Recounts the thoughts and experiences of one university professor returning to teach a class of 3-year-olds. Notes the differences between middle-aged and younger teachers, the importance of college-level educators revisiting "real" classrooms to connect theory with practice, the difficulty of balancing college and preschool teaching,…

A philosophy professor narrates his teaching experience. He shares his experience at University of Notre Dame and how he dealt with the students possessed by devil.

When professors move to accept academic positions, there is an effect on their marriages and families. Once established in the new locations, these same professors pass through predictable stages that set them up for still further moves. Each move raises expectations of the perfect job in the perfect place. Each move also becomes more complicated.…

Introduction to Native American Studies has been, paradoxically, the author's most satisfying and most challenging teaching assignment in more than two decades as a university-level faculty member. As a former coordinator of the Native American Studies Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), he has heard many other faculty air their…

In this article, six faculty and students of color who participated in a panel discussion at a symposium during the National Multicultural Conference and Summit of 2003 talk about the barriers they encountered and continue to encounter in their graduate training and places of employment. They also discuss strategies they found to be effective,…

In this article, the author shares his conversation with Kim--one of his students who shared with him her faith, her major beliefs, the conditions for eternal salvation of one's soul, and her family's religious history. As Kim was describing her faith group's criteria for eternal salvation and for eternal damnation, the author found that her faith…

This article will introduce the Privileged Identity Exploration (PIE) Model. This model identifies eight (8) defense modes associated with behaviors individuals display when engaged in difficult dialogues about social justice issues. Implications for the model and ways it can be used to assist facilitators as they engage participants in…

This chapter discusses the challenges of fostering spirituality in the higher education classroom and its relationship to the practice of transformative learning.

An autobiographical writing assignment given to fourth-year BSW students is described and evaluated. Its purpose is to encourage students to reflect upon their life experience and identify significant values and life principles embedded in their personal narrative, and explore these as a foundation for social work practice. The limitations of…

This is a personal account of the author's naivete, growth, and hope as a literacy educator after she left her position as a university professor to teach reading to young adolescents. She describes how her experience and academic expertise did not fully prepare her for the realities of working in a middle school and how she became more aware of…

This reading autobiography is by the developer of the well known Fry Readability Formula, and it enumerates the highlights of his varied career in education, from 1949, the year he graduated from college until the present time. The autobiography charts his beginnings as a teacher in public school (the custodian made more money than he did), his…

The author was hired in the 1995-1996 academic year at the University of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) in the Department of English. Her position was funded as a direct hire--one of two Alaska Native professors hired as part of a diversity directive to increase the number of minority professors on campus, and more specifically Alaska Natives. Alaska…

Susan Friedman, a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at the University of South Florida, has found through her own teaching experience that incorporating autobiographical texts and self-writing into her pedagogical practices can foster a classroom environment that pays attention to subjectivity to promote mindful, ethical behavior in both…

The UK Open University's second-level undergraduate course "Death and Dying" (K260) draws on personal and professional experience to explore the issues of loss, care, ethical practice, communication and grief. Students come from diverse occupational backgrounds (nurses, social workers, medical practitioners) but many study K260 for…

The social movements during the last 50 years of the 20th century were among the most tumultuous years for people of color. African Americans, as well as other groups, confronted obstacles on what they could be and do. African Americans experienced harsh treatments in educational institutions and had to develop unconventional ways to advocate for…