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Learning From Within: Mindfully Shifting Toward an Equitable Pedagogy in an Undergraduate College Course

Sat, April 23, 4:15 to 5:45pm PDT (4:15 to 5:45pm PDT), SIG Virtual Rooms, SIG-Holistic Education Virtual Paper Session Room

Abstract

This autoethnographic research (Wall, 2006) emerged during the initial implementation of a course curriculum designed by the co-authors of this paper. Our course focuses on the theory and practice of mindfulness (a special quality of attention; Kabat-Zinn, 1994) which research has shown to support personal, communal, and societal well-being (e.g., MLERN, 2012). By elevating the importance of socio-emotional and mental health, the course content aligns with what Ladson-Billings (2021) refers to as “the hard re-set” in the way we approach education post-pandemic.

We describe how we co-constructed a more equitable learning environment through relinquishing power while centering identity, agency, belonging, and collaboration, i.e., the focal constructs of transformative socio-emotional learning (Jagers et al., 2021). Guided by our students, we shifted from a “pedagogy of compliance” (Hammond, 2021) to co-create space for each other to authentically show-up and compassionately bear witness to our humanity. Of salience were our respective multidimensional and intersectional positionalities; two white middle-aged female professors working with a cohort of undergraduate students of color, from historically disadvantaged communities.

Our work is grounded in concepts of social-justice which are prominent in holistic education (Luvmour, 2021). Furthermore, we value culturally responsive education that positions students to become leaders of their own learning (Hammond, 2021). Finally, we draw from research on the benefits of socio-emotional learning (see Jagers et al., 2021). From within this theoretical framework our approach was to engage in reflection after each course session to analyze difficult event(s) and emotions that resonated within and between us. We gathered information from sources that included students’ journal reflections, reading responses, and projects, conversations, academic advisory updates, intangible behaviors of body language evident in action as well as inaction. Guided by the principles of authentic inquiry (Tobin, 2015), as we embraced vulnerability (Brown 2015) to recognize the deficits in our pedagogical approach, we fearlessly began to adopt a more equitable pedagogy to benefit the collective. As “teachers,” we discerned and let go of our attachment to expectations (Koffman, 2012).

We embraced the lived experience of the individual in order to situate the wholeness of self and afford a sense of belonging as a foundation for equity and engagement in learning (Jagers et al., 2021). We aspired to build capacity for personal agency by decentering and by redistributing power. We are interested in content as a disruptive material as well as types of assessment that can challenge the traditional understanding of knowledge and intelligence, in essence what it means “to know.” We are curious about developing skills that are essential to well-being. We are committed to valuing the human experience by exploring and co-engaging in authentic dialogue about the content of internal reflection (Ergas, 2017). Overall, our pedagogical approach became transformed by ontological shifts (Tobin, 2015) that embraced learning situated in relationships and values our interbeing (Thich Nhat Hanh, 2017) as a pathway forward.

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