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The following is a list of educator professional development tools, resources, and supports at MSU. This collection is just that, a sampling of offerings aimed at providing anyone who supports student success by contributing to the teaching and learning mission with a place to start when they're looking for ongoing opportunities for growth outside of the #iteachmsu Commons. 
 

SOIREE: The SOIREE (Spartan Online Instructional Readiness Educational Experience) workshop was created to help you better prepare to teach online. You will learn online pedagogical principles and develop proficiency with a variety of technologies. You can check out SOIREE for more information. (Fall programming TBD)
ASPIRE: The ASPIRE (Asynchronous Program for Instructional Readiness) workshop was created to help you better prepare to teach online. ASPIRE is entirely self-paced and will guide you through the processes and issues you'll need to address in order to develop an online version of your course. You can check out ASPIRE for more information, including enrolling in ASPIRE.
The College of Education’s Mini-MOOC on Remote Teaching: The Master of Arts in Educational Technology Program (MAET) at Michigan State University is honored to support the amazing work that educators are doing around the world as they transition to a range of remote teaching contexts. You can check out CED Mini-MOOC for more information, including enrolling in the Mini-MOOC.
#iteachmsu: You teach MSU. A wide educator community (faculty, TAs, ULAs, instructional designers, academic advisors, et al.) makes learning happen across MSU. But, on such a large campus, it can be difficult to fully recognize and leverage this community’s teaching and learning innovations. To address this challenge, the #iteachmsu Commons provides an educator-driven space for sharing teaching resources, connecting across educator networks, and growing teaching practice. #iteachmsu Commons content may be discipline-specific or transdisciplinary, but will always be anchored in teaching competency areas. You will find short posts, blog-like articles, curated playlists, and a campus-wide teaching and learning events calendar. We cultivate this commons across spaces. And through your engagement, we will continue to nurture a culture of teaching and learning across MSU and beyond.
Teaching and Learning Bootcamp: The Teaching and Learning Boot Camp is offered to bring together educators new to MSU from across campus to explore and exchange ideas about quality and inclusive teaching, as well as find community among the large group of people who are engaged in the important work of creating the best learning environments possible for our students. The focus is to assist educators in developing practical materials that are needed for immediate use in their teaching and to best prepare them for their courses and work with students. For more information, check out Teaching & Learning Bootcamp.
Accessible Learning Conference: For the last five years, the Accessible Learning Conference has provided a forum for students, educators, community members and leaders to connect, share knowledge, and foster innovation in accessibility in higher education. You can check out the Accessible Learning Conference for more information.
MSU Dialogues: MSU Dialogues is an intergroup dialogue program for students, faculty and staff at Michigan State. It is a face-to-face learning experience that brings together people from different identity groups over a sustained period of time to: understand our commonalities and differences; examine the nature and impact of societal inequalities; explore ways of working together toward greater equity and justice; prepare individuals to live, work, and lead in a complex, diverse stratified society. Go to MSU Dialogues on Race, Religion, or Gender for more information.
Course Review Process: Quality Matters (QM) is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. MSU purchased a campus subscription to the QM Rubric to assist faculty and instructors in creating quality courses that will improve online education and student learning. For more information on getting started with peer course review and Quality Matters at MSU, please visit MSU SpartanQM Webpage.
Alternative assessment/Online exam workshops: These workshops ran live in 2020 and provided information and examples of designing online exams and assessing students with alternative assessments beyond exams. Recordings of the workshops can be accessed asynchronously via #iteachmsu Commons. 
Learning Communities: Learning Communities provide safe and supportive spaces for complicated conversations about curriculum and pedagogy. Michigan State University has supported these initiatives since 2004 and continues to do so through a funding program administered by the Academic Advancement Network. Learning Communities at MSU are free to select their own topics and determine the structures that best support their inquiries. Accordingly, communities tend to vary greatly in their practices, interests, and agendas. All communities, however, share three things in common: they meet monthly across the academic year, explore important educational themes, and welcome all members of MSU’s instructional staff, regardless of rank or discipline. Please go to Learning Communities (AAN) or Learning Communities (#iteachmsu) for more information.
Cohort programs: Lilly Fellowship - The program is intended to advance the University’s continuing efforts to support excellence in teaching and learning. The program supports a cohort of six faculty or academic specialists at all ranks with at least five years of service to the institution. The Program also provides an opportunity for Fellows to expand relationships and collaborative engagement with peers and colleagues within their own college and across the University. The program is supported by matching grants from AAN and the Fellows’ departments and/or colleges. The goal is to develop academic leaders who will guide the University into the near future with regard to learning, teaching, and educational programming. Participants are expected to focus their work on a project of their choosing that will make a substantial contribution to a unit’s educational efforts. The unit can be a program or a department, but it can also be a college or a University unit or initiative. Using the proposed project as a foundation, participants will also learn leadership concepts and models, build specific skills, learn more about how the University works, and practice what they learn through the activities of their project and small group mentoring and coaching. Adams Academy - The Walter & Pauline Adams Academy of Instructional Excellence and Innovation is named in honor of former MSU President Walter Adams and his wife and MSU faculty member emerita, Pauline Adams, in recognition of their sustained commitments to promote instructional excellence. The program brings together a cross-disciplinary group of faculty and academic staff for a year-long fellowship focused on teaching and learning. Adams Academy Fellows explore the literature on effective university teaching and learning practices and consider how this robust body of research can be used to guide instructional decisions in the courses they teach. Participants learn from and contribute to a community of teacher-scholars committed to excellence in teaching and learning.
Technology and Tools: IT Services offers many different resources to support teaching and learning efforts. For more information, check out Tech and Tools workshops from IT.
MSU Libraries Workshops: MSU Library & Archives provides a series of events, seminars and workshops on a wide variety of topics including but not limited to: Mendeley, data management, 3D models, special collections, distinguished lectures, Zotero, geocoding and more. Go to MSU Library Workshops for more.
The Graduate Teaching Assistant Institute: The New Teaching Assistant Institute is a university-wide orientation for graduate teaching assistants, in partnership with academic and support units on campus. It is up to departments to decide to require or recommend that their students attend this program (*graduate students should ask their graduate program directors if they are unsure about participating). All attendees must register and are expected to attend the entire day. Go to Graduate Teaching Assistant Institute for more information.
Certification in College Teaching: The Michigan State University Certification in College Teaching program is an initiative of The Graduate School, in partnership with departments and colleges. The program is designed to help graduate students organize and develop their teaching experience in a systematic and thoughtful way. Program participants partake in a series of workshops, enroll in a graduate course devoted to teaching in higher education, engage in a mentored teaching experience with a faculty member and develop a teaching portfolio to highlight, organize and reflect upon their teaching experiences. Upon completion of the program, students receive an MSU Certificate in College Teaching and the accomplishment is noted on their transcript. Visit Certification in College Teaching for more information. 

