Following the reading of Bell Hooks introduction chapter from All about Love, I’ve selected a series of passages from the text that particularly stood out to me, adding my thoughts, reflections and questions in relation to my own teaching experiences.
‘Anchors to keep me afloat’ – The idea of something to “anchor” you and bring you back to a safe place feels really significant. What could an “anchor” be for students? A person (tutor, your peers)? An ethos (of the course)? A physical space (studio)? This anchor feels even more significant since switching to online teaching and learning – how does that anchor manifest in the digital space as well as the physical space? How do we turn a digital space into a place? An anchor could also help to create a sense of belonging for students both within their student cohort, and also as a creative on their course of study.
‘Whenever I passed this site, the affirmation of love’s possibility sprawling across the block gave me hope’ – The role of affirmations to provide support and encouragement; how could we introduce daily micro-affirmations for students? I have recently heard students requesting more firm and critical feedback from tutors; how do we balance this out with affirmations, so we don’t go too much one way of the other (mislead students into a false sense of security or demotivate them)? Hooks uses the example of Art to suggest that sharing of affirmations can be affective. How could this be recreated for a year group of students? Does it need to be physical? Is there something special in the discovery of affirmations? One important aspect to consider is different cultures & languages, and their understanding / interpretation of affirmations intended for the whole cohort.
‘Raising a generation of young people who will grow afraid to love, afraid to give themselves completely to another person, because they will have seen how much it hurts to take the risk of loving and have it not work out… intimacy without risk’ – Fear of failure and rejection – this is something I’ve seen a lot, especially in final year students. How can we give students ‘freedom to fail’ and become more resilient? How can we get them to be risk-takers, and show that failure and risk is part of the learning experience? In this sense there is a paradox when thinking about ‘perfection’ and ‘failure’ in education. Perfection is often seen as desirable, something to strive to, but actually it can become a barrier to creativity and to learning; whereas failure (once we accept it and feel the freedom of it) can actually form an enabler to creativity and to learning. How well do we communicate this to our students and give them the tools to navigate this complexity?
‘Female sexist thinking may lead a woman to feel she already know what another women will say. Such a reader may feel that she has more to gain by reading what men have to say – The danger of making assumptions! Experiences are individual, you can’t assume you understand the thoughts and feelings of another just because you are similar to another (i.e gender, culture, age, etc.). Considering this within the context of the student experience, how are students making assumptions about aspects of their learning experience based on their peers and previous student experiences? How is this affecting their overall perceptions of a course? And are these assumptions creating barriers to the learning? There certainly seems like an opportunity at key points within an academic year to workshop with students about their experiences as individuals and as a cohort; getting them to identify and talk about shared experiences versus those that may be unique to them and their own personal situation. Could this be a way to help break assumptions and also build empathy with one another?