Engaging in social justice work is often explained as heart or love work because of the connection to compassion and empathy. This is no less true in our writing classrooms. I teach and am the writing program administrator at a small, midwest HBCU. Using empathy in my own writing classrooms has afforded me the opportunity to engage with students in a way which helps to break down barriers and promote equality. As Kevin M. Gannon writes in Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto, “An approach that embraces empathy and compassion as its default orientation is foundational to a pedagogy of radical…
Author: Kathleen Turner Ledgerwood
Kathleen Turner Ledgerwood
Dr. TL is an Assistant Professor of English and the Writing Area Coordinator at Lincoln University, an HBCU in mid-Missouri. She is fortunate to work with first-year writers, future teachers, and her colleagues in growing a compassionate community for writers at LU.