Title: Decolonizing the ClassroomPresenter: Sarah Prior (Decolonizing the University Learning Community); Dustin Petty (Bailey Scholars Academic Advisor, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources); Sarah Prior (Bailey Scholars Program Director, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Sociology Department, College of Social Science); Harlow Loch (Accounting Department, Eli Broad College of Business); Leah Morin (MSU Library); Tracie Swiecki (WRA); Jennifer McCurdy (Center for Bioethics and Social Justice); Members of MSU’s Decolonizing the University Learning CommunityFormat: WorkshopDate: May 11th, 2023Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pmClick to registerDescription:Members of MSU’s Decolonizing the University Learning Community will lead a discussion about practical ways to decolonize higher education learning spaces by establishing norms, drafting syllabi, and creating curricula that foster the development of non-colonial identities, disrupt established power systems and hierarchies, explicitly recognize systems of oppression, honor and incorporate ways of knowing and learning rooted in multiple traditions, and foregrounding the diversity of extant academic discourse. Attendees will leave with practicable strategies to decolonize their learning spaces and sample syllabi language and examples of lesson plans used by members of the learning community at and beyond MSU.

This post provides an overview of inclusive pedagogy. This post is the first part of the Inclusive Pedagogy series and playlist.
Inclusive pedagogy is an umbrella term that encompasses many frameworks for teaching (e.g., critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogy, culturally responsive pedagogy, universal design for learning). Many of these are defined and overviewed in Emory University’s Inclusive Pedagogy Guide. Across these frameworks, all center intentional pedagogical strategies working to make education where “all learners feel welcomed, valued, and safe” (Hogan and Sathy 5), particularly working to remove systemic barriers that have harmed learners. 
It asks educators to consider, “Who might be left behind as a result of my practice? How can I invite those learners in?” (Hogan and Sathy 11). According to Cardon and Womack, inclusive pedagogy’s “approach is deeply contextual, personal, and political” (2). Within that, educators work to lifelong unlearning and learning as they raise critical consciousness to bias and systemic oppression while also supporting all learners equitably to feel agency, valued, and supported in their learning. 
When diversity, inclusion, and equity are centered in education, learners have enhanced learning, success and retention, and feelings of belonging (University of Michigan). Moreover, inclusive pedagogy increases learners’ critical thinking, collaboration, and sense of “mutuality and reciprocity” (University of Chicago).
Continue to read more about inclusive pedagogy in the next article, “Centering Intersectionality in Inclusive Pedagogy” or return to the Inclusive Pedagogy playlist.

