Natasha Gill

My journey as an educator

I’ve been an educator for over 35 years.

My formative experience as a teacher occurred in the two extraordinary years I taught in a small high school in Jersey City. I had enjoyed my own schooling, so it was only when I stood in front of a classroom as a teacher that I realized how difficult it was to help kids navigate a system designed to limit and control their physical, emotional, and intellectual movement.

As a graduate student at NYU, I taught undergraduate courses in history and simultaneously took a deep dive into the history of educational philosophy. I realized that for hundreds of years, across many continents, educational thinkers and practitioners had been arguing that schools are fundamentally misaligned with children's bodies, minds, or spirits. Today radical pedagogies are often presented as new, or having emerged recently from problems associated with modernity, but critiques of school are almost as old as school itself. I will be sharing links to some historical perspectives on the resources page. 

As a college professor, I taught for many years at various universities in New York City, mostly at Barnard College and The New School University. I loved teaching university students, but one thing that bothered me about education in academia was that pedagogy was nowhere to be found. I don’t mean that academics don’t care about teaching, they do.

But many focus their educational energies around the loosely defined concept “critical thinking.” I also noticed the enormous gap between the WHAT and the HOW of education. Professors often brought radical ideas to their classrooms while their methods remained extremely conventional. In my view, nothing can be truly radical if it is only radical in its concept and not in its approach. You can learn more about this in my book Inside the Box: Using Integrative Simulations to Teach Conflict, Negotiation and Mediation.

Conflict & Negotiation Simulations

My desire to unite the WHY and the HOW led me to investigate Reacting to the Past, a brilliant pedagogy founded by Barnard historian Mark Carnes. Reacting is a series of historical “games” that allow students to dive into the past. They learn about “big ideas” by taking on character roles and communicating, collaborating and competing to attain their objectives. 

After running a few Reacting modules I adapted the method and devised my own series of “real time” conflict and negotiation simulations for graduate students at The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs. These experiential modules, which lasted a full semester, allowed me to apply many of the ideas and approaches that I believed in as an educator. For example:

• The modules broke down the artificial barriers between intellectual and emotional learning, theory and practice, analysis and observation.

• The design of the simulations (where participants take on roles that do not match their personal views) allowed participants to break taboos and discuss very hot topics without sanitizing conflicts, trying to find artificial balance, or plunging into personal battles.

• Emotional and intellectual learning were naturally intertwined, and as a result, the space was extremely conducive to individual growth: Through slow, deep engagement in their individual roles, group dynamics and input from facilitators and coaches, participants learned a great deal about themselves and their presumed strengths and weaknesses. 

• The process was extremely bonding for participants because we were focusing on issues that were very serious and meaningful, but in a format that was wildly fun and engaging. 

• The element of fun was addictive to most participants, and taught me that the seriousness with which academics approach most subjects isn’t always conducive to learning: with participants ranging in age from young adult to mid-life professional, I noticed how at any age playfulness in learning opens the mind, allows information to be processed with ease and provides a forum where exciting and meaningful interactions can take place. 

• We pushed beyond the classroom by creating a revolving door of learning between participants and members of the community, with people who were directly involved in the conflict coming to coach participants on various issues or problems.