I just finished catching up on the first bit of yesterday’s conversation between Martha and Jesse. I feel immensely grateful for this space to unpack my complicated feelings about care, and other emotional labor in education. It has helped to get more of a perspective from Higher Ed because I am deeply triggered by what is going on in k-12 right now. I appreciate the chance to think generously about these concepts with people who have been learning and thinking about them for a long time, and also that there is space for my honest reflection. It is helping me integrate my ideals with my practice in a much more holistic way already.

I enjoyed Martha’s reflection on becoming a parent and learning that you show your children how to do something by modeling it for them. This is definitely true in education. Even as a Graduate student, I feel I have learned some powerful lessons on effective, caring teaching by having some of the best teachers (at PSU).

Something that Jesse said that I found very powerful about halfway through the video was that leaning in to the social contract is also empirically a more effective method for achieving the goals of getting students to turn their work in etc. That is so true! Why aren’t educators taught how to relationship-build with students in Higher Ed? It is emphasized in k-12 but the structure often doesn’t support that activity well. I was very glad to hear Jesse’s reflection on boundaries. I also come from a family with alcoholism and I have other reasons to prefer professional boundaries, so it felt like a caring act to have him address that part.

My goals for Design Forward Care and Equity really are to learn from all of you and continue to participate in the conversations.