Saturday, April 1, 2017

Teaching Diversity

Unlike the current White House administration, the average Lincoln classroom is tremendously diverse. A first glance through Lincoln’s gates, or at our Fact Book*, reveals a largely African American student body composed of more women than men (63% women at the undergraduate level, 71% at the graduate level), but you don’t have to dig very deep to find that our students come from different social, socioeconomic, geographic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Lincoln has a little over 3% international students, many of whom come from west African and Caribbean countries, and we draw American students from 30 states. Many of our student are first generation collegegoers with neither parent ever attending college. About a quarter of our students have parents that live together, more than half (64%) have parents who live apart, while a full 10% have lost one or both parents. Religious backgrounds vary (although a vast majority come from families that identify as Christian), as do cultural identity, sexual orientation and gender identity. Add to that the students’ physical abilities and disabilities, along with mental, emotional, and cognitive abilities, and you paint an even richer picture of diversity. We have students that are athletes, dancers, musicians, writers, visual artists, activists, leaders, followers – the list goes on. The point: our classrooms are diverse. 
With diversity comes strength; any ecologist, whether a biologist or sociologist will tell you that a diverse ecosystem is more stable, resilient to disturbances and recovers more quickly when catastrophe strikes. But diversity can also bring challenges including less cohesiveness and effective communication side by side with increased anxiety and unease. Both faculty and students are bound to make assumptions based on their own cultural frame of reference. For example, you may talk about parents as being married, or assume that a household has a mother and a father, but our Fact Book tells us that this only holds true for a quarter of our students. What if a student was raised by two moms or two dads? Changing the language in the classroom to be more inclusive may mean that more students feel valued, which translates to a sense of belonging. Anytime students feel like they belong, they are more likely to contribute to classroom discussion and to be engaged learners.
It is also useful to identify the assumptions that the students bring to the classroom and begin to deconstruct biases and beliefs that are obstacles to group discussions or projects. I must admit that I don’t always feel like I have the time or resources to talk about classroom diversity with my students. I often ask students to work in groups, and although I am aware of a few techniques for effective team-building, I don’t always use them to help construct functional groups where everybody contributes equally and diverse opinions are respected. These skills are so important that the World Economic Forum has listed them among the top ten skills required by future employees to be successful in a global economy. We don’t even have to look to outside sources for affirmation of the importance of diversity; our very own strategic plan lists Globalization and Diversity as Imperative 6 with the additional description:
   While we remain committed to our legacy of providing the highest quality education to African American students, we recognize the importance of offering students a diverse environment and global collaborations which will prepare them for leadership in the 21st Century.”

Have you developed effective tools to celebrate and draw on classroom diversity in discussions and projects? What are your thoughts around classroom diversity at Lincoln? Have you explored the biases that you bring to your classroom, and how those biases influence your teaching?

References:
The web offers a plethora of information on diversity in higher education. I found the following reference to be most concise and useful with several good references for further reading:



12 comments:

  1. I have explored some of the biases that I bring to my classroom, and how those biases influence my teaching; but I have done that on the basis of differences in individuality, culture and age, rather than the kind of diversity that you mention which I acknowledge exists.

    I do not deny the diversity in our classrooms at Lincoln. I merely wish to note that one of the reasons our students come here, is the lack of diversity which they assume or perceive exists at HBCUs where most of the students are African American or black. Further, I wish to note that even in the country of South Sudan, which was (very recently) created for reasons having to do with similarities in population or the lack of diversity, there is a bitter fight currently taking place on the basis of their perceived diversity and resulting animosity.

    Diversity, I am afraid, may be partly -- even if not wholly or always -- a function of perception or one's point of view. From some point of view, then, I imagine that it may be said that the current White House administration is almost as diverse as the average Lincoln classroom. Probably or, at least, possibly.

