1. bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins) presented by Saby Labor 4/21/11
Teaching to Transgress
Before we begin, I will hand out some supplemental materials at the conclusion and the ppt and evaluation afterward

2. Overview Objectives Community Guidelines Who is bell hooks?
Activity: What is engaged pedagogy?
Applying a Sociological Lens
What does engaged pedagogy look like?
What does it Mean to Be a Critical Educator?
Evaluation
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3. Objectives The students will… The instructor will…
Apply concepts of engaged pedagogy and multicultural education to their own experiences.
Engage in self-reflection of their educational journey and its influences on their role as educators/learners.
Understand education from a critical sociological perspective.
The instructor will…
Gain an understanding of the course material through dialogue, shared narratives, and shared power.
of shared power and recognize individual student voices.
Objectives can’t be achieved without first establishing a safe space for individual voices, perspectives, and experiences
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4. Community Guidelines (this example established by diverse undergraduate student group)
Use “I” statements
1 diva, 1 mic (one voice at a time)
Assume good intent
Use inclusive language
“don’t yuck my yum”
Confidentiality
Meet them where ‘they are’
Mutual respect
Step up, Step back
Which ground rules or guidelines would anyone like to add…
Are these guidelines something that we can all respect and abide by? (need visual confirmation, nod, thumbs up, etc)
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5. bell hooks
Context of my personal educational experience with bell hooks
Black feminist critic of "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy“
A writer, a feminist theorist, and a cultural critic
Known as one of the most accessible academics in feminist writing
Her pseudonym, her great-grandmother's name, celebrates female legacies and is in lower case because "it is the substance of my books, not who is writing them, that is important."
“Feminist movement created a revolution when it demanded respect for women’s academic work, recognition of that work past and present, and an end to gender biases in curriculum and pedagogy.”
Feminism is for Everyone: Passionate Politics, 2000
Source:
Source: feminism is for everyone
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6. Questions bell hooks raises
Why is it necessary to talk about race?
It is inherent within traditional models of education that teachers have power…The question is how will you use it?
How does our own processes of self-awareness and self-reflection influence engaged pedagogy?
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7. Activity: What is engaged pedagogy?
(30 mins) Instructions (you will need a piece of paper and a pen/pencil)
Each student receives one slip of paper with a concept or idea regarding engaged pedagogy
Take 5 minutes to journal on the concept or idea
“Thinking of your own educational experiences, take 5 minutes to journal on how this concept or idea relates to these experiences.”
Your concept or idea matches that of another person in the class. Find your partner and sit with them.
In your pairs, take 5 minutes to discuss these concepts in relationship to bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy and be prepared to share a 2 minute reflection of your discussion.
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8. Applying a Sociological Lens… “White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy”
Video: cultural criticism and transformation pt 2
Part 2: 4:23-6:17
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9. Applying a Sociological Lens… College as a Total Institution
Revealed features of college society that are similar to mental hospitals
Total institution- self-contained societies that are designed to service all the needs of the people residing within their boundaries
All aspects of life conducted in same place under the same authority
Authority figures have tremendous power within the institution's confines
Total institutions are also largely self-contained and are designed so day-to-day interaction can occur independent of outside society
A consequence of building structures into college society, students are structurally discouraged from interacting with people outside of its confines
Strongly imposed division of power lends to superiority and ability to structure encounters
How is the classroom a total institution?
Eerving Goffman’s Asylums, 1961
College and Society, p.9
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10. What does engaged pedagogy look like in practice
What does engaged pedagogy look like in practice? Teaching Theories of Difference Through Popular Culture
video: cultural criticism and transformation pt 1
Analyzing popular culture and pedagogy 2:07-2:40 and critical thinking transforming lives 3:35- 4:10
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11. In an education system which…
Denigrates notions of wholeness and upholds idea of mind/body split
Encourages students and teachers to see no connection between life practices, habits of being, and the roles of professors
Reinforces existing systems of domination
Positions learning as a rote assembly-line based on coercion
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12. …then we have a lot to think about as educators and learners
Education reinforces systems of domination. What are other systems of domination?
How is the college a “total institution”? How will you use the power assigned as an educator to facilitate critical dialogue and learning environments?
What role will self-actualization and reflection play in your institutional pedagogy?
How will you facilitate unlearning as a platform for holistic and critical learning?
How will you integrate shared narratives and shared voices in your classroom?
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13. Transformative Practices
“Building common ground” or creation of collective guidelines to build community
Teaching gender using itunes
Article:
Teaching hegemony
Article in handout:
Adjust your rubric to reflect emphasis on participation to encourage student voices
Using autho ethnography to teach multiculturalism
See handout
Benefits of auto ethnography: students interact with culture, engages them in the disconnect between beliefs and actions, practice in self-reflection and awareness
Auto ethnography material from NASPA 2011 Conference Workshop: Know Thyself: Using Autoethnography in a Multicultural Course , Henrietta Pichon, Northwestern State University
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14. What does it mean to be a critical educator?
“I entered the classroom with the conviction that it was crucial for me and every other student to be an active participant, not a passive consumer...education as the practice of freedom.... education that connects the will to know with the will to become. Learning is a place where paradise can be created.”
hooks
Sites for critical education
Feminist classrooms
Childrens’ literature
Colleges and universities?
0:00-3:32
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15. Evaluation
An will be sent out with a short online evaluation form
(or you can follow the link below)
Thank you 
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