2004 And Beyond STRENGTHENING THE AGENDA FOR DEMOCRACY IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

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27 th Annual Conference
A
Teacher Education Division of The Council for
Exceptional Children
Affirming Diversity through Research,
Professional Development and Advocacy
Albuquerque, NM
November 10-13, 2004
http//www.cabq.gov/film/index.html
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Valuing all voices in the College Classroom
Preliminary Report of Research conducted
by
Colleen Finegan Patricia Renick, Charlotte
Harris Kelli Zaytoun
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio
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Valuing all voices in the College Classroom
Abstract When students feel that they and their
opinions are valued within the college classroom
setting by the instructor and by other students,
the learning that results is more valuable and
long lasting. What can instructors do to foster
and develop welcoming learning communities within
their classrooms so all will learn?
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
History of the Project
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Individuals on whom we wanted to focus
• Students with Special Needs
• Non-traditional (aged) Students
• Gifted / Talented
• Student Athletes
• Religious / Culturally Diverse.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Individuals on whom we wanted to focus
• Female students
• Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered or
  Questioning
• Racial / Ethnic Diversity

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Additional Research methods used
• Input on specially-
• constructed Website
• Additional Research

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Diversity
From the chapter by Dr. Charlotte Harris
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Sources of Diversity
• Demographic characteristics
• Personality characteristics
• Abilities and skills

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Potential OutcomesPositive or Negative?
• Decrease, or increase, stereotyping and
  prejudice
• Increase positive, or negative, relationships
• Increase, or lower, achievement and productivity

(Johnson Johnson, 2002)
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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)
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
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)
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Culture is
• Learned
• Transmitted through contact with various
  socialization agents
• Manifested in various ways
• Portable
• Dynamic
• ? Socially constructed

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Cultural identity
• Is composed of multiple sub-identities
• Is inherently social
• ? Influences how we perceive the world

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Academic Culture
• Information primarily transmitted through
  lectures and discussions
• Concepts/principles presented in deductive
  manner
• Students expected to draw conclusions and
  demonstrate application

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Academic Culture
• Verbal assertiveness and active participation
  valued
• Individual accomplishment and competition for
  grades encouraged
• (Prenger, 1999)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Dimensions of Multicultural Education
• Content integration
• Knowledge construction process
• Prejudice reduction
• Equity pedagogy
• Empowering school culture and social structure
• (Banks, 2002)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Categories of Knowledge
• Personal/cultural knowledge
• Popular knowledge
• Mainstream academic knowledge
• Transformational academic knowledge
• School knowledge
• (Banks, 1993)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
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)
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Building Community
From the Chapter in the book by Colleen Finegan
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• QUESTION
• Is a class of students
  automatically a Community
  just because
  they are all
  in the same physical space
  at
  the same time?

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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).

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• External Influences
• scheduling problems,
• changes in instructors, books or rooms,
• overcrowding,
• world events,
• holidays,
• the weather, etc.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Even these types of changes can be better
  tolerated depending on the attitude and empathy
  and flexibility of the instructor.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• SUGGESTIONS
• Foster a cooperative learning environment, as
  opposed to a traditionally competitive one,
• (Rishi, 1998)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• SUGGESTIONS
• A carefully structured
• cooperative learning environment
• can often produce higher student
  achievement and facilitate positive relationships
  among students.
• (Johnson, Johnson
  Smith, 1991)

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Gender Issues
From the Chapter in the Book by Kelli Zaytoun
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Gender Issues in the University
Classroom Classroom dynamics Curricular
issues Pedagogical issues
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
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
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Classroom Dynamics Microinequities Communicati
on patterns Classroom power implications
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Recommendations
• stay informed about current gender-related
  student issues/needs
• assess campus climate for women
• ? advocate for university response to needs

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Issues
From the Chapter in the Book by Kelli Zaytoun
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• GLB Student Experiences
• Actions that impact learning
• Homophobic comments by students and faculty
• ? Heterosexism

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Race / Ethnicity and Class
Taken from the chapter written by Charlotte Harris
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
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.
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Special Physical and/or Learning Needs
Colleen Finegan
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Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?

• Issues around disabilities
• Access to classrooms
• Access to needed learning materials
• Access to bathrooms and junk food machines
  during break time
• Access to resources
• Access to participate in all classroom /
  learning activities including field trips)

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Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?

• Kinds of disabilities
• Visible
• Physical or Sensory challenges
• Hidden
• Learning Disabilities
• ADD/ ADHD
• Mental / Emotional / Metabolic Challenges
• Health impaired

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Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?

• Supports for students with disabilities
• Universal Design
• Assistive Technology
• Learning Resources
• Tutoring
• Alternative Assessment
• Extended time, or several shorter periods of time

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Are all voices in college classrooms heard and
valued?

• Strategies
• Model spirit of inclusion
• Do not ask person to speak for the group of
  people he/she represents
• Do not assume that the person can or cant do as
  the others in the class
• Model comfort with student and with special need
• Make sure everything is accessible the
  individual shouldnt have to ask.

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom
Intellectual Capabilities
Colleen Finegan
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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• Assumptions /Stereotypes
• Gifted students are
• gifted in all areas
• behave appropriately in class
• mature
• do their homework consistently
• obedient, complaint
• responsible
• highly productive

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Valuing all Voices in the College Classroom

• 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

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Are 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.

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Are 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.

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Are 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.

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Are 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