I’ve been struggling with the formation of this project, going back and forth, questioning the practicality and concreteness of my various ideas. Always my first inclination is to return to my (Catholic) social justice background and nothing we’ve addressed in this class fits more comfortably into that space than Freire. I asked myself how I […]
Participation
A Courtroom Drama, Maybe?
In thinking about the different metaphorical “ecosystems” my class resembles, I’ve been thinking, as well, about hierarchies in the classroom. How, more often than not, some semblance of hierarchal order is consciously and unconsciously put into effect by the second week of class, beyond the standard student/teacher dichotomy. This comes about most directly by way […]
Karaoke Bar
This might be simplistic and silly, but the first thing that came to mind when I read the prompt for our second blog post was a karaoke bar. Maybe it’s just because I love karaoke, but I’m going with it. In this scenario, I’m the host (side note: my favorite karaoke host is Master Moose); […]
Ecosystem: Growth and Value
I initially tried to write this based on an already existing ecosystem— think of the inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest old growth forests, or something equally elaborative. But then, as I have a tendency to do, I decided that would be too hard, and too much research. So here I am. I’ll start with my […]
Feeling Incompetent
When I got the news of my TAship, I immediately ran to my current and former professors for advice. Even as an undergraduate at Western, I was still terrified to teach, and voiced my concerns to current English 101 instructors. Their advice was all the same— “enjoy the summer and don’t worry about it. At […]