The 2017-18 Faculty Spotlight series will kick-off on October 4 with a presentation by Dr. Pamela Cappas-Toro who will speak on Teaching a Gendered Language in a Maximum Security Men’s Prison: Curricular Approaches to Learning Spanish and Latin American Studies
Date: Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Time: 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm (lunch served at 11:30)
Location: Lynn Business Center Boardroom – 213
All are welcome!
Click here for a complete schedule of Faculty Spotlight Series.
Teaching a Gendered Language in a Maximum Security Men’s Prison: Curricular Approaches to Learning Spanish and Latin American Studies
In this presentation, Dr. Pamela Cappas-Toro will reflect on the challenges of building community in a Spanish language course taught in the summer of 2017 at the Tomoka Correctional Institution. Along with insights from two incarcerated co-instructors of the course, Antonio Rosas and Ken Smith, we interrogate how “explicit knowledge” such as curriculum, content development, and socio-linguistic training in Spanish is created, shaped, and negotiated in a maximum security prison. This language acquisition instruction was modeled after Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, embracing strategies meant to further conditions necessary for self-conscientization, empowerment, and humanization. Nonetheless, we encountered many barriers—both expected and unexpected—that limited our ability to meet our goals. Our presentation will highlight lessons learned from this experience, exploring both practical advice concerning co-teaching, as well as sharing how language instruction can be an unanticipated site of tension when gender or sexual norms are challenged in the prison classroom.
Dr. Pamela Cappas-Toro, Assistant Professor of World Languages and Cultures (Spanish) was born and raised in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Dr. Cappas-Toro earned her M.A. in Spanish from the University of Texas in San Antonio (2006) and a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2013). At Stetson University, Cappas-Toro teaches Spanish language, Latin American and Caribbean literatures and cultures, Latino/a studies, and is developing courses in Portuguese and Brazilian studies as well. Cappas-Toro’s passion for social justice, community engagement and commitment to undergraduate education guide her efforts as the director of La Plaza Comunitaria Latina at Stetson University; a program that creates bridges between Stetson University’s classrooms and our Latino/a communities.
Faculty Spotlight Series
The Faculty Spotlight Series at Stetson University is a showcase of faculty research, creative inquiry, and other scholarly engagement to the campus community. Presenters are primarily recipients of grant awards through the Stetson Summer Grant Program.
Click here for a complete schedule of Faculty Spotlight Series.