My approach to teaching derives from my research agenda. As a historian who studies African American women's educational and intellectual history, I have melded my personal experiences in the college classroom during the past eight years with the insights gleaned from Black women educators like Fanny Jackson Coppin, Anna Julia Cooper, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark. These four women in particular, whom I studied for my dissertation, were educators between the 1860s and 1960s who were effective, efficient, and dedicated. Reflecting on their pedagogical wisdom was essential in translating and transforming my own teaching. Katherine Dunham, a scholar-educator-activist, identified three essential aspects of creative teaching: "humanization, socialization, and professionalization." These three aspects encompass my views on how and why I teach.
Historical and cultural identity, as seen in my scholarly research focus, is deeply imbedded in my appreciation for Black women's history. As a first generation college student, I traveled widely with military parents, but did not attend college until I was 25 years old. I did not have grounding in African American educational history when growing up. When I found out that the first Black woman to graduate from college did so in 1850, it made me realize how much having role models would have meant to me as a young student. No one who I knew that looked like me went to college, so I didn't think I could. In my classroom, I infuse the content of my research to spread the knowledge that race and gender stereotypes of learning are simply myths perpetuated by a void of historic knowledge. Historic Black women attended college and formed a teaching force that made a significant impact on the illiteracy rate of the 4 million freedmen after the emancipation of 1865. Their legacy of a passion for teaching and learning lives in my courses. By humanizing Black women, I seek to make connections to the many disparate ways of knowing--especially those of marginalized peoples.
I include humor in my work. Humor allows folks to see that even in dramatic situations, comedy can enable one to more easily embrace connection and compassion. One of my favorite jobs before going to college was waiting tables at a comedy club. There is nothing like a room full of people laughing. Though my teaching style is nowhere near that of a stand-up comedy act, I have a great deal of fun teaching and encourage my students to actually en-JOY the learning process. Teaching in African American Studies and Women's Studies, the subjects are often painful, controversial, grim, frustrating, and disheartening. Racial and gender oppression, subjugation, coercion, and discrimination are serious topics. However, my work deals with activism as well as oppression, so I find inspiration from those who historically and contemporarily fight for equality and social justice. Enjoying the learning process, as a scholar-activist, comes through in my teaching. When I'm in the classroom, I would not rather be anywhere else. I try to make the topic interesting enough so that the students have a great time learning and feel the same way.
For me, the greatest teaching tools are discussion and debate. I very rarely give straight one-hour lectures. I try to present a clear set of learning objectives and begin classes with a series of questions. This way, students learn to be ready to discuss the reading, offer an opinion based on evidence, and hold each other accountable for alert interaction. I design my lesson plans to include pairs and small group discussion in addition to open dialogue; this assists in allowing everyone a voice and balancing those who are very talkative with those who are initially hesitant to participate. The discussions are required to be grounded in the course materials and I continually refer to and ask for page numbers in order to keep from devolving into simple opinion or conjecture.
In most of my classes, about twice a semester, I organize formal debates. Each student has a chance to be in a debate and then to judge as an audience member. The topics are generally controversial and students work in teams but do not get to choose their sides. Each member of the team is expected to present a part of the argument and the discussion that ensues after the debates are fruitful because students get to address whether or not they agreed with the side that they were assigned to argue. The debate guidelines call for professionalism and respect and I use Wayne Brockreide’s "Arguers as Lovers" for a theoretical frame. This article situates the act of debate as a love of learning rather than a quest for power or domination. The students seem to enjoy debating and take seriously the responsibility of judging the rounds. Judges are expected to sound off after they choose who wins and that, again, provides entrée into the complexities of historical, theoretical, or political discussions. The peer learning process exponentially solidifies the questions, themes, topics, or concepts that I present in the class. Though I rarely give traditional quizzes, when I have, students seem to digest and deconstruct the concepts more convincingly with examples provided by discussion and debate with other students.
My ultimate job is to train scholars and I strive for academic excellence. Though means were often meager in the late 19th and early 20th century classroom, dogged determination and an attitude of gratitude fueled young scholars to achieve heroic academic feats. I let my students know that I have high expectations because I genuinely believe that every student can learn, with the right attitude, tools, and time. I spend much time preparing for class and honing my pedagogy. I hold myself to the same standards of excellence that I expect of my students because, given the proof of historic intellectual growth, high quality measurable learning is possible and should always be the goal. Not everything I do in class works; I allow myself, as I allow my students, accidents and failures. What I do not excuse is lack of attempt or sustained practices of mediocrity. I give and expect the best effort, always; no excuses. I am like a tough coach: a drill sergeant in practice but a cheerleader at heart.
