"Praxis" is a blog with content curated by Dr. Fontes that discusses matters related to civic engagement, dialogue, and education. Click HERE to access the blog.
Recent Posts
Step Back, Step Up
(September 1, 2023) This week’s #mondaymusings on Athina’s Facebook page asked the following:
If you hold back in sharing your perspective when engaging in discussions, what specifically makes you feel guarded or uncomfortable?
This prompt was personal. For most of my life...
The Stories That Bind Us
(August 20, 2023) On Athina Education’s social media pages, we just introduced #MondayMusings, a weekly(ish) focus on a question or prompt and follow-up posts and content. The idea is to explore an idea, provide definitions, share articles and books, and solicit feedback from followers. Granted, we have few followers and are still trying to find our social media groove, but we want to use Facebook and Instagram (and any future platforms) creatively as tools for engagement...
Fighting the Good Sudbury Fight
(April 26, 2023) I recently moderated a panel discussion about the Tercentenary historical markers found along the roads through Massachusetts. When all was said and done, the question for the panel was this: Should the markers be removed?
One such sign describes the “Sudbury Fight,” a battle in 1676 between English colonists and the Indigenous population...
Ford's book cover by By AngelSanz1977 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82672639
We Can’t Talk about That: The Problem with Censoring History
(March 15, 2023) When we hear the word censorship, most of us think about books, television, or social media platforms. But censorship can also happen in history when we refrain from sharing things that happened, in historical narratives, because of fear or discomfort.
Dia..what?
(March 1, 2023) In 2021, I successfully defended my dissertation, titled “Making Space for Dialogue: Diapraxis in the First-Year Seminar.” This is a long-winded title for a long-winded scholarly endeavor to answer the following questions: Are first-year college students equipped to engage in authentic dialogue? If not, what instructional tools can teachers use to help foster dialogue?
The Generation to Save Us All?
(November 15, 2022) We are now one week past the 2022 midterm election. The results have been surprising, to say the least. The Democrats have managed to hold on to the Senate and could, possibly, gain a seat in the December 6th runoff election in Georgia. The House will likely be lost to the Republicans but by a much narrower-than-anticipated margin (based on historical precedent and polling). So how did this happen?
Which Banned Books Are on Your Shelf?
(February 24, 2022) Let’s talk banned books. The cover photo is just a sampling of some of the books targeted for removal or censorship since 2001 that I was able to quickly gather from my bookshelves. This topic recently started trending because of news stories about a school board in Tennessee banning the use of Maus by Art Spiegelman from its curriculum and a slew of school districts in Texas removing books from library shelves.