#teaching matters

[enormous-moose]

I think we need to normalize learning/teaching differently.

Not that people all learn things differently because that needs to be normalized too.

No I'm talking about being taught things differently than someone in another school district.

There's very little regulation to what/how teachers teach children. They are told what the kids need to learn and what they need to be able to do for a test, but as for other things....

I know for a fact growing up in southern Indiana we were taught to sympathize with the south when we were taught about the civil war. I know we were taught about politics differently than anywhere else.

When I got to college I had such a terrible skew of who was so far the best president because of how I was taught.

I think the discourse that happened because of this shaped me into not wanting to interact with people just because I was now going to a more liberal area.

People saw me as a hick from southern Indiana when I told them that we "had one black family in the entire school and it started a whole kkk issue." People thought I was uneducated because of what my views were.

Clearly my views have changed drastically now that Ive learned and formed my own opinions but just imagine how someone else is taught.

It has a fucking impact and fuck yeah racism is fucking taught. That shit needs to be taken care of. Obviously teachers will have a bias everyone does, but make sure that when you are learning I also know the difference between fact and opinion. That will go a long way but also don't fucking think someone is uneducated just from where they were taught.

[ericazigelman]

Elizabeth Rohatyn - Education Advocate and Founder of Teaching Matters

Erica Zigelman’s more than three-decade career as an educator includes her current role as principal of MS 322 in New York City. As principal, Erica Zigelman has garnered recognition from several groups, including Teaching Matters, which named her and her school a semifinalist for the Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize for Schools Where Teaching Matters. The founder and former chairwoman of Teaching Matters, Elizabeth Rohatyn stood out during her lifetime as an advocate for public education. She established Teaching Matters with the vision that the organization could raise the level of education for students by providing vital support to teachers. To date, Teaching Matters has reached educators in over half of New York City’s public schools. Ms. Rohatyn’s work on behalf of education also included her forming the Technology Empowerment Initiative, serving as a board member of New Visions for Public Schools, and sponsoring and directing a project of the I Have a Dream Foundation. Apart from education, Ms. Rohatyn affiliated with numerous arts institutions, including Lincoln Center and the New York Public Library, the latter of which she led as chairwoman. Elizabeth Rohatyn died in 2016 at the age of 86. In the days following her death, her family encouraged those interested in celebrating her memory to make a donation to Teaching Matters.

[rucamden-tmac-blog]

Every semester, the teaching matters center at the University of Kansas puts out a newsletter focusing on one area of teaching pedagogies. This fall semester they’ve featured teaching creatively at their running theme. Check out their ideas on “teaching outside the box” as well as active learning. 

[felicebelle]

Packed house as @analogurl and @CarlosAGLive take the stage for #2015poetryslam pic.twitter.com/Dna9PA9YCq

— Teaching Matters (@teachingmatters)

June 10, 2015

my favorite event of the year.

[rucamden-tmac-blog]

This fascinating year-long experience detailed in Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education chronicles the time professor  Erin Schoneveld worked with “student consultant” Juliana Montinola in order to gain insights into  each other’s pedagogical approaches. The idea is truly interesting, and both professor and student had realizations about teaching that stretched far beyond the classroom.

[rucamden-tmac-blog]

Peter Elbow

This useful piece from rhetorician Peter Elbow invites you to take a look at your teaching process and think about the ways in which you’re an ally to students or an ally to knowledge. What are some strategies you can can use in order to be both at the same time? 

[rucamden-tmac-blog]

Are College Lectures Unfair?

Evidence suggests that it’s not the right form of teaching for many women, minorities and low-income students.

In this New York Times op-ed, Annie Murphy Paul points out that “women, minorities and low-income and first-generation college students” do not perform as well in lecture-based courses than their wealthier, white male counterparts. She encourages “active learning” in the classroom in order to make space for equal abilities to thrive, rather than the passive style of instruction that lecturing offers. Have you noticed more participation from the aforementioned groups of students when “active learning” takes place in your classrooms? If not, how can you incorporate hands-on activities in your class to help students learn the materials?

[rucamden-tmac-blog]

The Journal of Academic Writing is an international, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the teaching, tutoring, researching, administration and development of academic writing in higher education in Europe. Published by EATAW, the Journal of Academ

Check out the Journal of Academic Writing to find peer-reviewed articles that focus on “teaching, tutoring, researching, administration, and development of academic writing in higher education in Europe.” Our academic friends across the pond present great insights into matters of teaching in volume 5, number 2, the latest issue of the journal.