Teaching the City

April 11, 2008

My posts have been non-existent over the past few days because I have been stressing and preparing for the Teaching the City faculty workshop, funded by ACM (Associated Colleges of the Midwest). Tonight was the opening dinner and we heard from our keynote speaker Darren Kelly, a cultural geographer from Dublin, Ireland and now the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Beloit College. The leading idea for this workshop is to bring together faculty from various disciplines who are interested in teaching the city.. and to let them talk to each other about what works and what doesn't. Speaking for myself I know I am curious what other people have tried and what they find helpful. Since people who would teach on the topic of the city are often found tucked away in their own disciplines, there is not always a chance to discuss the questions about how to teach the city. Tonight listening to Darren and then to the questions that came afterwards I was again struck by how much in common we all have.. even though the cities that interest us may be far apart culturally.