Title: 2004 And Beyond STRENGTHENING THE AGENDA FOR DEMOCRACY IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
12004 and Beyond
STRENGTHENING THE AGENDA FOR DEMOCRACY IN
UNCERTAIN TIMES
A
NNER ANNUAL CONFERENCE
October 21-23, 2004
http//www.explorestlouis.com/
St. Louis, Missouri
2Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Colleen Finegan Patricia Renick Charlotte
Harris Kelli Zaytoun
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio
3Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
History of the Project
Patricia Renick
4Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- There was a concern at the institutional level
about retention
especially in the first
two years of college at
Wright State University
among individuals who are
members of
underrepresented populations.
5Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Why are students not returning after the first
year? - Typical reasons
- Funding Family issues
- Lack of adequate preparation in High School
- Career change etc.
- Also
- Some concern over some students feeling
disenfranchised in classes.
6Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- RFP was issued by University Diversity Advisory
Committee (UDAC) to study the situation from
various angles and write a resource book. - Because of a personal concern and interest each
of us had, we joined together to write the
proposal and were awarded the grant. - We then involved others in the University who we
knew were committed to more inclusionary and
welcoming classroom environments
7Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Individuals on whom we wanted to focus
- Students with Special Needs
- Non-traditional (aged) Students
- Gifted / Talented
- Student Athletes
- Religious / Culturally Diverse.
8Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Individuals on whom we wanted to focus
- Female students
- Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered or
Questioning - Racial / Ethnic Diversity
9Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Research methods used
- Collect information via
- Small Groups Meetings
- Women GLBT and Q
- Honors Program Athletes
- African-American Asian- American
- Hispanic- American other racial/ethnic
- Religious/Cultural Athletes
- Non-traditional (aged) students
- Special learning / physical needs
10Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Additional Research methods used
- Input on specially-
- constructed Website
- Additional Research
11Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Diversity
Charlotte Harris
12Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Nature of Diversity Something life-affirming in
diversity must be discovered and
rediscovered, as what is
held in common becomes always more
many-facetedopen and inclusive,
drawn to
untapped possibility (Greene,
1993, p. 17)
13Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Sources of Diversity
- Demographic characteristics
- Personality characteristics
- Abilities and skills
14Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Potential OutcomesPositive or Negative?
- Decrease, or increase, stereotyping and
prejudice - Increase positive, or negative, relationships
- Increase, or lower, achievement and productivity
(Johnson Johnson, 2002)
15Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Potential OutcomesPositive or Negative?
- Foster, or diminish, growth in cognitive and
moral reasoning and perspective taking - Improve decision making and problem solving or
create interaction strain
(Johnson Johnson, 2002)
16Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- To capitalize on the positive potential
- Integrate diversity into personal identities
- Reduce cognitive barriers
- Build positive relationships
- Establish conditions for constructive group
interaction - (Johnson Johnson, 2002)
17Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Nature of Culture The ever-changing values,
traditions, social and political
relationships, and
worldview created, shared,
and transformed by a group of people
bound together by a
combination of factors that can include a
common history, geographic location,
language, social
class, and religion (Nieto, 1999, p. 48)
18Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Culture is
- Learned
- Transmitted through contact with various
socialization agents - Manifested in various ways
- Portable
- Dynamic
- ? Socially constructed
19Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Cultural identity
- Is composed of multiple sub-identities
- Is inherently social
- ? Influences how we perceive the world
20Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Academic Culture
- Information primarily transmitted through
lectures and discussions - Concepts/principles presented in deductive
manner - Students expected to draw conclusions and
demonstrate application
21Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Academic Culture
- Verbal assertiveness and active participation
valued - Individual accomplishment and competition for
grades encouraged - (Prenger, 1999)
22Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Multicultural Education
- An education for freedom
- A means by which diversity is nurtured,
preserved, and extended - ? An educational response to recognizing and
embracing cultural pluralism. - (Banks, 2002)
23Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Dimensions of Multicultural Education
- Content integration
- Knowledge construction process
- Prejudice reduction
- Equity pedagogy
- Empowering school culture and social structure
- (Banks, 2002)
24Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Categories of Knowledge
- Personal/cultural knowledge
- Popular knowledge
- Mainstream academic knowledge
- Transformational academic knowledge
- School knowledge
- (Banks, 1993)
25Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- To create and sustain a safe, supportive, and
empowering classroom community - Heightened sociocultural consciousness
- An affirming attitude towards students whose
cultural backgrounds and experiences are
different - Curriculum and pedagogy that recognizes
multiple perspectives and different learning
styles, patterns of interaction, and cultural
histories
26Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- To create and sustain a safe, supportive, and
empowering classroom community - Awareness of how our cultural identities affect
the learning environment - ? Awareness of the attitudes, values, and
beliefs we bring into the classroom
27Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
A truly emancipatory multicultural classroom
community goes beyond the language of
inclusivity by emphasizing relationality and
multivocality as the central intellectual forces
in the production of knowledge (McCarthy,
1990, p. 119)
28Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Building Community
Colleen Finegan
29Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Common terminology used to refer to a class of
students is community of learners. - Term community connotes commonalities
- Common goal Common foe / enemy
- Common good Common interests
30Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- QUESTION
- Is a class of students
automatically a Community
just because
they are all
in the same physical space
at
the same time? -
31Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- In the first couple years of higher education,
students are in general education classes and
often have little in common other than being in
the same physical space at the
same time. - Classes- required
- Sections- fit around work / life schedule
32Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- After students declare their majors, they have
much more in common. - Community building may be easier.
