and working together to meet the goals of the school system. We were sent on five-minutes assignments to "observe" fellow teachers conducting their classes, then we were to report back to the group what we saw. We had less than one minute to tell our fellow teachers our observations before the group moved to new businesses. I had to attend pep-rallies conducted during my planning period because, in the reasoning of the school's leaders, "all teachers should be doing the same duties." When I argued that everyone else had planning periods, the assistant principal just said I had to go to the pep-rallies because she said so. In fact, the only time I was able to conduct a meeting with Latino parents was when I took personal leave which allowed me to devote time to plan it.
What does Freire say about teachers' rights? I have to find the quote, but I will paraphrase now. He said teachers who do not have political conscience to protect their own rights are less able to help their students to develop critical literacy.
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