More Than One Checklist: A Primer to Teaching Inclusively
Originally published in the University Times.
By Lizette Muñoz Rojas and Sera A. Mathew
As you read this piece, feel free to consult this brief selection of definitions for terms commonly used when discussing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
As we begin exploring foundational ideas in inclusive teaching within this primer, we must acknowledge the interdependent yet unique considerations that drive concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion within the classroom.
In our classrooms, diversity is built upon recognizing the value of perspectives and experiences molded by individual and group differences. Equity addresses gaps in opportunities and success by deliberately implementing practices and structures to support minoritized students. Inclusion is the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity to generate nuanced and empathetic forms of understanding.
Equity-minded practice goes beyond inclusion and is our ultimate goal as it attends to the systemic inequalities within our classrooms. Teaching inclusively is a deliberate first step toward cultivating a learner-centered classroom. It is also more than one checklist — it is part of a process that requires we look inward first.
Often at the end of DEI-focused teaching workshops we facilitate, participants hope for a definitive checklist to translate our discussion about inclusive teaching into practice. Checklists help us break down complex goals into manageable tasks. In inclusive teaching, they must be adapted and curated to support the needs of different classrooms and instructors. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for inclusive teaching.
We all yearn for a resource that could guarantee we will never find ourselves in a situation that puts into question our genuine intentions of making our students feel welcome. Instead, we encourage all our colleagues and ourselves to think of inclusive teaching as not static but as a dynamic reflective process that is intentional, responsive and iterative.
Figure 1. Interconnected Qualities of Inclusive Teaching
The process of making our teaching inclusive is fueled by our capacity to engage in self-reflection. We start by asking questions to assess our capacities to infuse inclusivity across our spheres of influence.
Below, we offer questions to get you further along in your process of self-reflection. While presented under three separate subtitles — intentionality, responsiveness and iteration — they are all interconnected qualities of inclusive teaching (Figure 1). When considered jointly, these questions can help you curate the strategies that best align with your own positionality.
Are your inclusive teaching practices intentional?
What motivates you to teach inclusively? Do you strive for your motivations to be intrinsic, guided by an urgency to reduce harm and enhance a sense of community in your classroom? In assessing your motivations and intentions, do you consider the bounds of what your time and energy allow?
Are your inclusive teaching practices responsive?
Are you curious about the changing needs of your students and their communities? Do you pivot course content and activities to make room for student concerns? Do you see them as experts in what helps them learn? Are you prepared to elicit their feedback about your teaching early and often?
Are your inclusive teaching practices iterative?
Are you engaging with the unlearn and relearn process of inclusive teaching? Which practices do you need to unlearn? Which do you need to learn or relearn? Are you introspecting on mistakes and slippages? What changes have you considered and enacted to remedy a mistake or slippage?
Consider adding your own questions to the ones listed above to help you think about intentionality, responsiveness, and iteration within your teaching practice. No single checklist would be comprehensive or nuanced enough to address the individual inclusivity goals that each full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and graduate instructor has in mind as they design courses and plan activities. We hope that these questions will help you begin thinking about inclusive teaching as a sustained practice that you can flexibly curate and adapt to your and your student’s needs.
Remember:
- Inclusive teaching is more than one training; the training is only the beginning.
- Inclusive teaching is a process of unlearning, relearning and revisiting your teaching practices.
When you are ready to share your reflective journey with peers and colleagues, be sure to join the Fundamentals of Teaching Inclusively workshop offered every fall, summer and spring term. We look forward to working with you.