Module 4
Faculty Development

Module 4

Module 4 – Telling my story, continued

Introduction

Telling our stories is a complex iterative process. It can raise both positive and negative emotions, as we ask questions, sometimes for the first time, that cause us to reflect on and question our identities. It requires a commitment to time, patience, honesty and compassion for ourselves, as we examine our professional identities and what we hold to be true, in terms of teaching and learning.

To-Do:
  • Watch ‘Introduction to Cultural Introspection’ Zoom Video: minutes 26:33- 27:09.
  • Describe how the value(s) explored in Module 3 manifest in your role as a field-school teacher / teaching diverse students, and in the ways that you interpret, judge, design for, and interact with students and with your subject area.

Some examples include writing about how this value/trait plays out in your:

  • syllabus design and content of field school
  • interactions with students
  • activities you facilitate during class sessions and field school
  • how much of your professional and/or personal self you share with students
  • how you disseminate knowledge within a course
  • what you believe is the purpose of education/learning and study abroad
  • what your role is in relation to student learning
  • how you evaluate and judge student behavior (what encourages your approval or disapproval)
  • what kinds of skills you expect students to already have and what you expect to teach
  • how you design evaluations for the field school experience
  • Describe how this / these value(s) or trait(s) might be limiting your effectiveness as a teacher of a diverse learners.
    • If you wish, begin by focusing on learners most comfortable in individuated AND in integrated cultural frameworks. Refer back to Balancing cultural strengths in teaching Chávez & Longerbeam, 2016, pp. 1-21, from Module 2.
  • Describe how this / these value(s) or trait(s) might be limiting your effectiveness as a teacher of a diverse learners.
    • Be sure to provide stories or examples to illustrate what you mean
    • If you are more of an emerging teacher, discuss how you believe your values will be both helpful and limiting
  • Analyze the effect of these values/themes on your behavior toward students and toward yourself in your work as a teacher.  How would you encourage and facilitate students’ awareness of their own cultural stories? How would you facilitate their introspection they will encounter during the intercultural experience?
    • For example: How do you or could you support and guide in ways that are supportive of students with different cultural frameworks, while still honoring those valued in your culture(s)?
    • How might you harness a student’s cultural strengths and abilities for their own and others’ learning? Such as, how might you facilitate student learning through both silence and discussion?
    • How might you learn in relation to your teaching, from both students who are culturally similar to you and students who are culturally different from you?
  • Using the Blackboard Learn Discussion Board, post a reflection based on ONE aspect of your reflection that you are comfortable sharing.
    • share your thoughts on the Blackboard Learn Discussion Board
    • find one person with mostly different reflections and explore those similarities / differences
    • with your reflection partner, share on the discussion board what you both learnt from each other 
References

References

Chávez, A. F., & Longerbeam, S. D. (2016). Teaching across cultural strengths: A guide to balancing integrated and individuated cultural frameworks in college teaching. Virginia: Stylus Publishing.

Chávez, A. F., Longerbeam, S. D., Montoya, C. N., & Lewis-Jose, P. C. (2020). Storied sketches: Making meaning of culture’s role in teaching. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 32(1), 125-137. Retrieved from https://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE3661.pdf

Other relevant resources

Conley, S. (June, 2012). The power of Storytelling. TEDxDirigohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkqb6uDRNQs 

Longerbeam, S. D., & Chávez, A. F. (2016). Going inward: The role of cultural introspection in college teaching. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Utell, J. (October, 2014). Episode 017: What happens when we study our own teaching with Janine Utell. Retrieved from https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/study-our-teaching/ 

Modules