Inclusive Pedagogy: Transformative Teaching & Learning

1. Inclusive Pedagogy: Transformative Teaching & Learning By Paul C. Gorski University of Wisconsin-Superior August 2009

2. I. What We Think We Know The Who Said It? Quiz...

3. I. Introduction: Who We Are • Who is in the room? • My background and lenses

4. I. Introduction: Agenda • Introductory Blabber (in progress) • Starting Assumptions • Morning Calisthenics • Conceptualizing Equitable Education • Dimensions of Equity in a Learning Environment

5. I. Introduction: Agenda Cont’d 6. Scenarios 7. Tips and Techniques for Practice

6. I. Introduction: Primary Arguments • Inclusive pedagogy, at its heart, is about creating equitable and just learning environments • It is about curriculum, and it’s about more than curriculum • Being an inclusive educator involves shifts of consciousness that inform shifts in practice

7. I. Introduction: Objectives • Develop deep understanding of the process of creating an inclusive (equitable) learning environment • Connect curriculum development to pedagogy, classroom climate, and context for a broad vision of “equitable learning environment”

8. I. Introduction: Warning!!! I do not have any of the following: • “The” multicultural curriculum formula or workbook, • A tidy set of activities for you to implement in your classroom tomorrow, or • A single book or video that will make any class “multicultural”

9. I. Introduction: However… I do have all of the following: • A framework for thinking complexly and critically about educational equity, • Strategies for creating equitable learning environments based on your curricular and pedagogical expertise, and • Some difficult, sometimes even uncomfortable, questions about what is and what could be in higher education.

10. I. Introduction You will get the most out of this workshop if you: • allow yourself to be challenged; • react openly to cognitive dissonance; • acknowledge your own great expertise; and • acknowledge your need for even greater expertise.

11. II. Starting Assumptions

12. II. Starting Assumption #1 • All students deserve the best possible education, regardless of: • Socioeconomic status or class • Gender • Religion • Citizenship status • (Dis)ability • Race or ethnicity • Sexual Orientation • Etc.

13. II. Starting Assumption #2 • Educational equity is deeper than simple curricular content • Pedagogy • Assessment • Classroom/School Climate • Distribution of Power

14. II. Starting Assumption #3 • Education is NOT politically neutral • We decide which readings and activities to use in class • We decide how students are to be assessed • We decide to engage (or not engage) students in the learning process • And so on...

15. II. Starting Assumption #4 • The problem of educational inequity is one of consciousness, not only one of practice • Impossibility of implementing a multicultural education if one doesn’t think and see multiculturally • Even with a great curriculum, I cannot teach against racism if I am a racist

16. II. Starting Assumption #5 • A single instructor cannot undo systemic inequities in a university or the larger society. • But at the very least we can make sure we’re not replicating those inequities in our own curricula and pedagogies—our own spheres of influence. * * *

17. Morning Calisthenics The Crosswalk

18. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Contextualizing the Equitable Learning Environment

19. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education • How do you define “inclusive education”? What does it look like? • Twos or threes • Quick report back

20. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Important Concepts • Equity vs. Equality • Hegemony • Deficit Theory • Master Narrative

21. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Important Concept #1 • Equity vs. Equality

22. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Important Concept #2 • Hegemony

23. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Important Concept #3 • Deficit Theory • See Hurricane Katrina piece

24. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Important Concept #4 Master Narrative 24

25. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education Approaches to Inclusive Education • Status Quo • Heroes & Holidays (Additive) • Representational Integration • Critical Integration • Equitable & Inclusive Education

26. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education The Four Curricula Official Explicit Implicit or “hidden” Null 26

27. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education The Official Curriculum What the institution publicly tells the world about itself Mission statements, vision statements, syllabi, other official and public documents 27

28. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education The Explicit Curriculum What is purposefully taught in the curriculum or co-curriculum The units, lessons, readings, assignments—that which is assessed 28

29. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education The Implicit (or “Hidden”) Curriculum What is taught implicitly, usually without conscious purpose, through behavior, policy, relationships, and social conditions Often hidden in “the way things are”--hegemony 29

30. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education The Null Curriculum Part of the hidden curriculum—that which is learned by what is omitted from the curriculum Ex.: sexual orientation’s omission from the “diversity requirement” policy 30

31. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education For your reflection: What are two examples of the hidden curriculum of UW-Superior? What are the implications of this hidden curriculum? Who benefits (or is protected) by it, and who is hurt by it? 31

32. III. Conceptualizing Equitable Education For your continued reflection: If I were to ask one of your students about the hidden curriculum of your classes, what would she or he say? And the null curriculum? * * * 32

33. IV. Dimensions of Equitable Education in Practice

34. IV. Dimensions of Equitable Education in Practice Adapted from the work of Maurianne Adams and Barbara J. Love (2006).

35. IV. Dimensions of Equitable Education in Practice 1. What Students Bring to the Classroom • Past educational experiences (it’s not always all about us) • Complex identities, prejudices, biases • Expectations about the roles of students and professors • Varying learning styles, intelligences, ways of illustrating learning

36. IV. Dimensions of Equitable Education in Practice 2. What We Bring to the Classroom • Complex socializations, identities, biases, and prejudices • Notions about the purposes of education and our roles as professors • A teaching style, often related to our own preferred learning styles and how we’ve been taught

37. IV. Dimensions of Equitable Education in Practice 3. Curriculum Content • Perspective and worldview: Whose voices are centered, whose are “other”ed? • Is content, whenever possible, made relevant to the lives of the students? • The “hidden curriculum”? • Are multicultural issues addressed explicitly?

38. IV. Dimensions of Equitable Education in Practice 4. Pedagogy • Focus on critical, complex thinking and asking critical questions • Paying attention to inequity in classroom processes • Attending to sociopolitical relationships (power and privilege) in the classroom • Using authentic assessment techniques

39. V. How We Get There: Tips and Techniques for Practice

40. V. The Equitable Learning Environment Part 1: What Your Students Bring to the Classroom

41. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 1. What Students Bring into the Classroom A. Find ways to challenge stereotypes (both in society and your own field) Example: Albert Einstein as a white, male scientist who wrote very progressive essays about racism, imperialism, etc.

42. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 1. What Students Bring into the Classroom B. Watch for and challenge student behaviors and relationships that reflect stereotypical roles Example: Men assuming the lead in lab activities, women being “note-taker” in small groups

43. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 1. What Students Bring into the Classroom C. Be thoughtful about how you create cooperative teams or small groups Example: Avoid temptation to “distribute” people from under-represented groups (tokenism)

44. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 1. What Students Bring into the Classroom D. Understand students’ reactions to you and your social identities in context Example: Even if you don’t think much about your whiteness (for example), it may mean something significant to students of color who may only rarely not have white professors

45. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 1. What Students Bring into the Classroom E. Help students un-learn the ways of being and seeing that lend themselves to prejudice Example: Dichotomous thinking, competitive nature of learning (NOTE: this also means WE have to un-learn)

46. V. The Equitable Learning Environment Part 2: What You Bring to the Classroom

47. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 2. What You Bring into the Classroom A. Identify and work to eliminate your biases, prejudices, and assumptions (yes, you do have them) about various groups of students Example: Race/ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, (dis)ability, first language, etc.

48. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 2. What You Bring into the Classroom B. Identify and work to broaden your teaching style (which, according to research, probably suits your learning style) Note: Research shows that two elements most effect how somebody teaches: (1) their preferred learning style, and (2) how they were taught what they’re teaching

49. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 2. What You Bring into the Classroom C. Identify and work on your “hot buttons” Question: What are the issues that set you off to the point that you become an ineffective educator/facilitator?

50. V. The Equitable Learning Environment 2. What You Bring into the Classroom D. Provide students with periodic opportunities to share anonymous feedback Note: Students already feeling disempowered and disconnected are not likely to approach you about your teaching or curriculum