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3 Recognizing Your Own Identity as an Educator
As educators, our identities profoundly shape how we teach, interact with students, and are perceived in the classroom. Social identities—including race, gender, age, ability, and professional background—inform our teaching practices and influence how students engage with us. Recognizing and reflecting on the role of identity in teaching can help us create more inclusive and effective learning environments that meet the needs of today’s diverse student populations. This chapter is inspired by Jessamyn Neuhaus’sPicture a Professor which invites us to interrogate these dynamics, sharing stories from diverse educators who have redefined what it means to be an effective professor. We also draw from Lovett et al. (2023) How Learning Works: 8 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching to suggest practical strategies for reflection and growth to help educators align their teaching practices with principles of equity and inclusion.
Excerpt from the book, Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning by Jessamyn Neuhaus.
Picture a Professor book cover
Look! Up at the lectern!
Is it a teacher? Is it an educator? No, it’s . . . Super Professor!
More charismatic than a Hollywood heartthrob! Able to win over the most reluctant, resistant student with a single quip or impactful PowerPoint slide!
During class, Super Professor delivers Oscar-worthy performances, scribbling formulas theatrically on a chalkboard or eloquently reciting lyric poetry to entranced students agog at the expertise on display. Super Professor always lectures brilliantly and entertainingly, effortlessly elucidating the most obscure subject. Students hang on Super Professor’s every spellbinding word, laughing at each joke and painlessly absorbing difficult academic material simply by listening to Super Professor talk about it. Students are routinely so overcome by admiration for Super Professor’s lectures that they spontaneously burst into applause.
Super Professor appears over and over again on our TV and movie screens, quite wrongly depicting learning as a purely top-down activity whereby knowledge is simply poured into students’ heads by an irrefutable expert. He’s also usually an able-bodied, cisgendered, heterosexual White man. In this way, popular culture reflects and reinforces the myriad of political, social, and cultural discourses that gender intellectual authority as male and support what Resmaa Menakem terms “white-body supremacy” by racializing knowledge and expertise as White. Socialized and enculturated by this imagery, all too often, Super Professor is who we think of when we picture a professor.
Every single person teaching a college class in any subject or modality must contend in some way with the narrowly defined, limited/limiting expectations of how a college professor should act in the classroom, what they should look like, and what identity markers they should embody. Anyone who doesn’t manifest those traits—before saying a single word or interacting in any way with students—will not meet certain conscious and unconscious student expectations. And expectations shape learning. Moreover, biases about professors impact students’ ability to connect and build rapport with instructors and to fully engage in the course material. Picture a Professor takes as its starting point that the “socially imagined professor,” as contributor Rebecca Scott terms it in her chapter, impedes effective teaching and learning.
Assumptions about what professors “look like” directly contribute to what sociologist Roxanna Harlow identifies as “disparate teaching realities.” White women, women faculty of color, faculty with physical disabilities, non-binary faculty, and all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty must navigate different intersectional mazes of racial, gender, and other biases about embodied identity on an exhausting daily basis. Scholar of higher education Nichole Margarita Garcia explains that no matter what their intention, when students, colleagues, administrators, staff, or random strangers tell her “you don’t look like a professor,” the phrase is a verbal assault on her expertise and her academic authority. It’s a manifestation of racial hierarchies and systemic inequities in higher education, including white-body supremacy, because anyone who doesn’t “look like” a professor is “presumed incompetent,” in the unforgettable words of that trailblazing edited collection and its 2020 follow-up volume.
“Before we even open our mouths,” as contributors Jacinta Yanders and Ashley JoEtta write in their chapter, students question the very presence of any instructor who doesn’t conform to the professor stereotype. Similarly, in their chapter about teaching as blind/seeing impaired professors, contributors Sheri Wells-Jensen, Emily K. Michael, and Mona Minkara summarize this deep-seated student skepticism: “What they want to know is whether we belong in the classroom.” Importantly, such implicit or even explicit questioning, and instructors’ subsequent feeling of “unbelonging,” as contributor Jesica Siham Fernández terms it in her chapter, is never restricted just to the classroom. Ableism, sexism, ageism, racism, homophobia and heterosexism, transphobia, classism, and other systemic inequities are baked into all aspects of academia—inequities that are further exacerbated by higher education’s exploitative contingent and non-tenure-track employment practices.
A wide range of scholarly books and articles, research studies, memoirs, and social media extensively documents these inequities and shows how prejudices manifest in different scholarly disciplines in different ways, such as additional biases against all women faculty in the STEM fields. The sexism and racism of academic systems are particularly evident when it comes to student evaluations of teaching and the disproportionate power these evaluations hold over professional teaching careers. However, published scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and popular advice about college classroom management, learning assessment, and other teaching stratagems frequently fails to adequately address or even acknowledge this simple truth: embodied identity matters to college teaching and learning. As I’ve argued elsewhere, disparate teaching conditions are one of the very first realities of teaching and learning both in person and online that every SoTL book, article, and Chronicle of Higher Education advice column should acknowledge.
SoTL needs to much more thoroughly and methodically grapple with all the ways that society and academia’s systemic inequities and hierarchies traverse our individual classrooms and to better address the “implicit professor theory” described in contributor Reba Wissner’s chapter. As contributor Chavella T. Pittman states in her chapter, “It is impossible to understand the best teaching practices without understanding their intersection with the bodies that are doing the teaching and learning.” More scholars of teaching and learning need to offer actionable pedagogical approaches that recognize the significance of embodied identity and propose real-life teaching strategies—tools, means, activities, methods, and processes—for empowering a true plurality of professors in their teaching practices. This is the aim of Picture a Professor.
