Teaching Social Problems 2023 Annual Division Meeting
Thursday, July 6, 2023 via Zoom

Attendees: Ira Silver, Morena Tartari, Torisha Khonach, Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl


Four-part meeting agenda:
1. Sessions for the 2024 SSSP meeting, which will be in Montréal.
2. Material you'd like to see in and/or contribute to an upcoming division newsletter.
3. Student paper award
4. Special division activities for the next year.
Agenda #1

SSSP offers 3 kinds of sessions:

1. Critical Dialogue: Short (5 minute) presentations by up to eight authors. These sessions encourage conversation and audience participation. This format is particularly impactful as it purposefully fosters dialogue between scholars and activists. We strongly encourage you to make use of the Critical Dialogue format as much as you can, especially for sessions you are sponsoring/co-sponsoring on the program theme.
2. Papers in the Round: These sessions are composed of multiple roundtables in the same room. Each roundtable should have four papers with an established scholar as discussant.
3. Regular: These sessions are composed of four papers and a discussant or five papers without a discussant. These are less common for TSP sessions.

The aim is to plan 3 of our own sessions, one of which is on the conference theme. Then, we can offer up to 7 co-sponsored sessions.

2024 SSSP annual meeting theme: “Toward a Sociology of Violence”

Ideas for individual sessions:

* “Teaching About Violence: How to Navigate Trust and Disclosure with Students” (Connected to theme of 2024 Annual Meeting)
* “Teaching Social Problems in Time of Polarization/Controversies/Censorship”
* “The Power of Storytelling in the Classroom: Teachers and Students’ Experiences”

A session on storytelling was conducted in 2022, then proposed again last year but not included. This year it has been accepted as an individual session.

Ideas for joint sessions:

* “Title IX: Talking about Violence and Discrimination in the Classroom (with Sexual Behavior, Politics and Communities)
* “Teaching about Environmental Social Problems” (with Environment and Technology)
* “Embodied Pedagogies and Embodied Experiences in the Classroom” (with Disability)
* “Using Media and Social Media in the Classroom: Strengths and Weaknesses.” (with Social Problems Theory)
* Teaching social problems in a transnational perspective (with Transnational Initiatives Committee).
* Experiential Learning as a Way to Teach about Social Problems” (with Community Research and Development)
*  “Identity Matters: How an Instructor’s Subjectivity Influences the Way They Teach about Race” (with Racial and Ethnic Minorities)

These two last proposals for joint sessions weren’t accepted last year but included this year.


Agenda #2

* Member news
* A feature story about innovative teaching methods
* Interview to senior and junior members about how they teach social problems and engage in public sociology
* Listing of sessions at next SSSP meeting
* Other?...Teaching resources – websites with relevant material


Agenda #3

We had a student paper competition, but we don’t get submissions. Can we repurpose the award?

We discussed allowing for a new form of paper competition (award) about the passion for teaching social problems. We ask students to submit a short paper (max 2000 words) the respond to the question: “What is the joy you find in teaching social problems?”. It will be advertised on the Division newsletter.


Agenda #4

I asked that people brainstorm and share with me any ideas that occur to them.
A participant suggested organizing an exhibition or a visit trip. This question will be sent to the Division members’ mailing list 


The meeting was recorded and can be accessed here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83897852028?pwd=SjBwMnBEZzRzRW9NK1dETE9mTnNQUT09
Meeting ID: 838 9785 2028
Passcode: 657747