Forewords

First, let’s address the obvious: it’s been a long time since my last blog post >.<‘ … indeed, fall 2021 started promising with full capacity in-person classes, but we quickly had to reckon with the new Sars-Cov-2 wave of cases while dealing with an unprepared college administration. This is neither here nor there, let us say that I was swamped! Now, the spring semester started at 50% capacity so that should allow for a smoother ride, right? Just kidding, that was without counting on yours truly who, as soon as some time was freed in his schedule decided to pile on some more things just because. Don’t get me wrong, those things are important otherwise I wouldn’t do them: President-elect of the Faculty Association and Vice-president of the WTCC AAUP chapter (the American Association of University Professors) as well as co-leading a Professional Development course with a colleague (Cocoa Dixon, more on that below) and expanding the Aquatic Flora & Fauna research program (co-lead with a colleague, Melinda Gibbs). Since there clearly will not be a better time to write my next blog post, I’m taking the time to do so on this fine weekend :-). Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read those posts, I mostly write them for myself but always appreciate the company of readers as well as their feedback so don’t hesitate to reach out (ldunoyer-at-waketech-dot-edu).

Wake Tech Professional Development

During the fall of 2021 I signed up for a Professional Development (PD) opportunity named “Professional Learning Community (PLC) - Culturally Relevant Teaching (CRT).” This PD course relied on weekly chapter readings from the book “Science in the City - Culturally Relevant STEM Education” by Bryan A. Brown (see picture atop) paired with weekly discussions via our Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) course team as well as monthly meetings during which we discussed said readings and the paired pre/post-reading questions from the discussions. This effort was led by Dr. Jackie Swanick and Dr. Cocoa T. Dixon.

Concomitantly, I also signed up for another PD opportunity that tied with the STem Academic Research and Training (START) program at Wake Tech (I am a co-leader of a research group within that program called Aquatic Flora and Fauna - AF&F - with which we advise anywhere between 2 to 8 students each semester). This particular PD was called “Being the Messenger” and was led by an outside consultant, Dr. Chad Starks (opens in a new window).
[plain text URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-chad-starks-ph-d-6303aa85]

Those paired PD courses resulted in an eye-opening change within me and for my own teaching. To be perfectly honest, it feels more like a continuation of the journey I have been on; however, I certainly wouldn’t have been taking those last steps I’ve taken lately on my own (I needed the support that those PD opportunities provided).

Here we are, in the spring of 2022 and I am now helping Dr. Cocoa T. Dixon lead the new version of the PD course I took in the fall. It is now called “Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Language Barriers” (CRP-LB), still uses the same book “Science in the City,” but is now relying on a Blackboard (Learning Management System) to deliver information as well as organize weekly readings/discussions for our participants (we have 26 this semester).

I am still learning and still developing my understanding of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. I am by no means an expert, but I am further than I was last year at the same time and that has to count for something :-). Now, you may ask yourself, that’s all well and good, but what did he learn from all that?

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Definitions

Let me start the learning recap from the seminal paper from Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings (see above) on “Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” who, in 1995, defined Critical Pedagogy as (citing Giroux & Simon, 1989, p. 239 - yes, this is a Russian Doll style quote, sue me):

“A deliberate attempt to influence how and what knowledge and identities are produced within and among particular sets of social relations. It can be understood as a practice through which people are incited to acquire a particular ‘moral character.’ As both a political and practical activity, it attempts to influence the occurrence and qualities of experiences.”

Everything is political, teaching does not evade this rule. I do not mean political in the sensus stricto way but more in the broader way of influencing the life of our communities. Dr. Ladson-Billings’ research is guided by an approach centered on three propositions: first, teachers’ conception of self; second, the structure of teachers’ social relations; and third, teachers’ conception of knowledge.

Teachers’ Conception of Self

It was very reassuring to also find in her article mentions of what I believe is the core of my teaching identity as I express it in my classroom. Indeed, I believe teaching is a community-building act embedded in practice constantly, semester after semester, reforged in the fire of our interactions with our students. Furthermore, I see all of my students as capable academics who don’t need to be told what to learn but shown how to learn it (“teaching as mining” in Dr. Ladson-Billings’ paper).

