Teaching and Learning Resources

Resisting (Critical) Pedagogies and Methods of Teaching and Learning

Resisting or Critical Pedagogies work against the traditional ways of thinking, against the dominant ideologies, and support students to apply critical thinking skills to question received ideas (Beltrano & Abbitt-Stevens, 2024).

What are Resisting (Critical) Pedagogies?
There are many resistant (critical) pedagogies; this is not an exhaustive list. If you are interested in a topic or would like additional resources, please reach out to us.

Feminist Standpoints: Feminist Pedagogy: Transformations, Standpoints, and Politics (jstor.org)
Anti-Racism: Reflections on operationalizing an anti-racism pedagogy: Teaching as regional storytelling
Critical Race (or Anti-Black Racism) Studies: Critical race pedagogy for more effective and inclusive world language teaching
Queer Pedagogy: Queer (v.) pedagogy
Mad Studies: Unlearning through mad studies: Disruptive pedagogical praxis.
Performance Art and Intermedia Studies: Transperformative education: Toward a new educational paradigm based on transdisciplinarity and artistic performativity (tandfonline.com)
Disabilities Studies: Towards socially just pedagogies: Deleuzoguattarian critical disability studies
Decolonization: Decolonization as pedagogy: A praxis of ‘becoming’.
Gender Studies: Pedagogy and student change in the women's and gender studies classroom (tandfonline.com)
Social Justice Studies: Internationalizing the curriculum: Pedagogy for social justice -
Labour Studies: Twenty-First-Century Workers’ Education in North America

A Beginners Guide to Implementing Resistant (Critical) Methods of Teaching and Learning

Step 1. Critical Self-Reflection (what are your goals):
Before you begin, consider reflecting on your positionality and goals for inclusivity [Positionality and Inclusivity Statements | Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL)] to help identify your goals.

What course(s) or workshop(s) are you wanting to implement resisting (critical) teaching approaches and methods?
What type(s) of resisting (critical) teaching approaches and methods align with your goals, learning outcomes, and course content?
What are the key ideas that you want to convey to students about change-making, resistant strategies, or new ways of thinking?

Integrating resistant (critical) teaching approaches and methods does not mean you need to change your learning outcomes, content and curriculum, or teaching methods and approaches. It is an opportunity to integrate new ways approaches or ideas in teaching and learning to intentionally create opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking and contemplate new ways of thinking.

Integrating a disability lens in a language course.
Adding social justice opportunities into science.
Applying a Critical Race Theory and anti-racism lens to business.
Using a gendered lens in medicine.

Step 2. Critical Self-Reflection: Who are the students (and what are their lived experiences)?
Students come to the classroom with a variety of intersecting identities and lived experiences. Implementing resisting (critical) teaching approaches and methods requires relationship building; consider the following diagram of intersecting identities and then consider the following to help you decide on how to implement resisting (critical) approaches. (See Inclusive Teaching Practices for more information)

What are your expectations of the students’ current level of understanding of course content?
Where do you see their continuum of understanding of the resisting (critical) approach or method you are choosing?
How might their identities and experiences inform engagement with resistant (critical) ideas and teaching approaches and methods?

Step 3. Create an Action Plan:
Identify where you want to integrate resisting (critical) pedagogy or teaching approaches. What makes sense based upon your understanding and student context?
Ensure there is alignment between teaching methods, approaches, and assessments (See course-design-checklist.docx to ensure alignment).
Example: In a first-year Creative Writing course, students may not have any knowledge of the subject matter and require foundational information, however you want to introduce social justice opportunities and centre disabilities perspectives.

What authors or content are you including to centre social justice or disabilities?
How can social justice inform creative writing?
When integrating a disability lens in creative writing, how is “good” writing looked at differently?

What activities can you facilitate in-class that centre these experiences?

Example: In a Master level marketing course, students have the foundational knowledge of marketing strategies, however you to integrate an anti-racism lens to inform students and help them learn and unlearn about racism in marketing.

Are there videos or other forms of content that can help students understand these concepts?
Are there guest speakers who can talk about anti-racism approaches?
Have students critique marketing strategies on their integration of anti-racism messaging (or not).