Category Archives: Pedagogy

Students’ Study Abroad Projects: Bridging Language and Research in Spain

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

First post of 2026! This year my goal is to return to posting at least once per month (*fingers crossed*). This past August 2025 I returned to my role as Associate Professor of Spanish – and Director of Graduate Studies … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedagogy, Spain, study abroad | Tagged conference, L2 Pedagogy, madrid, pamplona, Spain, student research, study abroad, study abroad program | Leave a comment

Cartographic Narratives: Using Data and Mapping Principles to Teach L2 Literature

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

One of my main goals in teaching second-language (L2) Spanish Literature courses is to develop non-traditional tasks that demonstrate the value of reading for the development of the target language. Students often perceive literature classes as boring, difficult, or irrelevant – and who can blame them? Literature pedagogy, in either the L1 or the L2 leaves much to be desired… if it exists at all. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Literature, Modernity, Pedagogy, Spain | Tagged Carmen de Burgos, L2 Literature Pedagogy, La rampa, La Venus mecanica, madrid, maps, spanish literature, urban studies | 2 Comments

New Books, Creative Maps, and Literary Art for 2021… plus my optimistic(!) 2020 re-cap

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

In 2020 I had the lofty goal of posting something new to the blog each month — and while I started out strong in January and February… for obvious global-pandemic-related reasons that pattern did not hold up! I managed 5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Feminism, Language, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain | Tagged art, Carmen de Burgos, Don Quijote de la Mancha, Don Quixote, L2 Literature Pedagogy, maps, Maria Sanchez, pedagogy, Quijote, rural, snapchat | Leave a comment

Don Quijote, the Graphic Novel, and Snapchat: Alternative Assessments in the L2 Literature Classroom

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

For this post, I’m sharing details of my most recent article, “Snapping the Quijote: Examining L2 Literature, Social Media, and Digital Storytelling through a Cervantine Lens”, which was published in September 2020 in Hispania (vol. 103, no. 2, pp. 323-39). … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Pedagogy, Spain | Tagged Cervantes, comics, Don Quijote de la Mancha, Don Quixote, graphic novel, L2 Literature Pedagogy, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, narratology, pop culture, snapchat, social media, teaching, teaching spanish, technology | 5 Comments

Mapping Madrid through Art, Literature, and Creative Cartography

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Since this fall semester is clearly “unprecedented”, unpredictable, and a whole host of adjectives that are pretty much ALL stress-inducing, I am taking the opportunity to experiment in my senior-seminar on 20th-century Spain. Last fall I taught a similar course … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain, Spanish Civil War | Tagged guernica, L2 Literature Pedagogy, madrid, maps, museo reina sofia, Pablo Picasso, pedagogy, poetry, spanish civil war, teaching | 3 Comments

Spanish Women’s Literature and Feminism for the L2 classroom: Tsunami, Miradas feministas (2019)

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Since I last wrote about my favorite book from 2019, I thought it made sense to move on to one of my other top reads, which was another one of the MANY books I carried home after spending most of … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged autobiography, books, catholicism, femininity, Feminism, L2 Literature Pedagogy, Laura Freixas, literature, Maria Sanchez, Marta Sanz, motherhood, Nuria Barrios, pedagogy, religion, rural, Sara Mesa, Spain, spanish literature, teaching | 4 Comments

In Praise of “Real Books”: Velázquez and the Filtered Reality of Spain’s Siglo de Oro

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

This week I read a post from the Smithsonian Insider blog on Why Museums and Libraries Are More Relevant than Ever, which is an exceptional read in a time when continued funding for the arts and humanities has suddenly been … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Pedagogy, Spain | Tagged Baroque, books, Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha, Don Quixote, Felipe IV, Habsburgs, pedagogy, Siglo de oro, velazquez | 2 Comments

Teaching Spanish America: From the Conquest to Contemporary Film

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

This semester at Kansas State I’m teaching a 500-level Spanish American Literature survey course, and I decided to experiment a bit with the way I structured the content. Survey-style courses are always challenging to design, given their vast scope — … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literature, Pedagogy, Spanish America | Tagged Bolivia, colonization, conquista, film, Latin American Literature, literature, teaching spanish | 1 Comment

“Fun” with Academic Publishing: Wordle, Coffee, and Pedagogy

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

As any professor, graduate student, or postdoc knows, publishing an article in an academic journal is not a particularly enjoyable process… and it can take months, if not years, to see your article in print once accepted and revised. Knowing … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, academia, Feminism, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, language, literature, Margarita Nelken, maternity, motherhood, pedagogy, spanish literature, teaching, women, Word Cloud | Leave a comment

La Llorona: Incorporating Latino Studies into Hispanic Literature

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

If you grew up in the southwest United States, if you can claim Hispanic heritage, or if you’ve lived in a community with a distinct Hispanic population, you are likely quite familiar with the numerous legends of “La Llorona” (The … Continue reading →