Presentation Overview
Overview
In this presentation, nicholae shares about how their identities and positionality have inspired and pushed them to approach their work in ways that both forefront who they are and the embodied knowledges they hold and align with their personal and professional values. They also share some of the foundations of their pedagogy and practice, included critical and inclusive pedagogies that move us towards a different future together. At the end of the presentation, they lead participants through an activity to help them understand their own positionality and write positionality statements to reflect this.
Workshop Materials
Below you'll find a directory of the resources they drew from and shared during the workshop.
Presentation Resources
Critical pedagogy is a teaching philosophy approach that applies concepts from critical theory to education, learning practices, and the classroom. It positions teaching as a political act and aims to help students question and challenge domination, inequality, and injustice in society, especially around structures such as class, race, and gender. It also seeks to develop critical thinking, social responsibility, and transformative action in students towards empowering them to create change in the world.
Some of the principles of critical pedagogy are:
- Challenging the dominant culture and recognizing how these narratives and structures shape our knowledges, beliefs, and values
- Changing the classroom dynamic to reduce the power imbalance between teachers and students
- Presenting alternative views and perspectives that are often marginalized or excluded
- Centering the agency and choice of learners in learning relationships and spaces
- Collaborating with others to create change in classrooms and the larger society
To learn more about critical pedagogies, try some of the following resources
- Critical Theory Pedagogies Guide (UNC Charlotte)
- Critical Pedagogy: Challenging Bias and Creating Inclusive Classrooms (University of Illinois)
- Critical Pedagogy Overview (Emory)
- Critical Pedagogy: 8 Key Concepts You Need To Know (Necessary Teacher Training College)
On Critical Pedagogy by ISBN: 9781350144989Publication Date: 2020-03-19Alongside Paulo Freire, Henry A. Giroux is widely considered to be the founding father of critical pedagogy. This classic work represents his best writing on critical pedagogy spanning the past 40 years. The 2nd edition includes four new chapters covering the rise of fascist culture in America and across the globe and the dictatorship of ignorance in the age of Trump and post-truth.This impassioned work opens by discussing critical pedagogy in schools before extending the notion to the educational force of culture, politics, and society. Giroux analyses the increasingly empirical orientation of teaching, focusing on the culture of positivism and examines some of the major economic, social, and political forces undermining the promise of democratic schooling in both public and higher education. He argues against the tendency by both right wing and neo-liberal interests to reduce schooling to training, and students merely to customers. He points to the increasing attack on pubic and higher education by right-wing populists and the Trump administration in an age of growing authoritarianism. Giroux also considers the legacy of Freire and issues a fundamental challenge to educators, public intellectuals, and others who believe in the promise of radical democracy.
Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods by ISBN: 9781936117017Publication Date: 2010-01-01Bringing together the voices of a range of practicing librarians, this collection illuminates theories and methods of critical pedagogy and library instruction. Chapters address critical approaches to standards and assessment practices, links between queer, anti-racist and feminist pedagogies and the library classroom, intersections of critical theories of power and knowledge and the library, and the promise and peril of reflective instruction practices. Rooted in theoretical work both from within the profession (James Elmborg, Cushla Kapitzke) and without (Paolo Freire, Henry Giroux, Deborah Britzman), contributions are complemented by stories of critical approaches put into practice in institutional settings ranging from the community college classroom to large urban research universities to virtual worlds. The intention is to begin a conversation among librarians who teach, library instruction program coordinators, faculty and instructors interested in bringing librarians into the classroom, and librarians interested in developing liberatory and anti-oppressive professional practices.
Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook by ISBN: 9780838988466Publication Date: 2016-01-01Critical pedagogy incorporates inclusive and reflective teaching for aims of social justice; it provides mechanisms for students to evaluate their social, political, and economic standing, and to question societal norms and how these norms perpetuate societal injustices. Teaching librarians have long incorporated social justice into their work, but focused interest in critical library pedagogy has grown rapidly in recent years. In two volumes, the Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook works to make critical pedagogy more accessible for library educators, examining both theory and practice to help the busy practitioner explore various aspects of teaching for social justice.
