Reading Group

Fall 2025 Reading Group: Choose Your Own Adventure

This fall we're trying something new! We will all meet as a group, but will be reading slightly different books. Prep for the final meeting will involve less reading and more doing. Those reading A Pedagogy of Kindness will review their syllabus (or other lengthy course document) using the principles learned from the reading. Those reading The Present Professor will select one of the actionable chapter in Part II of the book to try between meetings. Both groups will report back so we can all learn from each other!

Option 1

A Pedagogy of Kindness

by Catherine J. Denial

A Pedagogy of Kindness articulates a fresh vision for teaching, one that focuses on ensuring justice, believing people, and believing in people. Offering evidence-based insights and drawing from her own rich experiences as a professor, Denial offers practical tips for reshaping syllabi, assessing student performance, and creating trust and belonging in the classroom. Her suggestions for concrete, scalable actions outline nothing less than a transformational discipline—one in which, together, we create bright new spaces, rooted in compassion, in which all engaged in teaching and learning might thrive. NOTE: This book contains DEI language so please select the other book if this is offensive to you.

Kindness Reading Schedule

Meeting 1: Intro-Chapter 2
Meeting 2: Chapter 3-Conclusion
Meeting 3: Syllabus/Assignment Exploration Activity!

Option 2

The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching

by Elizabeth A. Norell

At a time of crisis in higher education, as teachers struggle to find new ways to relate to, think about, and instruct students, this book holds a key. Implementing more inclusive pedagogies, Norell suggests, requires sorting out our own identities. In short, if we want to create spaces where students have the confidence, comfort, and psychological safety to learn and grow, we have to create spaces where we do, too. The Present Professor is dedicated to that proposition, and to helping educators build that transformational space.

Present Reading Schedule

Meeting 1: Intro-Chapter 2
Meeting 2: Chapters 3, 4, and the Intro to Part 2
Meeting 3: Select One Chapter from Part 2 to Try!

Use this form to sign up for CTL Reading Group.

Fall Reading Group Meeting Schedule

Meeting 1 Times/Days
- Monday, September 22; 7-8pm via Zoom
- Tuesday, September 23; 3:30-4:30pm; in UCE 116
- Wednesday September 24; 3-4pm in UCE 116
Meeting 2 Times/Days
- Monday, October 20; 7-8pm via Zoom
- Tuesday, October 21; 3:30-4:30pm; in UCE 116
- Wednesday October 22; 3-4pm in UCE 116
Meeting 3 Times/Days
- Monday, November 17; 7-8pm via Zoom
- Tuesday, November 18; 3:30-4:30pm; in UCE 116
- Wednesday November 19; 3-4pm in UCE 116