Reclaiming Authority in the FYC Classroom as a Graduate Teaching Assistant: Using Feminist Pedagogies to Empower

The Role of Embodiment in Establishing Authority: Application and Practice

The next section addresses authority in practice primarily through the lens of embodiment, with a focus on teaching recommendations from my own experience and those of feminist teacher-scholars. I offer in-class activities and guidelines that GTAs can use in their own classrooms to help establish authority in a student-centered and empowering way using embodiment, positionality statements, questions of the day, and transparent classroom policies.

Embodiment as a Form of Connection

An important aspect of embracing authority involves addressing who we are as GTAs in the classroom—both literally and figuratively. I have approached this idea through the lens of embodiment—feeling comfortable in our bodies and the space we take up as instructors. When looking at embodiment as a tenet in establishing authority, I focus on embodiment as used in feminist and queer pedagogies to describe the act of including our identities (physical, mental, emotional, gendered, societal, and political) as parts of ourselves as teachers and students. The principle of embodiment embraces subjectivity and individuality not as something negative or deeply biased but as a more accurate way of looking at who we are in connection with what we do. Practicing embodiment also asks us to look at how our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences are shaped by our physical body and societal perceptions of our bodies. For example, I recognize that my whiteness makes me seem more credible and respectable to my students, even though my gender presentation as a woman and my position as a GTA can provide conflicting ethos. The practice of embodiment can be incredibly useful in the classroom to further situate trust between instructor and student; we want to establish this connection to create a sense of belonging and disrupt the marginalization of instructors and students who may feel Othered in a classroom setting. Embracing positionalities and embodiments can help GTAs feel more comfortable in establishing authority by showing students that all instructor embodiments—not just some—deserve respect and validation.

Embodiment, like positionality, asks instructors not to separate our pedagogy from our person but instead to ask how our lived experiences affect how we want to teach and learn. How can we bring bodies into the discussion? Stacey Waite describes embodiment as a tenet of queer pedagogy and an important investment in FYC classes. Waite discusses the nature of academia as one that often tries to “disembody education” by separating the teacher from what they teach and separating their knowledge from how they share it (18). hooks also talks about this in Teaching to Transgress and describes how “[t]he erasure of the body encourages us to think that we are listening to neutral, objective facts, facts that are not particular to who is sharing the information. We are invited to teach information as though it does not emerge from bodies” (139). Waite and hooks recognize the tradition of disembodying education as harmful to both students and teachers by trying to erase the identity of instructors from the classroom and separate their knowledge from who they are as people. Disembodiment leads to a disconnection between instructor and material and between instructor and students. The points of contact that can be made by sharing about ourselves and our identities are squashed when instructors are asked to keep their personal out of the professional. If embodying feminist authority in the classroom means embracing our experiences and identities, disembodied teaching directly counteracts that by asking instructors to erase themselves from the space.

It is much more difficult for a disembodied instructor to feel like they deserve to be in front of the classroom because their histories, uniqueness, expertise—all the things that make them validated as an instructor and professional—are left at the threshold instead of being invited into the classroom. Embodiment as a practice can help GTAs feel more present in who they are in and out of the classroom and, therefore, feel more comfortable embracing their authority and crafting their instructor ethos. I also see embodiment as a way to invite transparency and openness from both me and my students. That is, embodiment helps me to build a connection with my students because they are more likely to see me as a positive authority figure—caring, empowering, resourceful, and worthy of respect—after learning more about who I am, my past experiences, why I teach, and the kinds of educational (or otherwise) values and goals we share. I have found that by approaching teaching with an atmosphere of openness and embracing who I am, I became more accessible, approachable, and authoritative (though not authoritarian).

Positionality Statements

hooks and Waite help us establish what embodiment is and why it is important, but there are many ways to practice this tenet in the FYC classroom as an Othered instructor. Johnson-Bailey and Lee highlight their authority and embodiments as women of color by standing or sitting in the front and center of the room and by asking students to use their formal titles (119). Other instructors of color have found power in sharing and vulnerability as ways to connect with students, especially over controversial issues or when discussing social justice. Kyoko Kishimoto and Mumbi Mwangi, and Barbara Omolade, feel that vulnerability and self-disclosure can lead to transformative teaching. These authors, Omolade especially, are speaking as women of color to students of color to help marginalized students feel more empowered in the classroom. I have found these principles to be effective when speaking about things from my positionality, like white supremacy and white privilege, as well as sexism, patriarchy, and gender oppression. I also like to bring discussions of positionality into my classroom to build connections with students. I share my positionality statement and then ask my students to write their own positionality statements for their research papers to reflect on how their identities and experiences shape how they view their research topic. This can open larger discussions of positionality in general, both within academia and in other settings.

Classroom Policy Transparency

As well as sharing my positionality in terms of identity, I also share my positionality on pedagogy with my students, including what I hope to accomplish in the classroom. This can help to find balance between empowering myself and empowering my students as co-creators of knowledge. Many students, particularly first-year students, may not know what to do with pedagogies that rely on open communication and trust between teacher and student. A progressive classroom may be jarring, especially a FYC classroom where students are frequently asked to write about themselves. Instructors can share the intentions associated with our pedagogical practices to invite students to participate in defining important concepts and goals. Heather Thomson-Bunn advises instructors to “define and regard students as co-constructors of knowledge, [so that] they will be granted a significant role in determining how our class is run—what is discussed and how it is discussed, how authority is distributed, and so forth” (9). Inviting our students in as “co-constructors of knowledge” can help balance and distribute authority between student and teacher. Modeled in the classroom, this can look like building syllabi and assignment sheets with students, creating a class list of expectations at the beginning of the semester, and letting students choose their own essay topics and/or class readings. Honesty with our students about our bodies, minds, philosophies, goals, and even attitudes about our classes is essential in building trust, leading to mutual empowerment and authority in the FYC classroom.

Question of the Day

I also like to start class with a question of the day. These range from class-related topics to more informal and open-ended questions. I answer these questions first and then ask each of my students to answer the question. These questions help my students and I get to know one another and establish rapport without sliding into territory where I ask students to disclose personal things about themselves—things I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing either. Questions of the day allow me to get to know my students as people outside of the parameters of assignments and grading. First-year composition courses are often the smallest and most intimate classes for undergraduate students, and I try to create ways for the students to build connections with one another beyond the scope of our course materials. Questions of the day I use in class include: What are you looking forward to this semester? What is the last movie you saw and loved? What side of TikTok are you on? What is a goal you have for yourself in this class? The answers range from very brief, to more conversation-inducing. Often, I enjoy starting class by not focusing on class material, so that everyone in the room feels more comfortable and more like themselves as a person and not just an instructor or student.

These practices ask all instructors to question how their embodiments are both socially and politically constructed, and how to use tenets of embodiment to create a positive authoritative classroom presence. Being honest and forthcoming about who we are to our students shows that we have credibility, knowledge, and authority just as we are—in this body, gender, race, sexuality—and that these parts are essential to our identity as instructors. Though levels of disclosure will differ for every instructor, if those who are part of dominant power groups in higher education move to more openly share their positionalities and embodiments, this practice will become the norm, and it will be safer for others to do so as well.