Today I will write… the days rolled by, folding into weeks, which later became months. The longer I waited in-between writing on this blog, the more distant the idea of writing became. Soon enough, I found myself harboring negative feelings toward writing… This blog post is an experiment with words, images, and feelings. I composed this in a single sitting, taking fragments of texts from different encounters and putting them in conversation (or not). This is my attempt at making sense of this time of the coronavirus (COVID-19), social distancing, and remote learning/teaching.
Read moreTowards a Philosophy of Education: My Journey into 2020 as an Educator-Learner-Researcher
As a second-year education doctoral student at Teachers College, I, Catherine Cheng Stahl, took my first philosophy course with Professor David Hansen. This ‘philosophy of education’ course has transformed me, my thinking with regards to my own education, and my sense of self-trust in my own writing process. Here, I share the very last essay I wrote as part of my own philosophical journey—an essay that I believe provides the foundation for my own philosophy of education to guide me into the new decade.
Read moreWhat Makes a Teacher? Teacher as Learner, Guide, and Caregiver
This Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to give thanks to the many educators who have positively shaped my thinking, learning, and teaching at various stages of my life. I would not have had the courage or the motivation to pursue a profession in education, were it not for my own teachers. They ignited in me a love of learning and cultivated the right environment for me to experience growth. Thus, I devote this essay to my teachers and to my colleagues who are teachers.
Read moreWriting in Graduate School: Reflecting on the Art of Teaching
This is me, sharing one of my last papers written during my first year of graduate school at Teachers College, writing as Catherine Cheng. Here, I reflect on the tendency of teacher preparation programs to overemphasize practice rather than to provide a rich education that supports teachers in recognizing the aesthetics of teaching. I argue for a recognition of and, perhaps, a return to an “art” of teaching that takes into account the affective dimension and emotional labor of working with students.
Read moreDough Becoming Farfalle: Trying My Hand at Homemade Pasta
Drawing inspiration from both Deleuzoguattarian theory of becoming and Kathleen Stewart’s evocation of ordinary affect, this visual entry is an experiment-in-process with the raw materials of flour, eggs (and some water). Here, I share the simultaneous unraveling and entangling of these materials as they become (through manual labor) dough and eventually homemade farfalle. I will be re-turning (in a Baradian sense) and sharing additional insights as I revisit this entry in the near future.
Read more
