This Learning Community is sponsored by the GSAS Office of Academic Access and Engagement (OAAE) in partnership with Columbia's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The Learning Community is open to all Columbia University graduate students, with priority given to doctoral students in Arts and Sciences departments and those who have teaching experience.
Recognizing that instructors and students alike bring a constellation of backgrounds and experiences to all classrooms, regardless of discipline or topic, instructors’ ability to engage reflexively about their own identities and positionality serves to ensure effective, inclusive teaching. This reflective practice can promote greater self-awareness of instructors’ beliefs about teaching and learning; broaden their pedagogical toolkit; and enable them to engage in iterative, reflexive practice.
This learning community collectively engages focused topics in pedagogy and practice as they relate to positionality, reflexivity, and identity. Participants consider the ways their social location, experiences, and access to power shape their perspectives; explore their many multifaceted and intersecting identities; and examine the role that both can play in fostering inclusive and critically aware learning experiences for students. Participants must commit to attending all scheduled activities (typically 2-3 workshops or other events) throughout the spring 2026 semester and to completing brief reading and writing exercises. Because capacity is limited, participants are selected by application.
SPRING 2026 LEARNING COMMUNITY APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW! APPLY HERE.
Teaching from the Self: Gender, Sexuality, and Reflexive Pedagogy
How do gender, sexuality, and positionality shape who we are as instructors—and how we teach, manage tension, handle classroom dynamics, care for ourselves and our students? This learning community is a facilitated space for current or future instructors to reflect on how gender and sexuality shape their teaching identities and classroom practices, and to develop tools for navigating discomfort and power, while fostering an ethic of care. It supports graduate instructors in deepening their pedagogical practice through collective reflection on gender, sexuality, and positionality in teaching. Through structured conversation and reflective activities, participants will gain tools for understanding how identity shapes classroom dynamics and for responding to moments of discomfort and tension with intention, care, and pedagogical clarity.
This three-part workshop is designed for a small, committed cohort of participants seeking sustained engagement with questions of gender and sexuality in teaching. Each session will include a required reading or excerpt serving as a grounding text, brief reflective writing beforehand, collective reflection, and facilitated peer discussion. Readings will support participants in exploring questions such as how identities are navigated individually and collectively, and how gender, sexuality, and other forms of difference shape teaching and learning encounters. Suggested readings and materials will be provided for optional further exploration, and meeting locations will be announced prior to the first session. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.
By the end of this learning community, participants will be prepared to:
- Reflect on how gender, sexuality, and other positionalities shape their teaching identities and classroom practices
- Navigate identity in teaching without pressure to disclose personal experiences
- Translate reflexivity and positionality into concrete pedagogical strategies
- Hold discomfort—personal and collective—without alienation or disengagement
- Develop approaches for addressing classroom conflict (between instructor and students or among students) as learning opportunities
- Produce a short reflective pedagogical artifact (e.g., teaching statement, syllabus note, lesson plan, or reflective memo)
- Build peer connections and a shared theoretical vocabulary around identity, power, and care in teaching
Keywords: Intersectionality; Gender; Sexuality; Transformative Pedagogies; Reflexive Teaching; Positionality; Pedagogies of Care
This learning community consists of three in-person workshops, taking place in person February–April, 2026:
- Session 1, Mapping the Self: Thursday, February 26, 2026 - 11:00am- 1:00pm
- Session 2, Navigating the Classroom: Thursday March 12, 2026 - 11:00am- 1:00pm
- Session 3, Reflecting on a Teaching Artifact: Thursday April 9, 2026 -11:00am- 1:00pm
Audience
This learning community is designed for students preferably with some teaching experience who are interested in reflecting and developing their pedagogical practices. Participants will benefit most if they have prior exposure—formal or informal—to conversations about inclusive teaching, classroom climate, or reflective pedagogy.
Application and Enrollment
Participants will be selected through a brief application form and notified following review. Please fill this Google Form
- Call for Participation Opens: January 20, 2026
- Call for Participation Closes: February 3, 2026
- Participant Notification: February 12, 2026
Accessibility
If you have access needs, we encourage you to share them with us. We are committed to supporting accessibility throughout the learning community and will take measures such as:
- Sharing materials in advance of sessions
- Providing multiple modes of participation and engagement
- Structuring discussions to support varied communication styles
Further details on accessibility support will be shared with accepted participants.
Facilitators
Laura Berrios Figueroa, PhD Student, LAIC, Columbia University
Ankush Bhuyan, PhD Student, MESAAS, Columbia University
Note: This new learning community builds on ideas and discussions from the Pedagogies of Race and Oppression Learning Community that preceded it, broadening the scope and centering the focus on self-as-teacher.