Session Summary

Session Number:176
Session ID:S15
Session Title:Against the Wind: Radicals, Rebels, and Rogues in the Classroom
Short Title:Radicals in the classroom
Session Type:Theme Session
Hotel:Hyatt West
Floor:LL2
Room:Regency Ball C(N)
Time:Wednesday, August 11, 1999 9:00 AM - 10:20 AM

Sponsors

AA  (Peter Smith Ring)pring@popmail.lmu.edu 310-338-7411 

General People

Organizer Gillespie, Janet  Elmhurst College janetg@elmhurst.edu 630-617-3419 
Discussant Fitzgibbons, Dale  Illinois State U. defitz@ilstu.edu 309-438-5093 
Discussant Neal, Judith A. U. of New Haven jneal@snet.net (203) 932-7370 
Discussant Poulson, Chris  U. of Tasmania cfpoulson@csupomona.edu 909-869-2415 
Discussant Steingard, David S. Maharishi University of Management dsteinga@mum.edu 515-469-3097 

Submissions

Abstract

Against the counsel of conventional wisdom, in the face of student resistance, despite the dictates of academic tradition, in defiance of collegial advice, notwithstanding the forces of tenure, some of us become radicals in our teaching. We explore teaching and knowledge as uncharted territory. We experiment seriously with radically different ways of classroom organization. We challenge the accepted view of the world. We ask new and different behaviors from our students. We follow our inner voices. We abandon traditional and safe pedagogy for something we believe is more appropriate to a world in which pluralism is the norm, not the exception. The purpose of this symposium will be to explore some of these ideas and the journeys which have brought this particular cadre of radicals, rebels, and rogues to this place. The purpose is also to give succor and courage to those who feel ravaged by the traditionalists who surround us, who fear us, who wish to quiet us; to encourage those who want to walk the tightrope because that seems to be the only viable path for successful managers in the future; to extend a hand to those who are finding that the loneliness of the tightrope is too scary; and to animate those who wish to venture just one step onto the highwire of something new but who need to know that others have walked that highwire and have lived.