Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Response to bell hooks, Teaching to Trangress intro, ch. 1 "Engaged Pedagogy"


bell hooks talks about how being in the classroom as a student and viewing teachers unlike the one she would like to become was formative for her. It's unfortuante that many of us have examples of teachers we felt were poor, unfair, cruel, or otherwise informing our ideals of what it means to be a teacher. Usually, however, there are many positive memories of teachers from our pasts that counter the negative ones; there must be, because otherwise, why would we ever dream of entering the teaching profession ourselves?

Like Gatto and Smith, hooks believes that the classroom should be a community, and that vice versa, the community can also be a classroom. But perhaps a key difference with Gatto and Smith is the idea of explicit activism and subversion as integral to the classroom. hooks speaks at some length about feminist classrooms being the ones that first demonstrated for her a pedagogy where critican thinking was truly expected and celebrated, and a place where "pedagogical practices were interrogated". On a personal note, as a soon-to-be instructor in the Women's Studies Program at OSU, I have seen that they take their pedagogy very seriously, offering both a beginning of the year all-day workship on teaching for all of us involved in the dept. from grad students to tenured professors, as well as a weekly lunch hour informal session that serves as a forum for Women's Studies teachers to air their challanges and successes. (I hope to be able to join in next term when I am teaching).

hooks brings up the idea of teaching as a performance. I have always thought of it somewhat this way myself. As a teacher you stand up and "profess" in a manner that should be engaging. You may not always feel as dynamic, intelligent, friendly or enthusiastic as you are supposed to be up there at the front of the classroom. But there is a magical performative aspect where once you begin, on a good day, things fall into place and you can get a teaching "buzz"! The time grows its own energy, and there is a crackle in the air. But, there are also those days when it simply does not come together, whether because of fatigue on your part, that of the students, poor class morale, difficult material, or numerous other issues. hooks writes:

"Teaching is a performative act. and it is that aspect of our work that offers the space for change, invention, spontaneous shifts, that can serve as a catalyst drawing out the unique elements in each classroom. To embrace the performative aspect of teaching we are compelled to engage "audiences," to consider issues of reciprocity. Teachers are not performers in the tranditional sense of the word in that our work is not meant to be a spectacle. Yet it is meant to serve as a catalyst that calls everyone to become more and more engaged, to become active participants in learning." (11)

hooks also discusses the idea that a teacher must be actively committed to a process of self-actualization that promotes his or her own well-being in order to achieve a progressive, holistic, engaged pedagogy. I am still sorting out exactly what she means by this term and hope that it will become clearer with more reading. For now, I understand self-actualization as resisting a separation between mind and body, of resisting the notion of compartmentalization of intellect. Further, the holistic model of learning can only take place when a teacher is also open to growth, and this necessitates a certain vulnerability. We cannot expect our students to take risks if we as teachers are unwilling. She writes "most professors must pratice being bulnerable in the classroom, being wholly present in mind, body and spirit."

I am not positive that I have been vulnerable in the classroom along hooks' lines. Perhaps in admitting when I don't know something, or make a mistake, or not allowing myself to become defensive if challenged, are ways that I have. But vulnerability involves trust, and it goes both ways for teachers and student alike that if vulnerability is shown, the next step has to involve compassion and respect. That vulnerability, say, when a student admits that they didn't do the reading, needs to
be recognized and compassionatley dealt with, because if a teacher then humiliates a student, that student will only foster a resentment. But if such an admission can be kindly but firmly dealt with, say, with the teacher expressing disappointment and encouragement to do better next time round, the student may appreciate the kindness and feel a sincere desire to improve.

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