I, We, and You: Multiple Voices

The Blog Assignment:  I put a vague notion on my graduate level Pedagogy and Communication class syllabus this fall that the course was going to produce a class blog.  I started with the broad concepts that we would develop themes for the semester and then the students would track these themes through our reading.  On our first night of class I started through the syllabus.  As we got to the blog assignment I explained that I didn’t really know what the assignment was yet.  And that it was up to the class to help define the assignment. As a collective we brainstormed ideas for themes and each class member claimed a theme or two for her or his own.  I asked each of them to come up with a three sentence description of a theme so we could explore how those themes would connect to our readings during the semester.  With themes clarified and writing assignments posted, we begin a collaborative journey to build ideas together. To move beyond “I” to a “We”. -- Karen

Finding Our Voices: This blog is a space for a group of people to think together, to grow together, to share a journey together.  We don’t have a specific destination in mind.  Instead we seek to document the process of discovering what it means to teach—to attempt to capture our collective thoughts, feelings, and experiences in small slices loosely organized around a group of themes. As you read our blog you will note multiple voices.  Those voices may contradict one another.  They are likely to disagree with one another, but they also are likely to appear seamless at times. At times we will speak in a collective voice and the multitude of voices will blend together, but at other times someone will shift into their personal voice and it will be clear that any collective at times disagrees.

Join our Dialogue: Part of the reason that this blog is public is to extend our discussion beyond the borders of our classroom.  We seek the experience and wisdom of well “you” yes “you”, my fellow critical communication pedagogy scholars, my former TAs, and even our friends and family who simply find our discussion about the journey of teaching engaging.  Please feel free to pose questions, post comments, and if you are really interested email us a blog posting and you can join our voices.  You can reach us at pedagogyandcommunciation@gmail.com.