My #introduction:

I'm Chris, an elementary school teacher in Brooklyn. When I'm not surrounded by six-year-olds, I enjoy baking whole-grain sourdough, running, tending my rooftop garden, tinkering with my computer.

I'm also into cooperative movements and collective/communal living. I think we can make a better world by dismantling hierarchies and disarming systems of power and oppression. (What does that look like in practice? Let's chat.)

So, hello!

🏳️‍🌈 he / him / his

@cardamomo How does your wish to dismantle hierarchies and systems of power square with controlling six year olds/getting six year olds to learn/pay attention to anything?

@jeffcliff Broadly speaking, it means recognizing the multiple participants shaping school communities and curricula. Students, parents, and teachers all have a voice. In the classroom, it means I'm making choices that balance students' autonomy with my need for control, tending toward more student autonomy over time.

@cardamomo

hi! I teach as well, and I'm also interested in fostering student autonomy (though I'm pretty squarely in higher education at present). I have all of the respect in the world for you if you're able to pull it off in an elementary classroom. I did some substitute teaching years back, and found elementary-age kids totally overwhelming

@mrgah It takes all types. My kids will need great higher ed teachers someday! What do you do to foster student autonomy in your teaching?

@cardamomo

it depends on the class, and I'm still honing my approach. (I'm in a discipline-- history-- where much of the pedagogy is still quite focused on imparting knowledge to students.)

most concretely, I guess, I try to leave a substantial part of class each week for discussions that are driven by student questions, and I try to get my students to a point where they can reason historically and interpret texts for themselves

@cardamomo

and I don't know if this is pedagogy or methodology, but I try to get students to think about the economic underpinnings of social structures, and also the ways that social and cultural practices operate systematically

@cardamomo

day to day, though, I do grapple with how to help students come to terms with unfamiliar material without instilling the expectation in them that I have all of the answers

@mrgah I get that! Before I worked at a school, I worked in museum education and often led public tours for adult visitors. I worked on honing my "expert but not authoritative" voice and dyed my hair so that folks wouldn't take me too seriously.

@cardamomo

yeah, I'm growing my hair out a bit more to not appear totally formal

and moving away from suits-- blech-- which are totally standard attire in my field, which I completely hate