Jodi Dueck-Read on teaching that moves learning beyond the classroom
Jodi Dueck-Read, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution Studies and Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies, is a co-recipient of the 2023 Kay and Lorne Dick Teaching Excellence Award.
Dr. Jodi Dueck-Read, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution Studies and Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies, has worked at CMU since 2015. She and Dr. Candice Viddal, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics, are co-recipients of the 2023 Kay and Lorne Dick Teaching Excellence Award.
The award, established in 2022, is granted annually to two faculty members who best exemplify the CMU commitment to excellent teaching.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy? How has it evolved over the years?
My teaching philosophy really got motivated by attending workshops in Latin America. When I worked for Mennonite Central Committee, we did lots of popular education that was about seeing, acting, and reflecting. So when I came into the university level, I really wanted to do more facilitation, more workshop-style to get students active and learning in that way. I learn kinaesthetically and I think some students do as well, so creating an environment where students can move, they can talk, they can think about things not just theoretically, but practically. Creating a classroom where knowledge is created for practice has been important. Another aspect of my teaching philosophy is thinking about power dynamics and how those societal power dynamics also come into the classroom. How can we mess with those so that we listen to different voices and so different voices rise to the top? That's always a challenge, but I think having group work and pair work helps create those possibilities. Having more critically informed feminist pedagogy is something I've written about and something that's important to me as well.
What strategies do you use to engage and inspire your students?
Yesterday I had students at 9:00 in the morning who were talking about the relationship between democracy and civil resistance or nonviolent action. I think it was definitely a challenge—it was early enough in the day on a Monday and rainy—but getting students to speak what they know or ask questions of what they don't know, and they can talk to one another, I think voicing their learning, especially in an age of AI, is really important. And so that we can pay attention to the different voices that speak. Some students learn a lot by speaking out loud what they're thinking about, so trying to honour that kind of a space, and for those that like to write and are reflective in a writing way, creating assignments where they can do that. I think students get engaged by doing.
How do you measure success in your classroom?
Any time I hear about a former student that's leading some kind of action or is engaged in political things, engaging with communities and in the world, and other people are finding out about it too, that's success for me. I feel like somebody has taken to heart that we need to engage more with the world and think about what we're doing and how we're doing things well.
Is there a specific moment in your teaching career that stands out as especially rewarding?
Seeing students come to greater awareness of the world in the class History and Strategies of Nonviolence. They have to go to certain actions, and for many of them it's their first time. Many this year went on September 30th to the National Truth and Reconciliation walk. People had very different experiences—for some it was like, "This has meaning, I understand where this comes from," and another student was like, "I don't get this, why is this important, what is this about?" I get to speak into that and say, "What else were you thinking about here? Did you talk to anybody else?" Then by the end of the course, I'll see them knowledgeable about some issue they're passionate about and being able to talk to others. Those are rewarding moments for sure.
What impact do you hope to leave on your students?
I hope students feel that there was a caring environment that was created in the classroom, that they have relationships with other people as a result of their studies, that they feel more confident to try new things—whether that means going into a job they haven't necessarily trained for but they've thought some things about, whether it means they're going to start organizing in their community, whether it means leading dialogue processes within their church—that they're stepping out there and they're willing to try even though they don't know everything about it or they might feel a little bit insecure, but they're willing to try. That's what I hope students gain from my courses, that there's a lot to learn out in the world and we have to take that step.