Action:
- Before giving students an assignment or as a first day exercise, ask students to write about what they value or what is meaningful to them in their life as a whole (e.g. spending time with their family and friends).
Reason:
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David Kirp summarized in a New York Times article that after doing this exercise, “white students did no better, but their black and Latino classmates improved so much that the achievement gap shrank by 40 percent.”
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/opinion/nudges-that-help-struggling-students-succeed.html?_r=0
- Miyake, A., Kost-Smith, L. E., Finkelstein, N. D., Pollock, S. J., Cohen, G. L., & Ito, T. A. (2010). Reducing the gender achievement gap in college science: A classroom study of values affirmation. Science, 330(6008), 1234-1237.
- G. L. Cohen also discussed these interventions at a talk at Pomona.
Action:
- Ask students to make a list of all the ways an upcoming task could go well and how it might benefit them.
- Inform them that recent research suggests that arousal doesn’t hurt performance and can even help performance.
- Suggest that they say the phrase “I am excited” out loud to themselves three times.
Reason:
-
Those who reappraise their anxiety as excitement are more likely to productively channel their stress. It takes less effort for the mind to reframe a negatively, highly-charged feeling (e.g. stress) to a positively, highly-charged feeling (e.g. challenge) than to positive but low-arousal emotion (e.g. calmness).
Action:
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Avoid demeaning jokes about sex, violence or any protected identity characteristics
- If a sensitive topic is not listed on the syllabus consider warning students before bringing up that content.
Reason:
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It is a good idea to bring levity and laughter to the classroom, but be sensitive to whether a joke is irrelevant or demeaning and thus will have a negative and differential impact on some students.
Action:
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When you use a metaphor or cultural reference to illustrate an idea, first tell students the relevant background information they need to understand your point.
- Frequently remind students to ask questions if there is anything they don’t understand because it may be difficult to recognize cultural knowledge that is not universal.
- Avoid relying exclusively on examples and metaphors from your culture or interests.
Reason:
-
Cultural references within class may be alienating or incomprehensible to students for whom these cultural references are unfamiliar or primarily associated with identities other than their own.
Action:
-
Tell students how you would like them to refer to you and your personal gender pronoun.
- If students introduce themselves in class, encourage them to also share their personal gender pronouns (PGPs) (e.g., she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/their, ze/zir/zir).
Reason:
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Having students share their personal gender pronouns in class can reduce the chances that someone refers to another person in class with the incorrect gender pronoun thereby embarrassing or humiliating them.
Action:
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Do not condone the application of stereotypes.
- Teach students that confirmation bias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias) can reinforce their belief in a stereotype, even when the stereotype is not true.
- Encourage students to recognize that every group of people includes variation.
Reason:
-
Some stereotypes, such as “Asians are good at math” are positive statements about a group and may appear unproblematic. However, such statements are relational; saying that Asian people are good at math implies that another group is less good at math. Moreover, it creates inappropriate pressures for all Asians (or whatever group is being positively stereotyped) to behave in some expected way.
Action:
-
Ask students how to pronounce their name either in-person or in a survey. The name they want to be called may be different than their name listed in the course roster.
- Dedicate additional effort (e.g., make your own pronunciation guide) to ensure you can pronounce names that are unfamiliar to you.
- Avoid complimenting or commenting on a student’s name. Your opinions about their name are irrelevant and your attention about their name may make them feel singled out or different than their classmates.
Reason:
-
Using students’ names and pronouncing them correctly is a great way to show respect.
- Memorizing the names and faces of your minority students is particularly important to avoid accidentally confusing two students of the same race.
Action:
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If your course requires use of a computer, let students know what computing resources are available on campus.
- If relevant, tell students what resources exist online or in the library that they can use for free.
- Encourage students in the previous semester to loan their books or other materials to current students.
Reason:
-
Students might be unable to pay for course materials, but might be unaware of alternatives that could enable them to participate.
Action:
-
Disseminate information to students about what it means to do research in your field, how they can apply, what qualifications they need, and how they might benefit from the experience.
- When possible, pay students for their work on research because not all students can afford to work for free.
Reason:
-
Informal application processes often favor students who have prior knowledge of research, feel comfortable asking for a job without an invitation from a faculty member, and can work for free.
Action:
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Identify the holidays for a wide range of religions to your course calendar before planning your course schedule. Avoid scheduling exams on religious holidays. For example, many Jewish people fast and do not work on Yom Kippur.
Reason:
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The school calendar typically enables Christian students to celebrate religious holidays without missing class, but for other religions this is not the case.
- Scheduling around religious holidays can make your course accessible to more students.
