Chapter 7
Teaching Inclusively

Catherine Serventi, TA/TF Services, Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education

 

INTRODUCTION

As instructors we all bring distinctive abilities and perspectives to a classroom. Luckily our students also bring their own uniqueness to the classroom. It is precisely this diversity of perspectives that makes a university education so valuable in today’s complex society. The challenge for me has been to teach in a way that acknowledges the cultural, political and economic realities of this country while at the same time trying to focus my efforts on the needs of individual students.

I have come across research that shows that in this country, men and women tend to have very different conversational styles; therefore, I try to tailor discussions to take advantage of both these styles. However, I try not to base my interactions with individual students on such research. This type of research and our own experiences are, at best, a starting point for trying to figure out why a particular student is successful or not in our classes. While we cannot control every variable of our students’ success—personal motivation and ability obviously play a large role here—we can make a commitment to creating classroom environments that allow students to engage as fully as possible with our material by acknowledging the importance of their individual contributions.

Before continuing, allow me to state that I do not believe that there is a single "right" way to create an inclusive classroom. Teaching is too individualistic an experience for that to be the case. Besides, in our constantly changing society, the issues around these topics are not the same as they were even five years ago. The advice that follows is my own perspective on creating an inclusive classroom; it is based on several years of teaching experience in both discussion and laboratory-based classes, extensive reading on this topic, many workshops and other training sessions that I have both attended and presented, and countless discussions with my colleagues and students. This essay is not meant to be everything-that-you-will-ever-need-to-know-about-diversity but rather a starting point for your own reflection on these topics. I make the assumption that most instructors are good people trying to do the right thing, and in this essay I present concrete actions you can take to improve your students’ learning experience based on my own experience, that of my colleagues, and my research in psychology and education. (Additional information about the needs of disabled and international students is included in Chapter 4 of this web handbook.)
 

THE INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM

What do I mean by an inclusive classroom? Buzzwords like "diversity," and "inclusively," and "multiculturalism" are thrown around quite a bit in the debates surrounding our classrooms and curricula in the United States. In practice, while we as instructors often have good intentions, we sometimes lack the necessary tools—in terms of instructional techniques—to meet our goals. And even when we have the tools, the goals themselves—creating an inclusive yet diverse classroom—seem at odds with one another. In preparing to write this essay, I thought back to my previous experience with these issues and came up with two main goals that I have when shaping a classroom environment:

Different points of view, whether a political stance on abortion or a different method of solving a math problem, tend to make people, including instructors, uncomfortable. As one researcher put it:
Exploring new ideas, encountering people with different values, learning a new discipline’s way of thinking, and having someone point out a flaw in one’s argument—these can be uncomfortable experiences. For some people, simply finding themselves disagreeing with someone else is uncomfortable. [1]
The challenge is to convince students that a certain amount of discomfort is inevitable while at the same time providing the tools and self-confidence necessary for them to stand up for their own points of view.

HELPING STUDENTS FEEL INCLUDED

Regardless of their cultural background, age, gender, or educational level (just a few factors that have been shown to influence students’ participation), most students find it challenging to take part actively in class. The techniques that follow may encourage your students to participate: Have students sit facing each other. Feel free to rearrange the seating in your classroom. For example, have students sit in a circle (or semi-circle). No matter what subject you are teaching, your students will be more likely to interact with you and the other students if everyone is visible to everyone else. For this technique to be really effective, however, you have to be vigilant about making space for latecomers. Sitting outside a circle is even more isolating than chairs arranged in rows. It may take a couple of weeks, but if you make a habit of rearranging the chairs every class period and making sure everyone is part of the arrangement, you will not have to remind everyone where to sit.

Have students work in small groups that report back to the entire class. Well thought-out small group activities can give even the shyest students enough self-confidence to participate. It’s much easier "to get a word in edgewise" if you are only competing with three or four other people. It’s also impossible to hide in the back of the room. Finally, the responses are depersonalized somewhat because they are seen as the product of the group rather than attributable to a single person. (For a more detailed discussion of working with groups see Chapter 2.)

Allow students time to write out their answers before asking questions. Some students are reluctant to participate actively in classes because they don’t feel they have time to formulate questions or to come up with the "right" answer before they are put on the spot. Taking a minute or two to have students write out responses before you ask for volunteers gives people a chance to think through their answers.

