This will be the last podcast for the foreseeable future. I need to engage the work of ethnic studies in my work, at my college, and in my community. It has truly been a blessing to serve you and I look forward to the next iteration of (Re)Teach!
Ethnic studies, at its heart, must be about intersectionality, tying current events to multiple disciplines for analysis, and making a positive social change. If your class is not doing this, then it is not an ethnic studies class. One of those changes is how classes are taught and that will be the focus of the last episode in this series.
I cover 2 of the 5 core competencies in this episode. It is not enough to talk about culture or history to be considered an ethnic studies class. You must focus your class on power and how people liberate themselves from oppressive structures, e.g. racism, colonialism, etc.
Ethnic Studies is in high demand in California. The California State University system has made it a requirement and this directly affects the community college system. Ethnic Studies is even being offered at the high school level. This episode will give a brief examination of what Ethnic Studies is and what social factors have brought us to this place in history.
What I talked about in this episode: 1) Research some textbooks to get a feel for patterns 2) Start with what you are good at 3) Put your best stuff in the book! 4) Keep equity at the center
I talk about my personal journey on pricing my textbook and how I went from zero cost to charging, back to zero cost. I then talk about the pluses and minuses of using iBook author to create my textbook. I finish by talking about how creating a textbook helped me rethink my teaching and how I use multiple-choice questions. I will give you part two next time :)
Embracing being awkward means fighting against systematic racism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativism. However, we are not fighting against the center to become the center. We are fighting to establish a world that accepts our authentic selves as central to who we are but resists creating new norms for authenticity.
Will you accept my late work? Many of us do not take late work from students, but will you accept mine? In this episode, I reflect on all of the emotions that I am going through right now in my life and how they have led me to forget about doing this recording on time. I hope you accept my late work.
Some very real reasons to write you own textbook: 1) You will never think more about your teaching 2) Imagine being in sync with your textbook 3) Focuses on what you like 4) It will be organized the way you like it 5) You can put equity at the center!
Three things helped me to understand that I was in the beginning phase of writing a textbook: 1) I found out that textbooks matter 2) I was spending a LOT of time developing my own examples because I did not like my textbook 3) I was developing handouts to go with the reader for the class
Part 2: I focused on teaching others how to teach others: - Looked at the power dynamic involved in teaching teachers versus teaching students - The difference between teaching beginning versus experienced teachers - Consulting in a one-on-one setting may work better with experienced teachers - Talked about how former students of mine who became teachers have now learned how to teach teachers.
I use the old adage about giving someone a fish versus teaching them how to fish and relate it to how we teach students. I talk about how our society undervalues giving people fish when that may be the thing that gets them interested in your discipline in the first place!
This episode focuses on how to bring your teaching philosophy and equity-minded practices under the unifying theme of student equity. In other words, I am teaching the students about equity versus just using equity-minded practices. I have found that this is effect for the class, but it also has the ability to drastically affect our future.
This episode focuses on teaching statistics using a lot of equity-minded practices: - Free Workbook - Grading that focuses on effort and/or process - Purposeful small groups - Interactive learning embedded throughout the course
This is the first episode in a three-part series regarding how I teach my Statistics for Sociology class. The highlights for this episode are: 1) Teaching statistics as a language 2) Focus on mathematical thinking 3) Using statistics to teach sociology 4) Everything is a word problem 5) Every step is written out
In order to build relationships with your students and show them that you care, tell them your story! Four things that you definitely want to talk to your students about: 1) How did you chose your major? 2) Who was the teacher that inspired you the most? 3) What kind of student were you in high school? What about college? 4) Let them know that you are still growing as a person and as a professor
In part two, I focus on the following items of the order: E) an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex F) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex G) any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex h) meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or ...
The current administration issued an executive order that put major restrictions on diversity and equity training at federal institutions and places that receive federal funding, "in order to promote unity in the federal workforce, and to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating." However, this order is problematic and symptomatic of a greater discussion about race that our society needs to address. In part one, I focus on the following items of the order: A)...
This three-part podcast is a collaboration between S.A.F.E. Topics and (Re)Teach. In this episode, we focus on what gives us hope as we all try to move MiraCosta College towards being anti-racist
This three-part podcast is a collaboration between S.A.F.E. Topics and (Re)Teach. In this episode, we all focus on the work that needs to be done to create an anti-racist campus.
This three-part podcast is a collaboration between S.A.F.E. Topics and (Re)Teach. Sean Davis, curry mitchell, and I co-host a discussion with Denise Stephenson (Director of the Writing Center), Chad Tsuzuki (Professor of English and Chair of the Tenure Review and Evaluation Committee), Oswaldo Ramirez (Counselor at the Community Learning Center) and Rachel Hastings (Communications Professor and Coordinator of North County Higher Education Alliance) about what anti-racist means to us....
Some tips on how to be a more effective, equity-minded teacher on Zoom: 1) Be more direct (2:31) 2) Teacher in shorter segments (9:15) 3) Be more hands-on (15:13) 4) Record and post your lectures (20:32)
This episode gives a step-by-step process to using the chat feature to create a space for spontaneous conversations. Doing this will help build the communities that equity groups, especially Black and Brown students, need to help them succeed.
Having spent more time on Zoom in the last few months has allowed me to really reflect on what it is good for and what we should avoid doing on it. Zoom is good for connecting with students. We should take advantage of the recording feature and we definitely need to use the chat feature to help with the spontaneous interactions. However, Zoom is not like a classroom. Everything takes longer to do on Zoom and so we have to be mindful of doing more with less. Lastly, we must remember that many of ...
With my last episode for the season, I wrap up with a discussion of how experiencing COVID 19 while being black correlates to talking about closing equity gaps. I will be back in August with season 2 and will share what I did over the summer to become a better teacher.
Melissa and Susy both took my Research Methods class and talked to me about how I “decolonized” research and the research process for them. We talked about how I used my DoorDashing experience as a participant observation model to do research. Susy then talks about how she learned how to love research because it helped her understand her own world as a Mexican in America. She also talks about how research became much more interesting when she found herself, her family, and her community being an...
I have a conversation with two active, amazing, and resilient students, Susy and Melissa, about imposter syndrome, the feeling that you do not belong in a certain space. Although this is something that anyone can experience, students of color are especially vulnerable to this issue. However, if faculty allow themselves to be vulnerable and share their impostor stories with their students, this will go a long way to making DI students feel like they belong in your class and at your college....
So, I invited Dr. Rachel Hastings on my podcast and we talked for over two hours straight! I broke this is up into smaller bite-sized segments. In this segment, listen as we talk about: -How POCs need to think about searching for a job -We need to focus on what we can contribute to a college versus how to fit into a campus culture -Teaching students how to stand in their own truth starts with standing in your own truth -Talk about your whole self, especially regarding race -Reflecting on how par...
In honor of National Poetry Month, I talk about four different levels of integrating spoken word poetry into your classroom curriculum. As a spoken word poet, I advocate for this genre because it adds emotional understanding to social justice issues. I want my students to know that what I am teaching them is beyond research, data, and theories. It is real, it is visceral, and these issues have a human toll that can only be understood on an emotional level.
I interview Shawntae Mitchum, a former student of mine, about her Master's thesis regarding the experiences of black faculty who teach at community colleges. We explore why there is very little student equity research regarding community colleges even though this system, by far, has a larger number of black and brown students than the two other systems combined. We end by focusing on what it means to teach the diamonds in the rough and how this is the very essence of equity-minded research and p...