The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation and educators discussed the title “What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching” By Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell, Mallory SoRelle (published by Routledge in 2021) on 11/2/23. This title is available in print at the MSU Main Library (Call Number: LB2331 .A34 2021) or as an eBook (via ProQuest EBook Central).
If you missed the discussion or want to continue your reflection, in addition to the great reflection questions incorporated in each chapter of the book, here are the prompts we used for our discussion:


The book defines inclusive instructors as the “literal embodiment of inclusion. Inclusive instructors generate spaces through their scholarship, service, mentorship, teaching, activism, and their very selves. To be an inclusive instructor is to critique and challenge traditions, systems and structures that were constructed to exclude and marginalize”.Is this aspirational or achievable? How / what would you add or change in the definition of an inclusive instructor? 


What are you currently doing to create inclusive and welcoming learning environments? How do you incorporate inclusivity in the beginning, middle, and end of the course? How do these things create and support educational equity and belonging?


The book talks about the importance of growth mindset in this work. That as humans we never "fully arrive". How do you (currently or aspire to) continue your learning and development journey in this area?


In your opinion, how can educators measure the effectiveness of their inclusive teaching practices? What indicators or assessment tools can help them gauge the impact of their efforts? The naming and framing of this work is important. How can/do you tell the story of your inclusive educator practices?


The group had a conversation rich with activities and resources. Here are a few of the items that came up:


Resources:



Microvalidations


Power Wheel


OFASD Learning Communities



Practices and ideas from the group:


smaller assessments give students feedback on a limited amount of knowledge and they’re less likely to forget everything after the midterm





removed all grades related to "participation" or attendance


1 min check outs (What rocked today? What sucked today?)


Break large exams into the smallest chunks for learning assessments… this allows educators to demonstrate flexibility in large courses


“made a mistake and I had total points of 105 - rather than correcting it, it gave students some room to miss deadlines on some of discussion forums”


small-group exams


“I have my quizzes open Monday and close Friday each week, and they can take as many times as they want while it is open - I still have students who don’t do them, so they will typically use the drops”


“I've been offering flexibility in assignment format. Granted, I teach small grad-level courses so this might not work for larger undergrad courses. But I give students the option to do a traditional academic paper, powerpoint presentation with recorded narrative, or if they have other ideas I ask them to meet with me to talk it through.”






If you’d like to nominate a title for a future CTLI book discussion and/or volunteer to co-facilitate a discussion, please reach out to Makena Neal at mneal@msu.eduCover-photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

This week, we are featuring Dr. Sandro Barros, an Assistant Professor of Multilingualism, Curriculum & Instruction in MSU’s Department of Teacher Education.  Dr. Barros was recognized via iteach.msu.edu's Thank and Educator Initiative! We encourage MSU community members to nominate high-impact Spartan educators (via our Thank an Educator form) regularly!
Read more about Dr. Barros’ perspectives below. #iteachmsu's questions are bolded below, followed by their responses!


