As a teacher committed to social justice, I believe Transformational Learning Theory gives us important ways to understand the challenges and needs of our students, and compels us to be attentive to much more than merely how we present new information in the classroom. For many of our students, going to college is itself an extremely disorienting experience—one that requires much more than simply learning to buy the books and to “study hard.” In many cases, students must abandon deep-seated assumptions, practices and beliefs they have relied on for years in order to engage in the kind of intellectual work the university demands.
Learning and change can be unsettling under the best of circumstances, and when this change comes with a host of social, political, economic, and interpersonal reevaluations, it can feel absolutely overwhelming. Thus, in addition to fostering a classroom atmosphere where students feel comfortable posing questions and exploring complex topics without the fear of failure—what Ken Bain describes in What The Best College Teachers Do as “creating a Natural Critical Learning Environment”—I strongly believe teachers must be sensitive to the emotional and psychological stress that all learners must endure as part of the learning process itself. We have to be rigorous and challenging, yes. But we must be compassionate and tolerant — particularly when things don’t work out exactly how we’ve planned.
Administrative Portfolio 