Fictional Classrooms: Talking About Teaching Through Narrative (June 19-August 28, 2023)

What can we learn about our own teaching practices and identities from fictional depictions of higher education? Join us in “Fictional Classrooms” as we explore and reflect on narratives of education in films and novels, whether they speak to us as learners, educators, researchers, artists, or simply as humans.

For Summer 2023, we will focus our attention on one novel: Elizabeth Finch (2022) by Julian Barnes. We will meet monthly in June, July, and August, with opportunities for both synchronous and asynchronous engagement.

While this offering may appeal most to those who teach in humanities disciplines (and facilitators Matthew Dunleavy and Robin Sutherland-Harris both come from humanities backgrounds), all York educators and staff are welcome and encouraged to register.

We are approaching the Fictional Classrooms program with a “read-what-you-can” mentality. We understand that we can get busy and may not finish readings each month, but we hope most will be able to attend each session regardless of how much they have been able to engage with the text so we can still have fruitful conversations and build community. Opportunities for asynchronous engagement will also be available.

Synchronous, virtual meetings (optional) will be held on Zoom on the following days:

• Monday, June 19th (Kick Off) – 2-3pm
• Monday, June 26th – 2-3pm
• Monday, July 24th – 2-3pm
• Monday, August 28th – 2-3pm

Here is the link to register: https://teachingcommonsforms.apps01.yorku.ca/forms/view.php?id=986326