You were recognized via the Thank an Educator Initiative. In one word, what does being an educator mean to you? Share with me what this word/quality looks like in your practice?
Whenever I think about what being an educator entails, I think about the Latin roots of the English word “education:” educare, which means 'to train or to mold' and educere, which means 'to draw out'. While the two meanings are quite different, they are both represented in the ethical activity of the educator. But to me, educere is more appealing because it suggests  a particular attention to intelligence as equal in human beings. We differ biologically and intellectually from one another. So, it is only natural to expect that our intelligence will manifest differently. 
Have your ideas on this changed over time? If so, how?
Thinking about the task of educators in connection with educere helps me deconstruct pernicious ideas around notions of intelligence as something that our system encourages as quantifiable. It also keeps me on my toes regarding how I must model to students the kind of deep listening society so sorely needs to heal itself as it deals with misinformation. 
Tell me more about your educational “setting.” This can include, but not limited to departmental affiliations, community connections, co-instructors, and students. (Aka, where do you work?)
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education. I teach graduate and undergraduate courses in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education program and advise dissertations on subjects related to the Educational Humanities, Multilingualism, and Curriculum Theory. I am also affiliated with the Second Language Studies program and Latin American and Caribbean studies.  
What is a challenge you experience in your educator role?
Although I have been teaching for decades, listening deeply and mindfully to students is something I struggle with to this day. I am not sure if the level of listening I am describing here is what you would consider a “best practice.” Teaching is both artful and directive, so it responds to different criteria depending on whom you ask and where you find yourself. All I know is that teaching is a mysterious activity done in communion and through communicative means. Accordingly, it can introduce new possibilities to see, think, and feel the world in different ways. 
Throughout my life, I’ve had great teachers who performed the type of attentive listening to which I aspire. Their listening afforded me the necessary space to think for myself out loud and work out problems without interferences that felt oppressive or traumatizing. If there’s a generative practice associated with teaching, listening is it, mainly as we think about how our listening interventions can bring out greater intellectual clarity. Having experienced from my teachers the effect of the power of listening deeply and authentically, I know such a skill can be cultivated as a habit. 
What are practices you utilize that help you feel successful as an educator?
I feel most “successful” when the relationships I build with students allow for transparency of commitments and expectations that will enable them to develop their intellectual curiosity as well as my own. As I mentioned earlier, deep listening is crucial. 
What topics or ideas about teaching and learning would you like to see discussed on the iteach.msu.edu platform? Why do you think this conversation is needed at msu? 
I would like us to engage in a serious conversation about mental health. And I would like this conversation to take place away from the toxic positivity discourse that highlights meritocratic perseverance. We struggle a lot, and we fail a lot. The kind of “personal conquest narrative” we see in education today is imbued with banal sentimentality and hope.  would do well to bear in mind that hope, in particular, without criticism, detracts us from epistemic and structural injustices. Being more open about our struggles and failures and being honest with ourselves and each other requires difficult conversations, and compassion is an essential practice to achieve that goal. But for that to occur, we need to develop a culture that activates our dispositions to cooperate instead of competing for limited resources. The toll that social inequalities spilling over higher education takes in our psyches is grave. To heal forward, we need to tend to our wounds collectively so that we may have the kinds of difficult conversations we need to; not despite our incommensurable differences but precisely because of them.
What are you looking forward to (or excited to be a part of) this semester?
I am teaching TE908 Sociocultural Foundations of English Learning. I am also involved in a project on transnational heritage language activism inside and outside school settings. I am interested in the mundane strategies people employ to demonstrate new models of linguistic citizenship within diasporic cultures, thereby challenging nationalist and essentialist views of language and culture. I am primarily concerned with the activism of teachers, artists, and public intellectuals around language and citizenship issues as forms of public pedagogy. I hope this work can give us some clues as to how to imagine more desirable solutions to problems caused by nationalism’s enduring presence in education—namely, how we approach minoritized students’ education vis-a-vis identity politics and strategic essentialism. My scholarly work has taught me that these options have not served marginalized students very well. In addition to a core course I teach at the undergraduate level, these activities keep me pretty busy, but I very much enjoy them.



Don't forget to celebrate individuals you see making a difference in teaching, learning, or student success at MSU with #iteachmsu's Thank an Educator initiative. You might just see them appear in the next feature!

Returning to Teaching Inclusively
Last week, Dr. Melissa McDaniels introduced inclusivity in the classroom, focusing on course curriculum design. This week we encourage you to extend this focus and think about how your identity influences the classroom environment.
 
