Feminist Pedagogy—Susan C. Jarratt

After the week I have had I just realized it is Saturday and I forgot to blog about readings for this week…oh well, here we go!

This piece was awesome to read because it gave a lot of historical background and was not one sided like so many pieces can be when it comes to talking about Feminist Pedagogy. One of my favorite lines in this reading was simply men have a deep stake in the goals of feminism because men are most definitely a huge part of the change for feminism. Without the help of me, without the support of men women would not be where they are today. Jarratt evens talks about men who adopt feminist pedagogical strategies can sometimes be more effective and it is simply because students will not look at him as a part of a "special interest" group as they do female teachers who teach feminine pedagogy. I also believe they can be more effective because then the males in their classrooms will see that an interest in feminism benefits them just as much as it does females.

Another part of these reading that I enjoyed is Jarratt pointing out that one of the strengths of feminist pedagogy is its relentless capacity for dialogue and self-critique, and its ability to read and listen rhetorically. Composition and pedagogy is such an open field academically that when feminist pedagogy is spoken of women have tendency to look at themselves and their own lives so closely, plus women seem to be more open about speaking of personal experiences that dialogues are created and then the fields seem to come even wider. As Jarratt pointed out in the beginning of the reading most who are interested in composition studies are also created in social justice…feminist pedagogy has opened up so much dialogue not just about women and inequities, but also about sexuality, racism, gender differences, etc. that it allows teachers who are teaching composition to discuss current cultural issues with their students and this helps promote awareness and helps them to look at how the world around them is constructed. This is very important because so many students do not think about the biases in media, written works, in language, etc. So if anything, one of the most important influences feminist pedagogy can have is allowing students the chance to take a true look at the world around them and what is really being said. It also allows them to understand voices, their own voice, the voice of others, the voice of scholars, the voice of non-scholars, and the voice of their own family.