Pedagogy Reading Groups
The CTE organizes occasional reading groups open to instructors interested in delving into a particular author’s work or into a timely pedagogical text. Meetings are informal and are meant to provide an opportunity to share reactions, questions, and thoughts about how to implement the principles introduced in the reading.
Facilitated by CTE staff, these groups provide instructors the opportunity to connect across disciplines about a range of teaching topics. Past participants have mentioned “the diversity of the group - in terms of field, experience, and class type” and the “free-form conversation” as some of the benefits of the program.
Past Reading Groups
Summer
The last decade has shown a spike in discourse about attention and distraction in learning. That concern has only been heightened as we live in the afterlife of the pandemic, adjust to the increasing ubiquity of AI, and navigate a heightened political environment. Whether you are new to teaching and trying to figure out how to do so in a context when distraction is the norm or you’ve been teaching for decades and find you need to adjust your practice in light of the current “attention economy,” we hope you’ll join us for our upcoming pedagogy reading group on Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It (2020) by James Lang.
All BC instructors — faculty, graduate students, and staff — are welcome to join the conversation. The group will meet in hybrid format (in-person and on Zoom) from 2:00 - 3:00 pm on the following Mondays: June 8, June 15, June 22, and June 29. Those who register by May 29th and are able to attend all of the meetings are eligible to receive a physical copy of the book.
Spring
In anticipation of Annie Murphy Paul’s Excellence in Teaching Day keynote lecture, the CTE is organizing two opportunities — one in person over lunch and one on Zoom — to discuss excerpts from The Extended Mind.
In the introduction, we’ll engage Paul’s argument that our brains in isolation are just not up to the task of navigating the complexity of our contemporary world, and that we need to draw on “extra-neural resources” to support our thinking. In Chapter 7, “Thinking with Experts,” we’ll weigh the benefits and limitations of imitation in thinking and learning.
All BC instructors are welcome to join the conversation. The first 25 people to register for either reading group session will receive a copy of The Extended Mind.
Fall
In her 2024 book, A Pedagogy of Kindness, Catherine J. Denial invites readers to imagine a new culture of teaching and learning. She describes a pedagogy of kindness as being about “attending to justice, believing people, and believing in people” (2). Whether you are interested in thinking with other educators about how your values inform your teaching practice or are looking for an infusion of energy and ideas for claiming your classroom as a space for compassion, accessibility, and human-centeredness, we hope you’ll join us.
Anyone with teaching experience at BC — faculty, graduate students, staff, and administrators — is welcome to join the conversation. The group will meet twice in hybrid format (in-person and on Zoom) on the following dates. Register by Friday, October 17th to receive a physical copy of the book.
- Tuesday, November 11, 2:00 - 3:00 pm
- Tuesday, November 18, 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Summer
The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators
The unfolding realities of climate change present new challenges to teaching. Whether you are wondering about how to teach climate-related content in disciplinarily appropriate ways, considering how the climate crisis informs decisions you make about how you teach (e.g. the kinds of learning experiences you prioritize, how you use resources in your teaching, etc.), or grappling with increasing climate disasters as part of the contextual factors for your courses and your students’ learning, we hope you’ll join us for our upcoming pedagogy reading group. The group will be centered around The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World (2024), an edited collection that digs into the relationship between affect and learning and the pedagogical strategies that can support student engagement and growth.
All BC instructors — faculty and graduate students — are welcome to join the conversation. The group will meet on Zoom from 11 am - 12 pm on the following Thursdays: June 12, June 26, July 10, and July 17.
Spring
This reading group will examine how biases manifest in AI systems, with the goal of identifying methods for inviting students into critical reflection on AI in coursework. The group will read a well-regarded, accessible book on AI bias that builds on what Ruha Benjamin raised in her 2024 ETD talk: how algorithmic bias can impair our ability to imagine the possibilities obscured by limited datasets. The book, Meredith Broussard’s More than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech (April 2024), explores how AI mirrors the biases manifest in society, and provides a framework for collective action to build awareness of such biases and develop strategies to educate the public.
All BC instructors–faculty and graduate students–are welcome to join the conversation. Those who are able to commit to all three sessions will receive a physical copy of the book. The ebook is also available for download via the BC library. The group will meet from 12:00-1:15 pm three times: Wednesday, February 12, Thursday, March 13, and Tuesday, April 1. Each session will be held as a hybrid meeting with a maximum of 20 in-person participants per session.
Excellence in Teaching Day Reading Group
In anticipation of Danielle Allen’s Excellence in Teaching Day keynote lecture, the CTE is organizing two opportunities — one in person over lunch and one on Zoom — to discuss “What is education for?” from Boston Review (2016), where Allen argues that education’s goal should be developing students’ “participatory readiness” for civic agency.
