education

Recognize How Your Social Position Informs Your Reactions to Your Instructor and the Course Content Positionality is the concept that our perspectives are based on our place in society. Positionality recognizes that where you stand in relation to others shapes what you can see and understand. For example, if I am considered an able-bodied person, […]

Evidence and Instead Examine Patterns Let Go of Anecdotal Evidence and Instead Examine Patterns Anecdotal evidence is evidence drawn from hearsay or only personal experience, and thus anecdotal evidence is superficial, limited to interpretation, and not generalizable. For example, many of us have heard something similar to, “My cousin tried to get a job, but

Everyone has an Opinion. Opinions are Not the Same as Informed Knowledge One of the biggest challenges to attaining Guideline 1—intellectual humility—is the emphasis placed in mainstream culture on the value of opinion. Mainstream culture has normalized the idea that because everyone has an opinion, all opinions are equally valid. For example, local news and

Strive for Intellectual Humility Our hypothetical student is representative of many students we encounter: He has not done the readings or has trouble understanding what he’s read; he has limited knowledge but is resistant to increasing it; he clings to the same worldview he came into the course with; and he is overly confident about

The Question of Planets Imagine: You are in a course that fulfills a university science requirement. The professor holds a PhD in astronomy. He has written several books, is widely published in academic journals, and has a national reputation in his field. The course objectives include defining terms used in modern astronomy and exposure to

Strive for intellectual humility. 2. Recognize the difference between opinions and informed knowledge. 3. Let go of personal anecdotal evidence and look at broader societal patterns. 4. Notice your own defensive reactions and attempt to use these reactions as entry points for gaining deeper self-knowledge. 5. Recognize how your own social positionality (such as your

An Open Letter to Students Courses that address social justice and inequality through a critical lens often challenge mainstream understandings and thus bring to the surface patterns and tensions that other courses do not (Gallavan, 2000; Kincheloe, 2008). This is due, primarily, to two key reasons: The first is that many of us are underprepared

How to Engage Constructively in Courses That Take a Critical Social Justice Approach* The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the “real” world unless it first happens in the

Layers of the Parable This story is from the tales of Nasreddin Hodja, a 13th-century Sufisage. His wisdom stories often use humor to point out human failings and misunderstandings. What is relevant about this story for our purposes is the way it captures some of the key concepts in critical social justice literacy: Each of

A Parable: Hodja and the Foreigner Once upon a time, a foreign scholar and his entourage were passing through a town in Anatolia. The scholar asked to speak to the town’s most knowledgeable person. The townsfolk immediately called Nasreddin Hodja to come to meet the foreign scholar. The foreigner did not speak Turkish, Persian, or