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All those P's!

Submitted by Anne Dalke on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 10:31am

Hey--I'm Anne Dalke, one of the co-teachers here. I'm excited to be "reviving" and "revising" a version of the core course in Gender Studies that I first taught w/ Kaye Edwards in '97 and again in '98. It's been amazing for me to see, as we planned the course over the summer, how far each of us has traveled since that initial collaboration. I have to admit that I'm just a little bit worried about the overfullness of the syllabus--all those P's! Among them, "precarity" is strong to me now, because a good friend of mine, Paul Grobstein, died earlier this summer.

The Uglier Side of Paradise

By Nicole Gervasio

            In the city where I come from in New Jersey, there are no roses or daisies, but sometimes you’ll find a dandelion straightening up from the spines in the sidewalk.  Cars shoulder the street like bumpers in a bowling lane since nobody has garages.  The houses are not as close to each other as they are in many other parts of Trenton; many are either semi-detached duplexes or free-standing row-houses, like the one where I live.  Its white front is turning color like the tired rot of an egg.  Scratches splay spider webs of aluminum underlay across the siding, especially near the front door knob, where my mother always fumbles her key against the jamb at night. 

Additional Resources

for Precarious, Performative, Playful, Potential ... Perspectives on Sex and Gender

David Tuller, No Surprise for Bisexual Men: Report Indicates They Exist.The New York Times. August 22, 2011.

Gays' numbers rise in fact, perception. The Philadelphia Inquirer. August 30, 2011.

Kristin Lindgren. Selected Bibliography of Disability Studies Resources. October 14, 2009.

Anne Dalke's picture

Notes Towards Day 2 (Thurs, Sept. 1): "Moving" Educational Autobiographies

Submitted by Anne Dalke on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 11:29am

Breaking in Six Degrees

Hallie Garrison

 

“I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet.”

John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation


The First Degree

I pull in closer to smell the aftershave on the father’s collar, rounding this same corner for the fifth time today.  My bike wheels give a squeak, and I jolt back to the pavement because I’m afraid they’ll notice I don’t actually belong—not here, not to their picnic.  Lately I’ve found myself wanting a refresher course in the art of family making.  A mother, a father, a sibling, or two?  A grandmother, she knits.  A grandfather, he’s quiet, but the aunt (ant or ahnt) is far too rowdy.  Uncles come and go, recover and remarry, such that there are branches and branches and branches of cousins.

jccohen's picture

introducing myself

Submitted by jccohen on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 11:21am

I’m Jody Cohen, teacher of one of the ESem sections, and I’ll introduce myself by sharing a piece of my educational autobiography.  I grew up in a suburb outside Washington, D.C.

Workbooked: Truth and Power in Education, Bharath Vallabha

Prompts for Further Writing and Thinking

Writing to Read

Write a description (even a caricature, if you like) of a teacher Vallabha’s text evokes in your imagination.  What might this person’s body language, actions, and speech be like?  What would he or she do to manifest an understanding that “growth involves a rupture?”  On the first day of class?  In creating a final exam?  When a student seemed to go through the motions rather than engage with material?

The text:

Truth and Power in Education 

Bharath Vallabha

I

The initiation rituals in early human communities suggest the following things:

 a)  Growth involves a rupture (children being separated from their parents for days), old patterns being discontinued.

 b)   Growth requires the enforcement of a new narrative which will reinforce forgoing the old habits and strengthen the new habits.

 c)   (a) and (b) require a shared communal sense that the rupture and the enforcement are actually good for the kids.

 d)   (c) makes the people teaching the kids not feel bad about enforcing their views on the kids because they know that they are not enforcing their personal views but the values of the general community.

II

Truth and Power in Education

Bharath Vallabha


I

The initiation rituals in early human communities suggest the following things:

 a)  Growth involves a rupture (children being separated from their parents for days), old patterns being discontinued.

 b)   Growth requires the enforcement of a new narrative which will reinforce forgoing the old habits and strengthen the new habits.

 c)   (a) and (b) require a shared communal sense that the rupture and the enforcement are actually good for the kids.

 d)   (c) makes the people teaching the kids not feel bad about enforcing their views on the kids because they know that they are not enforcing their personal views but the values of the general community.

II

 The basic fact of contemporary society is that the community has grown so inclusive that there are no deep shared stories. It is hard to point to any ideas which are shared across the board by the parents of the children who go to school and college. (Also related is the society’s focus on each person thinking for themselves.)

 This diversity in the community has the following effect on education:

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Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.

Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)

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