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

@mrgah "I don't know" can also be such a powerful way for a teacher to respond to students' questions. (Especially if it's followed by an invitation to figure out the answer together.)

@cardamomo

if it wouldn't burn up valuable and brief class time, I'd love to begin every course with those elegant parts of Plato's Apology where Socrates talks about his ignorance

come to think of it, perhaps there's a good quote that would fit on a syllabus...

@mrgah Oh, do share when you find a quote. My knowledge of Plato is... err... quite limited.