Teaching Towards Freedom: Critical Pedagogy

When reading and watching about Paulo Freire's philosophy of teaching I wondered is this what I have been trying to do with my students this whole time? I do not like to spell things out for them, but give them bits and pieces and let them form their own opinions and thoughts about the art and concepts I show them. In "Engaged Pedagogy" by Hook she talks about intellectual growth as well as spiritual growth. This concept of spiritual growth is blurry to me and am wondering how this would take place in the classroom?

Freire's theory emphasizes all students as active participants, but I struggle to create this activism when so mush of education is still so memorization based. How do I break this mold of memorization and show my students how to learn information and form their own opinions without them feeling like I am going to tell they are wrong? They are in constant fear of being wrong even when I tell them there is no wrong answer in art.

I found it interesting that Hook brings up students wanting classroom to become almost like therapy session. I experience this daily being a young teacher that my students can relate to more but where do I draw the line? I want them to be comfortable with me but also need to do my job as well as making them aware that I am their teacher not their friend.

Here's a video that sums up Freire's ideas in a more light-hearted manner. While its a bit crude I found it to be quick way to understand the foundation of his ideas - Pedagogy of the Oppressed

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