Education as the Practice of Freedom – Reading Group Series (Session 3): Solidarity In and Across Classrooms (Online)

bell hooks’s Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Released in 1994, this book has become a seminal work of critical pedagogy theory. A collection of essays covering a wide range of topics, from hooks’s own experiences of schooling to her difficulties finding space for Black feminist literature in the university classroom, to building solidarity in university spaces, Teaching to Transgress remains necessary reading for university educators. Its combination of personal narrative and critical theory demonstrates the importance of combining theory and practice in our own teaching—the importance of drawing from our own schooling experiences to become more equitable, compassionate educators. 

In this three-part, brown bag lunchtime discussion group, facilitators will select passages from the book, closely read and analyze these passages with participants, and pose a series of discussion questions to motivate and moderate conversation. In this third session, we’ll discuss Solidarity In and Across Classroom Communities. We’ll think about how we might build community with our students, and model encouraging and open teaching methods. Participants may sign up for all three sessions, or just one or two.