This week, we want you to consider an alternative perspective about how you can make classrooms places where all students feel seen and heard. This perspective – that of “anti-oppression” – rather than inclusivity or diversity – will help you understand the role instructors play in creating classroom environments in which some students are oppressed and others are privileged. We recommend this lens because it focuses on the systems in which oppression operates rather than on differences themselves. Individuals differences can too often be used by educators (consciously or unconsciously) to privilege or oppress those they are teaching. Anti-oppression in the classroom begins with you. A later blog post addresses how student (rather than instructor) identities influence the classroom environment.
What is an Anti-Oppressive Classroom?
Anti-oppressive classrooms are those in which all forms of oppression are actively and intentionally challenged. Anti-oppressive classrooms attempt to directly address issues of power toward the fullest recognition of all individuals. As instructors, we have considerable power/influence over the classroom environment. How we assume that role and use that power will determine the boundaries and expectations for a non-oppressive classroom. As the instructor, you set the parameters. Your students will either be empowered or oppressed as a result of how you employ your identity in the classroom. This is why it’s important to begin the process towards an anti-oppressive classroom by reflecting on elements of your own identity.
Reflecting on Your Identity
Authentic self-reflection may not be easy, but is required if you commit to a non-oppressive classroom. This is a process…it involves steps. We can only start from who and where we are. To help you start your journey, we provide four questions to engage you in intentional thought towards becoming mindful of your identity.
Four Questions to Begin your Journey
(1) Are you aware of your identity statuses: sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, ability, religion, socioeconomic status, national status, language, etc.?
Answering this question is the first step toward a non-oppressive classroom in that you become aware of your identity statuses so that you can understand their meaning and how they intersect. (For instance, you’re not only Latino or White …you’re a [Latino or White], heterosexual, cisgender (insert other identity statuses here) male.)
(2) Have you acknowledged/do you understand what those identities mean to you? 
For instance, do you know what it means to be white racially if you identify as racially white? Answering this question allows you to understand who you are, so that you can begin to address the privileges (or lack thereof) associated with your identity statuses.
(3) Have you accepted the privileges (or lack thereof) that comes with your identity? 
Have you internalized why this matters? Answering this question allows you to deal with reactions you may have while accepting your identity statuses (such as defensiveness, guilt, powerlessness, responsibility, ownership), so that you can embody your identity in a true and authentic way.
(4) Do you actively engage your identity within your teaching? 
How do you situate or position yourself in the classroom? Now that you have become aware of, acknowledged and accepted your identity statuses, you must critically consider what actions you can take to address your privilege (or lack thereof) in the classroom.
We Are All Works in Progress
These issues are complex. Remember, you can only start from who and where you are. To create a non-oppressive classroom environment, it’s imperative that instructors commit to becoming conscious of their own identity and the impact identity has on teaching and learning.
 
Additional Resources
Case, K.A. (Ed.). (2013). Deconstructing privilege: Teaching and learning as allies in the classroom. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.
 
Johnson, A. G. (2006). Privilege, power, and difference. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill.
 
We’d like to know: Who and where are you on your identity journey? What have you done to engage your identities in the classroom? Share your experiences (both successes and challenges) with us in the comments section below or via social media using the hashtag “#iteachmsu.”
 

 
Originally posted at “Inside Teaching MSU” (site no longer live): Shellgren, M. & Mo, S. Cultivating Inclusive Classrooms: Being Mindful of Your Identity. inside teaching.grad.msu.edu

In our Spring 2015 blog post, we discussed anti-oppressive classrooms (learning environments where all forms of oppression are actively and intentionally challenged) and the importance of considering instructor identity (specifically that how you employ your identity can empower and/or oppress students). We use the word anti-oppression because it specifically targets unjust treatment in learning environments. We may often think of an example of oppression in the classroom as a blatant act, such as a student using overtly racist language. However, when you think of oppression in the classroom we want you to include subtle forms of oppression in your definition – such as students interrupting one another. We introduced a 4-step process of self-reflection on your identity, which we put forth as necessary to create and maintain anti-oppressive learning environments. For this blog, we want to continue the journey on inclusive, anti-oppressive learning environments, but with a focus on student identities.
Continuing to Teach Inclusively
Let’s begin with a brief thought experiment. Take a second to view the two photos above. Starting with the photo on the left, ask yourself how you view the students in this class? Do you view them as a homogenous group? A diverse group? As a note, we are intentionally not defining these two terms here to enable you to work through this thought experiment using your own conceptualizations of homogenous and diverse. Next,  think about how you would teach this class. Would your approach (curriculum, chosen pedagogy, assessment methods, other)  to teaching the class on the left differ from your approach to teaching the class pictured on the right?
 
In this blog, we will think about the reciprocal nature of student identities and classroom learning environments. ? In doing so, we will promote the idea that we must be mindful of all student identities (both that which is visible and that which is not) in order to create and maintain learning environments that are anti-oppressive. For instance, if you view students as homogenous, you may repeatedly use certain teaching methods or make certain assumptions which reinforce systems of power in your classroom (thus creating an oppressive learning environment). But in seeing students as a diverse group, teachers can begin to diversify their assumptions about learning and develop a repertoire of anti-oppressive teaching methods that can optimize the learning of all students.
Why Student Identity is Important: A Conversation with the Data
Does identity in the classroom matter to students? In our conversation with a second year undergraduate female in the sciences at MSU, the answer was overwhelmingly, “yes.”  She was able to provide us with a useful perspective, as identity is very rarely an object of study or discussion in the typical science class. As someone who conceptualizes identity as,“Who you see yourself as[…], how you feel about yourself, and where you think you fit in the world,” she told us that identity was rarely overtly talked about in her classes. When asked whether she thought identity mattered in the typical science classroom at MSU, she said, “…no. You’re much more of a number or a student ID to them than you are a person.” However, when asked whether she wished identity was overtly addressed, she replied, “Yes, definitely…I wish that you were able to build relationships and express who you were[…] I feel like when you’re just being talked at, the professor doesn’t understand who you are as a person and they don’t understand where you’re coming from, like what you’re good at, what you’re not good at.” She also reported that she thought identity “most definitely” matters for a life as a scientist and future scholar. As the conversation came to a close, she added that when identity is directly addressed in the classroom, you get to know fellow classmates and the instructor better, and that with increased awareness and understanding of the identities present in the classroom, different viewpoints and experiences were respected, leading to decreased prejudice.
 
