I agree with all of the above — plus, I think trivia minute is a great idea!

Excellent on all counts.

Yes. You must be your authentic teaching self — otherwise, what’s the point? (We can talk about the overlap between the various dimensions of one’s authentic self (teaching, parenting, etc.), but I’ll just say YES to passion, yes to being outspoken, yes to advocating for the ideals and experiences you hold to be true and meaningful. (Yes to being practical and strategic as well — but NO to accommodating your authentic self (teaching or otherwise) to other people’s comfort zones just because that’s what they expect.)

I agree, Selva—I think we can learn a lot from our students. Perhaps they can be the most helpful in disrupting some of the failed pedagogies from previous generations.

Thank you for the blog! I agree with your comment that “creating a common rubric, but also leave a gap for interpretation”. I also think that this is a very good strategy to address the individual differences in learning. It might not be difficult to consider the differences in teaching, but back to assessment, how to find a balance spot between fairness and individual differences can be challenging.

Thanks for tor post. I agree, no classroom culture is the same, even with the same course content. The teacher sets the tone for the learning environment. Relationship building must take place. Knowing who you are teaching is key.

I loved your post, Luisa. What do you think of teachers thinking of themselves as “facilitators?” I am thinking of your reference to Friere in asking.

I think you bring up some great points! I think it is important for us to try to be our most authentic selves when teaching, but can understand at times that we cannot be our true authentic self. I feel like it also depends on your audience and how well you know the students or people you are working with, that can determine how authentic you can be in your classroom.

Hey Mary, I enjoyed your honesty—it is so hard to figure out which way works best for you. Its good to remeber than mistakes are human.

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Totally agree! Sometimes teaching strategies can be products of education environment, society context, etc. They can be made to match the expectations from the outside. Maybe we should also think about how authentic teaching can be adaptive and to what extent.