Support and Encourage All Students
While facilitating conversations around racial equity and social justice, it’s important to create an environment that fosters equitable participation from all learners. Teachers should employ a variety of strategies to ensure a small fraction of students do not dominate the conversation and everyone is able to express their opinion in a way they are comfortable with.
When considering participation, Learning for Justice advises educators:
Rethink what participation looks like.
As adults, we are often conditioned to associate dynamic engagement with participation. Consider that when you are engaging in activities to teach honest history, or having difficult social justice conversations, participation may show up as silent reflection, a preference to write instead of verbalizing, or in lines of questioning (Pringle, 2022).
University of Michigan’s guide on creating inclusive classrooms reminds educators:
“Participation levels vary across all students, with some students more comfortable in listening roles and others more comfortable taking the lead in class discussions. While these discussion styles may be influenced by students’ past experiences, families of origin, and cultural reference points, a priori assumptions about student participation may hinder class discussion. It is important that you encourage participation among all students while also respecting the differences among students that will emerge. More equitable discussions can often be created by prefacing the discussion with a writing exercise that provides all students with the opportunity to clarify their thoughts on the discussion topic. It is also useful to remember that students’ participation levels evolve over the course of a term as they become more comfortable with the course, their classmates, and the instructor”