Teaching in Troubled Times

More Than Words: In Conversation with the Language of Racial and Social Justice-Making

About

Commitments to the work that connects diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging/justice, anti-racism, anti-Blackness, anti-white supremacy and abolition work, are deep and rich. Each of these terms also have motivations and genealogies. During this event there was a discussion focused on unpacking the relationships between these frameworks and how they help us better understand and situate the work and the questions that they generate. When we think about the relationships that we hope to foster with and between students, how do we use these frameworks to inform our practice?...

Difficult Knowledge, Trauma Informed Pedagogy and Safe-ish Spaces

Event Description

Violence and trauma are all around us—fatal shootings by police, sexual violence, family separations, addiction, abuse, displacement of refugees. Often, these situations give rise to individual healing journeys and collective efforts to create change. But the pain and loss embedded in them also have a damaging effect long after the events have passed.

We invite many difficult experiences into our classrooms, historically intimate and distant, often through written and visual text depicting traumatic events and experiences. At the same time, we have many students...

Inviting Students to Bring Themselves to Class: Connecting Learning and Lived Experiences

Event Description

In higher education, we want learning to be relevant to students’ lives, but how often do we explicitly incorporate students’ lives--who they are, what they know, where they come from--into our teaching and research? How do we take an asset-based approach, drawing upon the diversity of Berkeley's student population as well as our own subject matter expertise, to create a richer learning experience for everyone? What does this look like across different disciplines and what's at stake?

Panelists:...

Assignment Design for Social Justice Education

Event Description:

In this discussion, Berkeley faculty from a variety of disciplines talk about instructional strategies and assignments they’ve developed to help students understand and confront contemporary concerns, and shared their experiences tackling thorny topics. Professors interested in bringing social issues into their course(s) but not sure how or where to start or professors already teaching about social justice looking for ideas and support attended.

Questions explored:

What does social justice pedagogy mean? How does one design for social...

How to Have Political Conversations in the Classroom?

Event Description:

Tuesday, September 25th, 2018 marked the largest National Voter Registration Day on record. Over 800,000 people updated their registration or registered to vote for the first time. At the same time that so many Americans are involved in ballot box politics, the country is polarized, partisan and politicized. With sharp political differences seemingly not going away any time soon, how do we support robust discussions in our classrooms? How do we support our students to consider issues from immigration to gun control through deliberation and not shouting...

Understanding UC Berkeley Students and their Experiences

Event Description

This event was an open dialogue, supported by campus climate data from several recent surveys. Together, the speaker and attendees considered whether the survey results support their own experiences; how the data might shift expectations of relationships with students; and what resulting efforts individually and collectively could be designed to provide an equitable and fully inclusive classroom.

Event Outline California Demographics Berkeley Undergraduate Demographics Race/Ethnicity Gender Sexuality Socioeconomic Status (SES)...

Whose Classroom? The Generative Potential of Conflict in Higher Education

Event Description

How can we use the misunderstandings and conflicts that arise in the classroom as points of embarkation toward more honest and rigorous intellectual pursuits? How can we think of our evolving values and priorities, not as accommodations or concessions, but as opportunities for deeper learning? Dr. Sarah Lappas moderates a conversation revolving around these questions and more as we imagine new strategies for equitable learning through dialogue and collaboration.

Facilitator:

*Dr....

Addressing Food Insecurity and Basic Needs Among UC Students: What Can Berkeley do?

Event Description:

The latest systemwide data from the UC Institutional Research & Academic Planning team at the UC Office of the President confirms that 39% of undergraduates and 23% of graduates at UC Berkeley are experiencing food Insecurity. Additionally, 5% of undergraduates and 6% of graduate students self-report experiencing homelessness at some point during the academic year.

At this event we discussed the full student experience data, learned about Berkeley's Basic Needs model, and to explored how we, as campus faculty and administrators, could help make a difference...

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: Dealing with Toxic Stresses on Campus and in our Classrooms

Event Description:

This has been a difficult year for many Berkeley students and faculty. At the national level, we have seen an increase in hateful rhetoric and exclusionary policies directed at many identities and communities. And here on campus, we have been deeply challenged by tensions around recent speaker events, as well as by increased policing, painful intergroup dynamics, and repeated instances of bias and harassment. All of this has led to an increase in individual and collective stress, trauma, and anxiety, which research shows can negatively impact learning, memory,...

What to Do If ICE Comes to Campus: Rights, Recommendations, and Resources

Event Description:

The ongoing national conversation about immigration status lies across a bipartisan political landscape, but recent statements made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Thomas Homan indicate that enforcement will be significantly increased and specifically target California.

In response, across the U.C. system broadly and at U.C. Berkeley specifically, procedures and recommendations have been shared as to how we can best prepare to support all members of our undocumented community. However, there are understandable questions...