FORCED CHANGE: PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY AND JOURNALISM EDUCATION
CHANGEMENT FORCÉ : PÉDAGOGIE DE LA PANDÉMIE ET ENSEIGNEMENT DU JOURNALISME
Teaching anti-oppressive journalism
Listening party materials curated by Trish Audette-Longo and Nehaa Bimal
How fast are journalism schools actually changing?
“When it comes to taking up space, a lot of students feel like there is no space for them,” Eternity Martis says in the final episode of Forced Change.
“A lot of my racialized students, we have a lot of conversations after class and sometimes in the classroom where they say, ‘You’re the first Black prof I’ve had and I’m graduating this year.’ Or, ‘I didn’t even feel comfortable to speak in my classes.’”
In the episode, “How to teach anti-oppressive journalism in a pandemic,” educators take on the challenges and opportunities of leading change and providing mentorship and care in journalism schools since 2020.
These “listening party” materials are meant to accompany episodes of the Forced Change podcast, providing additional resources for teaching or for offline conversations in local journalism programs.
Enseigner le journalisme conscient des traumatismes
À quelle vitesse les écoles de journalisme évoluent-elles ?
« Lorsqu’il s’agit de prendre de la place, beaucoup d’étudiants ont l’impression qu’il n’y a pas de place pour eux » , a dit Eternity Martis dans le dernier épisode de Changement forcé.
« Beaucoup de mes étudiants racialisés ont des conversations après les cours et parfois dans la salle de classe où ils disent : “Vous êtes le premier professeur noir que j’ai eu et je suis diplômée cette année” ou “Je ne savais même pas qu’il y avait un professeur noir”. Ou encore : “Je ne me sentais même pas à l’aise pour prendre la parole dans mes cours”.
Dans l’épisode intitulé “Comment enseigner le journalisme anti-oppressif en cas de pandémie”, les éducateurs relèvent les défis et les opportunités de conduire le changement et de fournir un mentorat et des soins dans les écoles de journalisme depuis 2020.
Ces documents “d’écoute” sont destinés à accompagner les épisodes du podcast Changement forcé, en fournissant des ressources supplémentaires pour l’enseignement ou pour des conversations hors ligne dans les programmes de journalisme locaux.
In this issue
- Podcast episode: “How to teach anti-oppressive journalism in a pandemic”
Discussion questions among faculty members about care
- In the final episode of Forced Change, panelists discuss how to bring care into the classroom. How do you understand and think about “care” in a journalism classroom and a journalism program?
- How did the pandemic change your perceptions of student care or wellbeing? How have your perceptions changed since 2020?
- How did the pandemic change your perceptions of faculty and staff care, co-support or wellbeing? How have your perceptions changed since 2020?
- In the article “Creating the new journalism classroom for a future in the balance,” Adrian Harewood discusses the importance of accountability and dialogue. How do you think about learning with students? How do you think about power, or hierarchy, in your classes? What could you experiment with to do things differently?
Discussion questions among faculty members about teaching journalism
- Reflecting on the movement for Black lives after George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020, how do you evaluate the changes made in your program as a response to that time? How might you further restructure your journalism program to centre equity, diversity and inclusion?
- Reflecting on calls to action issued by the Canadian Association of Black Journalists and Canadian Journalists of Colour in 2020, how have you put more focus on covering racialized communities?
- Looking at your assigned course readings and media materials, as well as your invited lecturers and who teaches journalism in your program, whose voices are present, and whose voices are missing?
- How do you create spaces for students to speak back to your program, or share their recommendations for change? What strategies are in place to continue conversations and show what changes are being made?
How to bring this into your class
Set ground rules for class discussions. In “How to teach anti-oppressive journalism in a pandemic,” Asmaa Malik offers advice for establishing the tone of courses on Day 1, including suggesting students use “I” statements, avoid generalizations, speak about their own experiences and be “conscious of how much space you take up and why you’re speaking.”
Consider “checking in” and “checking out” with students in your classes. In the podcast episode, Eternity Martis points out that, “The care is sometimes more important than the content and the content can sometimes wait.”
Give students choices. In the podcast episode, Shari Okeke notes “some material might be harder [for students] to handle on one day than another day.” Okeke tells students, “if they need to get up and leave, they’re welcome to leave and come back and I will find a way to help them grasp whatever material they missed in a way that is safe for them.”
Open Access / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0