GCPE Social Justice Resource Guide

estimated time for this section: 1 hour and 30 minutes minimum

Watch VIDEO: Building An Inclusive Classroom
 

Some screenshots from the video presentation:

Setting the Stage / Classroom (left) and Collective Group Norms (right)

ACTIVITY: Considerations for Your Syllabus and the Classroom Environment

These are a list of reflection questions to ask yourself as you build/revisit your Syllabus and create your Classroom Environment:

• Have you created a diverse and inclusive syllabus: Did you include readings from diverse and BIPOC authors and guest lectures from diverse and BIPOC professionals or scholars (should you have guests)? Are your assignments accessible to different types of learners? Are your field trips accessible to all income groups?
• Have you included anti-discrimination and anti-bias as explicit student learning objectives in your syllabus?
• Are you prepared to address the role of individual and group privilege in heterogeneous settings, i.e., studios and practicums? Are you prepared to discuss your own privilege, and prepared to help students understand their own privilege? There are myriad forms of privilege, from being white, male, heterosexual, cis-gendered, able-bodied, native-born, within cognitive norms, born into a stable, economically secure family, from a dominant religious group, etc.
• Do you understand the role of intersectionality in privilege?
• Do you feel prepared to address discrimination and racism in your classroom management and classroom culture? Some suggestions: Clearly establish group norms in the first class, and ensure that you as instructor model and uphold the norms throughout the semester and that everyone (instructor and students) hold one another accountable.
• Are you mindful of students’ juggling jobs, family responsibilities, illness, and multiple class assignments?
• Are you mindful of the trauma that students have experienced, related to anti-black racism and violence, other forms of discrimination, as well as the inequitable impacts of COVID, and their historic experience of racism?