Beyond my current work to champion Experiential Learning, my teaching style can be summed up by my belief in integrating authentic pedagogy, engaging culture, and fostering student motivation. I have taught many courses in Spanish at the elementary, intermediate, and upper university levels, including broader curriculum development and hybrid or “blended” courses.
I have also taught in English, including a pilot First Year Seminar at Indiana University Bloomington, a course for the University of Michigan’s general education curriculum, and a bilingual Latin American Studies course at DePauw developed through a Great Lakes Colleges Association Grant, with an “opt-in” portion dedicated to heritage language learners.
Below, you can read more about how I have approached Spanish at the introductory and intermediate levels, as well as my approach to interdisciplinary courses.
The Critical Language Classroom
When it comes to language teaching, I believe that proficiency in a language is achieved by a student finding meaning in the culture to which it is tied. Many of our contemporary social and ecological challenges, for example, are experienced, told, and written about in Spanish across the Americas. Students, no matter their field of study, will be tasked with developing and managing new socioecological relations. My teaching philosophy is to prepare students to adapt to a rapidly changing terrain and to develop the tools to seek meaningful lives for themselves and with others.
To do this, I bring together cultural studies and applied linguistics theories that increasingly argue for the importance of authenticity and meaning in the second-language classroom and for a “language arts” approach with heritage speakers. This methodology allows me to create a student-centered classroom that demonstrates how Latin America shares much of its history and politics with the United States to provide context for the future. By emphasizing this historical relationship, the stakes of becoming more capable communicators and critical thinkers are more palpable to a diverse set of students. I have tailored my approach for all levels, including those with heritage language learners to honor their Spanish as valid, while also expanding their repertoires. At each level, I cultivate student motivation through metacognition, accessible classrooms, and mentorship.
Although my classes are often conversation oriented, I also encourage students to explore social and ecological challenges through second language writing methods, from collective creative projects to frequent short writing assignments. I strongly believe that writing is a process and in giving students the opportunity to edit and improve their writing after receiving feedback. In my first and second year courses, students complete low-stakes writing assignments in journals, and can revise them for credit. These journals also allow students to share aspects of their personal lives with me and to see feedback not as failure, but learning. I also facilitate peer feedback to reinforce that the final product is, in fact, a collaborative process achieved through many rounds of revision. For heritage language students, I approach writing with a translingual and socio-linguistic perspective, seeing traditionally stigmatized constructions as sites of negotiation rather than error.
As students do the practical work of applying Spanish or our other class content in their current or future jobs and communities, I also cultivate awareness about themselves, their classmates, and their histories and futures. This will be essential work in a global, multilingual, society so desperately in need of our students’ contributions.
Curriculum Design and Community
My philosophy is also carried out through course and curriculum design—which I also believe should be made transparent to students. At the beginning of each course, I discuss with students why I chose which texts, how I constructed the progression of the class and its relation to learning outcomes. For example, instead of assuming aspects of college are common knowledge, I explain the purpose of office hours, how my syllabus works, and effective study skills. We also collectively review class norms for learning about and discussing difficult topics. At DePauw, I worked to create courses that not only met proficiency goals, but used low-cost, often open access, materials. My ultimate goal is that students both gain and apply knowledge in authentic contexts within and beyond the classroom.
Finally, I believe we all depend on creating community. I have organized Viewing Parties (complete with free tacos, of course!) and also encourage students to share with each other their latest “binge worthy” obsessions in Spanish language content. As we all explore more instructional technology, I am excited by the vast possibilities for student engagement and community building through innovative platforms.
Cultural Studies & Upper-Level Courses
Like my language classes, my cultural studies courses also make use of digital resources–from “mind maps” and timeline platforms to social media–writing is still a central aspect of my pedagogy. For example, creative “un-essays” and project-based learning are other ways I engage students beyond the traditional term paper, but I also incorporated regular writing exercises into my classes. Through activities like peer-review (which I do at all levels), I highlight that writing is a process that benefits from community interaction. My hope is that students connect to themselves as writers and come to see the value of writing in their daily lives.
Reach out for more information on my other upper and graduate level cultural studies courses that I have designed. Most of my upper level courses engage how cultural production reveals the intersections of environment and social movements.
Check out my interview for DePauw about remote teaching and more!
Paige R. Andersson 