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by Alexa Haverlah, TLED Content Marketing Intern<\/p>\n
Dr. Brinda Roy, Professor of Composition and Literary Studies at Austin Community College (ACC): Cypress Creek Campus, says she fell in love with the mission of ACC to provide multiple opportunities for people to improve their lives through education and skills training.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Failure isn\u2019t bad, Roy insists, because failure can get you on the path to success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can change your life and it\u2019s okay to fail,\u201d Roy said. \u201cCome back as many times, we\u2019re here for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
After more than twenty years at ACC as an adjunct and full-time professor, teaching is still Roy\u2019s passion. Roy has even told her husband and two kids they\u2019ll have to wheel her out of the classroom one day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ll be doing this until the day I die,” Roy said.<\/p>\n
Roy came to the U.S. from India after accepting a full ride scholarship to Rice University for her Ph.D. in English. She says her experience as an immigrant and a woman of color make her personally and professionally invested in issues of EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion).\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Built-In Belonging<\/strong><\/p>\n One way Roy models inclusivity in the classroom is through her curriculum. \u201cInclusiveness isn\u2019t just a document that says, \u2018You can\u2019t be rude,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Roy has her students read across multiple genres from a diverse array of authors so that they see the value of different experiences and of their own.<\/p>\n For one assignment, students read the United Nations\u2019 Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a> (UDHR) and are asked to think about it in the context of their lives. Roy asks, How have you benefited from the UDHR? What story does it tell or not <\/i>tell, as a humanistic document? Roy then pairs the UDHR with a short story by Native American writer Sherman Alexie as well as articles from NPR on how the UDHR has failed to make space for indigenous voices.\u00a0<\/p>\n Storytelling is a way for us to bridge differences, Roy says. In her classroom, analysis of these texts go beyond themes and symbolism – they spark discussions of the broader social, political and personal implications relating to social justice, politics, policy, and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Resilient Pedagogy<\/strong><\/p>\n Roy had been teaching distance education classes for about seven years before the coronavirus pandemic, but she says she had to reset her expectations and check her privilege after realizing her students didn\u2019t have equal access to the technology she was asking of them for learning.<\/p>\n \u201cPivot is seriously my least favorite word, but it\u2019s really central to how I view my pedagogy now,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n Last year, while reminding students of free Wi-Fi at ACC Highland and food pantries around Central Texas, Roy wondered how other institutions were addressing a serious lack of \u201cemotional bandwidth\u201d among students.<\/p>\n Roy discovered resilient pedagogy, developed over the course of the pandemic, which advocates for versatility, flexibility, and change in the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[It\u2019s] teaching that can withstand disruption,\u201d Roy explained, while maintaining the integrity of course outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under resilient pedagogy, Roy has modified her assignments to be versatile, open-ended and student centered. For instance, Roy has changed how students participate in discussion boards after noticing that students are very sensitive to each other\u2019s feelings and reluctant to \u201crock the boat\u201d by disagreeing with their peers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe learn from dissension,\u201d Roy said. \u201cIt stimulates conversation and pushes the text further.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Students want to learn how to disagree without being disrespectful, so Roy shows examples from previous classes that demonstrate how to ask questions to learn from others and yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Students must choose at least two other students with different interpretations of the text and ask them questions. This Socratic style of discussion compels students to defend their stance and understand that there can be multiple, divergent ways of viewing the same idea, Roy says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey can\u2019t just say, \u2018I hate what you said,\u2019\u201d Roy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike the echo chambers common in social media, students must use evidence-based reasoning and writing when producing their own analysis of the text on discussion boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n Resilient pedagogy encourages faculty and students to adapt to change and persevere through uncertainty. With change a constant since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Roy says her resilience is one of the most valuable qualities she\u2019s learned about herself over the last two years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot be wedded to one way of doing things,\u201d Roy said. And after trying things that don\u2019t work, we ought to see our failures as necessary opportunities on our paths moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are many resources to learn more about resilient pedagogy, including this interview<\/a> with Josh Eyler, Director of Faculty Development & Director of the ThinkForward Quality Enhancement Plan at the University of Mississippi. Or you can ask Brinda yourself via email at broy@austincc.edu<\/a>!\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Teaching & Learning Champions are faculty and staff who contribute to student learning <\/i><\/b> (Guided Pathways Essential Practice #4)<\/i><\/a>. We share their stories to celebrate their dedication to instructional excellence & innovation in a series of spotlight articles. <\/i>#ACCExcellence<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\nRecommend a Colleague:<\/b><\/h3>\n