Invisible Emotional Work In Academia
At the end of November, Aimee Morrison posted a very insightful post (found here) about the invisible emotional work that we do as academics. She argues that this emotional work often goes unrecognized but is part of our everyday reality as instructors, advisors, and members of departments.
I have been thinking about emotional work since my end of term (which was only about a week ago hard to believe). I have been discussing this emotional work with friends and colleagues as I feel I have done a lot of emotional work with my students this semester.
I believe this is due to what I was teaching. Women's literature is a subject that I believe really resonates with students. Many of the students could identify with the characters and ideas found in the texts that we read this term. This can bring up many emotions; happiness, anger, fear. Ultimately the students' reactions to the texts leads to insightful discussions both in class and during office hours.
Sometimes when things that you read are too close to the bone it can manifest itself in many ways. After the final exam I had many students come up to me and say "Professor, I literally poured everything I had into that exam." As I was grading them, this was very apparent. This only one type of emotional response to the texts. In other instances the response might require more mitigation on the part of the professor.
Some instructors are hesitant to broach these instances with their students. One example could be how a student really wants to discuss how a text reminded them of their dead grandmother and of course nostalgia is a strong emotion. I always feel honoured when a student feels that they can discuss something like that with me. However, these discussions often carry this refrain: "Professor, this was such an insightful conversation; when I tried to discuss this with another professor they told me it was not relevant and dismissed me."
Now I understand that not every instructor is the same, but if we want to create a collaborative learning environment, isn't dismissing a students' emotional responses to a text as irrelevant tantamount to re-inscribing hierarchical boundaries? In those instances are we not telling our students that there is only a limited amount of perspectives that are "valid" to every text? This isn't an ethical and inclusive approach to teaching.
Yes maybe this kind of learning means that we necessarily put more of ourselves into teaching, but isn't that the point? I want my students to be as passionate about the material as I am. This might mean that I take the holidays to be more reflective on the experiences of the past semester, but it is all such a very rewarding experience. I can look back on the fall term and honestly say I am proud of what my students created, of the insightful discussions, the opportunity to learn more about the texts from a different perspective.
As a year comes to a close and the new semester will be upon us in a short week, I challenge instructors to see their work as a more conscientious practice and be open to these kinds of emotional responses. This isn't an irrational response but rather one way that the texts resonate with the students and can thus lead to very insightful and productive class discussions and written pieces.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, pedagogically rewarding 2013!
I have been thinking about emotional work since my end of term (which was only about a week ago hard to believe). I have been discussing this emotional work with friends and colleagues as I feel I have done a lot of emotional work with my students this semester.
I believe this is due to what I was teaching. Women's literature is a subject that I believe really resonates with students. Many of the students could identify with the characters and ideas found in the texts that we read this term. This can bring up many emotions; happiness, anger, fear. Ultimately the students' reactions to the texts leads to insightful discussions both in class and during office hours.
Sometimes when things that you read are too close to the bone it can manifest itself in many ways. After the final exam I had many students come up to me and say "Professor, I literally poured everything I had into that exam." As I was grading them, this was very apparent. This only one type of emotional response to the texts. In other instances the response might require more mitigation on the part of the professor.
Some instructors are hesitant to broach these instances with their students. One example could be how a student really wants to discuss how a text reminded them of their dead grandmother and of course nostalgia is a strong emotion. I always feel honoured when a student feels that they can discuss something like that with me. However, these discussions often carry this refrain: "Professor, this was such an insightful conversation; when I tried to discuss this with another professor they told me it was not relevant and dismissed me."
Now I understand that not every instructor is the same, but if we want to create a collaborative learning environment, isn't dismissing a students' emotional responses to a text as irrelevant tantamount to re-inscribing hierarchical boundaries? In those instances are we not telling our students that there is only a limited amount of perspectives that are "valid" to every text? This isn't an ethical and inclusive approach to teaching.
Yes maybe this kind of learning means that we necessarily put more of ourselves into teaching, but isn't that the point? I want my students to be as passionate about the material as I am. This might mean that I take the holidays to be more reflective on the experiences of the past semester, but it is all such a very rewarding experience. I can look back on the fall term and honestly say I am proud of what my students created, of the insightful discussions, the opportunity to learn more about the texts from a different perspective.
As a year comes to a close and the new semester will be upon us in a short week, I challenge instructors to see their work as a more conscientious practice and be open to these kinds of emotional responses. This isn't an irrational response but rather one way that the texts resonate with the students and can thus lead to very insightful and productive class discussions and written pieces.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, pedagogically rewarding 2013!
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