Just as students bring biases and expectations into the classroom, so do instructors. These unconscious assumptions can subtly shape core teaching activities, such as designing assignments, selecting course materials, or establishing classroom norms. For example:
An educator who thrived in lecture-heavy courses may default to that approach, overlooking methods that might better serve a diverse student population.
A professor’s background might influence their perception of what constitutes “adequate preparation” for college-level work, potentially alienating students with different prior educational experiences.
Reflecting on these biases allows instructors to consider how their own preferences and assumptions might affect their teaching and to make adjustments that create more inclusive learning environments.
Reflecting on Strengths and Areas for Growth
Every educator brings unique strengths to the classroom, whether in mentorship, crafting engaging lectures, or implementing active learning strategies. Recognizing and building on these strengths is essential, but so is identifying areas for growth. Self-reflection can help educators examine teaching practices that may unintentionally disadvantage some students. By acknowledging these areas and seeking improvement, instructors can enhance their effectiveness while staying true to their authentic teaching styles.
Questioning Traditional Teaching Models
Many educators draw heavily on their own experiences as students when designing courses, assuming that what worked for them will resonate with today’s learners. However, student demographics, access to resources, and learning needs have changed dramatically over time. Teaching practices must evolve to reflect these shifts, moving beyond traditional methods to embrace strategies that address the diversity of modern classrooms. This involves questioning long-held beliefs about what constitutes “good teaching” and experimenting with approaches that prioritize equity and inclusion.
Biases Students Hold About Faculty
Students bring their own preconceptions into the classroom, which can shape how they perceive and interact with instructors. Faculty who are women, people of color, young, older, LGBTQ+, or disabled may encounter stereotypes that affect their authority and relationships with students. For example:
Younger professors may be seen as less authoritative, regardless of their expertise.
Women of color often face the dual challenge of being expected to nurture students while encountering resistance to asserting authority.
These biases can create additional challenges for faculty, but they also present opportunities for growth. By understanding these dynamics, instructors can develop strategies to address biases and foster a more equitable and supportive learning environment for all.
Strategies for Building Awareness and Fostering Inclusive Teaching Practices
Acknowledging the role of identity in teaching is an important first step. The next involves intentional reflection and action. The following strategies offer practical ways to examine assumptions, increase self-awareness, and build inclusive classrooms.
Examine Your Assumptions About Students
Assumptions about students’ abilities, behaviors, and resources can unconsciously shape our teaching. For example:
Do you assume all students have the same access to textbooks, stable internet, or quiet study spaces?
Are you interpreting a student’s lack of participation as disengagement without considering factors like language barriers, anxiety, or external responsibilities?
Action Reflection
Reflect regularly on your assumptions and ask, “What might I not know about this student’s context?” Look for patterns in how you approach or evaluate different groups of students, and consider alternative explanations for challenges.
Reflect on Your Own Intersectional Identities
Our identities as educators influence how we teach and how students perceive us. Understanding the multiple, intersecting aspects of identity—such as race, gender, age, and professional background—can help clarify how these factors shape our teaching practices and interactions with students.
Action Reflection
Use a reflective tool like a social identity wheel to explore your identities and positionality. Consider how aspects of your identity, such as being a first-generation college graduate or a member of a majority or minority group, might affect your teaching priorities, biases, or assumptions.
Educate Yourself About Diverse Identities
Learning about perspectives and experiences different from your own fosters empathy and cultural humility. This deeper understanding equips educators to better meet the needs of all students and create a classroom culture of mutual respect.
Action Reflection
Engage with resources on cultural competence and equity in education. Participate in professional development opportunities, such as workshops or training sessions, and seek out colleagues who can share diverse insights and experiences.
Anticipate and Prepare for Sensitive Issues
Some topics or dynamics in your course may evoke strong emotions or differing perspectives. Preparing for these moments can help you navigate them effectively while maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment.
Action Reflection
Identify sensitive or controversial topics in your course and plan how you will address them constructively. Develop clear guidelines for respectful dialogue and practice responses to common challenges, such as students expressing discomfort or resistance.
By reflecting on their identities, questioning assumptions, and engaging in intentional strategies, educators can create classrooms that are attuned to the complexities of identity. These practices not only enhance inclusivity but also foster a more supportive environment where all students can thrive.
Bonus Podcast
Get to know some colleagues at ETSU and hear their stories and their thoughts on teaching. This podcast celebrates the faculty of East Tennessee State University by amplifying their stories. Faculty guests discuss why they are passionate about teaching and share what impact they hope their students will make on the world. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle, ETSU Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Lovett, M., Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M. (2023). How Learning Works: 8 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching.
Use of AI in Section Development
This section was developed using a combination of existing research, expert-informed insights, and AI-assisted drafting.ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used to:
Synthesize and structure key concepts from teaching and learning research into a cohesive and accessible guide for educators.
Clarify best practices for inclusive teaching, faculty identity, and evidence-based learning strategies.
Enhance readability and coherence, ensuring that the material is both research-based and practically applicable across diverse teaching contexts.
While AI-assisted drafting provided a structured foundation, all final content was reviewed, revised, and contextualized to ensure accuracy, pedagogical effectiveness, and alignment with cited sources. This section remains grounded in institutional best practices and respects Creative Commons licensing where applicable.
