Critical, Iterative Autobiography: Blending history, lived experience, and imagined futures in an undergraduate foundations course (15/15)

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Reimagining the Holders of Knowledge: Teachers and Youth as (Co)llaborators and (Co)creators in the Pursuit of Educational Justice and Renewal

Abstract

This study explores the redesign and teaching of a university foundations course by centering queer teaching practices (QTPs) (Staley & Blackburn, 2023). I examine student writing and instructor/ student interactions in a critical, iterative autobiography assignment using intersectional qualitative methods (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022) and practitioner inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). This study explores the questions: (1) How did an assignment redesign through queer theory and queer teaching practices open possibilities for students to think differently about their lived experiences? and (2) What am I noticing about myself as a facilitator of student learning, specifically considering the purpose of the critical, iterative autobiography? Findings reveal moments of possibility bringing history, student lived experiences, and present learning into future action.

Author

• Daniela Harton, University of Colorado - Boulder