This week we discussed in our breakout rooms what contemporary pedagogy meant to us after taking this course, how our perceptions of teaching have changed, and tactics we’ve learned that we hope to integrate into our classrooms (current and future).
Meeting with people from different disciplines was helpful in that it allowed for me to how these pedagogical ideas we’ve been learning might take shape in different disciplines. The thing we discussed the most in our group was the concept of “finding your teaching voice” as this is ongoing for each of us. What does it look like to be friends vs friendly with students, how often should you check in with them about their life that takes place outside of the classroom, how flexible and accommodating will you be with students, etc.
Between these discussions and having a few more semesters of teaching under my belt, I feel like I can now have a greater appreciation and ultimately implementation of these pedagogical ideas and practices that we discussed this semester. I’m still not 100% sure where I stand on our discussions related to grading and extra credit… I’ll have to do some more thinking on that one!
Critical Pedagogy 
I completely agree that having people from different disciplines was a great benefit in the class. Just like we’ve talked about the benefits of diversity in our classrooms, having input from different disciplines brings in new ideas. It’s also really refreshing getting to talk with new people!
Thank you for these thoughts. I also return to grading oftentimes when considering whether I am approaching teaching in the ‘right’ way, which includes extra credit. For me personally, I once did give extra credit and ended up regretting it at the end of the semester because it seemed slightly unfair (I awarded a one point credit for students who attended a lecture by a prominent scholar in the field). On the other hand, as more time passes, I feel that too often students approach coursework to first maximize their grade and learn second. To this extent, it seems that in a way grading actually gets in the way of learning. These are some brief thoughts, but I think it is fair to say that these conversations will long continue and there are no hard or ‘correct’ answers, except for what works for you based on your experience.
I also feel uncertain about the grading and strictness I want to implement in my pedagogical approach. While I hope for a systematic change of values in the education system, I feel that one course alone cannot run against the wind. Like we discussed in the class, such a course might just end up being the last priority for the students.
Thank you for sharing, Emma! I think authentic teaching self was the most influential discussion for me this semester, as well! Regarding the extra credit, I have an anecdote: I was the one asking the extra credit question in the class because I had a fiery argument with a colleague regarding an extra credit assignment we heard about, and the assignment was about voting. While he posited that voting should not be a concern of the professor, I argued that it is a good thing that he encourages students to vote for the sake of good citizenship. After our class discussion, I realized that it is more problematic than beneficial because the task has nothing to do with the course goals. It might not be fair if a student who voted gets an A- while a student who did not vote gets a B+ (assuming the same overall grades for both). The final conclusion I came to is that it highly depends on the course and the task that is included in the extra credit assignment.