Welcome to “Considering the Whole Self in Teaching and Learning”! This is part one of a learning community of graduate students designed to shift the conversation around teaching and learning toward caring for our students and ourselves as “whole selves” with emotional and embodied lives that impact our work in the classroom.
In an effort to mitigate Zoom fatigue, an emotional and embodied obstacle that many of us are negotiating this semester, this learning community is designed to be engaged with in a hybrid asynchronous/synchronous form. This module presents materials relevant to the conversation around the focus of our first session, mental wellbeing in teaching and learning, as well as suggestions for how to engage with those materials. On DATE OF WORKSHOP PART 1, we will meet for a shorter-than-usual synchronous session via Zoom to discuss the materials and try our hand at putting them into practice.
This hybrid learning community form is an experiment in designing and facilitating learning activities in a manner that centers participant wellbeing, and your feedback is welcome throughout.
| Page Name | Materials | Suggested Engagement | Time Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review: Community Agreement | Draft community agreement in a shared Google doc | Review the agreement and add/edit to reflect your goals for community engagement | 5-10 minutes |
| Reflect: Mental Wellbeing | Prompt to reflect on your experiences with mental wellbeing in education | Respond in written, aural, or visual form in order to frame the following materials in your personal experience | 10–15 minutes |
| Review: Higher Ed Mental Health Data | Visual and written representation of the mental wellbeing challenges faced in higher education | Reflect on the implications of these findings and brainstorm instructor-driven interventions | 5–10 minutes |
| Read: Teaching to Transgress | The introduction and first chapter of bell hooks’ seminal work, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom | Read at least one chapter and reflect on how hooks’ insights are applicable today | 45–60 minutes |
| Review: Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning | Handout summarizing the principles of trauma-informed teaching and learning, and some examples of practices | Look over the handout in search of principles and strategies that may help to mitigate the challenges you have identified | 10–15 minutes |
| Discuss: Mental Wellbeing | Prompt to discuss the above materials | Craft a discussion post and review and engage with other participants’ posts to help guide the synchronous discussion and workshop | 10–15 minutes |
| Additional Resources | Works cited and further reading recommendations | Peruse related resources at your leisure | ~ |