Inclusive Teaching

Inclusive Teaching Checklist

Ashley Dudinsky

Pre-Semester

  • Review Syllabus and Edit to Be Inclusive.
    •  Include success statement.
      • Ex. “You have worked hard to be here; you belong here. Congratulations on your achievements, and welcome to the course. I’m excited you are here, and I hope it will be a great semester for all. (Sathy and Hogan 2020).”
    • Ensure that students know how to get information and help.
      • Resources for accommodations through the school.
      • Resources on mental health, care center, etc.
      • Resources for students who may be bilingual/multilingual.
      • Also include information on clubs/groups at the school.
      • Let students know how to report bias or discrimination.
      • Include basic needs resources offered by the school and community.
    •  Include ways for students to identify their gender to be addressed appropriately.
      • Encourage sharing in Introduction Discussion post.
      • Encourage adding their preferred name and pronouns as their email signature.
    • Include ideas to help decrease cost of resources, if possible.
    • Include diverse resources/articles/videos/podcasts/etc.
    • Include a respect/civility statement.
      • Ex. “Your instructional team affirms our commitment to the following, and encourage you to as well:
        • respect the dignity and essential worth of all individuals
        • promote a culture of respect throughout the university community
        • respect the privacy, property, and freedom of others
        • reject bigotry, discrimination, violence, or intimidation of any kind
        • practice personal and academic integrity and expect it from others
        • promote the diversity of opinions, ideas, and backgrounds that is the lifeblood of the university. (Mt. Holyoke College n.d.).”
      •  Check the overall tone of your syllabus and aim for a supportive and warm tone.
        • Read the syllabus as if you were a student and use student-centered language that is invitational.
      • Set Instructor Availability.
        • o Ensure that the times can reach different schedules.
          • For example, some daytime, some evening, some weekend.
          • Include class zooms to allow for peer contact and large group instruction as well as one-on-one availability.
          • Use a website such as calendly so that students can choose times that work best without the back and forth through email.
          • Set class zoom schedule prior to the semester starting so that students can make plans to attend.
          • Post zoom schedules (with links) and calendly link to homepage for easy access by students.

Example:

Date Time Zoom Link
March 23rd 6 p.m. https://csuohio.zoom.us/j/85376125614
April 27th 6 p.m. https://csuohio.zoom.us/j/83493326769

 

  • Email Students with Accommodations Emailed by ODS.
    •  Let the students know you received their accommodations.
    •  Also, let them know you are committed to their success.
  • Initial Class Email.
    •  Allow students to see your syllabus ahead of time.
    •  Let students know how to reach you.
    •  Ensure students know that you are here to help them succeed.
    •  Help students understand why they should care about the material/how it can help them in the field post-graduation.
    •  Include a bit of personal information.
      • Possibly with a link to more details or a video.
      • Consider a short reflection about how you felt as a student before a new semester started.
      • Alternatively, you can include a photo of yourself with something you did in the past year, or you with a pet, or a picture of you in college to which they might relate.
      • This kind of talk about yourself and your experiences is called self-disclosure. Research studies show that self-disclosure has many positive student perception outcomes, such as increased interest in the course and an increased likelihood of engaging with teachers outside the classroom.
    • Review Course Resources.
      • Look through course content and ensure there are a range of additional resources.
        • Include podcasts, articles, PowerPoints, documents, etc.
      • Ensure that the resources are diverse in content.
        • The content should be produced by diverse content creators.
        • The content and resources should be diverse in the populations discussed.
      • Post Discussion Board Threads.
        • o Post thread for student introductions.
        • o Post a thread for student questions.
        • o Post discussion threads for quizzes and assignment questions/ support.

Beginning Week of the Semester

  • Hold a zoom meeting the first week of the semester (online courses)/ get to know you session in the in-person course setting.
    • Use this time to introduce yourself.
    • Let peers see and get to know each other.
    • Answer any questions.
    • Encourage the review of the syllabus.
  • Encourage an introduction discussion post (online)/ ice breaker (in-person).
    • Use cards to have student’s write their names and pronouns (in-person).
    • Encourage student to include basic information.
    • Encourage students to include their preferred name and their pronouns.
    • Some additional questions that would be beneficial:
      • What is one skill that you have that makes you unique from many other people?
      • What part of the state, country, or globe are you from?
      • What do you think you will learn in this class?
      • What would make the course material interesting or useful to you?
      • Could you share anything about any classes you have been a part of where the instructor did some things that you thought worked well (such as anything that made the course more interesting or personal)?
        • It is important to me that all members of the class feel supported, respected, and included.
      • What does your vision of inclusivity look like in a course/classroom setting? If it helps, you can provide examples of what inclusion does NOT look like.
    • If Possible, Engage Individually with Students.
      • Reply to each student’s discussion posts, specifically the introduction (online).
      • Engage each student prior to class beginning (in-person).
    • Ask students to review the syllabus.
      • Make it fun.
        • In small groups and respond to a set of questions such as “find one topic that you are all interested in learning about and tell me why.”
          • If your course involves a lot of small-group discussion, this could be a good opportunity to start as you mean to go by incorporating a small-group activity related to the syllabus.
        • Offer an open discussion forum for students to pose and answer questions for all to see.
          • This approach has the added benefit of being available throughout the term and encourages engagement beyond the first day of class.
          • If your course involves a lot of small-group discussion, this could be a good opportunity to start as you mean to go by incorporating a small-group activity related to the syllabus.
        • Plan the Next Session.
          • Be sure to plan your next lessons with as much intentionality as you did the first day.