It became clear as we spoke to the student that intentionally addressing identity in the classroom isn’t just an epistemological position that we hold as instructors – students also really want identity to be explicitly addressed and recognized and not be something that is rendered invisible in the classroom.
 
We learned that purposefully and directly addressing identity in the classroom can:

     increase student engagement and improve student performance
     build community
     accommodate student learning preferences
     actively engage all social identity statuses (such as gender, ethnicity, disability, etc.)
     and help members of the learning environment overcome prejudice

We found the insight of the student’s perspective on identity to be a pleasant surprise, but we were also astonished by the depth of her insight into how intentionally addressing identity can impact a learning environment, particularly given that she is not asked to think about identity in the classes she describes as typical of her major.
 
This student’s viewpoint, though one in a student body of over 50,000, also echoes the literature on student identity in the classroom. It has been reported, for instance, that students who had a firm understanding of their identities had higher self-esteem and lower levels of depression (A. Elion, K. Wang, R. Slaney, and B. French, 2012); stronger academic performances, such as higher GPA’s (T. Chavous, D. Hilkene Bernat, K.Schmeelk-Cone, C. Caldwell, L. Kohn-Wood and M. Zimmerman, 2003); and a reduction in negative social attitudes, such as sexism (K. Case, 2007). While these studies showed the benefits of actively engaging student identity in the classroom, they focused on one aspect of identity, such as race. If we commit to developing an anti-oppressive classroom and address all student identities, then imagine how great the potential outcomes could be.
 
Let’s return to our thought experiment and to the words homogenousand diverse. When we look at the picture on the left, we may think that group of students is homogenous because we view that group as having one identity, such as race (i.e. “All my students are white, therefore they constitute a homogenous group”). Comparatively, if we look at the picture on the right, we may view that group as diverse because we see that group as having different types of one identity, such as race (i.e. “Not all of my students are white, therefore they constitute a diverse group”). However, if we move beyond thinking of identity as representing one aspect of self, but rather all, we will come to realize that all groups of students in every learning environment are necessarily diverse due to the fact that they are made up of infinitely complex individuals, each of whom will differ on at least one individual difference/aspect. Thus, in order to develop anti-oppressive learning environments, we must define concepts like homogeneityand diversity as related to all identities and not one.
Reflecting on Student Identity
Now that we’ve thought about why students’ identities are important in the classroom, we can begin the process of reflecting on students’ identities. To help you start the journey, we provide four questions to engage you in intentional thought towards becoming mindful of your students’ identities. After each question, take time to think about what strategies you could use in your classroom, lab, etc. We offer a couple of potential strategies that could be utilized in developing an anti-oppressive learning environment.
Four Questions to Begin the Journey
(1) Are you aware of all student identity statuses: sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, ability, religion, socioeconomic status, national status, language, etc.?
Answering this question is the first step toward a non-oppressive classroom in that you become aware of the student identity statuses so that you can begin to understand their meaning and how they intersect.
Suggestions:

Administer a survey before the start of the term (where you could, for instance, allow students the opportunity to share about their cultural background, make you aware of preferred nicknames or pronouns, etc.)
Have students record how they pronounce their names for a pre-semester D2L assignment

(2) Have you acknowledged/do you understand what student identities mean to students? 
Answering this question allows you to understand who students are, so that you can begin to address the privileges (or lack thereof) associated with student identity statuses.
Suggestions:

Establish discussion guidelines with communication norms and expectations
Facilitate discussions and assignments    that allow students to relate course material to their experiences.

