What is Women’s Studies?
Women’s Studies classes fulfill general education requirements and transfer to the university systems. Our methodology is inclusive. Teacher and students work together to create a safe, supportive, collaborative classroom environment for a diverse student population. In class discussions we share our thoughts on the readings, our experiences, our ideas and opinions while honoring each other’s voice with careful listening and respect. Academic study and life experiences come together in the Women’s Studies classroom. We use what we have learned, both informally and formally, both inside and outside the classroom, to gain the knowledge, skills, critical thinking ability, self-esteem, and motivation to achieve personal, educational, and career goals. Teachers serve as role models and friends as well as instructors to make themselves accessible to all students as they work on closely connected personal and academic issues.
The curriculum is also inclusive. Each class addresses subjects and issues of as many varying people as is appropriate and covers issues of ethnicity, race, and class as well as gender. Most of the students we serve are under-represented - women, people of color, people who are physically or mentally challenged, re-entry students, low-income people. Twenty percent of our students are men. Women’s Programs / Women’s Studies is committed to open and accessible education. We want as much as possible for students to be able to see elements of their life issues and histories in the curriculum.
Working to solve personal problems and internalized blocks to learning and to advocate for oneself must be considered part of the educational process. We encourage students to talk about their problems and help them to seek solutions. When students have issues which require outside, professional help, we encourage them to work with an agency or a person who can help them. Our goal is to retain students in school so they may reach their educational, career, and personal goals.
We focus on creating an environment in which students may feel confident in claiming their educations rather than remaining passive as education is “given” to them. The classroom becomes collaborative, a place where communication skills are developed, information is shared, ideas are expressed, and questions are asked. We encourage students to find their own voices, to feel confident to develop and express their own ideas in their own words.
The classroom in which students are enabled to “claim” their education must also employ a variety of learning methods to meet the needs of the diverse people represented in the class. In addition to assigning readings and giving lectures, we use visual materials for all subjects. While reading images is not part of a traditional curriculum, a large percentage of our experiential learning has come through images. By using images actively in the classroom our opportunities for learning are greatly increased. We maintain clipping notebooks, write essays, a weekly journal entry, go on assignments into the community, interview, write reports on community organizations, make oral presentations, produce collaborative projects, and write oral histories.
By integrating personal lives with classroom experiences and activities in the community and the world, students are able to claim a well-rounded, diverse approach to learning that will empower them throughout their lives.
Links:
A guide to Women's Studies Programs
http://www.artemisguide.com/