Those who want to do a deeper dive into Allen’s work can explore the following additional readings:
- “Cultivating Participatory Readiness” (pp. 43 - 50) excerpt from Education and Equality (2016)
- "Can Higher Education Help Renew Democracy?" from Change (March/April 2024)
All BC instructors are welcome to join the conversation. The first ten people to register for either reading group session will receive a copy of Allen’s 2022 book, Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus.
Reach out to centerforteaching@bc.edu with any questions.
Spring
In anticipation of Ruha Benjamin’s Excellence in Teaching Day keynote lecture, the CTE is organizing a couple opportunities — one in person over lunch and one on Zoom — to discuss the chapter, “Imagining the Future,” from her latest work, Imagination: A Manifesto. Building on her earlier work on the ways technology can exacerbate racial divides in the name of bringing people together for common cause, her latest book examines the emancipatory power of the imagination.
All BC instructors are welcome to join the conversation. Everyone who registers will receive a free copy of the book. Either join us in person on April 23 from 12:00 - 1:00 or on Zoom on April 24 from 4:00 - 5:00.
Reach out to centerforteaching@bc.edu with any questions.
Fall
In the CTE, we’re hearing from more faculty who are looking to revise their grading practices in order to bolster student motivation, cultivate curiosity and intellectual risk-taking, and gain confidence that grades are reflective of in-course learning rather than access to previous resources, amongst other things. Continuing a conversation from Excellence in Teaching Day 2023, join us for a reading group on Grading for Growth by David Clark and Robert Talbert.
Open to faculty and any one who has served as a teaching fellow in a previous semester, participants will get an introduction to alternative grading frameworks—from small adjustments to a fairly traditional framework to a complete overhaul of a course grading schema—while talking with peers from across the university about opportunities and challenges when implementing an alternative grading system in a particular course.
The group will meet three times with participants having the option to join in-person or on Zoom. Participants who can commit to attending all three sessions will be able to pick up a copy of the book. If you’d like to join us, please email Kim Humphrey by September 29, 2023.
Meeting #1: October 13, 3:00-4:00 pm
- What this book is about (pp 2-9)
- Why we grade (pp 10-22)
- A framework for alternative grading (pp 23-31)Does alternative grading work (pp 32-47)
Meeting #2: October 27, 3:00-4:00 pm
- Standards based grading (51-63)
- Specifications grading (64-81)
- Optional: Large classes (98-122)
Meeting #3: November 10, 3:00-4:00 pm
- Hybrid systems (81-97)
- Partial conversions (139-145)
- Optional: Lab classes (123-138)
Summer
Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks’s foundational work of critical pedagogy, helps frame questions that are still vital for transformative teaching and learning. How do we engage students authentically, confront oppression and center joy in the classroom, and fulfill the promise of educating as the
“practice of freedom”? Join us as we read selections from Teaching to Transgress over four sessions this summer. This reading group is open to all BC instructors. If you are interested, email Sarah Castricum to learn more.
Spring
The CTE & Intersections are co-sponsoring a faculty listening group on Seeing White a documentary podcast from Scene on Radio on the historical origins of “whiteness.”
We invite into this conversation faculty who are interested in understanding how history has shaped our contemporary racial context and the racism embedded in U.S. culture and structures. Participants will have the chance to consider what it means for them to live in a way that is attentive to that still-unfolding history given the particularities of their context. During meetings, participants will explore what historically-conscious anti-racism involves in scholarship, teaching, and advocacy in higher education. We welcome faculty to bring their most pressing concerns for their work at BC into our conversation, whether that’s about teaching, mentoring, scholarship, or something else.
As the title implies, this podcast and program are primarily aimed at supporting white people in taking an active role in dismantling white supremacy. Interested faculty of color are also welcome to join. If you are thinking about joining but want to know a little more before deciding if the group is likely to work for you, you can contact Kim Humphrey with any questions.
The group will meet seven times over the course of the semester and participants who can attend every session will receive a $500 stipend. The group will meet on the following Wednesdays from 2:00 - 3:00 in person at the CTE: March 15, 22, and 29; and April 5, 12, 19, and 26.
The CTE is offering a graduate pedagogy reading group led by graduate student instructors. If you are a graduate student or post doc, you are invited to join us for a series of five meetings to discuss the book The Spark of Learning in the CTE’s Innovation Lab (O’Neill 250). No prior teaching experience is necessary.
Meetings will be held on five Tuesdays: 2/28, 3/14, 3/28, 4/11, & 4/25 from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. Participants who can commit to attending all five meetings will be able to pick up a copy of the book; space is limited.