Friends. I am so delighted that, in such a short span between inspiration and fruition, that this bell hooks inspired workshop has come into existence. I am renewed in spirit, nerves still calming after such a wonderful workshop energy. Thank you to the 28 beautiful people who came out to be together, here. First, a huge swell of gratitude to Kathy at the Initiative for Minority Excellence (IME). A moment to really express my gratitude for her: when I came to UNC, I made an effort to go to the IME breakfast, for, after all, they had helped me get to UNC financially. Kathy was there, with her wonderful warm, unconditionally accepting presence. After that day, my showing-up was scarce (see: grad school) and yet, when I could make it, she had a big, genuine smile and hug for me. Never a passive word about my absence. It's this unconditional love that inspired me, moments after dreaming this kind of workshop could be a possibility, to dream of doing it with Kathy and IME. So Thank you, Kathy, for hosting this wonderful coming-together. <3 It is only with the help of Kathy and others like her that I am able to move forward with the social justice work that I do. IME set up our tables, provided lunch, make copies, and set up my A/V as well. Thankyouthankyou. A HUGE thank you, also, to my bestie-colleague Eileen, for coming early, making me coffee, and doing all of our transcription so that our work lives on. The workshop largely ran itself. I played the roll of welcomer, explainer, and timekeeper--ie facilitator. It ran neatly, keeping to the time schedule I set, just running over by a few minutes as we had so many cool ideas to share in the final circle. In brief summary, the workshop ran as follows. Please check out my facilitator notes if you want to see the details and even run one yourself! Phase 1: Thoughtful Reflection > group discussion around bell hooks quotes >reflective writing exercise >small group discussion around writing findings >Share values & challenges with large group Phase 2: Syllabus Reconstruction >Individual time to brainstorm >Small group discussion time to work on each person's ideas Closing: coming together to share "take-aways" A quick word on the closing. It was beautiful. One man, standing up to leave, asked if he could sing his, almost joking, but opened up with a beautiful rendition of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, "We don't need no education / We don't need no thought control / No dark sarcasm in the classroom / Teachers leave them kids alone." Much joy erupted in laughter, and I asked everyone to follow his model and stand up to share. They took this to mean "everyone stand up now" (not my intention!) but it worked out so beautifully! Everyone stood up, and I invited them into a big circle. Our closing had everyone sharing, everyone seeing everyone, no longer divided by tables or chairs. It was beautiful--something I'm now going to repeat! Here's what our group came up with. We built these into our google doc during the workshop in real time, saved for everyone, shared here with you! Prompt: What do you value in critical pedagogy, especially in your classrooms? What concerns do you have about incorporating critical pedagogy?
(Prompt) In closing: Let’s each share 1 sentence about something that is resonating with us right now, something we want to share, something we’re taking away, or something we want to remember.
And we said:
To see what else we came up with, specifically around syllabus design, I invite you to check our living repository, here!
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Here's a daily struggle of social justice pedagogy! I got this email last night after the Heels won (woop!), and was immediately rubbed the wrong way: "For real?"
Second thought: "heh, *smile* I see my efforts to encourage honesty and open dialogue in my classroom are working!" Fellow teachers who want to change the system, this is something to expect, if not hope for! I see two main considerations: how to shift our expectations to align with class values, and how to self-regulate (and take responsibility for) our reaction, residually colored by other models of education. This email, abrasive as my gut thought it was, demonstrated things I encourage in my classroom:
Put that way, I can't really complain! A+ But what about my reaction? Well, my reaction is, completely, mine. Don't get me wrong, I went straight to a sympathetic ear to narrate my experience of getting this email after spending my Saturday night (re)designing their second exam, previously just multiple choice, into a mixed method test (they can choose any combo of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions). That was my self-regulating choice: verbal processing that ultimately *confirmed* my decision to shift from grumbling to gratitude. Counterthought: but, Nicole, she may burn future bridges. Does your decision to respond with kindness set her up for future failure or injury? Beyond the obvious that I can't forsee or control the future enough to speculate, this does give me pause. Although my classroom may encourage openness and honesty, the academy system and its foundation in the banking model of education does not; it's built to punish people, especially women, for expressions of honesty. My plan is to not approach her over email about it, as the tone loss and medium brings a formality I don't want to reply with, lest it undermine my other messages. I plan to catch her after class and mention that while I appreciate it, I hope she'll stay mindful of audience when talking to other graduate instructors and professors. That's all. Thus, my reaction is mine, and by now it has largely passed. I know my work on the test is the right thing and ultimately still appreciated by many, including this student. I won't flex power by punishing them by withdrawing this test effort, or any pedagogy effort, just because my first thought was one of not being appreciated. I am not my thoughts. I *am* my actions, and through this written and verbalized process, I am crystallizing my intentions to model a pedagogy of openness and dialogue between equals. I would be remiss to invite such openness into my class climate, then snap and punish anyone who exercises it. I wanted to give my 120 students more options on testing that better suited a range of learning/testing styles. In discussing it with my bff at CU, I found out that Dr. Lisa Flores uses this in her class. She has given me permission to share the result of her labor, so borrow away! (Yes, more grading, and not as viable in lecture hall classes, but I'm sick of the banking model of education principle that all students receive / process / and regurgitate information the same way). This test is designed for a T/Th class, with 75 minutes to complete.
Each test is given out with a cover sheet, with a signature line next to each of the five options. The student has to sign the one they are agreeing to, but can otherwise look through the whole test before deciding, then the coversheet is either returned with the multiple choice paper copies or with the blue book they used.
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AuthorWoman of color, surviving the academy, writing myself down Archives
March 2018
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