In some ways, responding to this prompt seems like a conscious act of othering. What’s not being looked at? What needs to be visible? Is it something we have, or think about that we want others to see? Some way we are different that makes us into an other? Is it something that we identify […]
difference
I’m different, I’m different…
Superficially, I could not be much more different than my students and while I would love to be their age again I would not want to their age or anywhere close to it and attempt to teach English 101. While being a male surely gives me some unwarranted authority in the classroom my age also […]
Perceived and Real Difference: How Do I Know What Sets Me Apart?
I could come up with a laundry list of ways that I’m different from my students, for instance: I’m in a different stage of life and with a longer experience of life from which to draw on As the instructor, I am in a role that is traditionally predicated more on “giving knowledge” than “receiving […]
Differences
For one thing, I am older than they are. I have lots of life experience that they don’t have. If need be, I think I could write a very long list of the cultural and historical changes I have witnessed in my lifetime that my students take for granted as the way things are and […]
Ignorance and Wisdom
Sometimes I try to think about what I was like when I was a freshman in college. It’s possible that I came to my Freshman English equivalent with something of a bad affect. I remember being irritated by my classmates and the way everyone spoke out of what I thought of as self-aggrandizement. Vying each […]