Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University   |   ONLINE DOCUMENT

Executive Summary

TEACHING IN RACIALLY DIVERSE COLLEGE CLASSROOMS

In preparation for teaching in diverse classrooms, we suggest that you:

 1. Plan for a racially diverse classroom:

• Create flexible learning processes that account for the variety of learning styles that may exist in a racially diverse classroom.
• Design classroom instruction and materials with a diverse group of students in mind.
• Think about ground rules or norms that will guide the learning that is to occur.
• When appropriate, develop a syllabus that explores multiple perspectives on the topic.

 2. Make the classroom accessible to all students:

• Create opportunities to get to know your students as individuals.
• Invite student participation.
• Create opportunities for students to interact in class with each other in respectful and meaningful ways.
• Generate a challenging but vibrant learning process that encourages students to develop their creative, critical, and analytical thinking skills.
• Be a role model for students through your own active participation in the learning process.

 3. Confront potential issues of discrimination and manage hot moments

• Devise personal strategies in advance for managing yourself and the class in such moments
• Interrupt blatantly racist and discriminatory behaviors when they emerge in class.
• Defuse potentially harmful moments by having students step back and reflect on the situation.
• Turn potentially hot moments into powerful learning experiences by turning the questions they raise back to the group for discussion

 4. Assess one's own racial or cultural biases:

• Develop an understanding of how your experiences, values, beliefs, and stereotypes may influence your knowledge and understanding of groups that are racially different from your own.
• Examine how your own experiences, values, beliefs, and stereotypes inform the way you interact with individuals whose racial backgrounds are different from your own.
• Assess how your own experiences, values, beliefs and stereotypes affect the way you behave in the classroom.

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Derek Bok Center for
Teaching and Learning
Harvard University

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