3.3 Identity, Diversity, and Community
This section of the textbook is adapted from an Open Educational Resource for use at LCCC. It gives students and instructors a common framework for equity-based discussions in the classroom.
What is Educational Equity?
Educational Equity is a way of being, a set of values and actions based on applying the principles of justice. Equity impacts policies, practices, and pedagogy at all levels of the college in ways that promotes success for all students. The statements below reflect ways we can integrate language and intent in our classroom conversations and writings.
In Our Class, We . . .
- Empower all students regardless of race and/or socioeconomic status
- Create safe, welcoming classroom environments that honor and reflect the diversity of students and instructors
- Promote opportunities for students to understand various cultural backgrounds
- Allow students to advocate for self and others
- Develop the cultural competencies necessary to understand and racial identities
- Integrate student knowledge, culture, and experience into classroom discussions and writings
- Don’t require students to agree with their classmates’ beliefs. We do require them to interact with each other in ways that are constructive and civil
- Recognize multiple facets of a person’s identity
- Respect, learn about and include all students in the classroom, whether virtual or in person
Links to Learning for Justice and Other Website Materials
| Learning for Justice: Developing Language to Talk About Text | Learning for Justice: Culture in the Classroom |
| Learning for Justice: Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education | OSPI: Washington Screener for Biased Content |
| Edutopia: Getting Started With Person-First Language | Sierra Club: Equity Language Guide |
| Scholastic: Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity | National Association for the Education of Young Children: Becoming Upended: Teaching and Learning about Race and Racism with Young Children and Their Families |
Best Practices for Equitable Engagement
Appearance
Allow people to self-identify. Do not make assumptions about people’s race, gender, religion, or culture based upon appearance or clothing.
Identity
Call people by their names and roles rather than identifying people by their appearance or ability. Be respectful of others’ pronouns.
Backgrounds
Be respectful of others’ backgrounds as far as culture, religion, and family structure. When speaking about cultures, religions, and families, use language that is inclusive and affirming.
Abilities and Languages
All people want to be treated with kindness and respect. Be respectful of those with abilities that are different than your own. Be patient when speaking with others; listen respectfully to them, and give them time to speak.
Exercise: That Time You Changed Your Mind
This assignment asks you to write about an issue that you’ve learned more about that has changed the way you’ve thought. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you completely “switched sides”; it just means that your views now are different than they once were. The idea you changed your mind about doesn’t have to be The Big Question (e.g. for/against); it can be another question embedded in the issue or a more complex question related to or underlying the issue. You might, for instance, consider how one or more of the assigned readings in this textbook impacted your thinking. Alternately, you might consult LCCC’s libguide on equity to think more deeply on issues such as:
- Police Academies and Security Services on College Campuses
- Addressing Health Disparities
- What Are Our Rights?
- Gender & Race
- The Power of Media/Medium and the Advancement of Civil Rights
- Trauma: The Impact on the Individual
- Culturally Responsive Teaching
- Racial Justice, equity and Inclusion
Check out the discussion questions for each of these topics later in this chapter. After reviewing the materials, consider how you changed your mind, and then tell your story:
Step 1
Clearly state the question you changed your mind about
Step 2
Describe your change of heart or mind. Try to go into detail, including and pinpointing your initial belief/opinion (“before”) and what it shifted to (“after”) and reconstructing how this change came about. What led you to challenge or change your personal belief? Was it something you read or watched? A conversation you had? A person you know? Was it a growing realization or an accumulation of reasons or events? How would you characterize this change? A conversion? Transition? Adjustment?
Step 3
Analyze and reflect upon this transformation or transition. Basically, continue the line of thinking you began in Step 2, but dive deeper, searching for interesting insights into the story.
Here are some questions for consideration: Why did you believe how you did before you had a change of mind? How do your personal or cultural or family values factor into this analysis? (How) Has this development altered your sense of your place in any of your communities or in the world? Did certain types of evidence and reasons “speak to you”?
What reasons or approaches were you more (or less) receptive to? What feelings or associations are attached to this change of mind? Can you use your understanding of ethos, pathos, and logos to gain insight?
Step 4
Talk to your (former) self. Consider how you would address your former self – what reason(s) and method(s) would be most convincing – most effective in communicating / getting your (former) self to see things how you see them now? Compose a well-developed paragraph (shoot for at least eight or nine well-developed sentences) where you address your former self and convince them to change their mind / shift their perspective.
For example, as this textbook is being developed, the editors have discussed how some classroom teachers are increasingly interested in how technology is changing the way students engage with instructional materials within the framework of equity. They realize that many students only have access to a cellular phone but that technological constraints often means that the materials they upload may become distorted on a phone. The current circumstances are overwhelming for some instructors, so it is easy for them to default to the students who have the know-how to navigate technology. If they were completing this exercise, they would probably use their 8-9 sentences to discuss how they have stopped banning cell phones in the classroom and started embracing them as a viable way of accessing course materials, taking quizzes via the Canvas app, or submitting assignments.
Continue Reading: 3.4: Why We Discuss Equity in College Classes
