In a Different Context: A Feminist Co/Autoethnography of the First Day of Class

• In Event: 72.065 - Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: 72.065-4 - Self-Study in the Intersection of Culture and Gender

Abstract

In this self-study we examine how naming ourselves as feminist teachers is enacted in our teaching practice. How do we effectively operationalize our pedagogical beliefs in a variety of teaching contexts? We focus on the first day of class; describing episodes from different courses we have taught over the past two years. The first day of class involves, indeed requires, a great deal of planning and yet, unlike any other class we teach we are planning for people we don’t know. The conundrum for us as feminist teachers is that planning for the first day is done in abstraction. It is therefore in tension with feminist pedagogy which takes seriously the importance of relationships.

Authors

• Lesley K. Coia, Agnes Scott College

• Monica Taylor, Montclair State University