    Safro Kwame

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    1. Kwame, I'm surprised by your optimism of possible White House diversity :-)
      I think the perceived lack of diversity at HBCUs is why it is important to talk about diversity among both faculty and with students in the classroom. While physical features like skin color; hair texture and color; facial features; and height are the most easily noticeable differences among humans, they are very superficial and tell you little about who a person is. One can argue that African American students all share the same or similar culture, and although there undoubtedly are common cultural elements, there are also huge cultural differences among our students depending on heritage, upbringing etc. More deeply held personal identity may have to do with religion - or lack thereof, gender identity (in all its forms), sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, family situation, physical ability, career aspirations, intrinsic motivation etc. Recognizing our own and our students’ assumptions around diversity could help create a more effective learning environment. It may also help our students be successful beyond the gates of Lincoln.
      In addition, Lincoln has both students and faculty from many different countries and bring a broad range of perspectives to the college experience. We have much to learn from each other, but sometimes learning requires some facilitation…
      As for South Sudan and other conflicts around the world stemming from tribal, religious, and cultural identity conflicts, I can only hope that the future will bring well educated leaders with a deep understanding of diversity to bring people together. As teachers, we all need to take a deep look at how we influence the future in terms of the type of thinkers and leaders we help to foster.
      I am curious to learn what you found when you explored biases that you bring to the classroom.

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    2. I found out that students at Lincoln today are, in some respects, very different from earlier students and foreign students; particularly, in their "learning styles" and expectations.

      I also "hope that the future will bring well educated leaders with a deep understanding of diversity to bring people together." Unfortunately, I am not very optimistic. There is an urgent need for a psychology of politics and leadership that will try to achieve that goal.

      Safro Kwame


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  2. Commenting on this topic definitely puts me on the edge of my comfort zone (Anna, thanks for last week’s topic). Sometimes new students ask me ‘where I am from’ during the first week of class. When I started here as a young “teacher,” that question made me very uncomfortable and at times I got defensive, but my views have evolved as I adjusted to the American culture over years, but I still prefer not be asked in class about my original place of birth since it is easy for me to lose focus on what I am about to teach. I once answered that I am from the planet Earth and not Mars, but it was misinterpreted as sarcasm :-) Later on some scientists showed that it is possible that I could be from Mars and therefore I could have been wrong in my answer!

    Over the years I have become more aware of the diversity in classroom. Paradoxically, in teaching and learning programming and technology sometimes English gets in the way for the American students more than for international students with a different native language. For example, I observed that if I introduce the title “Method Overloading,” an international student who has a different native language and hears it for the first time, seems to accept the wording as just as a “title” and move on a to the details. However most of my American students including by the way my own children who only speak English, struggle to get past the wording of the title and actually associate the word “Overloading” with other meanings in other contexts they are familiar with and that becomes a learning obstacle. Although I do not have the expertise to develop “effective tools” in dealing or drawing from diversity, I remind myself to be aware of these minor differences in students’ perception of what I say when explain things and prior to explaining the details of “Method Overloading” or similar topics, I say to my students not to over-analyze the title too much and hear the whole story and it seems to help. Perhaps, the title was just a poor choice of words chosen originally by Computer Scientists and we can offer to change it!

    I think diversity has the potential to make a community much stronger, but the process of achieving it could end up showing its paradoxical and complex nature and fail sometimes as Safro mentioned; particularly if the governing body of the community fails in its management in creating a true equal opportunity environment for all its members. What puts me at the edge of my comfort zone on this topic is that at times our subjective emotions get in the way of having a sincere and logical conversation on this subject and winning a conversation becomes more important that what it tries to achieve. Just remember the heated topic on this blog about teachers with “foreign” accents may not be as effective in teaching as those without those accents (I am not taking sides on that issue, although I have such accent myself). I have learned that unfortunately our “learned” biases about others come to surface during difficult moments when things are not going as hoped or when we have developed dogmatic views. Tolerance is needed in society and as teachers and as students we need to be much more tolerant of each others’ differences, but it is obviously very difficult to achieve because we have this thing called subjective consciousness (I am grateful we have it, although it is full of paradoxes). Sorry for this long answer. I am signing out until next semester….

