Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom

Classrooms should be a space where all students feel comfortable and included. They should also be a place where culturally and politically sensitive topics are unpacked and made sense of through respectful dialogue. Approaching culturally and politically sensitive topics and encouraging self-reflection, however, is not an easy task. CTLT presented a workshop on Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom as part of the Reading Break Refresher Series for Graduate Students. The workshop aimed to promote a discussion on how to create a classroom environment that supports diversity and inclusion. The workshop also aimed to help workshop participants understand how to encourage their students to engage in open and respectful conversations. Furthermore, it aimed to promote a problem-based learning approach, where “a template does not fit all models,” according to the two workshop facilitators, Amy Perreault, Coordinator of Aboriginal Initiatives at CTLT, and Anousheh Zardan, a UBC PhD student researching prostate cancer.

Understanding the Campus Climate at UBC

Amy quoted Peterson and Spencer (1990), in order to help the group better define what exactly a campus climate entails. A campus climate is the “current perceptions, attitudes, and expectations that define the institution and its members,” quoted Amy. Amy talked about this statement in relation to her experience as an Aboriginal student at UBC. She explained that there were a lot of support structures in place for Aboriginal students at UBC; however, the several classes that touched on Aboriginal peoples topics did so superficially. Such classroom environments, Amy and her classmates in the First Nations Studies Program (FNSP) noticed, did not encourage inclusive and culturally sensitive conversations. Instead, the information presented was very “diffused” and many problematic conversations took place in these courses. Frustrated with this experience, Amy and her classmate Karrmen Crey approached one of their instructors. The instructor encouraged Amy and Karrmen to archive the stories in a way that could teach them about the classroom climate at UBC. Amy and Karrmen decided to interview people who would like to share their classroom experiences where Aboriginal content was being discussed. Amy stated that a key theme that came out of the student interviews was the extra burden that Aboriginal students had to take on when unproductive conversations happened. The interviews outlined a need for instructors to take a proactive role in addressing these issues in class and a failure to do so was not acceptable. It became clear that further interviews needed to be done to capture the voice and perspective from instructors.

A First-Hand Experience of a Problematic Classroom Environment

After the workshop introduction, the presenters played a video clip from What I Learned in Class Today, the project that was created by Amy and her research partner Karrmen Crey. The video account was of a student who had experienced a problematic classroom environment. The student interviewed was an Aboriginal student at UBC. The student told a story about her experience in a literature class, when the class was reading a book by an Aboriginal author. Another student from the class, in relation to the author, stated “why are Aboriginal people so screwed up?” The Aboriginal student felt disappointed, resentful, speechless, and didn’t understand how the student even felt comfortable enough to make such a comment. The Aboriginal student thought, “how could the student even have enough faith that no one would counter the violence of these words?” This statement resonated with the workshop participants. Furthermore, this student felt that it was as if she was not in the classroom. She remembered thinking, “it’s as if this person thinks that Aboriginal peoples are not here.”

Amy commented that the video portrayed the misconception that the classroom is an empty space, and that Aboriginal topics only happen outside the classroom. A workshop participant from Africa also related to having had a similar first-hand experience. She shared her story of sitting in a classroom, where they were talking about female genital mutilation, when a student commented “this is just typical of people in Africa.” The workshop participant hadn’t even heard of female genital mutilation happening in her country, and was disappointed to be grouped into one large sweeping assumption even as she sat there, present in the class.

The Negative Impact of Cultural Insensitivity in Class

In the particular experience of the Aboriginal student from the video, Amy pointed out that the instructor did not react, nor correct the other student’s inappropriate comment. The instructor failed in terms of facilitating the discussion. For the Aboriginal student, the classroom “no longer felt like a safe space.” Such experiences are obviously problematic, and are counterproductive to learning, Amy stated. The Aboriginal student was left thinking about the experience she had just encountered during the rest of the day, instead of learning. Many students who have experienced similar situations, Amy stated, have also felt that they did not want to return to class.

How to Deal with Culturally and Politically Insensitive Comments

Setting Ground Rules

The facilitators introduced the strategy of “ground rules” as a way to help encourage a productive and inclusive classroom environment. A great way to begin a class, stated Anousheh, is to begin by asking each student what they expect from the classroom and their learning experience. Furthermore, Anousheh advised that instructors can begin every class with ground rules, or they can re-visit them throughout the semester. Anousheh drew on her own experience with having used ground rules in the course she taught as a Teaching Assistant (TA). One of the rules her students set at the beginning of the semester “was not to be late, as this tended to disrupt the classroom.” Anousheh felt that the ground rules helped her create a learning environment where students contributed to setting the classroom rules. A workshop participant agreed that ground rules were effective, especially when the course may contain sensitive material. The workshop participant mentioned that she has a ground rule for her biology class. She will usually state at the beginning of the semester that evolution is what is taught, but that students in the class are not obliged to believe it, just to learn it.

The Mirroring Approach

Next, Amy and Anousheh went on to discuss some strategies to help TA’s and instructors work through situations where a student has made a culturally and politically insensitive comment. One approach is the mirroring approach. The mirroring approach consists of writing down word for word what the student just said, and then repeating it to them, asking for clarification. Many times, students may not be that conscious of what they are saying, and mirroring the question back to them, encourages them to think about what they just said. The mirroring approach is also useful because sometimes students may say something, and feel that they don’t “own” the comment. By mirroring the comment back to the student, the student is made accountable and the comment can be unpacked as a group. Amy also mentioned that writing the question on the board is one way for an instructor to take a breath and then return to the conversation.

Promoting Self-Reflection

A workshop participant, who is a TA, admitted that one of the biggest challenges was promoting self-reflection amongst her students. Once students have gotten to a point where they are reflecting, they will think about their own preconceived notions. The problem is getting to that point, she stated. The TA raised a further question, “how do you make students reflect, is it through a reminder that any one of us can feel marginalized at any point in time?”

Speaking Honestly

Amy suggested that participants “lay out your baggage from the start.” She recommends “not to claim expertise in an area that you don’t know about. It is important to admit that you don’t know all the answers, and to speak from you own position,” Amy suggested. Such honesty from the course instructor or TA will encourage students to hopefully do the same. Amy stated that it helps students to humbly understand what they know, or don’t know.

Unpacking a Problematic Comment

A participant also stated that it could be useful to discuss with the student what is problematic about what they stated. Many students may not even realize that what they said could be offensive. For example, some people make racists jokes about Germans and Nazis, without realizing the extent to which “they are belittling the history,” a participant from Germany stated. The participant stated that explaining this to them, often makes the person re-think what they are saying.

Encouraging Journals

Another participant recommended getting students to reflect and become more conscious of the language and ideas they use by encouraging them to keep journals. The participant realized that this was a useful approach because, many times, this was a great way “for those students that just seem to have a blank stare on their face in class, to express themselves.”

Identifying Two Types of Insensitive Comments

A participant made an important distinction between the two types of insensitive comments someone might say. The participant discussed how one should try and identify whether the comment said was the actual belief of the person, or whether the person was just saying something “stupid” without thinking twice. The participant reflected that the two different cases, call for two different responses.

It is clear that encouraging inclusive classroom environments that support diversity, is not an easy task. However, implementing certain strategies, and setting an example can help encourage a healthy classroom environment. In the end the workshop participants left with a better understanding of strategies they could use to improve the classroom climate, and to encourage inclusive classroom spaces.