MAINTAINING CREDIBILITY

Obviously, there is far more to creating an inclusive, diverse classroom than rearranging the seats. Most people are familiar with the clichés: you only have a few minutes to make a good impression, and first impressions are difficult to change. Nowhere is this truer than in a classroom. At the University of Pittsburgh, many recitation sections that meet for one hour a week have over twenty students. Particularly at the beginning of the semester, students have not had enough time to get to know you well and must make judgments about your credibility solely on your speech and actions in front of the class. For this reason, being sensitive to the ways in which you use language, both spoken and body language, moves beyond merely an exercise in political correctness. For example, using outdated terms such as "Oriental" when referring to Asians or Asian Americans marks you, at best, as someone so involved with your specific discipline that you are unaware of the real world around you or, at worst, as someone deliberately insensitive. Either case quickly undercuts your credibility with your students, no matter what subject you teach. Would you listen to someone whom you considered either ignorant or biased?

Sometimes it may seem a little overwhelming to keep up with all the changing terms. Keep in mind that specific terms can often be a matter of individual preference. Do your best to educate yourself about current terminology. Rather than being defensive or, even worse, making a joke or complaining if a student challenges your use of a specific term, simply respect that student’s preference. Your students are much more likely to remember the respect you showed a student who brought up a potentially risky topic than the terminology in question.

 

BEHAVIOR THAT HURTS CREDIBILITY

Using the universal "he." Using terms such as "man" when you are really referring to people of both genders is considered inappropriate in most academic disciplines. If you do use older reading material that uses what would now be considered sexist (or racist) language, it doesn’t hurt to explain that standards have changed. Students often have to be reminded of the context within which such material was written.

Using examples that play into common stereotypes. For example, students will notice if you always use "he" when referring to doctors and "she" when referring to nurses. They will likely interpret this language, either consciously or unconsciously, as a communication of your expectations regarding appropriate career tracks for both men and women, whether you meant it to be understood that way or not.

Making statements that assume a shared point of view. Not everyone is heterosexual and not everyone celebrates Christmas, but these are a few common assumptions that instructors sometimes make. Simple adjustments such as prefacing a statement with "if" instead of "when" can acknowledge differences while still allowing you to make use of examples. Consider the statement, "When you get married, your tax bracket will change." It assumes that your entire class is currently unmarried and has plans to marry in the future. Using "if" solves this problem: "If you get married, your tax bracket will change."

Another, more subtle, version of this situation is the assumption that everyone understands regional expressions or idioms. This may especially be a problem if you have students for whom English is a second language. I once spent twenty minutes trying to explain the term "Catch 22" to a colleague from Latin America. (I finally came up with "an unresolvable situation.") Again, your reaction to a student’s question may be more important than the actual answer. Becoming defensive and implying that a student should have known the meaning of the expression or term will make it much less likely that students will risk asking a question in the future.

Singling out students to represent a specific point of view. No one likes to be a token. While bringing many points of view into a discussion is certainly desirable, it should not be at the expense of any student’s individuality. Asking a student to give, for example, the African-American perspective or the male perspective is problematic for several reasons. First, it implies that you view that student as a member of a specific group rather than as an individual and, secondly, it suggests that a single person can represent such broad perspectives. Finally, by privileging the personal experience (actual or assumed) of a specific student, you are potentially undermining the contributions of other students in the class. Students (and occasionally even instructors) have a tendency to assume that minority students or members of oppressed groups are capable of making significant contributions on topics such as gender, race or sexual orientation. If diversity is the goal, it is far better to encourage all students to present their own experiences and points of view.

Dating your students, even if they approach you. Obviously, if you approach one of your students and ask him or her for a date, you are in direct violation of the University of Pittsburgh’s policy on sexual harassment (see Chapter 6 for more information about this). However, even if the student approaches you—probably a much more common situation—it is still against the University of Pittsburgh’s policy on student/instructor relationships. You are simply not allowed to be involved with a student whose grade or academic progress you can influence. Aside from the risk to your job, there are solid pedagogical reasons for complying with these policies.

First of all, remember that not every student has the best of intentions. A student may be trying to get a better grade by becoming involved with the instructor. Even if you’re sure that it is you and not your grade book that the student is attracted to, you still must wait until the end of the semester before you begin a relationship with him or her. You may believe that you can evaluate impartially the work of a student with whom you are involved; the other students in the class, however, will not believe that and you will lose credibility with them. No matter how discreet you think you are being, someone will find out. Remember it is not only the student you are involved with that you must consider but the other students in the class as well.

In order to avoid even the suspicion of impropriety, it is much better to simply tell a student that you are flattered by the attention but that you need to preserve the student/teacher relationship. If the student is really attracted to you, he or she will understand. If the student continues to approach you, you may want to speak to the primary instructor of the course, another colleague or the department chair (if you are teaching your own course) about the situation to avoid the possibility of any future misunderstanding.

If you decide to begin seeing a student after the semester ends, remember that you must then remove yourself from any further activities that could have a bearing on his or her academic or professional future. For example, writing a letter of recommendation for someone you are involved with romantically is the ethical equivalent of writing a letter for a family member without disclosing the relationship.

