Top 10 Culturally Inclusive Teaching Strategies
Faculty Development Activity
1) Please rate each strategy in the following way:
¾ Strikethrough any strategy not appropriate for your course(s)
P I already do this in my class
» I sort of do this, but I could make it more explicit/visible
á I’d like to try this
2) Discuss one P with each other.
3) Discuss how you might strengthen a » or try a á with each other.
Motivate Students and Set the Stage:
· Discuss how the course fits into a broader professional, global, or societal context
· Provide connections between course topics, how they compare, contrast, or build on each other
Get to know your students and create opportunities for students to do the same.
· Examine your background and experiences and consider how they may differ from your students’ (so that you understand how your students see you!).
· Learn students’ names and create opportunities for them to learn each other’s names
Design an inclusive course curriculum
· Choose readings, examples, case studies, and visuals, that consciously reflect the diversity of contributors to your field; consider whether tradition-based reading lists represent personal preferences or stereotypes.
Create an inclusive classroom environment
· Set high standards and ensure that the standards and how to achieve them are clearly communicated to students in terms that they can understand and take action on.
· Help students understand that intelligence is not a fixed ability, but can grow as a result of focused and frequent practice with course content
Teach inclusively
· Use a variety of teaching methods; in addition to lectures and discussions; include pair, small group and collaborative work.
· Use pictures (schematics, graphs, sketches, videos, demonstrations, etc.), words (lectures, discussion, readings), and numbers (percentages, ratios, proportional reasoning, etc.) to teach concepts, processes, and skills
Provide varied opportunities for students to provide evidence of their learning
· Ask students what they think about what they have heard, seen, or learned, and what might still be confusing.
Adapted from: Linse & Weinstein, Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Penn State, 2015