When: January 6, 2026, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Presenter(s): Austin Bailey (English)
A January Teaching Scholarship Circle (TSC) led by ACERT Faculty Fellow Austin Bailey (English)
How do we cultivate moments of authentic learning in our classrooms and in our teaching practices even as we operate as grade-based institutions? In Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning (2024), anthropologist and education theorist Susan D. Blum takes an eye to what she calls “the deep structures, the grammar, of schoolishness.” Blum refers to educational institutions where “success is preestablished, the norms are bell-curve like, and the standards are universal.” What possibilities arise when the institutionally familiar becomes contingent instead of given? In this three-session Teaching Scholarship Circle (TSC), we will read excerpts from Blum’s new book and consider its relevance and resonance within our own disciplines and classrooms. We will ask ourselves what constitutes authentic, meaningful, and joyful learning in the subjects we teach and brainstorm some deliverables we can lean into within our own classrooms.
The first 30 participants to register will receive physical copies of the book and all will have the opportunity to meet Susan D. Blum, who will be joining one of our sessions.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/UcSXNu1vTfWgithhsdqtRg
