Dr. Neisha Terry Young’s pedagogical perspective shone through expertly in her facilitation of the first virtual English Education workshop event of the Fall 2025 season on September 24.
This first installment of the critical pedagogy and theory workshop series focused on dialectical discourse and its application in the classroom. Through exercise and discussion, Dr. Young encouraged future teachers to incorporate dialectical discourse and increased cultural awareness in their classrooms and provided a plethora of tools and questions to frame this active change.
Dr. Young began the discussion by setting the foundation by motivating future teachers to think about why dialectical discourse is integral for classroom instruction, as it is designed to nurture and inspire students’ curiosity by uplifting their voices. Critical pedagogies are designed to be respectful of students’ different backgrounds, while also “liberating oppressed voices” and analyzing the “gray areas” in our “dichotomous” systems, as Dr. Young expertly puts it.
Dr. Young introduced Paulo Freire’s Tenets of Critical Transformative Dialogue to cement how future teachers can approach culturally competent discussion in their classrooms. Aspects like love, humility, faith, hope, and critical thinking are necessary for teachers to maintain and support dialogue. The main goal is for teachers to reflect on their values and become vulnerable and passionate, as students are sponges and will soak up whatever you feed their curiosity.
Further into our larger discussion, Dr. Young allowed future teachers to engage in an exercise where they analyzed Dr. Seuss’s Yertle the Turtle through three theoretical approaches: Marxist, Feminist, or Post-Colonial. After breaking up into small group discussions and sharing findings with the larger group, future teachers were able to both learn from and participate in an interactive, accessible exercise that is student-centered.
Dr. Young closed out the discussion by providing future teachers with solid strategies and activities for them to take into their classrooms, such as Socratic seminars, fishbowl discussions, and debates. Not only did her techniques encourage teachers to reflect on their cultural competency, but she also provided them with the essential devices and perspectives to do so.