First-generation college students (FGCS) are stereotypically categorized as "at-risk," and perceived as students that need to be fixed. By employing critical pedagogy and learning communities, librarians engage, validate, and learn from FGCS while bringing their narratives and identities to the forefront through compassionate communication. In this workshop, participants learn compassionate pedagogy, and develop a learning community framework for building curricular and pedagogical bridges that invite students' stories, experiences, and cultural wealth into their campus community. Participants develop ideas, activities, and identify campus partners for their future FGCS learning community that challenge the marginalization their students' experience on campus.
Participants will:
Identify the four components of critical compassionate pedagogy to understand how librarians and FGCS can improve their pedagogical interactions in and out of the classroom.
Design a learning community framework for their own institutional context.
Student Success Librarian, Assistant Professor, West Chester University
Amy Pajewski is the Student Success Librarian and Assistant Professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She leads a team of teaching librarians focused on enriching the first and second year student experience through information literacy. As liaison to non-academic departments... Read More →
