Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Take 20 video outline and questions

(This is our outline for our video. Dr. Rickly suggested that we post our tentative outline in order to recieve feedback from our peers. So please read and comment.)



ENGL 5060

Nimi Finnigan
Nancy Reyes
Crystal Johnson

(working title)
From the Edges/Margins to the Center:
The implementation and integration of multi-cultural pedagogies in the classroom.


In terms of the broad scope, this project “From the Edges/Margins to the Center,” which is currently in an “embryonic” stage of development, deals with the issue of multiculturalism in the classroom. There exists an almost exhaustive amount of research and theory on the notion of multiculturalism which spans the spectrum of gender and race to the respective socio-hierarchical organization of college administrators, instructors and lastly students. As a result, pedagogies on how to bridge the gap between the “marginalized folk” and the individuals who comprise the dominant social structure have breached a pathway into the educational system. But how applicable are these pedagogical techniques in the actual classroom?

The following comprises a rough draft of the set of questions that will be directed towards students, instructors and administrators in hopes of shedding some light on the applicatory nature of multicultural pedagogies in selective Texas Tech English classes.

Questions for Students

1).What did you think about this book? (Assigned to students in a “multicultural themed” class. For example “Jazz and American Literature.”)

In order to discover the student’s interpretation of a professor’s assigned reading list. What types of cultural associations does the student harbor towards the assigned text?

2).Why do you think your instructor has you sitting in a circle?

The relevance of this question to the current nature of the project is still under debate. However it would be interesting to assign this question to undergraduate and graduate students in order to determine if they are cognizant of their physically marginalized status within the social set-up of the classroom.

Question for Instructors & Administrators.

1). How do you handle culturally sensitive material in the classroom?
2). Are you cognizant of the fact that you as an instructor might be committing a number of cultural faux-pas?
3). Is diversity training a necessity for faculty and staff?
4). How do you go about setting up a diversity training session?

List of Individuals to be Interviewed.

Dr. Borshak
Dr. Batra
Reuben Quesada
Jonathan
Dr. Rickly
Curtis Bauer
Katie
Marco Dominguez?

Dr. Lang
Dr. Grass

1 comment:

Lauren Wallace said...

Seems like you guys have a good start :) I was thinking that you might want to ask students if they feel that their experiences in college English have been affected by their backgrounds (racial, cultural, etc). The reactions you get can be interesting (like how one phd student I know asked her class if they felt like their performance had anything to do with their gender - the girls felt they did well because they are girls and the boys felt that they do less well because they are boys. just interesting since it is not necessarily the expected reaction).