Author: Emma Stamm

Comment on The Nervous Instructor by Emma Stamm

Posted on by Emma Stamm

This is such a tough issue. My colleagues who are GTAs in Political Science often find themselves having to deal with problematic conversations in the classroom, and things can get heated very quickly. Even though I do not teach political issues explicitly, my course content often connotes political and social bias. When we’re talking about difficult subjects I feel I have to take a stand, because taking no position is the same as tacitly condoning a lot of the destructive myths and meta-narratives that rule our society.

Like you and Jaclyn, however, I’m a non-confrontational person by nature. So this isn’t easy for me. Yesterday I listened to a student give an account of times they had witnessed a family member experience racism, and right after, other students jumped in and made some comments that were hard to handle. I think I negotiated it well but I’m concerned that the student still feels bad.

At what point do we draw the line with these things? I’m a new teacher, too. This weeks’ readings offers some guidance but I think experience wins out, here.

Thanks for a great post!

Comment on Interdisciplinary Learning by Emma Stamm

Posted on by Emma Stamm

Like Rob, I’m in ASPECT, which is interdisciplinary too — albeit in the social sciences and humanities. There are so many great things about doing interdisciplinary work. I think the greatest benefit is that you can peer more deeply into the interconnections between fields, and draw parallels/study patterns that conventional disciplinary work simply doesn’t allow for.

Interdisciplinarity also means you’re inherently thinking about diversity a lot, too. You’re exposed to people from varying fields and backgrounds, and in the ID world, we’re asked to challenge our own received wisdom about learning and researching frequently. In the social sciences it allows us to think through issues of racism, sexism, and other forms of xenophobia at a more structural level.

It’s great to hear about this from someone in a STEM field. I’d like to learn more about how you in the real sciences [whoops, I mean”hard sciences” ? ] envision an ethics and a politics to doing interdisciplinarity.

(By the way, “Doing Interdisciplinarity” is the title of this year’s ASPECT conference…)

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Comment on 12 Years Without any Grades…Kind of by Emma Stamm

Posted on by Emma Stamm

This is so interesting, Bethany. Even though everybody is different, it reflects some of my hunches about how learning works for many different types of people. Even though I was never homeschooled, I went to an alternative, arts-focused high school where we did not get grades. All classes were pass/fail and at the end of each, we’d get a written report. Also, students’ individual interests were pretty strongly supported. This openness had a huge influence on my life, and even though that system worked better for some than others, I think it’s a great model overall. My peers and I generally did really well on the SATs and a lot of us have gone on to have interesting careers (and be, I think, interesting grown-ups…!).
I’d love to hear from your mom, by the way!