    Ali Barimani

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    1. Sorry for the typos, looks like I need to keep working on my English. I meant to say:
      For example, I observed that if I introduce the title “Method Overloading,” .. seems to accept the wording just as a “title” and move on to the details.

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    2. Interesting, Ali! I am sorry you are signing out now until next semester! Good luck with the introduction of your titles!

      Safro Kwame

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    3. Ali, I'm delighted to see your comment - and saddened to know that this is your last comment for the semester and to read about your own hesitation to disclose your cultural heritage to students. Your experiences of American students attaching undue meaning to technical terms is one I can relate to. Imagine my struggles teaching Mendel’s "law of segregation" in my genetics class. I use a similar approach to yours of telling students not to react emotionally to the word – and sometimes we all agree to call it the “law of separation of alleles” instead of using a loaded word to describe something very technical.
      I’m curious why you are reluctant to talk about your country of origin and how you may relate to students that share similar hesitations around sharing about their heritage with the class.
      As a non-native American myself, I find that I have a need to explain my accent during the first few days of class to avoid having students distracted by the way I sound. I sometimes make it into a guessing game and then make sure that everybody in the classroom has an opportunity to share where they are from. In the end, as I bring up google maps on the Smartboad, it ends up being a lesson in geography and nothing more.

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    4. Diversity means understanding that each individual is unique,and recognizing our individual differences. And in fact, I have seen it how students learn and do math in my class. Some are descriptive the way they write answers and some are too short. I thought it could be due to many differences they have in. One main thing that circles me often is that it could be due to how they were taught math in middle schools and high schools. Students notice and learn some of these as they work in groups.
      Yes, our students have some difficulty in understanding my accent but they adjust to it quickly without making issues on it. I feel it is necessary to introduce myself on the 1st day in class. Students like my story and feel comfortable with it.
      Points made by Professors Ali Barimani, Kwame and Anna are well taken -I respect their views.
      -Ranjan Naik
      Mathematics

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    5. Interesting! I believe this is a more inclusive definition of diversity than originally suggested (by Anna): "Diversity means understanding that each individual is unique,and recognizing our individual differences." Thanks, Ranjan.

      Safro Kwame

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    6. Thanks Ranjan for your very insightful comment centered on diversity in learning. I'm curious to learn if your observations of your students' diversity in learning have led you to intentionally try to create diverse groups in the class?

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  3. Yes, diversity in earning is helping in my classrooms. One of the ways is to make diverse groups! Thanks.

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  4. Anna, your curiosity is understandable and you asked a fair question about my hesitation-- I just could not leave it unanswered. You mentioned that you are concerned about your accent to be an initial distraction. That is a valid reason for you to give that "geography lesson," to get that possible distraction for students out of the way and you seem to handle it nicely. I must say, despite my strange foreign accent (I wish it was even half as good as yours), I was never too concerned about it. I poke fun of it sometimes myself and ask my students or my children to help me correct it (impossible--do not ask me to pronounce edge of comfort—apparently my “edge” sounds like “age”). Now, much older, I am much more comfortable about that question. Believe it or not, this semester, in one of my classes I actually decided to say where I was originally from on the first day of class, but it did not feel right to me and brought my concerns back and I could not focus as I mentioned earlier.

    I am very proud of my 3000 year old heritage, but here is my issue: Telling students, right off the bat about one’s heritage (directly or indirectly by naming a country) could open up even more curiosity, depending on all things associated with that heritage/ country. If you happen to be of a particular faith for example which may be different than many other students’ (not necessary those who ask the question); it may make those students feel a little uneasy (biases could be there). I worry that could also pose a risk, leading to a longer term learning/ teaching obstacle during a course, particularly in courses such as computer programming which already brings some level of anxiety similar to math for students as Ranjan mentioned. At this point, my view in this case is to do what feels right to you in your class and trust your judgment in what works for you (my view can change as I learn more). I am generally fine to tell the students after several weeks ‘where I am from,‘ providing they still like to know, but almost all my students lose interest in that question and ask me about that Binary number conversion thing again!

    Ali Barimani (Signing out again—good thing no password needed other than that ROBOT checking :- )

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