Language, Culture and Power.
It has been the content section that I've been slightly dreading with some of my students due to some of the instances in class. Some of my students have been physically agitated and vocal about their distress when discussing diversity and culture. It is understandable that these topics may have not been discussed prior to them coming to college, and so I get that. However, being a first year TA and being self-conscious about how I'm read (as a black woman with an afro) honestly scared me to talk about hegemony, power, and cultural for the past few weeks. I'm a punk, I know. I'm working on it. I'm self-disclosing my true feelings about the matter here!
Today was the day to introduce it.
Although, some of my students were apparently uncomfortable with the topics for the day, I had students that were engaged, ready to share and sharing with their peers when we did the group activity. That eased the nerves I had when my first class was receptive, even though the physically uncomfortable were amongst the pack (avoiding eye contact and refusing to participate for the day).
Hi Kimmy! I love that you disclosed your opinions and feelings within this section, I think that's really valuable to your class :) I was also a little hesitant coming into this week for the language, culture, and power content as well. My students were very engaged, but I had some comments that made some of my students noticeably uncomfortable. It was really assuring to see them work out their conflicting views in class in a civilized manner. The idea of privilege was something many of them weren't comfortable with identifying with, while others were interested in further exploring their positions of privilege in society.
ReplyDeleteKimmy, you’ve had an interesting semester, for sure. Your stories help me feel grateful for my section assignments this semester. I mean, what is it—LUCK? How are some entire groups perfectly awesome, and others are so seemingly difficult to reach?
ReplyDeleteI have truly enjoyed getting to know you as a dear friend and co-worker. I so value your every-ready thumbs on a text and your constant encouragement to me. I remember when we read Fish “way back” in early October and commiserating about our exhaustion, marveling at how we were ever doing it—physically, psychologically, and scholastically.
I encourage you to continue to be transparent with your sections. I have yet to be disappointed in the results of being perfectly candid with my students. The transparency and vulnerability play really well to the students’ own insecurities and hated vulnerabilities. I used to hate my vulnerabilities, too. Facing the discomfort and pushing just past that place of “fuck this shit!” reaps rich rewards. I am so fucking glad Pedagogy showed me that my vulnerabilities are truly my strengths. #pleasedo
Note: I've been thinking of pop culture in the classroom since we covered it in class, and I think that using pop culture your students like is a good way to connect and make them the expert, but using pop culture you like (within reason) can be a good way to let your students know a little more about you and build some connection. I don't know where you stand on Cardi B., but if you're a fan too, then finding ways to bring her up in class is doing triple duty!
ReplyDeleteMy students have seemed really chill with the topics we've been getting into lately, which is nice, because I really wasn't sure what to expect. I've been easing them into it pretty slowly, though. I've got some more extreme ideas for next week that I'm both excited and hesitant about trying out... How deep have you gone into the culture, power, privilege, and hegemony rabbit hole yet? Also, I'm glad some of your students were so responsive! I bet that having a few students who are ready to fearlessly get into it could make it a little easier for the hesitant students as well as for you.