Engaging Diversity in the Classroom

Lee, Williams and Kilaberia (2011) analyzed journals of a student cohort of a first-year experience course to see what activities they reported to have engaged them most with diversity. Students reported that three components, classroom climate, interactions with diverse content and peers, and formal, structured reflection were essential to the process. Three effective activities in particular were Biographical Object assignment, Common Book assignment, and the High-Stakes Collaborative Project. For the Biographical Object assignment, students chose an object and described its importance for their cultural identity to their classmates as part of the verbal component, and wrote a paper as a written component. In the Common Book assignment, all the students read the same book, discussed and debated it in class, explored various perspectives and contexts, visited a lecture by the author or the author visited their class. For the High-Stakes Collaborative Project students worked collaboratively on a research topic, presented it, and submitted a written assignment about it.

With our increasingly diverse classrooms and workplaces, it is important that we help develop these competencies among our students. According to the tips from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and Barbara Davis (1993), consider implementing the following practices for engaging diversity in the classroom:

• Develop a syllabus that explores multiple perspectives on the topic (aim for an inclusive curriculum, incorporate materials, assignments and topics to include different cultures, racial and ethnic groups);
• Design classroom instruction and materials with a diverse group of students in mind (be sensitive to terminology, select readings and texts that are gender-neutral and free of stereotypes, consider different approaches to teaching to accommodate for different learning styles);
• Create opportunities to get to know your students on an individual/personal basis (learn their names, meet with them outside of class, involve them in your research, encourage them to come to office hours);
• Design opportunities to interact with each other in respectful and meaningful ways (assign group work, allow for collaboration, suggest meetings outside of class);
• Activate student voices (encourage all students to participate in class discussion, show them you value all comments by providing a safe environment, do not allow discriminatory behaviors);
• Generate a challenging but vibrant learning process that encourages students to develop their creative, critical, and analytical thinking skills (set classroom norms and expectations, ask students to consider multiple perspectives and present all sides of an issue, allow for application of theoretical knowledge, allow for formal and informal reflection on their learning, provide feedback);
• Invite guest speakers to class to enrich the experience (faculty or off-campus professionals).

Davis, B. G. (1993). Tools for teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University. Teaching in racially diverse college classrooms. Retrieved from http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/TFTrace.html

Lee, A., Williams, R., Kilaberia, R. (2011). Engaging diversity in first-year college classrooms. Innovative Higher Education, 37(3), 199-213. doi: 10.1007/s10755-011-9195-7