It was such a pleasure to attend day 1 of the Humanities Alliance Conference. The day started with a very informative statistical study. Then with a panel of few fellows who teach at Community Colleges in NYC. It was an interesting feel when professors as fellows described their experiences specifically after the November 2016 elections.
I was able to attend two workshops, my first workshop was “Difficult Text”. I chose to attend this workshop because I’m currently reading Karl Marx, and thought it would give me a better perspective. In fact, this workshop was super helpful, the professors touched based on important readings that I’m actually currently studying in class. A few of the tips that was given about reading difficult text, was to get a reading buddy. A reading buddy or reading pairs is a great way to better understand the text. In a way that what one person understands can help the other and vise versa. I had never thought of reading in pairs, so I’m willing to give this a try. Professors also spoke about how they have their students read text on authors in whom they can actually contact. They have Skype sessions with the author and students get to ask questions and create a connection/ relate the readings to real life. The part that stood out to me the most during this session, was how professors from different backgrounds are able to relate to students that don’t have the necessary resources to excel. Some professors strategies varied from others, as their perspective.
The second workshop, I was able to attend was Multilingualism. This session focused on how students from different countries that attend college and speak another language. They are often put aside or put down because they don’t speak english well. I was able to get a better view on how international students feel, when they speak a different language. I learned how important it is to include these students in our current conversations and make them feel that do have a place at the table. Them sharing their ideas or concern is super important because we all learn something from students that speak a different language.
My favorite part of the conference was the reflection session. The reflection session focused on our thoughts and our take aways from the day. This session provided us by having a conversation with people from New Hampshire, Florida, California and even the local New Yorkers. During the day I met amazing people from different backgrounds and was able to listen and take with me that no matter where you are from or whether you are rich or poor. Everyone should have access to education and the way we provide it/ extend it makes all the difference. In a place where we can leave all our differences aside and focus on the higher education of the community all around the world.