During the Semester

 

Weekly Emails- Sent Sunday.

  • Format the email the same each week.
    • Week #, Module #, Topic of the Week.
    • Synopsis of the topic for the week- what to expect will be covered that week.
    • Student to-do list.
      • Include readings, articles, assignments.
      • Include due dates.
      • Highlight the assignments that are due to draw attention to it.

Continue to Check the Discussion Board.

  • Students may post late on the introduction discussion board.
  • Check for questions.
  • Ensure posted content is appropriate.

Continue to Plan Sessions.

  • Content is important; however, put careful thought into facilitating classroom interactions.
    • Plan group activities.
      • Make sure you are circulating in the room.
        • Helps with grading participation.
        • Answer questions groups may have.
        • Shows interests in students and the content of their discussions.
    • Allow for peer and instructor reactions in a less formal manner.
      • Don’t just talk at the students with information.
      • Allow for engagement.
      • Keep time for interactions.
        • Ex. 3-minute group discussion, 1 minute sharing with large group.
    • Student Participation.
      • Clear criteria/rubric for participation grading of the student.
      • Give students questions prior to lecture to prepare.
      • Allow for a way for students to let you know they understand/ are ready to move on and those that are not.
        • Thumbs up, if they understand the content.
        • Thumbs down, if they do not and need more time.
    • Visual Considerations for Lectures.
      • Consider grayscale powerpoint slides.
        • Allows for contrast for colorblind students.
      • Explore different fonts.
        • Some fonts aide students who have dyslexia.
          • Fonts that are less crowded/ have space between the letters and words.
        • While lecturing, do not read the slide verbatim.
          • Lengthy slides, allow for students to read silently and then review the content.
            • Allow for accommodations for those whom are visually impaired.
    • Auditory Considerations for Lectures.
      • Consider using a microphone.
        • Helps those that have auditory difficulties or those that have chatty neighbors.
        • Use closed captioning/ subtitles.
    • Considerations for Notetakers.
      • Provide students with the slides prior to/ or along with the lecture.
      • Provide a skeletal outline to allow for students to fill in key components.
        • Engages in notetaking.
        • Helps with attention from the student.
        • Provides an outline that is organized to help the student find information easier.
        • Teaches effective notetaking.
    • Think-Pair-Share- Outline for Active Listening.
      • Allows the student time to process the idea and construct their answers before jumping into a conversation.
        • This will apply to introverts, students with learning differences, and multilingual students, etc.
          • In a properly executed TPS, the instructor will prompt students to spend a specific amount of time thinking independently.
          • This may sound like: “I will give you all one minute to think and write silently about the question. I will then prompt you when the one minute is up and you are able to talk with your partner about your ideas. You will have three minutes to discuss, and I will give you a one-minute warning before time is up. Finally, we will have ten minutes for a group discussion, and I will share details of how that will be done later.”
          • Be the one to assign the groups or pairs.
            • Ensures inclusion.
            • Cuts down on time.
              • Student do not have to find a partner or group.
    • Sharing Structure.
      • Have a structure for the sharing portion of the activity.
        • Have a plan and communicate that plan to your students.
          • For example, you might advise students that you intend to call on a group/pair to summarize their discussion.
        • More structure can be brought to the instructions by asking students to assign a reporter before they begin pairing and giving explicit directions about how much time, a response should take.
      • Use Classroom Response Systems (CRS)/ Polling.

Growth Mindset Grading.

  • Allow an exam or assignment at the end of the semester to replace a low grade to show learning and growth by the student.
  • Allow for corrections to increase assignment score.
  • Weight assignments less heavily at the beginning of the semester to allow for growth throughout the semester.

License

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Teaching and Learning at Cleveland State University by Ashley Dudinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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