Feminist pedagogy is a teaching approach that is based on feminist thinking, motivations, and values. It recognizes that knowledge making happens in socially and politically inflected ways, and that teaching and learning are influenced by structures of power, such as patriarchy, racism, classism, heterosexism, etc.. It aims to create a more democratic, inclusive, and transformative educational experience for both teachers and students.
Some of the principles of feminist pedagogy are
- Rethinking the relationship between teacher and student, from hierarchical and authoritarian to collaborative and dialogic
- Empowerment of students to become active agents of their own learning and social change
- Building community among students and teachers, based on mutual respect, trust, and support
- Privileging voice of students and teachers, especially those who are often marginalized or silenced by the dominant culture
- Respecting the diversity of personal experience, and acknowledging how it shapes one’s perspective and knowledge
- Challenging traditional pedagogical notions, such as objectivity, neutrality, authority, etc., and exploring alternative ways of knowing and learning
To learn more about the tenets and practices of feminist pedagogy, consult some of the resources below
- A Guide to Feminist Pedagogy (Vanderbilt)
- Interactive Resource: Feminist Pedagogy (Columbia)
- Introduction to Feminist Pedagogy (University of Pittsburgh)
- Feminist Pedagogy Guide (UNC Charlotte)
- Using Feminist Pedagogy to Transform Information Literacy Instruction (Clemson)
Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction by ISBN: 9781936117550Publication Date: 2013-07-01Providing both a theoretical framework and practical guidance, this title introduces feminist pedagogy to librarians seeking to enrich their teaching practices in feminist and progressive ways. Drawing heavily upon the women's studies literature where the concept first appears, Accardi defines and describes recurring themes for feminist teachers: envisioning the classroom as a collaborative, democratic, transformative site; consciousness raising about sexism and oppression; ethics of care in the classroom; and the value of personal testimony and lived experience as valid ways of knowing. Framing these concepts in the context of the limits of library instruction--so often a 50 minute one-shot bound by ACRL-approved cognitive learning outcomes--Accardi invites a critical examination of the potential for feminist liberatory teaching methods in the library instruction classroom. This book is Number 3 in the Litwin Books Series on Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies, Emily Drabinski, Series Editor.
Feminist Pedagogy in Higher Education: Critical Theory and Practice by ISBN: 9781771121149Publication Date: 2015-08-30In this new collection, contributors from a variety of disciplines provide a critical context for the relationship between feminist pedagogy and academic feminism by exploring the complex ways that critical perspectives can be brought into the classroom. This book discusses the processes employed to engage learners by challenging them to ask tough questions and craft complex answers, wrestle with timely problems and posit innovative solutions, and grapple with ethical dilemmas for which they seek just resolutions. Diverse experiences, interests, and perspectives--together with the various teaching and learning styles that participants bring to twenty-first-century universities--necessitate inventive and evolving pedagogical approaches, and these are explored from a critical perspective. The contributors collectively consider the implications of the theory/practice divide, which remains central within academic feminism's role as both a site of social and gender justice and as a part of the academy, and map out some of the ways in which academic feminism is located within the academy today.
Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching that considers and values the diversity and intersectionality of students’ identities, backgrounds, and abilities. It aims to create equitable and socially just learning environments that are meaningful, relevant, accessible, and transformative for all students. It involves intentional efforts by educators to address systemic inequities and barriers to learning in the classroom, curricula, and assessment. It is learning-centered, equity-focused, trauma-sensitive, and fosters social justice.
Inclusive pedagogy is not a single approach, but rather includes culturally-informed, culturally-responsive, and culturally-sustaining pedagogies, among others. Other frameworks, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Inclusive Design, can also be part of an inclusive approach to learning.