(3) Have you accepted the privileges (or lack thereof) that comes with student identities? 
Have you internalized why this matters? Answering this question allows you to deal with reactions you may have while accepting student identity statuses (such as defensiveness, guilt, powerlessness, responsibility, ownership), so that students can embody their identities in a true and authentic way.
Suggestions:

Recognize unfair treatment when it surfaces
Have open and honest dialogue with the students regarding privilege and oppression

(4) Do you actively engage student identities within your teaching?
How do you situate or position yourself in the classroom? Now that you have become aware of, acknowledged and accepted all student identity statuses, you must critically consider what actions you can take to address privilege (or lack thereof) in the classroom.
Suggestions:

Provide a variety of course material, references, and examples that reflects all of the student identities.
Use Identity-specific or targeted activities, like the Class Race.

For more strategies, see our workshop slides on the Inside Teaching website (coming soon!).
 
We are all works in progress
Teaching to who and where your students are is an essential part to anti-oppressive learning environments. Committing to this endeavor, however, takes constant reflection and revision. We hope this blog will help you begin the process.
 
Additional Resources
Barber, S. A., Ricker-Wilson, C. Kumashiro, K. K., Wong, P. L., and Richardson, E. (2004). Preparing teachers for anti-oppressive education: International movements. Teacher Education 15(3), 257-275.
 
Case, K. (2007). Raising Male Privilege Awareness and Reducing Sexism: An Evaluation of Diversity Courses. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 31:426
 
Chavous,T. Hilkene Bernat, D., Schmeelk-Cone, K., Caldwell, C., Kohn-Wood, L., and Zimmerman, M. (2003) Racial Identity and Academic Attainment among African American Adolescents. Child Development. Vol. 74, No. 4 (Jul. – Aug., 2003), pp. 1076-1090
 
Elion, A., Wang,K., Slaney, R., and French, H. (2012). “Perfectionism in African American Students: Relationship to Racial Identity, GPA, Self-Esteem, and Depression.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology18(2):118-127.
 
Kumashiro, K. K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational Research, 70(1), 25-53. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/docview/214114515?accountid=12598
 
Okun, B. F., Fried, J., and Okun, M. L. (1999). Understanding diversity: a learning-as-practice primer. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
 
Spradlin, L. K., & Parsons, R. D. (2008). Diversity matters: Understanding diversity in schools. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
 
Teaching Inclusively. (2005). Mathew L. Ouellett (Ed.). New Forums Press: Stillwater, OK.
 
We’d like to know: Where are you on this identity journey? What have you done to engage student identities in the classroom? Share your experiences (both successes and challenges) with us in the comments section below or engage with the discussion on Twitter by tweeting @InsideTeaching with the hashtag #iteachmsu.
 

 
Originally posted at “Inside Teaching MSU” (site no longer live): Mo, S. & Shellgren, M.. Teaching to Who and Where Students Are: Being Mindful of Student Identity. inside teaching.grad.msu.edu

This week, we are featuring Makena Neal (she/them), PhD, one of the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation's educational developers! Makena was recognized via iteach.msu.edu's Thank and Educator Initiative! We encourage MSU community members to nominate high-impact Spartan educators (via our Thank an Educator initiative) regularly!
Read more about Makena’s perspectives below. #iteachmsu's questions are bolded below, followed by their responses! 


You were recognized via the Thank an Educator Initiative. In one word, what does being an educator mean to you?  
Praxis 
What does this word/quality looks like in your practice? Have your ideas on this changed over time? If so how?
When I think about being an educator, I also think of being a lifelong learner. I really like the word “praxis” because it can describe so many things when it comes to teaching and learning. As an educator, I see my role as designing and facilitating learning experiences in ways that engage participants in reflection and meaning making. Praxis for me is moving beyond content, to the application of that new content in one's everyday life. Because each learner’s positionality and experiences are unique, the ways they could practically employ new information in their life is also unique. My role as an educator is to intentionally build space and opportunities for learners to engage in this practice. 
Praxis also connects directly to my on-going growth and development as an educator. As I seek out opportunities to learn new skills and information, interact with new individuals in the Educator Network, and collaborate across new spaces… I too must engage in a practice of reflection and meaning making. My own praxis as an educational developer means intentionally connecting new knowledge with what I already know, and using that knowledge collectively to engage in the practice of educator development. 
Here are some definitions of/ideas about praxis from other scholars that resonate with me:

Paulo Freire (1972, p. 52) described praxis as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it”.
Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt (2001, p.15) defines praxis as “The interdependence and integration – not separation – of theory and practice, research and development, thought and action.”
Five assumptions about knowledge and knowing that underpins praxis (White, 2007):

Knowledge/knowing is inherently social and collective
Knowledge/knowing is always highly contextual
Singular forms of knowledge/knowing (e.g. empirical or experiential) are insufficient for informing complex, holistic practices like [youth, family work and community work)
Different knowledges/ways of knowing are equally valid in particular contexts
Knowledge is made, not discovered. (p. 226)


