The demographic make-up of the students in higher education is changing. In an effort to keep up with this shift, higher education needs more non-white faculty in classrooms, administrative, and staff positions to present a viable target for incoming students. As more demographically diverse students enter into the classroom, faculty must also shift their pedagogical choices to a more relational environment to meet the needs of this new student body. The purpose of this chapter is to explicate the ways in which being “real” and authentic with students is a pedagogical choice that fosters an environment that leads to better learning for students. Faculty need to better understand the ways in which pedagogical development intersects with the salient parts of their own identities. This chapter also develops arguments for future directions in the ways faculty teach so they may connect these versions of themselves to better serve students through authentic human connection.
TopTeach Real: Creating Authentic Human Connection In The College Classroom
Recently, I received a message from a former student that I had in class over 10 years ago. The message read:
Good morning, Dr. Pacheco. I hope you're doing well. I'm not sure if you remember me, but I was a former student of yours in a couple of classes during your time as a communications professor at [university]. I wanted to reach out and apologize for how I was in your classes. It was a very confusing time in my life due to things I experienced in my hometown that I did not know were traumatizing at the time, shaping me into the college student you met, unfortunately. If you remember, I use to do and say some very offensive things, and when I look back at it now, I cringe because I wish I got the help I needed during that time of my life. I'm also sorry I didn't apply myself better in your classes. A little of that came with people not taking me seriously when I was younger, despite trying my best. You were an awesome professor, and thank you for calling me out when I was being an idiot. Your classes had a huge impact on me. I'd love to catch up sometime if you are up for it. If not, I completely understand. I hope to hear from you soon. Take care.
Of course, I recognized this student. Of course, we did catch up, and I was pleased to hear about everything they had done since our time together. As this student mentioned, we had had a somewhat tumultuous relationship. Not so much so that official actions had to be taken, only in that they often sought attention in class by being disruptive. To say I was surprised to hear from this student would be an understatement, though this was not the first time I had received a message of gratitude from past students. A semester after I left that university, I was overwhelmed by the number of messages I received as students returned to campus and learned I had moved. I did not know students were purposely gravitating toward the classes I taught. I had no idea of my impact on these people who came in and out of my world in short bursts of time. Obviously, there are pockets of students you work closely with, but many of those who reached out were students who just took the classes—they did not spend time in office hours or seek advice. While receiving such messages was heartening, they often left me perplexed—I did not do anything out of the ordinary. I taught classes to people who needed classes. It was not until I took a job outside of the classroom and found the work of Dr. Paul Hernandez, The Pedagogy of Real Talk: Engaging, Teaching, and Connecting with Students at Risk, that I was able to give these thoughts some context. For instance, Hernandez (2016) maintains:
This alternative pedagogy had a significant positive effect on the students; strengthening authentic relationships between students and me, engaging students in the learning process, linking their lives to the curriculum to make it relevant to them, reducing behavioral issues in the classroom that typically inhibited the learning process for all students, and igniting an interest in education with groups of students who were seemingly disconnected from school. (p. 24)
I was being real with students in a way others were not, and although I did not realize it, students sought that out. Students want to have a personal connection in the way that Freire (1968) refers to as being “co-creators.” hooks (2010) wrote that an “engaged pedagogy begins with the assumption that we learn best when there is an interactive relationship between student and teacher” (p. 19). I call it creating authentic human connections or teaching real. These kinds of authentic connections go beyond simply engaging students in the learning process. We must open ourselves up to joining the relational process. It is not enough to build together; we must also grow together. I can learn just as much from my students as they can from me if I allow myself to experience the vulnerability that comes with connecting with them.
The purpose of this chapter is to explicate the ways in which being “real” and authentic with students is a pedagogical choice that fosters a learning environment leading to better learning for students. By better understanding how our pedagogical development intersects with the salient parts of our own identities, I develop arguments for future directions for teaching so we may connect these versions of ourselves to better serve students through authentic human connection. This real and engaging pedagogy is a change from what most consider a traditional classroom, but as I will describe throughout this chapter, real and engaging pedagogy is education that works.