Some of the core principles of inclusive pedagogy are
- Recognizing and valuing the diversity of students’ experiences, perspectives, and ways of knowing
- Providing multiple and flexible ways for students to access content, engage with learning activities, and demonstrate their learning outcomes
- Creating a welcoming and supportive learning environment that fosters a sense of belonging, trust, and respect among students and teachers
- Challenging dominant norms and assumptions that may exclude or marginalize some students or groups of students
- Collaborating with students, colleagues, families, and communities to promote inclusive pedagogy across different contexts
To learn more about this framework and approach, consult some of the following resources
- Inclusive Pedagogy Toolkit (ACRL)
- Inclusive Pedagogy Guide (UNC Charlotte)
- What are Inclusive Pedagogies? (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)
- Diversity and Inclusion Resources (IU Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning)
- Inclusive Pedagogy (University of Chicago)
- Inclusive Pedagogy for Library Instruction (Sewanee)
Exploring Inclusive and Equitable Pedagogies: Creating Space for All Learners, Volume 1 by ISBN: 9780838939352Publication Date: 2023-05-11Inclusive and equity-minded pedagogy is inspired by a rich array of theories including Black feminist thought, critical race theory, cultural humility, cultural competence, disabilities studies, universal design for learning, and critical information literacy. When we base our instruction on inclusive and equitable pedagogies, we endeavor to connect authentically with students as well as to connect classroom learning to the context of their lives. We share power with students, centering them and their varied learning preferences, and strive to create a culture of care, empathy, and humility both in and out of the classroom. When we clearly share our objectives and expectations for a learning experience, students may better understand us and the learning context we aspire to create. In Exploring Inclusive & Equitable Pedagogies: Creating Space for All Learners, seven thorough sections across two volumes examine: Anti-Racist Approaches Intentional Information Literacy Engendering Care and Empathy Community Building Universal Design for Learning: An Important Benchmark Instructor Identity and Positionality Professional Development Chapters cover topics including dismantling, reexamining, and reconstructing notions of authority in information literacy instruction; teaching technology inclusively; using primary sources to research queer and feminist histories; cocreating knowledge practices with students; prioritizing accessibility in synchronous and asynchronous learning environments; cultural humility, funds of knowledge, and information literacy instruction with first-generation students; designing and managing inclusive group projects; and much more. To become the instructors our students need, we must adopt the mindsets and develop the underlying skills to enact inclusive and equitable teaching and learning. Exploring Inclusive & Equitable Pedagogies offers reflections, practices, and models that deepen our collective understanding of equitable and inclusive theories and practices and present new grounding for both our individual teaching and our instruction programs.
Exploring Inclusive and Equitable Pedagogies: Creating Space for All Learners, Volume 2 by ISBN: 9780838938546Publication Date: 2023-05-11Inclusive and equity-minded pedagogy is inspired by a rich array of theories including Black feminist thought, critical race theory, cultural humility, cultural competence, disabilities studies, universal design for learning, and critical information literacy. When we base our instruction on inclusive and equitable pedagogies, we endeavor to connect authentically with students as well as to connect classroom learning to the context of their lives. We share power with students, centering them and their varied learning preferences, and strive to create a culture of care, empathy, and humility both in and out of the classroom. When we clearly share our objectives and expectations for a learning experience, students may better understand us and the learning context we aspire to create. In Exploring Inclusive & Equitable Pedagogies: Creating Space for All Learners, seven thorough sections across two volumes examine: Anti-Racist Approaches Intentional Information Literacy Engendering Care and Empathy Community Building Universal Design for Learning: An Important Benchmark Instructor Identity and Positionality Professional Development Chapters cover topics including dismantling, reexamining, and reconstructing notions of authority in information literacy instruction; teaching technology inclusively; using primary sources to research queer and feminist histories; cocreating knowledge practices with students; prioritizing accessibility in synchronous and asynchronous learning environments; cultural humility, funds of knowledge, and information literacy instruction with first-generation students; designing and managing inclusive group projects; and much more. To become the instructors our students need, we must adopt the mindsets and develop the underlying skills to enact inclusive and equitable teaching and learning. Exploring Inclusive & Equitable Pedagogies offers reflections, practices, and models that deepen our collective understanding of equitable and inclusive theories and practices and present new grounding for both our individual teaching and our instruction programs.