DANGERS OF PRECONCEPTIONS

As an instructor you must not only take into consideration your students’ perceptions of you but also your conceptions of them. Research has shown that many instructors tend to make eye contact with and call on male students more frequently than they call on female students. Even more importantly, they ask male students more difficult questions, allow them longer periods of time to answer, and give them more prompting if they don’t immediately know the correct answer. Counter intuitively, this occurs no matter what the race or gender of the instructor is. This kind of behavior communicates to all of the students in the class that the instructor has different expectations of success for different students. Different expectations would not necessarily be a problem, except that research has shown that high expectations on the part of an instructor positively affect his or her students’ ability to learn, while low expectations have a negative affect on them. To make matters even worse, such expectations are often formed very early in the semester and are not usually based on students’ actual abilities, but rather on an instructor’s preconceptions of different groups. These expectations, when applied to individual students, then become self-fulfilling prophecies.

I want to reiterate that this behavior is both common and unconscious. With very few exceptions, instructors do not set out to shortchange their students. However, this does not mean that we have no responsibility to recognize our own prejudices and to understand how they affect our interactions with our students. The strategies in this section focus on recognizing and getting around your preconceptions.

If possible, grade assignments blindly. Have students put their names at the end or on the back of assignments, papers and tests. Only look at the names after you have graded the entire set.

Have someone visit your classroom or have yourself videotaped. Some things to watch for include the following:

Do you make eye contact with some students more than others?

Do you give everyone the same amount of time to answer questions?

Do you give everyone the same amount of encouragement when they ask questions?

Do you ask everyone questions of the same degree of difficulty?
Do you know which of your students is among the:
 
79% of students who came to college to learn more about life?
6% who came to college because they couldn’t get a job?
47% who rated themselves highly in writing ability?
8% who feel that they need remedial work in foreign languages?
31% who identified being a community leader as very important?
25% who aspire to make a theoretical contribution to science?
22% who felt that the activities of married women are best confined to the home and family?
18% who support abolishing the death penalty?
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From The University of Pittsburgh Freshman: Profile for Fall 1995. Results of the CIRP Freshman Survey of Pittsburgh Campus Students. May 15, 1996. Institutional Research, University of Pittsburgh.

Counting the number of times you make eye contact with or call on specific students can be very useful for determining patterns in your teaching. You can also request a Teaching Behaviors Checklist or schedule an appointment with a TA Consultant to help you evaluate your videotape at the CIDDE office.

Ask your students. For this strategy to be most effective it must be anonymous. Take a few minutes during one of your classes and ask your students to respond in writing to a question such as "I would feel more comfortable participating in class if…" or "True or False, I feel that students are respected in this class. Why or why not?" Stress that their responses are anonymous and are meant purely to help you improve your teaching. The next step is to summarize the responses and report them back to your class along with any changes you plan to implement based on their responses. (See the section on classroom evaluation in Chapter 9.)

TACKLING SENSITIVE ISSUES

The tone and type of interactions between students and instructors are important, no matter what subject is being taught. However, if you are teaching an inherently controversial topic, such as slavery or the biological basis of sexuality, your interactions with students take on an added level of complexity. It is important to take the time to anticipate potential conflicts and to plan your lessons carefully in order to minimize those conflicts.

A common approach that instructors use to explore potentially controversial issues is to hold a discussion. While I, and probably most instructors, believe that a carefully planned discussion is a valuable way to explore new ideas and to evaluate critically different positions, a recent study conducted at Grinnell College [2] implies that most of our students do not share this point of view.

This study found that most students believe that the main purpose of a discussion is to advocate a strongly held belief and/or to reach some kind of consensus. Both of these are perfectly valid reasons for engaging in discussions. However, both of them are somewhat limiting in a university setting because they allow very little room for a meaningful critique of either new ideas or opposing positions. In fact, it is this emphasis on advocacy and consensus that leads students to list the following reasons for not wanting to engage in discussions about controversial topics:

Even if students are forced to participate in a discussion, the study goes on to note the following: As the researchers note, these views of the motivation behind discussions are in direct conflict with some of the personal values usually associated with scholarship, including "exploring ideas from a variety of perspectives, learning about things outside one’s own experience, evaluating the quality of evidence and arguments, and the capacity to be persuaded of new perspectives when presented with high-quality evidence and argument." [3] I would also add that while consensus can be desirable, it is disagreement and the process of exploring the sources of those disagreements that ultimately leads to advances in our collective knowledge.

For me, the main implication of this study in terms of teaching about controversial issues is that we, as instructors, need to put more emphasis on explaining to our students the purposes of our discussions. Clearly we must convince them of the validity and importance of different types of discussion. The following suggestions are intended to promote positive interactions that encourage students both to develop critical thinking skills and to explore new or different ideas.

