The Praxis of Queer Pedagogy

This is a two-part course-- each part is six weeks long for a total of twelve weeks.   Part one is a basic orientation to the principles and practice of queer pedagogy.   Students develop a proposal for a practical queer pedagogical intervention project.  In part two, students work individually and collaboratively to develop and implement their projects.  

Queer pedagogy is the notion that we need to radically examine and
redefine how we think about and conceptualize the act of teaching, our
notions and practices of knowledge, and our formal and informal
curriculum.

This course gives students an opportunity to read and discuss
readings on these topics and to use this knowledge base in order to
construct an individual project implementing the principles of queer
pedagogy.

In part one, students read an article of their choice in teams of two or three and use collaborative annotation software to share their thoughts and comments on the article.  These articles should preferably be from freely available online resources but may also be chosen from an article database if students have access to one.  Assignments throughout the six weeks guide students through the process of developing their own practical intervention project.   There are many options for possible projects.  If one is currently teaching a course somewhere, it could be a lesson plan, curriculum, or a change in classroom practices.  If one is in an activist group, it could be a training workshop or resource for that organization.   Students could found their own organization, start a website, start a blog, contribute to an existing website, write an academic article to submit for publication, or write a letter to the editor of a newspaper... the only requirement is that it be designed and be implemented in order to intervene in the real world in some fashion.

In part two, the focus would be on creating and revising students' projects.  Using online collaboration tools,
students read and comment on each other's work.  They could have
the option of working with another student or by themselves.
Assignments focus on clarifying, creating, editing, and revising
their work.  Part two culminates with the implementation of the project and some reflections on the results of what was done.