I am transparent in my work and like to avoid what I call "fuzzy teaching." As an African American woman in U.S. higher education, I am used to being underestimated, questioned, and challenged based on racist and sexist presumptions. Students have, on occasion, taken liberties to inform me that they strongly disagree with a grade or comments on their paper. Because I rarely offer my own opinion, students do not often challenge me ideologically, but some have compared me, unfavorably, to the popular perception of a "real" professor (White, male, and "objective"). After clarifying my course and learning objectives, reiterating my grading criteria, and sometimes after they have consulted other professors, those students who have challenged my academic capacity usually have been satisfied and enlightened by the process. I do not teach or grade in a "willy-nilly" fashion. I strive to be clear in my course syllabus, but especially clear about grading. I am known as a "tough" grader, but not randomly so…and I feel no great joy when some students (inevitably) perform poorly in my class. Students who earn As in my classes have been plentiful, but those who have received that mark, know they earned every point! Ultimately, I hate grading. At St. John's College, where I studied my first year of college--we did not get "grades," we got comments from the professors and that changed the entire focus of the student/professor interaction. However, since grades are required, I take the duty seriously. I see this as preparation for future professional endeavors; you will not always see eye-to-eye with those whom you work, but you must find a way to be productive and be responsible for producing an excellent portfolio regardless of the attitudes of those who supervise you.
The larger part of my open nature of the grading process stems from my concern for students. As an undergraduate, I once received a "B" grade on a paper and when I asked the professor the grounds for the grade, he said it "felt" like a B to him. Not having a clear grading criteria made me subject to mystical and "fuzzy" grading that neither improved my writing ability nor my attitude toward the class. I engage students in learning and assessment definitions to underscore my practice: though pure objectivity is impossible, fair and standardized evaluation is assured. Students are given exam and final paper grading criteria in plenty of time to prepare. The rubrics simultaneously function as an assurance of my competency, a concrete guide for assignment expectations, and an equitable measure of papers that are sometimes as different as apples and oranges. As my teaching has improved over time, my dedication to transparency has strengthened and both the students and I seem to like the flexibility that such a strict rubric actually allows.
I bring theories, models, examples, and worksheets into class so that students can see there is more than one way to conceptualize the material. I have an affinity for acronyms. The one I most often use when explaining to the students what models guide the class is being a HACKer. At the beginning of a course, I explain that during the class we will HACK through the material and they can see an organizational tool that helps them know not only what is important "for the test," but offers useful ways to approach the important points presented.
HACKing stands for:
Historical Context & Contemporary Relevance
Academic Discipline (student's majors)
Cultural Identity and Standpoint
Keys & Tools (theoretical frameworks and question types)
Through this approach, I capture the wide range of material in a women's studies or African American studies class and provide students with points of entry to the multitude of information provided in the course text. Students know that regardless of the topics, which range from African enslavement to women's health debates, they have a paradigm to frame the issue. They will employ historical and contemporary lenses, bring in their own chosen major for scholarly perspective, read the text through their cultural identity, and form their own questions about the material. This synthesis of different teaching tools is vital for my two instructional areas which are both interdisciplinary and quite vast. Organizing the information enables students to take the material in small bites and investigate minute details without losing sight of the big picture.
These three principles guide and are guided by my love of learning. Teaching has allowed me to learn at a deeper level and I am thankful for an occupation where I can be a life-long learner. Ultimately, my teaching philosophy returns to information gathered by historic Black women educators. The African American women I research generally articulated educational philosophies that had four central themes: demand for applied learning; recognition of the importance of social standpoint and cultural identity; a critical epistemology that both supported and resisted mainstream American ideals; and moral existentialism grounded in a sense of communal responsibility. I reflect this history through my involvement in community service-learning, teaching in race and gender studies, encouraging debate in my classroom, and by telling my students I care about them. Like educator Nannie Helen Burroughs stated, I feel like I "specialize in the wholly impossible." In my teaching, I try to make the impossible a reality for my students, my ancestors, and myself.
On Grading and Academic Honesty
As I have said, I do not like grading--I believe it takes away focus from the importance of ideas (students ask "What grade did I get?", MUCH more often than "What did you think about my thesis?"). Overall, I have worked to maintain and improve excellent teaching ratings and uphold rigorous standards in my classroom. Unfortunately, I have had the displeasurable duty of turning students in to the Dean of Students Office (DSO) for not adhering to the UF Student Academic Honor Code. I have participated in academic honesty hearings at the DSO and have ensured my students that I strive to provide excellence in my teaching, but also expect honest and excellent efforts in their learning and scholarly activities. Before attending college, I used to work as a night auditor at a hotel. I was accountable for making sure all of the numbers from various areas (breakfast buffets, lunch and dinner restaurant sales, room rates, bar sales, banquets, etc.) added up. I had to look closely at others' work and, in turn, "show my work" to other auditors and managers to ensure accuracy and accountability on my part as well. I carry the same principals of accounting in my classes; I keep fair and accurate numbers for my classes and expect that all student work will be honest reflections of actual student effort. I expect and give fair evaluation. I do not cheat in my preparation for my teaching, so I do not tolerate cheating from my students. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO EXCELLENCE.
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