Trauma-informed teaching and pedagogy is a practice that considers how trauma impacts learning and behavior in students and educators. It aims to create secure, supportive, and equitable school environments that promote the well-being of everyone involved. It focuses on supporting individual students with strong, healthy relationships, and cultivating intentional school and community cultures and communication styles. It also incorporates and ensures patterned and consistent experiences, social and emotional learning, and regulatory practices to create sustainable changes in the nervous systems of learners and educators. It creates consistency and routine with room for flexibility, transparency about goals and expectations, a sense of physical safety in the physical space, and management of the risk of in-class triggers.
Principles of trauma-informed pedagogy
- Prioritizing relationships and process over content
- Adopting a supportive, reflective, and caring approach that is responsive to the reality that any student can be trauma-affected
- Attending to the psycho-social and emotional needs of learners, and adapting content and structures accordingly
- Providing choice, voice, and agency to students
- Practicing empathy, compassion, and self-care as educators
To learn more about trauma-informed teaching and practice in libraries, try some of the following resources
- Trauma Informed Teaching Guide (IUB Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning)
- Trauma Aware Teaching Checklist (100 Faculty)
- Imagining Trauma-Informed Care in Libraries (Presentation Slides)
- Trauma Informed Librarianship: Building Communities of Care (Video)
Trauma-Informed Pedagogies: A Guide for Responding to Crisis and Inequality in Higher Education by ISBN: 9783030927042Publication Date: 2022-08-06This book centers equity in the approach to trauma-informed practice and provides the first evidence-based guide to trauma-informed teaching and learning in higher education. The book is divided into four main parts. Part I grounds the collection in an equity approach to trauma-informed care and illustrates one or more trauma-informed principles in practice. Chapters in Part II describe trauma-informed approaches to teaching in specific disciplines. In Part III, chapters demonstrate trauma-informed approaches to teaching specific populations. Part IV focuses on instruments and strategies for assessment at the institutional, organizational, departmental, class, and employee levels. The book also includes a substantial appendix with more than a dozen evidence-based and field-tested tools to support college educators on their trauma-informed teaching journey.
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Library Services by ISBN: 9780838919811Publication Date: 2020-07-14We are only now coming to terms with how common trauma really is; a landmark Kaiser study that surveyed patients receiving physicals found that almost two-thirds had experienced at least one form of abuse, neglect, or other trauma as a child. Though originating in the fields of health and social services, trauma-informed care is a framework that holds great promise for application to library work. Empathetic service, positive patron encounters, and a more trusting workplace are only a few of the benefits that this approach offers. In this important book Tolley, experienced in both academic and public libraries, brings these ideas into the library context. Library administrators, directors, and reference and user services staff will all benefit from learning the six key principles of trauma-informed care; characteristics of a trusting and transparent library organization, plus discussion questions to promote a sense of psychological safety among library workers; how certain language and labels can undermine mutuality, with suggested phrases that will help library staff demonstrate neutrality to patron ideas and views during information requests; delivery models that empower patrons; advice on balancing free speech on campus with students' need for safety; how appropriate furniture arrangement can help people suffering from PTSD feel safe; guidance on creating safe zones for LGBTQIA+ children, teens, and adults; and self-assessment tools to support change toward trauma-responsive library services.
