Teaching Vulnerably
Our willingness to be a little uncomfortable or off balance in the classroom can give our students room and comfort to explore
I started reading this book for an upcoming pedagogy group and I saw myself reflected throughout chapter 1. Storytelling. Risk-taking. Creating relationships to teach better. So much reinforcement for the work that I was already doing.
This book was written in 2021 and only recently published. My hope with books like this is that they will reach more teachers at an earlier point in their careers, because I really could have used the positive descriptions of teaching vulnerably when I was younger. I spent my early career trying hard to be the knowledgeable one in the room and trying to be all professional and whatnot. I didn’t show fear or a lack of knowledge and my personality didn’t come through much. I cared about my topics and students, but I was afraid of seeming less-than if I made any missteps. It was exhausting and didn’t feel authentic.
I don’t easily inhabit the space of “sage on the stage.” I mean, I can lecture. Most of us of a certain age were brought up with that sort of pedagogy and style. But it never felt comfortable for me. Instead, it felt safe. I didn’t have to worry about people having strong emotions if I was just teaching what was in the book. But classes stayed in the superficial “learn the stuff and do the things” space. Students still came away with knowledge, but maybe it didn’t really matter as much. Or maybe the content was all that they remembered a few years later.
As I have grown more comfortable being in the classroom and come to figure myself out better (including my identity as neurodiverse), I have learned that vulnerability and storytelling make my classrooms more interesting and useful. I have watched students go from “I get this content” to “This content made me rethink a topic in my life and see it through different eyes.” My university is heavily invested in creating transformative spaces for our students, and this shift shows me where my teaching is helping to create those spaces.
My students often handle deep conversations with more grace than older adults do. They are thoughtful and willing to go on intellectual journeys, even when the disorienting dilemma occurs and there is discomfort for a bit. By inhabiting the “let’s learn together” and “I don’t know. What can we find if we search” spaces, we can give students space to feel more comfortable exploring their own stories and applying that knowledge to their classroom learning.
At the end of the day, I want my students to look forward to my courses as much for what they learn as for how the time together makes them feel. I hope that they come to my classes willing to learn and engage with each other so that they can leave my classes feeling strengthened with both knowledge and the confidence to learn in the future.
References
Andreev, I. (2023, July 5). Learning theories: Transformative learning. https://www.valamis.com/hub/transformative-learning