Set ground rules for classroom participation. Good ground rules for classroom participation go beyond telling students to raise their hands before speaking or reminding them not to interrupt each other. A good set of ground rules not only protects students less practiced in the art of the academic discussion, but also teaches them how to take the initiative and participate in these discussions. Remember, not all of your students come to the classroom with the same amount of training in how to participate in these types of discussions. Your job as an instructor is not only to provide them with information about the subject, but also to teach them the skills they will need to evaluate critically the material. Working to provide your students with the skills necessary to participate and to succeed in your classroom is no different than ensuring that your students have the necessary knowledge of the content of your discipline. Just as some students have read more widely in your field than others, some students have more developed skills in areas such as building an evidence-based argument or speaking in front of their peers in an academic setting. Making your expectations clear from the beginning can only benefit your students. Some of my favorite ground rules (with their corollaries) are as follows: Probably the best way, however, for your students to become invested in the ground rules is to have them create their own. This is a great first or second class meeting activity. Have students argue against their own points of view. Rather than allowing students to choose the side of the debate, assign them a position that they have to argue from—whether it agrees with their own viewpoint or not. A word of warning: it may be difficult and uncomfortable for some students to argue for ideas or positions that they are strongly morally or ethically opposed to. In this situation, it may be helpful to remind students that the point of such an exercise is not to convince others (or yourself) of the validity of the viewpoint but rather to understand the opposing viewpoint in more detail in order to create a better argument against it. For more ideas on leading a discussion, see Chapter 3 on discussion sections.

CONCLUSION: PLEASING EVERYONE

No matter how carefully you design your classroom, monitor and adjust your own behavior, or prepare your students, it is still possible that conflicts will arise. Minor misunderstandings can usually be remedied by a brief discussion after class or during office hours. More complex problems that involve strong feelings usually require more time. Above all, remember that your students will be watching the manner in which you respond as much as the response itself. The actions you decide to take will obviously depend on the circumstances of the problem, but some general guidelines include the following: Do not ignore the situation. For example, if a student has made an offensive or hurtful comment to you or other students, ignoring the student may serve to keep the peace in the classroom, but it will ultimately undermine your credibility with students. It is up to you to decide how much class time you wish to devote to any given issue, but acknowledge that some inappropriate behavior may have taken place and suggest that it be dealt with after class.

Try not to be defensive. Responding defensively only adds fuel to the fire. If a student accuses you of inappropriate behavior, listen respectfully. Even if it appears that the student is just attempting to be disruptive, at least acknowledge the possibility that the student may be correct. Explain to the best of your abilities the reasons behind your position or action. Again, depending on the situation it may be necessary to further explore the situation during class time, or it may be more appropriate to suggest that the student stay after class or make an appointment to discuss the matter.

Remain calm. Sometimes having students take a brief break to allow tempers to calm down will permit a more productive discussion of the problem. Another strategy is to have students respond in writing to a specific incident, and then discuss the responses later in the class or during the next class period.

Do not to allow it to become personal. Remind students that personal attacks are inappropriate in an academic setting. In responding to individual students, focus on the speech or actions that were inappropriate and not the personal characteristics or motivations of the student involved.

Notify your supervisor. As soon as possible, inform either the primary instructor of your course or your department chair (if you are teaching your own course), that the problem occurred. Accurately document what has happened and what actions you subsequently took. Such notification protects both you and any students involved.

Finally, remember that creating a classroom where students are encouraged to participate and where diverse points of view are not only tolerated, but also welcomed, is a process of trial and error. Even the best intentions can have unforeseen consequences. An experience that a colleague of mine had nicely illustrates this point. A female student approached him after class and pointed out that he wasn’t making eye contact with the women in class and that she was feeling excluded from the discussions. He considered her complaint and realized that she was correct. He had been making less eye contact with the women in his class, but it was not because he valued their contributions less. Rather, he didn’t want his female students to think he was staring at them. So, in an effort to make sure that his female students did not feel sexually harassed, he inadvertently excluded them from the discussion. It was precisely the opposite effect that he wanted.

He ended up explaining to the student what he thought the cause of the misunderstanding was and made more of an effort to look female students in the eye (without staring at them, of course). What could have been a potentially negative experience for both the student and the instructor had a positive outcome for both of them: the instructor received some valuable feedback on his teaching, and the student realized that not only was her opinion respected but also that by coming forward with her complaint she had made an important contribution to the class.

 I believe that opportunities to learn such important lessons occur only in classrooms where both the instructors and students value diversity and inclusiveness and are willing to take sometimes uncomfortable steps towards these goals.

Good luck with your teaching. If you would like to further explore these issues, offices such as TA Services at CIDDE, the Affirmative Action Office, the Counseling Center and your department are good sources of information. Equally important, other teaching assistants are potentially good sources of information, discussion and support.

 
Chapter 6 . Chapter 8
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