What does it look like for me?

I see my work as a teacher as a curator of content for my students. It is not important that I was the one creating that content as long as I have thought about its articulation within my course and given the context of my students’ background. The latter changes every semester; thus, influencing the former, in effect, keeping my teaching dynamic and never dull. Furthermore, my teaching goes beyond my classroom walls as my focus is on critical thinking and building knowledge-gathering systems for my students rather than simply knowledge accumulation. I aim to allow students to take with them what they've learned in my classes beyond those and into their lives. Ideally, they are gathering tools and developing a toolkit that will serve them for a lifetime (teaching someone to fish rather than giving them a fish kind of thing). Finally, this approach gives me hope that I’m integrated into my community (Wake County) in ways that go beyond simply teaching a class. I’m participating in the building of the next generation of citizens!

Structure of Teachers’ Social Relations

Similarly, I found myself reassured by the description of teacher-student relationships from the perspective of the former when trying to adhere to the criteria of academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. Indeed, treating all students with equal respect and connectedness while building a collaborative space for student-student interaction, accountability, and support. This requires a fluid student-teacher relationship where power is shared. It’s not about being the all-knowing entity in the room (sage on the stage), but much more about being the secure backdrop to students’ explorations (guide on the side).

What does it look like for me?

My classroom is not an egalitarian place, I’m not supporting all of my students equally. I provide more support to those who need more while challenging those who need more difficulties to keep them engaged. My expectations are very high and the same for all (90%+ final grade); concomitantly, I give my utmost effort to ensure everyone reaches the passing grade (70%; knowing that factors outside of my or even my students’ control can prevent this). This can only be achieved via equitable teaching as delineated above. Finally, this means I don’t assume a student doesn’t understand a concept because they didn’t use the correct jargon. I must make the effort to understand them using their own words first before I can show them the corresponding jargon words. With that being said, there are teaching techniques to have the students do that work and that’s what PLC-CRP:LB taught me!

Teachers’ Conception of Knowledge

Teaching is much more than knowing the content and transferring said content to students’ brains. If it was simply that, what would be all that fuss about?! Also, if we only transfer content, it’s easier to reject the fault onto our students when we see their shortcomings. However, a critical assessment of knowledge ultimately leads to the conclusion that it evolves and changes over time and depending on who is wrestling with it at the time. Thus, teachers must build a fluid vision of knowledge, once again sharing power within their classroom to allow students to show us what the knowledge we teach is to them. Only then can teachers assess students’ understanding of course contents appropriately. It is a back and forth from the initial content exposure to the students’ first attempts at expressing their understanding to teachers remolding/giving feedback and so on.

What does it look like for me?

In my classroom, I show what good looks like. I don’t just tell students how it is done, I deconstruct how I think about those concepts and show them my thought process. I try to present everything with many angles to cover as many metaphors/allegories/analogies as necessary for all to find one working for them. I sometimes require my students to share their own and keep the best ones under my belt for the next semester (dynamic lecturing/teaching, see above). All my assignments have rubrics as well as answer keys for them to know what I expect and what they were supposed to achieve (assignments’ flavors/types are repeated over the semester, it’s never a one-off assignment). Finally, I also test them using many different angles, not just writing assignments/tests or multiple-choice questions. They have a lot of writing assignments along the semester (formative), but they can elect to do anything they’d like for the exam “essay” including a piece of art, a PowerPoint, a video, a podcast, an animation, or any combination of them. I quiz them in class while requiring that they discuss their answers, then, we have a discussion before I even show the correct answer (modeling that it really is not about finding the right answer). I ask for their feedback on the process along the way (regular minute papers and one mid-semester feedback bonus point survey). The list goes on.

Conclusion

I’d like to stop here as I’m definitely still learning about all of these aspects of teaching. I’m still making mistakes, but I keep going with enough humility to admit my mistakes, even in front of my students (I only grow in their esteem that way). As long as I continue to work with them and not have them work for me I believe we are building a learning community that is at their service rather than just checking boxes along the way to a job. Let’s conclude with this thought that just occurred to me: who would have thought that teaching is much more about philosophy than about knowledge? Oh, yeah, all the teaching job applications asking for a teaching philosophy ^^.