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Self-AssessmentAs a teacher and scholar, I am first and foremost a citizen who cares about his students and their intellectual development. I view reading and writing not simply as "skills" for getting along (or ahead) in our culture, but as behaviors and dispositions that mark bodies and distribute power and privilege, construct value and meaning, and produce citizens. My contact with students and colleagues allows me to see the value in what I do. All have helped me to reflect upon my own subject position as teacher, scholar, and citizen. Over the last three or four years, I’ve learned that forcing students to voice more complexity in their writing may not always be as important as helping them find on their own the complexity and tensions that already exist in their writing. My students have ideas that don’t always need to change in order for them to learn and write better. Letting students control most of the assessment and grading of writing doesn’t mean that assessment and grading are out of control in a course. Many privileged students care just as much about social justice and racism in the academy and our society as those with less privilege – and that they arguably have more potential for making meaningful change. I’ve learned that listening to my students’ concerns and suggestions for altering a course in mid-stream, then engaging them in making changes usually is better than sticking fast to my original plan. But mostly, I’ve learned that I read, assess, and teach better when my students read, assess, and teach along with me.My courses are not always smooth, as can be expected. Managing student-controlled courses can be difficult, overly time-consuming, and draining. Students can sometimes get confused and disenchanted by the seeming lack of leadership on my part. And anxieties about grades and learning can become counter-productive. I’m still learning and find better ways to manage classes, engage students, and lead them without pushing too hard. The materials in this portfolio represent only a part of my pedagogy and professional life. While I've chosen carefully what to show you here, I've also decided to reveal a few of my flaws as a teacher: Sometimes I work too hard; sometimes my excitement in class interrupts others’ speech; and occasionally, I ask too much of my students. Yet every semester, every class, and almost every student teaches me something about being a better teacher and educator. I listen to these voices. And I'm confident that seeing this has only come from my own continual self-assessment of my teaching practices and pedagogy, listening to my students, being willing to change things mid-stream, as well as examining the dispositions I bring into the classroom. Finally, my commitments to race and racism, traditionally silenced voices, and those currently absence in the academy are just as important to me as those who are here, next to me, making their journeys. To talk about epistemology and dispositions, encourage conflict, embrace difference, build community, ask students to listen to others, reflect upon discourse for others' benefit isn't just about building praxis and critical personhood for those in the academy, our students. It's also about building ethically the grounds for social change and civic equity for those not in my classes, and for those who need change the most. And it’s this civic, intellectual, and pedagogical project that I continue to work on and find ways to actualize in all my spheres of activity. If you’d like to read a self-assessment that focuses on recent
student course evaluations and my teaching, it can be found in my teaching
dossier produced for my current institution and department. Thank you, Asao B. Inoue |