On positionality & positionality statements
- A Note on Reflexivity and Positionality (Practicing and Presenting Social Research)
- Coming to Terms with Ourselves in Our Research (Language on the Move)
- Positionality Statements (Guidelines from International Association for Relationship Research)
- Positionality, Intersectionality, and Privilege in Education & Research (MH Institute for Teaching Excellence)
- How to Write a Positionality Statement (The Equality Institute)
- Researcher Positionality - A Consideration of Its Influence and Place in Qualitative Research - A New Researcher Guide (Shanlax)
- Assignment Outline: Positionality Statements
- Positionality Statement Guide (Queen's University Centre for Teaching and Learning)
- Positionality Statements: Writing Your Statement (Video, Cambridge University Press)
Other key and foundational texts and resources
- Communications in Information Literacy (14:1)Special issue celebrating and reflecting on the tenth anniversary of the book Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods. In particular, Sofia Leung and Jorge López-McKnight's article on "Dreaming Revolutionary Futures: Critical Race’s Centrality to Ending White Supremacy" is an integral intervention in the whiteness of many theories of and approaches to information literacy and library instruction in our field.
- CCLI 2022 | Keynote: Speculative Pedagogies for LiberationIn Jennifer Brown's keynote for the 2022 California Conference on Library Instruction she looks closely at the false narratives that underpin our profession and considers how library instruction is entangled in and structured by the stories we tell about who we are and what we do. She uses speculative and creative thought from BIPOC writers and scholars, as well as her own professional and creative practice, to help us dream beyond the world we have now.
As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance by ISBN: 9781452956015Publication Date: 2017-10-17Across North America, Indigenous acts of resistance have in recent years opposed the removal of federal protections for forests and waterways in Indigenous lands, halted the expansion of tar sands extraction and the pipeline construction at Standing Rock, and demanded justice for murdered and missing Indigenous women. In As We Have Always Done, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson locates Indigenous political resurgence as a practice rooted in uniquely Indigenous theorizing, writing, organizing, and thinking. Indigenous resistance is a radical rejection of contemporary colonialism focused around the refusal of the dispossession of both Indigenous bodies and land. Simpson makes clear that its goal can no longer be cultural resurgence as a mechanism for inclusion in a multicultural mosaic. Instead, she calls for unapologetic, place-based Indigenous alternatives to the destructive logics of the settler colonial state, including heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalist exploitation.
Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought by ISBN: 9781610489898Publication Date: 2015-09-28This ground-breaking text explores the intersection between dominant modes of critical educational theory and the socio-political landscape of American Indian education. Grande asserts that, with few exceptions, the matters of Indigenous people and Indian education have been either largely ignored or indiscriminately absorbed within critical theories of education. Furthermore, American Indian scholars and educators have largely resisted engagement with critical educational theory, tending to concentrate instead on the production of historical monographs, ethnographic studies, tribally-centered curricula, and site-based research. Such a focus stems from the fact that most American Indian scholars feel compelled to address the socio-economic urgencies of their own communities, against which engagement in abstract theory appears to be a luxury of the academic elite. While the author acknowledges the dire need for practical-community based research, she maintains that the global encroachment on Indigenous lands, resources, cultures and communities points to the equally urgent need to develop transcendent theories of decolonization and to build broad-based coalitions.
The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by ISBN: 9781570272677Publication Date: 2013-05-01In this series of essays Fred Moten and Stefano Harney draw on the theory and practice of the black radical tradition as it supports, inspires and extends contemporary social and political thought and aesthetic critique. Today the general wealth of social life finds itself confronted by mutations in the mechanisms of control, from the proliferation of capitalist logistics through governance by credit and management of pedagogy. Working from and within the social poesis of life in the undercommons Moten and Harney develop and expand an array of concepts.
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by ISBN: 9780415908078Publication Date: 1994-09-14These essays, by one of America's leading black intellectuals, face squarely the problems of teachers who do not want to teach, of students who do not want to learn, of racism and sexism in the classroom, and of the gift of freedom that is, for Hooks, the teacher's most important goal.
