To kick off a semester like no other–amid a pandemic, insurrection and impeachment in the US, and multiple other crises the world over–I asked future educators to take a moment to consider why they want to teach, who they will be teaching, and what it means to teach with attentiveness to literacies and technologies in the current moment by watching a video from Dr. Ernest Morrell where he discusses his approach.
We then shared a commitment we’d make for our future teaching. I present, Our Commitments…
Luckily for me, this summer I had the chance to teach a course called #tch432 Technologies Across the Disciplines and even with all the pressing stresses of now, it was a breath of fresh air.
I was reminded again of the commitment educators have to do right by their students. Of course there are exceptions in this world, but not in the group with whom I’ve had the privilege to work.
I have seen teachers rethinking their favorite tried-and-trues due to issues of equity that remote teaching in the middle of a global pandemic brought to light. I have seen teachers commit to critical openness to others’ world views balanced with more urgency to speak up about and take action in combating systemic racism in the structures and practices of schooling. I have seen teachers try new tools, means of expression, and ways of connecting via new media–even when it is frustrating and out of their wheelhouse–in the hopes of widening their network of colleagues and broadening their own repertoire of tools to have at their disposal.
Anna Smith, PhD, educational researcher & teacher educator blogging about composition in the digital age, contexts for learning, theories of development, and global youth.
