In his recent book, Historian Kevin Gannon, claims that to teach well is a radical act based in hope. It is radical in the aim of fundamental, root-level transformation and hopeful in that it imagines a better future for students because of this transformation. In describing his pedagogy of radical hope, he lays a foundation of 4 essential features: it should be life-affirming; center student agency; be inclusive; and move beyond theory to praxis. Recognizing the current context of our teaching, Kevin doesn’t view hope as fantasy, or spin a silver lining on our lives. Instead, he offers strategies accounting for the complexity that is teaching and learning.
The IUB SoTL program within CITL is sponsoring two programs for faculty to engage with Kevin and his pedagogy of radical hope. The first is a virtual keynote on February 12, 2021. You can learn more about the talk and register on the CITL event page. This is open to faculty on all IU campuses.
The second program is a virtual spring faculty reading group experience around Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto. Meetings will be held virtually via Zoom from 9:30-10:30am on the following Fridays: March 5, March 26, & April 16, 2021. In addition to receiving a physical copy of the book, participants will have the opportunity to talk with the author, Kevin Gannon, during each of the meetings. If you are an IUB faculty member or AI interested in joining the book group and can commit to attending all three of these meetings, please fill out the brief application form no later than Sunday, February 14, 2021.
Kevin describes his “scholarly passions” as “Race and Racisms, Critical and Inclusive Pedagogy, nineteenth-century history (particularly the United States and the Americas), and historiography and theory.” Learn more about Kevin on Twitter @TheTattooedProf, his website, or through his interviews on Teaching in Higher Ed and Think UDL. You can also preview the e-book via the IU library for all IU campuses.
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