When I began this class I was just beginning to look at gender from a feminist lens. I had only ever discussed gender within the realm of literature and so this course was really like a window into a wider conversation about gender; one that took place in spaces other than a literary book. I think I am much more able to think critically about gender in a broader way because of this. I have been learning to pay attention to the classroom structure more, the ways in which certain classroom structures can be problematic or the ways in which is it useful for provoking discussion or creative learning.

I think there have been many classes where I spoke a lot and a couple classes where I sat back and did not say much at all. It took me time to adapt to the class structure after it changed mid-way through the semester. After a couple classes I became comfortable and began to participate regularly. I liked the idea of collaborative work both inside and outside the classroom. I love the use of serendip; I feel like it is very well integrated in the classroom, especially because we hear each person’s posts again and can discuss them. I felt as though I could have participated more online than I did.

Sara Gladwin

Critical Feminist Studies Final Paper

Anne Dalke

5/11/12

Violating Language

As I was reading a chapter in the book “Feminism is for Everybody” by Bell Hooks, I became inspired to start thinking about the ways in which language was used in the classroom and what effect changing that dialogue would have on classroom experience. I became interested in exploring how language could be used to alter the classroom to become a more inclusive place, where silenced voices are able to have the opportunity to be heard.  Hopefully I could find a way that the classroom could validate students experiences instead of conditioning students to filter out certain parts of their lives from the classroom.

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being “are you even registered in this class? do you know where you are? and 10 being “you are fully present, prepared and engaged”, I would say I was an average of a 6.5 being that some days I was about a 1 and most days I was a 7.5-8. That being said, I was an average of about a 4 in my “real life” this semester 1 being “you are stagnant, you might as well be dead” and 10 being “your life has self motivated forward momentum”.  So my participation and contribution was patchy at best, but you already know that. Though think I was more present in the small discussions than in the larger ones. Everything I did for class was “focused on my own learning” though I am not really sure what else it could have focused on…I was trying to contribute to the learning of others online. By this I mean that I was trying or hoping generally to engage with a discussion in my postings. I don’t think I have been thinking of how I might be contributing to others learning, in the sense that I don’t ever find myself wanting others to come to my point of view or position of understanding—I don’t consider myself a teacher within the classroom.

             This class was a journey in many ways for me.  This is my first Anne Dalke class, and so I have never experienced this type of class structure before.  I certainly have mixed feelings, and my learning process in this class has been shaky and informative at the same time.  As discussed ad nauseum in mine and others’ final web events, the class was structured in such a way that there were vast gaps in understanding and education between many of my peers.  I was unfortunately at the “lower” end of what felt like a hierarchy of education, and so was often uncomfortable expressing my ideas for fear of being looked down upon as less understanding and uneducated.  As an intro course I question how useful it is to have people with extensive knowledge in the class – they were often bored and frustrated with the others (myself) in the class who were still learning.  Having people in the class with higher levels of understanding can be incredibly useful in that it can engender conversation that would not be possible with a group of people new to the topic, and often times the conversation was very interesting because of the levels of understanding some people had.  However, occasionally that left others out of the conversation, because it would go over their (our) heads.  But again, simply listening to other people have these conversations was useful, because I for one learn a lot from listening to other people.