May this optimistic, radical, open-minded woman of our era Rest In Peace. If you have never laid hands or eyes on literature authored by bell hooks (lowercase purposefully) aka Gloria Jean Watkins then please add to your bookshelf immediately. ‘All About Love’ is her popular publication….. so of course I shall go against the grain by making space for another one of her pieces, ‘Teaching to Transgress’. In an amalgamation of essays hooks pulls, wifts around, slams, mingles, softens, and plays with concepts of pedagogy inspired by the likes of Freire and Fanon. It’s inspiring, certain chapters (like Eros) gets really far out there concerning her ideas and expression but overall there’s not much to dislike about hook’s inventive perspective concerning teaching. Allow me to cut and paste a mindful review/critique of the book straight from Goodreads (yes I am literally taking what someone else said, which deeply resonated with my own thoughts, and publishing it here). Citation kudos to '“E” the librarian/Professor from Tennessee:
"When we, as educators, allow our pedagogy to be radically changed by our recognition of a multicultural world, we can give students the education they desire and deserve. We can teach in ways that transform consciousness, creating a climate of free expression that is the essence of a truly liberatory liberal arts education."
Each essay in this collection examines ways teachers must transgress within the classroom--ultimately, how to transgress normative professorial behaviors, such as lecturing without discussion or having discussion that avoids class/gender/racial/language differences. hooks argues for a feminist classroom that questions basic assumptions of pedagogy. For instance, the study of 'whiteness,' sharing confessional narratives and connecting content to personal experience, respecting individual voices. It is more a theoretical book than a practical one--by that I mean it concerns the ideology of teaching rather than discussing specific ways to implement transgressive teaching. Because of that, I think it would make a great companion piece to a workshop or class on pedagogy, so that there could be a discussion of the principles she outlines, and then a discussion of how to implement those ideas in the classroom.
I agree with much she has to say. My first semester teaching, I emulated the lecturing professor hook critiques, and I found by the end of the semester I hated that way of teaching. The students were bored, only a very few were learning anything, and I enjoy teaching more when the students are as involved in the class as I am. I also hated speaking for 50 minutes straight. So the next semester I changed my methodology, and every semester I try to improve upon it to make my classrooms more engaged (my reason for reading this over the summer), and every semester I get better.
Part of the way I've improved is by including more personal experiences, and connecting content to the students, which she also suggests. I've also limited my authority in the classroom, and allowed the students to feel more at ease in my class. Much of this is done by learning student names within the first week, speaking to the students before, during, and after class, learning about them as individuals. Ways I plan to improve after reading this is to be more confrontational with discussion. I also need to be more flexible, which is terribly difficult for me. I've never been good at improv.
I do think her arguments could be updated, and there were some areas I took slightly different views on. hooks fails to take into account learning differences. Some students thrive on constant discussion of personal experiences, or constant discussions in general, but some also shut down, or require more time to process. My favorite classes in undergrad were my lecture classes, because I learn and think best on my own. So after receiving a bulk of info, I could process it over several week's time, and my engagement would then be shown through written responses versus discussion. I rarely spoke in class. What I've found as a teacher is that some students thrive on active discussion, most on some discussion and some processing, and a smaller number on active listening. And I do think there's such a thing as an active listener. And that's great. Sometimes it's difficult to get them to speak in class, but when they finally do, they have some wonderful things to say!
Mainly, I think the text could be updated in terms of how she views the academic world. In several chapters she discusses what it means to be a professor and how professors relate to one another and to their students. For instance, she discusses the need to take sabbaticals, how professors come from upper classes, etc. But in the academic world now, she is speaking from a place of privilege. In one section, she states "I encounter fewer and fewer academics from working-class backgrounds" and goes on to describe how that affects class relations with students. However, class dynamics have changed among professors from 1994 to 2016 (it’s now 2021). I'm an adjunct. At the school I teach at, there's almost as many adjuncts as there are full-time professors. I know of English departments made up of only a few full-time professors--the rest are adjuncts. What that means is that many professors now, if not most, are working for minimum wage, or a little more. That changes some of her arguments concerning class dynamics, because being an adjunct professor is a working class profession. Most of my students come from wealthier backgrounds. Adjuncts don't get to consider sabbaticals, and often we don't get to pick the class material or class goals. This doesn't mean adjuncts can't be transgressive teachers, it just means it has to be done in different ways. In less fair ways.
I'm also not sure how helpful this text would be to the professors she denounces, those who "lacked basic communication skills, they were not self-actualized, and they often used the classroom to enact rituals of control that were about domination and the unjust exercise of power." The book makes a great argument for critical pedagogy, but it doesn't actually explain how this is done for those professors who lack communication skills. That's why I think it's important for this to be a companion piece to a discussion of critical pedagogy with other professors. I also think it would be a great idea for professors to sit in on other professor's classrooms. This is required for education majors, yet most professors have never analyzed another person's teaching style.
Overall, an excellent discussion, that certainly got my mind revved up for the fall semester!”
It takes gall to put oneself out there, to put one’s ideas out there. E highlighting the importance of considering different styles of learning deserves to take center stage in the critique. I found myself recalling classroom experiences as a student while an undergrad at Syracuse University. My Intro to Social Work class taught by Bette Thoreck during my second semester, freshman year, will forever stay with me as one of the most positive learning experiences. She was not one of those Professors who invited students to stay in touch, or overextended herself concerning availability to talk before or after class; I don’t even think she had office hours or engaged in email communication lol. Yet she was consistent in all aspects of consistency. What was written on the syllabus was followed, there was no pivoting or emailing students midweek with an extra reading or level of uncalled for engagement asking us to do this or that. She had healthy boundaries and knew her shit! Low key I found her excessive jewelry wearing (immaculate gold rings), baritone voice laughter and clumsiness humorous in a warm familiar way and liked that she knew the content she was teaching from head to toe. It was up to date, relevant and relatable for a freshman in college. She lectured and I loved it. I can’t say I cared to know about her life outside of teaching. Says something about me I suppose. Clearly it left an impact because I went from almost declaring a major in nursing, to deciding to major in social work with a minor in coaching. Bette didn’t play into power dynamics, she came taught and left while ensuring all bases were covered to increase our curiosity in social work. I learned how to actively listen in her class and it was wonderful concerning all of the anxieties I was experiencing at that time as a full-time student-athlete, friend to many, daughter, sister, girlfriend, mentor, mentee, member of clubs, cousin, culturally shocked youngster voyaging away from home, human being figuring things out. What a refuge even that I could sit there for an hour and 25mins and absorb the content. Bette identified as a white ciswoman, heterosexual and had to have been between 55-65 years old, her class was never spoken of but if I had to take a guess I’d say middle class and perhaps Catholic. She was comfortable in her skin. Respect to those who need more engagement, personhood of the Professor, etc but that’s never been my cup of tea. Top 3 one of my most influential classroom teachers pertaining to her devotion of the content she taught.
bell hooks will be missed, my goodness the impact that bell hooks has had on love and being. Though we connect in certain perspectives and differ in others I feel invigorated knowing I allowed space in my mind and heart for her ideas. So many of her ideas translate into the therapeutic dyad of patient/therapist. Gorgeous writing, beautiful symmetry concerning the residue of power dynamics in its crossover implications when considered outside of the classroom in its application. I will hold in regard some (not all) of her ideas as I enter into academic spaces as student/teacher/learner/knower and consider its application in the consulting room. Bravo bell! Asé
