Teaching Philosophy
When I was a child, my mother brought me along to her summer class of English 1A at Ventura College. The teacher, Ms. Cosentino, warmly encouraged me to participate in class discussions, and even though I was by far the youngest person in the room, I felt supported and welcomed by that community, and even participated in the more creative assignments. Ms. Cosentino encouraged students to bring food to share, emboldened us to create multimedia projects to illustrate our analyses of the fiction we were reading.
I remember reading “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, and literally illustrating the various vignettes by drawing and coloring a picture of a “game board” with little paths to show the intersections of the different plotlines. Another student created a children’s book out of colorful slabs of foam, stickers, glitter, and cotton balls. I remember her saying something like, “I just kept getting more and more ideas as I made it, the different textures of the materials came to represent different themes.” It is clear to me now, that allowing students to present their analyses of texts in creative mediums offered a helpful and productive scaffolding for the class. My classes are inspired by Ms. Cosentino, providing three-dimensional assignment options to help students think critically and creatively. My goal is for them to feel supported in expressing their unique voices, while learning new techniques and conventions of expression.
English class has always been my happy place, but I recognize that will not be the experience of a number of students. It is my role as a teacher to hold a safe space for students to be vulnerable in their exploration of the material,and affirm the unique literacies, knowledge, and identities that they bring. I aim to frame the craft of academic writing as adding another tool to their toolbelt, one that works cohesively with the unique tools they already have. For example, the first writing assignment is casual and low stakes, encouraging students to write as if they are speaking to a friend, in their most comfortable dialect. Then students read a chapter out of “English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States” by Lippi-Green, and engage in discussions on linguistic positionality. We approach the conventions of academic English as simply learning to wield another tool--and we only begin to study it after students have been credited for producing work in their most comfortable dialect.
These values are reflected in my assessment practices as well. Students earn credit for the class by choosing a selection of requirements from a “grading contract,” creating multiple paths to passing grades. Students also act as collaborators on the rubric for each of the biggest writing assignments, actively participating in the creation of their own learning goals. The collaborative approach to assignment-design is epitomized in their final project, in which students write a research paper on a topic relevant to their major, researching and writing in the conventions of their field. This project builds on skills they have developed through the semester, while promoting self-directed learning and skills transfer. I also structure the course to integrate the teaching and development of reading and writing skills. Students learn about active reading strategies and turn in low-stakes reading responses every other week with their reflections. Low-stakes writing is often assigned the day before a class discussion, in which students work in groups to question, problematize, and offer analyses of the assigned text. The course weaves in this type of meta-reflection after almost every assignment: students do in-class writing that reflects on the paper they just turned in, and have group discussions after peer-review workshops, in which they talk about what they learned from reading one another’s work.
The parameters for peer-review workshops and general classroom interactions are discussed and collaboratively decided on as well, as part of a living document of “communigoalsty agreements” that is revisited throughout the term. The goal is to create a space in which students can feel seen and supported by one another, too. The collaboration, community focus, and student-lead pedagogy are designed to move us away from the banking model--creating more space for students to contribute their unique knowledge, and benefit from the perspectives of their peers. My ultimate aim is not to recreate the English classroom that I personally found purpose and inspiration in, but to create a flexible, collaborative environment in which students can shape their learning experience to support their individual .
