“We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.” 

- E. M Forster, A Room with a View

In her piece, Alison Cook-Sather references Khamler (2003) and Gilbert (1989) who suggest that the term "student voice" might not be the appropriate term to use in reference to the "desire for student engagement,

I find it very interesting that, in regards to voice in education, we've read two pieces by women who have backgrounds in film. Ellsworth's work, Teaching Positions, brought to light the true organic nature of teaching in that it is impossible to know what will arise from the act of giving a lesson. Thinking back on classes I've taken with Anne and Jody, I've realized that I rarely left the classroom having learnt what I expected to learn at the beginning. Teaching and learning, it seems, are not necessarily directly related. Teachers have no guarantee of knowing what will be learnt by the students they teach, and that is because each learner has different experiences which allow them to learn and process the classroom curriculum differently – deciding for themselves what is important. Instead, Ellsworth notes, it is perhaps the gap in what is being taught and what has been "learned" ("a surprising 'return of difference'") that points to true learning. This student-centric view reaffirms the idea that what the student takes from a lesson is perhaps more important than the lesson itself. This, for me, harkens back to Deveare-Smith's idea of the informative nature of the "gaps" while performing others.

So. In my google search for images of the campus, I found this site. These images don't represent the campus for me (though I did make the "Bryn Mawr Bubble" connection while I was looking at the Toroidial colony), so this post is just for fun.

I love that NASA validated this dream-world. I did a little more searching and found out that NASA hosts this contest every year -

I really enjoyed our class today--getting to discuss these different terms, on our own terms, is something that I think is incredibly important, especially in a class with as much subjectivity and nuance as our own. I really enjoyed hearing from other students about their experiences that intersected with these topics from Pratt's and Cook-Sather's essay. It's an opportunity to hear and cherish the so-called "student voice" in a way that feels very genuine, and to really discuss social issues that I feel are too often otherized and glossed over in many other social science classes. 

After reading Elizabeth Ellsworth's introduction, I got stuck on how much the word and concept of movement seems to be a recurring theme in the readings we've been doing.  

To bring up the comparison between Smith and Ellsworth, Smith's Fires in the Mirror argues that identities and people have the propensity and should be encouraged to move.  Doing so can give people the change to make tensions productive by allowing the opposing sides to experience the other in some form and to, perhaps, "[build] bridges between places." (xxxix).  What's more, Ellsworth, borrowing terms commonly used within film studies, often speaks of how 'fixed' the education system is in one particular way of understanding learning.  Instead, she tries to "...make possible and thinkable questions that I believe can set into motion ways of thinking and teaching that have otherwise become rigis, solidified, stuck, and sloganized.  What both then advocate for is to understand individuals as dynamic, not static beings, and if this is the case, we must engage them in a way that complies and takes advantage of this facet of human beings, and by extension, we must choose to view them in a variety of lenses and modes of address.  

I was particularly interested in Alison Cook-Sather's article about student voice because I could finally take a class reading and apply it to real life! It's only been a week or two since I've started my job as a Student Consultant for TLI (I know a few of us in class have had the job or currently hold it) and I just find it really exciting to see my transition from a being a timid high school student who was frustrated with the way she was "learning" to being in a position where I can feel comfortable enough to tell a professor what she is doing that is or isn't effectively helping me as a learner in her classroom. Why didn't I "embrace the political potential of speaking out on [my] behalf" sooner? (366). I don't think I'll ever stop beating myself up for lacking the courage to explain to my teachers that a certain pedagogical method was not working for me. I'm the learner in the classroom and my needs are important!

Where does knowledge exist in classrooms? As I read through the articles I became increasingly aware of the ways in which the education system in the US places all of the knowledge in the hands of the teacher, a system of education in which teachers fill their students with knowledge to prepare them for standardized tests. The readings, however, pointed to another way to think about knowledge in the classroom. As Freire put it "The object of the known is put on the table between the two subjects of knowing. They meet around it and through it for mutual inquiry" (pg. 99). Ellsworth put it in other words when she said, "pedagogy is a performance that is suspended (as in interrupted, never completed) in the space between self and other" (pg. 17).

In thinking about this idea of knowledge being something that stands not only between students and teachers, but also between students themselves, I think a lot about the idea of learning as a process, rather than a definitive answer. Learning as a collective journey, in which students and teachers feel a sense of responsibility to share and listen. In my mind, this is definitely a utopian ideal of what schooling is, one that is scarce, but precious. At the same time, however, I question how this is possible within an education system that is based on grading and standardized testing. How can a teacher seek this kind of collaborative knowledge and how can students feel inclined to explore when they must receive " a good grade" at the end of the year?

Hey everyone!

For some random reason I was reading this commencement speech and I couldn't help it but to share. It may have NOTHING to do with our classes, but I really enjoyed reading. Reading is not really my thing, so that I found this interesting and worth sharing is a miracle :) Just a little glimpse of it, he talks about societies "natural default" of self-centeredness and how Liberal Arts College help unravel that. 

I know we have a ton of readings to do for other classes, so only read if you can - no obligation :)

If you want to read clock here.