Your comment about working “with students to find the relevance” reminds me of active learning. “Active learning means shifting some of the leadership of the course to the students and creating a situation where they will be responsible, in a significant measure, for their own learning. It means rethinking the purpose of higher education not simply as the mastery of content and the attainment of a grade for a course, or even the awarding of a diploma, but as helping students prepare for all the rest of life — both in college and beyond” (Davidson, 2018). Thus, helping students find relevance has a lasting impact.
Davidson, C.N. (2018, January 25). 10 Key Points About Active Learning. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/01/25/how-think-about-active-learning-and-its-benefits-opinion

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I will add to your comments about “collaborative processes between the teacher and the students.” It is useful to consider the importance of collaboration between professors and staff. I found an article about this topic. According to it, “Faculty members have been assigned responsibility solely for intellectual development, and staff members have been assigned responsibility for social, personal, emotional and even perhaps ethical development — in other words, everything else” (Ebenbach, 2017). Collaboration between professors and faculty supports the well-being of students. “People themselves are not divisible; students bring their full selves with them wherever they go on a campus. Their academic work therefore informs their personhood and vice versa. If we want to take this multidimensionality into account in our classrooms, both faculty and staff members have the ability to contribute to the conversation — an expanded and integrated conversation that encompasses student well-being” (Ebenbach, 2017).
Ebenbach, D. (2017, December 14). Crossing The Divide. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/12/14/collaborations-between-faculty-and-staff-improve-student-well-being-opinion

Great job thinking outside of the box in explaining critical pedagogy. The renovated apartment building was a neat way to incorporate multiple ideas and perspectives into one structure.

Thanks for the post! I love the creativity that is shown through the visual aids. The use of word could was a great way to incorporate many peoples ideas into one space. I also especially liked the cartoon you started off with of the single test for different creatures.

Thanks for posting! It’s interesting to hear how all of you are working towards incorporating critical pedagogy concepts in your own classrooms in very different fields. It goes to show that getting to know a student, make them feel valued, and pushing them to think deeper spans across all disciplines.

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Transparency regarding politics in the current political climate is certainly dangerous territory. I can’t help but feel that some of us liberal folk (lol) are somewhat hypocritical at times regarding this transparency. I often hear jokes about republicans, or conservative politics more generally, around campus, and sometimes in classrooms. Yet, when a graduate instructor on our very own campus is found to have far-leaning conservative thoughts in his personal life (and I will admit- I do not know the extent to which this infiltrated his classrooms), there is a call to have him removed from his teaching duties. This just has me thinking…how much is too much to share? Where is the line? Are college campuses really so liberal that we can’t tolerate other views? Isn’t this what we are trying to avoid altogether, this intolerance of other views? Now don’t get me wrong, I personally cringe at several conservative ideas. But, academically and intellectually I feel as though we should be open to discussions on these ideas and topics, thus they need a platform too. Brings me back to the question: Where is the line for inappropriate conversations in the intellectual sphere?

No clue if this is making any sense….I think I’m just rambling at this point. So, here I’ll stop!

In addition to being open to learning while teaching, a related concept I feel is very important as an instructor is to be open and honest about what you DON’T know. For the past few years, I have told each of my classes that while I know a fair amount about several topics related to the course, I don’t know everything. It’s just not possible. I start the course this way, then reiterate it when I am asked a question I really don’t know the answer to. I then pose the question back to the class, prompt them to research, or research myself and bring the information back to the class. I am fully aware that some students might find this off-putting, and make assumptions about my competency as a teacher given my age and gender (which unfortunately is a reality). However, I know that I am modeling critical thinking skills in this process and that some students will pick up on this. At the end of the day, it certainly humanizes me to the students and perhaps gets them more actively engaged in their learning.

In addition to learning names, I think it can be very powerful to try to remember (as much as possible) the interests of students, or the potential careers they desire. You can personalize the content them, thus getting them more engaged as well. I experience that in my graduate classes, with my professors framing content (like statistical concepts, for example) within my research interests. I truly feel this should happen more in undergraduate classes to help them wrestle with the content more meaningfully.

Excellent post Saloumeh. Exactly stated, educators need to find out what the student knows so they can understand what the student needs to learn and how to best approach this. Collaboration and interaction are the key and you hit that nail right on the head. Every educator, current and future, should take a lesson from your post and include interaction immediately.

Erin, great job in defining critical pedagogy and presenting aspects of this system. I am in total agreement that the professor should not be the only presenter of information as we can all learn so much more in an open environment of shared knowledge. Great use of intermixed Disney quotes and the analogy of the a cappella singers as an educational system. To quote “That Thing You Do” – it’s like a stew. All the ingredients have to come together or it’s just soup. Thanks for the great post