- This doesnt mean that having a sense of
community is impossible in the first two years,
but it is harder to build since there are fewer
commonalities.
33Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Becoming a community of learners is not
automatic - it must be valued, built and
nourished. - The strength of this community depends on the
purposeful efforts of those who teach in or
administer the program, as well as the students
in the program.
34Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Determinants
- The students perception of the attitude and
personal qualities of the professor contributes
much to the atmosphere. - Respect for students
- Personal values / commitments
- Degree of openness
- Fairness
- Consistency
35Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- How is respect for each / all students shown?
- Physical and psychological safety
- Valuing each person and his/her contributions
- Freedom to talk about parameters of the class
- Right to freely express opinions which may differ
from teachers, peers or politically-correct
viewpoint
(with no repercussions).
36Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- External Influences
- scheduling problems,
- changes in instructors, books or rooms,
- overcrowding,
- world events,
- holidays,
- the weather, etc.
37Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Even these types of changes can be better
tolerated depending on the attitude and empathy
and flexibility of the instructor.
38Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Students must feel
- heard, respected and safe
- if they are going to be involved and take the
chance
to display their vulnerability
and offer a potentially incorrect answer in
front of their peers.
39Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- SUGGESTIONS
- To increase student involvement and interest in
learning - cooperative and/or collaborative learning,
problem-based learning, - service learning,
- classroom assessment,
- supplemental instruction
and/or study groups - (Tinto, 2002)
40Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- SUGGESTIONS
- Foster a cooperative learning environment, as
opposed to a traditionally competitive one, - (Rishi, 1998)
41Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- SUGGESTIONS
- A carefully structured
- cooperative learning environment
- can often produce higher student
achievement and facilitate positive relationships
among students. - (Johnson, Johnson
Smith, 1991)
42Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Gender Issues
Kelli Zaytoun
43Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Gender Issues in the University
Classroom Classroom dynamics Curricular
issues Pedagogical issues
44Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
A Brief Look at Numbers Women are now 57 of
those earning college degrees, but they are still
clustered in traditionally female-dominated
majors (Bae, et al. 2000 King, 2003 Persaud,
1999) Differences among women and among men
45Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Recommendations
- Attention to sex segregation by
major/college - More efforts to recruit and retain those
from underrepresented groups - ? Conduct exit interviews when students change
majors -
46Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Classroom Dynamics Microinequities Communicati
on patterns Classroom power implications
47Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Recommendations
- prohibit sexist comments and behaviors
- establish group norms
- do not ask students to speak on behalf of those
in the group/s they represent - ask a colleague to observe your classrooms for
gender-related patterns in interactions - ? adjust teaching styles so as to not reward
particular students over others
48Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Outside the Classroom Issues that impact womens
success - Safety/sexual harassment and assault
- Parenting and birth control
- Money
- Discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Body image
- Health/Alcohol and drug concerns
49Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Recommendations
- stay informed about current gender-related
student issues/needs - assess campus climate for women
- ? advocate for university response to needs
50Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Issues
Kelli Zaytoun
51Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- GLB Student Experiences
- Actions that impact learning
- Homophobic comments by students and faculty
- ? Heterosexism
52Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Effects of homophobia/heterosexism
on GLB students - Decrease in self-esteem
- Emotional and social difficulties
- Increased use of alcoholic substances
- Increase in depression, loneliness
and suicidal ideation
53Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Recommendations and Ground rules
for class discussions - Recognize and interrupt homophobic harassment
- Give swift attention to intended and unintended
homophobic remarks by students - Dont assume every student in your class in
heterosexual
54Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Recommendations and Ground rules
for class discussions - Use inclusive language ex. partner instead of
husband/wife - Increase visibility of GLB issues and people
- Support students in their exploration/research
of GLB issues
55Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Race / Ethnicity and Class
Charlotte Harris
56Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Race/Ethnicity and Class
- Play an important role in the lives of many
students. - Have a significant impact on students
perceptions of themselves. - Affects learning and assimilation into the
academic culture of a college campus.
57Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Students in oppressed ethnic and racial groups
and the culture of poverty may - Experience a school environment that is
incongruent with their cultural experiences. - Use and acquire language differently.
- ? Be blamed for the hardships they face.
58Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Students in oppressed ethnic and racial groups
and the culture of poverty may - Experience instructional methods and teaching
strategies that vary greatly, depending on the
environment in which students live. - Be disproportionately tracked into low-ability
groups in which low achievement is expected.
59Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Students in oppressed ethnic and racial groups
and the culture of poverty may ? Form
ambivalent or oppositional identities, viewing
the attitudes and behaviors of the dominant group
as not appropriate for them.
60Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- On a college campus, these students may
- Encounter culture shock and experience a sense
of isolation. - Have hidden rules of doing and being that may
clash with a campus culture. - Have serious financial shortages and/or work
full-time jobs.
61Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Educators should
- See students as individuals, rather than as
members of specific groups. - Review their expectations for students and their
behavior toward students from oppressed groups to
ensure that they are not discriminating.
62Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Educators should
- ? Help students interact with the academic
content through discussion and authenticity,
relating the content to students prior
experiences and real-world applications. - Encourage all students to be critical of what
they read, see, and hear in textbooks, through
the mass media, and from their parents and
friends.
63Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Educators should
- Provide mentoring and support for navigating the
college environment. - ? Use collaborative learning approaches,
providing additional explanations for topics,
forming study groups within a class and
opportunities to interact and discuss the class
with the professor.
64Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Special Physical and/or Learning Needs
Patricia Renick
65Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Issues around disabilities
66Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Kinds of disabilities
67Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Supports for students with disabilities
68Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Strategies
69Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Intellectual Capabilities
Colleen Finegan
70Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Assumptions /Stereotypes
- Gifted students are
- gifted in all areas
- behave appropriately in class
- mature
- do their homework consistently
- obedient, complaint
- responsible
- highly productive
71Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Assumptions /Stereotypes
- Gifted students are not
- healthy, good-looking, nor muscular
- from poor families
- from families of color
- from rural families
- from single-parent families
- handicapped
- negative in class
- behavior problems
72Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Gifted students need to be
- recognized for who they are
- given the opportunity to express their gifts and
talents in classes - challenged to grow in the areas of their interest
- freed from restrictions based on faulty
stereotypes - valued for themselves and allowed to progress
scholastically and not held back by being used as
peer tutors
73Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
Summary
Patricia Renick
74Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- The task of teaching within academia is no
longer solely about content but about teaching in
such a way that diversity is affirmed and
classrooms become vital communities of learners
in which all students have access to the
knowledge and learning available within that
classroom. - Patricia Renick
75Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Wright State University celebrates diversity. Our
daily life is made rich by the diversity of
individuals, groups, and cultures. The interplay
of the diverse stimulates creativity and
achievement in all facets of our existence. - Respect, tolerance, and goodwill are the
keystones to enjoying the diversity of our world.
We are all linked to each other in a world
created for all of us to share and enjoy. Each
member of humanity has a potential contribution
to make to the whole. It is our duty to encourage
and promote that contribution.
76Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Wright State University is committed to achieving
an intellectual, cultural, and social environment
on campus in which all are free to make their
contribution. We will achieve an environment in
which every student may think, and learn, and
grow without prejudice, without intimidation, and
without discrimination. We will achieve an
environment in which personal dignity and respect
for the individual are recognized by all.
77Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Wright State University promotes the acceptance
and appreciation of every individual regardless
of race, gender, age, ethnicity, ability or
disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic
status, religious affiliation, or national
origin. We encourage appropriate activities and
events that foster learning about the diversity
of our world.
78Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?
- Wright State University will be a model for our
geographic region, exemplifying that a human
community can exist that celebrates diversity,
enjoys the richness that diversity brings to our
lives, and grows stronger with every new member. - Adopted by the Wright State University Board of
Trustees March 28, 1991