My ideas around who “counts” as an educator and a knower, what teaching and learning is and where it can [and does] happen, have all shifted drastically over my years at MSU. I credit my learning and experiences in MSU’s Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program (both as an undergraduate and a graduate fellow) as a catalyst for the changes in my perspectives. Followed by my doctoral research in the Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education program at MSU (specifically the mentorship of my committee- Drs. Marilyn Amey, John Drikx, Steve Weiland, and Diane Doberneck) I am very proud of the work I now do to advocate for and serve a broadly defined and intentionally inclusive community of educators in my role. 
Tell us more about your educational “setting.” This can include, but not limited to departmental affiliations, community connections, co-instructors, and students. (AKA, where do you work?)
I am an educational developer with MSU’s Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI). I focus on efforts and initiatives that recenter teaching and learning for Spartans by advancing MSU’s culture toward recognition and support for all educators. I take a hands-on approach to collaboration, and enjoy working across a variety of units on campus. A lot of really wonderful educator work happens at MSU, and I am dedicated to advancing aligned educator development in our decentralized spaces by cultivating and continually engaging in MSU Educator Network.

Director of CTLI’s Graduate Fellowship experience with Dr. Ellie Louson
#iteachmsu Commons Champion and Coach
Founder of the Thank an Educator initiative
Lead on CTLI’s Affiliates program
Author of the Educator Development Competency Framework with Maddie Shellgren

What is a challenge you experience in your educator role?
There are two challenges that I’ve experienced as an educator, regardless of my formal role. 

Ground-level buy-in to the broad definition of educator… we can intentionally build offerings and lead experiences for an inclusive group of folx at MSU, but if people don’t identify with the “educator” nomenclature, they won’t show up.
Capacity… I always want to do more, but need to navigate my own professional development, my life’s other roles and responsibilities, and the scope of CTLI. 

Any particular “solutions” or “best practices” you’ve found that help you support student success at the university despite/in the face of this? What are practices you utilize that help you feel successful as an educator?
Working with individuals to highlight their impacts on the teaching and learning, outreach, and/or student success missions of the university WHILE engaging positional leadership in similar efforts can help. This is one of the reasons I’m very proud of the Thank an Educator Initiative, and connected #iteachmsu Educator Awards. We established the Thank an Educator initiative and are recognizing those individuals with the #iteachmsu Educator Awards to:1. help demonstrate the diversity of educators across roles on campus2. celebrate the amazing individuals we have shaping the learning experiences and success of students on our campus. 3. help individuals associate their name/work with “educator” and embrace their educator identity
What topics or ideas about teaching and learning would you like to see discussed on the iteach.msu.edu platform? Why do you think this conversation is needed at MSU?
I am always looking for ways to integrate core teaching & learning best practices into the ways we design and facilitate offerings and experiences. One example of this would be to not limit ourselves to “one-off” programs on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and  belonging (DEIJB)- but to integrate DEIJB into all our work and model some ways educators can think, apply, reflect DEIJB in their contexts. 
I would also encourage educators to use the iteach.msu.edu platform as a way to engage in on-going dialogue about your practices. The functionality of the platform exists to support educators in sharing ideas and resources, connecting across roles, and growing in their practice. It is a space built for educators, by educators- theoretically this is awesome, but practically this means the site can only be what people make it; can only serve as a place for resources and ideas if educators share their resources and ideas. What are you looking forward to (or excited to be a part of) next semester?
The 2023-24 academic year will be the first full year with a fully established CTLI. I’m very excited to be moving into a year of fully articulated core offerings and experiences with my colleagues. All of this along with a new CTLI Director and a physical space in the MSU Library!
References:
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin.
White, J. (2007). Knowing, Doing and Being in Context: A Praxis-oriented Approach to Child and Youth Care. Child & Youth Care Forum, 36(5), 225-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-007-9043-1  
Zuber-Skerritt, O. (2001). Action learning and action research: paradigm, praxis and programs. In S. Sankara, B. Dick, & R. Passfield (Eds.), Effective change management through action research and action learning: Concepts, perspectives, processes and applications (pp. 1-20). Southern Cross University Press, Lismore, Australia. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/23a6/89ad465ddfe212d08e4db3becca58bdbf784.pdf  

Don't forget to celebrate individuals you see making a difference in teaching, learning, or student success at MSU with #iteachmsu's Thank an Educator initiative. You might just see them appear in the next feature!