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope by ISBN: 9780415968188Publication Date: 2003-08-25Ten years ago, bell hooks astonished readers with Teachingto Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Now comes Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope- a powerful, visionary work that will enrich our teaching and our lives. Combining critical thinking about education with autobiographical narratives, hooks invites readers to extend the discourse of race, gender, class and nationality beyond the classroom into everyday situations of learning. bell hooks writes candidly about her own experiences. Teaching, she explains, can happen anywhere, any time - not just in college classrooms but in churches, in bookstores, in homes where people get together to share ideas that affect their daily lives. In Teaching Community bell hooks seeks to theorize from the place of the positive, looking at what works. Writing about struggles to end racism and white supremacy, she makes the useful point that "No one is born a racist. Everyone makes a choice." Teaching Community tells us how we can choose to end racism and create a beloved community. hooks looks at many issues-among them, spirituality in the classroom, white people looking to end racism, and erotic relationships between professors and students. Spirit, struggle, service, love, the ideals of shared knowledge and shared learning - these values motivate progressive social change.
Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom by ISBN: 9780415968201Publication Date: 2009-09-15In Teaching Critical Thinking, renowned cultural critic and progressive educator bell hooks addresses some of the most compelling issues facing teachers in and out of the classroom today. In a series of short, accessible, and enlightening essays, hooks explores the confounding and sometimes controversial topics that teachers and students have urged her to address since the publication of the previous best-selling volumes in her Teaching series, Teaching to Transgressand Teaching Community.The issues are varied and broad, from whether meaningful teaching can take place in a large classroom setting to confronting issues of self-esteem. One professor, for example, asked how black female professors can maintain positive authority in a classroom without being seen through the lens of negative racist, sexist stereotypes. One teacher asked how to handle tears in the classroom, while another wanted to know how to use humor as a tool for learning. Addressing questions of race, gender, and class in this work, hooks discusses the complex balance that allows us to teach, value, and learn from works written by racist and sexist authors. Highlighting the importance of reading, she insists on the primacy of free speech, a democratic education of literacy. Throughout these essays, she celebrates the transformative power of critical thinking. This is provocative, powerful, and joyful intellectual work. It is a must read for anyone who is at all interested in education today.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by ISBN: 0826412769Publication Date: 2000-09-01The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished and illiterate people throughout the world. Freire's work has taken on especial urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is increasingly accepted as the norm. With a substantive new introduction on Freire's life and the remarkable impact of this book by writer and Freire confidant and authority Donaldo Macedo, this anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed will inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come.
Living a Feminist Life by ISBN: 9780822363194Publication Date: 2017-02-03In Living a Feminist Life Sara Ahmed shows how feminist theory is generated from everyday life and the ordinary experiences of being a feminist at home and at work. Building on legacies of feminist of color scholarship in particular, Ahmed offers a poetic and personal meditation on how feminists become estranged from worlds they critique--often by naming and calling attention to problems--and how feminists learn about worlds from their efforts to transform them. Ahmed also provides her most sustained commentary on the figure of the feminist killjoy introduced in her earlier work while showing how feminists create inventive solutions--such as forming support systems--to survive the shattering experiences of facing the walls of racism and sexism. The killjoy survival kit and killjoy manifesto, with which the book concludes, supply practical tools for how to live a feminist life, thereby strengthening the ties between the inventive creation of feminist theory and living a life that sustains it.
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by ISBN: 9781551527383Publication Date: 2018-10-30Lambda Literary Award winning poet and essayist and long-time disability justice advocate Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha writes passionately and personally about disability justice in her latest book of essays. Discussing subjects such as the creation of care webs, collective access, and radically accessible spaces, she also imparts her own survivor skills and wisdom based on her years of activist work, empowering the disabled - in particular, those in queer and/or BIPOC communities - and granting them the necessary tools by which they can imagine a future where no one is left behind.
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by ISBN: 9781849352604Publication Date: 2017-04-18In the tradition of Octavia Butler, radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help to shape the futures we want. Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change, Emergent Strategy is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape the futures we want to live. Change is constant. The world is in a continual state of flux. It is a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, this book invites us to feel, map, assess, and learn from the swirling patterns around us in order to better understand and influence them as they happen. This is a resolutely materialist "spirituality" based equally on science and science fiction, a visionary incantation to transform that which ultimately transforms us.
