Experience as Knowledge
According to bell hooks, what can sharing personal experiences in the classroom help students and teachers do?
Build understanding, empathy, and connection through learning from each other’s lived experiences
This word means believing all people in a group are the same or have the same experiences. bell hooks warns against it.
What is essentialism?
When students' lived experiences are heard, it shifts what?
What is hierarchy/power dynamics?
hooks suggests students want to hear these in the classroom to counter dominant narratives
What is an authentic story/testimony?
Pretending all women share the same experience erases the difference of this
What are race, class, and sexuality?
Classrooms should be spaces where everyone’s ideas matter, not just the teacher’s. What kind of classroom is this?
What is a participatory or inclusive classroom?
Experiences can be valuable tools, hooks warns it must be paired with this
What is critical thinking/analysis/reflection?
When students share stories about their lives, they are doing more than talking; they are creating this type of learning together.
What is collective or shared learning?
When some students talk more because they feel confident or privileged, and others stay quiet, hooks says teachers should notice this kind of imbalance.
What is power imbalance or unequal participation?
Dismissing lived experiences risks recentering this
What is dominant knowledge? (White, Patriarchal, Elite)
When teachers or students treat one person’s story as the truth for an entire group, what harm can this cause?
What is stereotyping or silencing individual voices?
This practice combines storytelling with theory to deepen analysis
What is connecting lived experience through critical reflection?