It’s springtime in academe. Walking across campus is less a shivering ordeal and more an opportunity to savor the warmer air, the seasonal blooms—and the lively, post-spring-break energy our students are bringing to the classroom. But this is also a season of anxiety for “contingent” faculty. For part-time adjuncts and short-term, contracted-for-a-year teachers, the stress …
Author: Sarah Ruffing Robbins
A Thanksgiving of/for Learning: National Native American Heritage Month
I’ve purposefully waited until after the US Thanksgiving weekend to draft this blogpost. I’ve been thinking, throughout the entire month of November, about what to say. After all, November is National Native American Heritage Month. As noted on a webpage describing the rightful goal of honoring Native peoples throughout November, the “Library of Congress, National …
Continue reading A Thanksgiving of/for Learning: National Native American Heritage Month
“We Are All Bound Up Together”: Embrace the Powerful Heritage of Frances E. W. Harper’s Women’s Suffrage Rhetoric
Here's a recent TWEET from Civil Rights icon John Lewis: John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) 10/26/18, 1:09 PM The right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument we have in a democratic society. Let nothing stand in your way to use it so that together we may build a …
Teaching about Gender Identities in the Context of the Kavanaugh Controversy
I am an educator whose work includes teaching about gender identities in action. I am struggling with how to help my students right now, and in the days ahead, as they respond to the ongoing controversy around Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and multiple women’s charges against him. The impact of this intense conflict—played out …
Continue reading Teaching about Gender Identities in the Context of the Kavanaugh Controversy
An Inquiry into a “Feminist Inquiry” Course
Academic twitter has been bubbling up for weeks with faculty members’ accounts of preparing syllabi. For a lover of curriculum-building like me, reading others’ descriptions of these intellectually rich planning processes is energizing and inspiring. Christina Katopodis (@nemersonian) 8/20/18, 3:00 PM TPS Activity for my American Lit class: "What is your goal for this class? …
Continue reading An Inquiry into a “Feminist Inquiry” Course
Taking Away the Children
From “Eliza Harris” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper With her step on the ice, and her arm on her child, The danger was fearful, the pathway was wild; But, aided by Heaven, she gained a free shore, Where the friends of humanity open’d their door. From Laura Tohe’s “Introduction: Letter to General Pratt” “Your …
Celebrating an Archive of Students’ Writing to Learn
I’d like to celebrate an archive of learning emerging from an energizing class I taught in spring 2018. I wish I could open up and read entries from the digital folders where I’ve filed their exciting texts. You’d find distinctive voices. Analyses grounded in thoughtful interviews and site visits. Careful re-readings of literary texts to …
Continue reading Celebrating an Archive of Students’ Writing to Learn
