Developing teaching methods that increase participation in discussion is one general aspect of good pedagogy. However, studies show that women and blacks frequently feel alienated from discussions in philosophy classrooms. Below are resources for teaching methods and strategies you can implement to structure more inclusive discussions and classrooms.
Quick Tips for Improving your Classroom:
Other Resources:
The Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University:
This resource contains a number of teaching strategies as well as research concerning particular ways in which classrooms can be made more inclusive. The strategies and research are broken down by category, including: Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity; Gender Issues; Sexual Orientation; and Disabilities.
Managing Hot Moments in The Classroom
by Lee Warren, Derek Bok Center
This article details ways of dealing with the inevitably difficult moments in teaching, when someone says something inflammatory. It details methods for turning these difficult moments into learning opportunities for students.
Rules for a philosophy classroom:
by Ned Markosian
Setting up rules for discussion can provide structure as well as facilitate better student contributions, they can also provide students with ways of relating to each other in productive ways.
Criticising Kindly:
This article, by Maria Popova, details Daniel Dennett’s four rules for criticizing kindly from Intuition Pumps and Other Thinking Tools. Setting up a good set of guidelines for how to criticise the ideas of others provides students with a structure for critique and criticism that is productive, by inviting the individual criticised to respond as a collaborator. This also advances the discussion in philosophically useful ways.
Complete Turn Taking:
In this blog post, Rachel McKinnon describes a group activity wherein students are broken into groups, and pose questions for discussion to each other. This activity emphasizes that all students speak, listen, and respond to each other. It can be a good way to encourage quiet students to participate in a low stress setting.
The Chilly Climate: How Men and Women are Treated Differently in Classrooms and at Work:
There is a wide body of research which shows that men speak more frequently and for longer periods of time in mixed-gender environments. This web resource contains a number of articles that will be of interest to anyone looking to ensure that their pedagogical techniques are not inadvertently creating a chilly climate (or if you’re just looking to ‘warm up’ your classroom). In particular, there are tips for what to do as an instructor, as well as guidelines for student behavior that you may consider implementing.
Faculty Teaching Excellence Program at University of Colorado:
This inclusive resource includes a number of documents concerning the best practices for teaching to diverse classrooms. Of particular interest, “Fostering Diversity in the Classroom: Teaching by Discussion” by Ron Billingsly provides 14 ‘tips’ for developing discussions in diverse classrooms, as well as a set of recommended readings the include studies on teaching to diverse students.
Quick Tips for Improving your Classroom:
- DO: Be self-aware. Pay attention to your own patterns in developing classroom examples and thought experiments. Also, try to be aware of who you call on, who you praise, and who you criticize: are you praising and criticizing all students in the same way? Be aware of the way in which you generate student groups for small discussion.
- DO: Wait a few seconds for more hands to raise after asking questions, rather than calling on the first person with their hand up.
- DO: Use structured discussions as a means of encouraging more students to participate. This can be done either with specific group exercises, or with the whole class. Some suggestions for doing this include: having a maximal amount of times a student may contribute to class, having everyone participate in some way (such as reading a pre-written discussion question), and having students come to class with prepared writing to read aloud.
- DO: Ensure that you treat students as individuals, rather than as representatives of some larger group (for instance, don’t expect women to speak on behalf of all women).
- DO: Ensure that you work together with students to create classroom spaces that are accessible for them and their learning needs.
- DO: Teach students (both formally and via modeling behavior) how to have productive discussions with each other. This can be done by teaching them how to criticize each other, as well as ensuring that they respond to each other’s contribution. This includes teaching students to listen to each other--be sure to point out when someone’s contribution is a re-statement of a contribution made previously.
- DO: Ask quiet students follow up questions on their contributions. If a student makes a short contribution, ask them to expand on it in some way.
- DO: Learn how to pronounce student names and preferred gender pronouns.
Other Resources:
The Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University:
This resource contains a number of teaching strategies as well as research concerning particular ways in which classrooms can be made more inclusive. The strategies and research are broken down by category, including: Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity; Gender Issues; Sexual Orientation; and Disabilities.
Managing Hot Moments in The Classroom
by Lee Warren, Derek Bok Center
This article details ways of dealing with the inevitably difficult moments in teaching, when someone says something inflammatory. It details methods for turning these difficult moments into learning opportunities for students.
Rules for a philosophy classroom:
by Ned Markosian
Setting up rules for discussion can provide structure as well as facilitate better student contributions, they can also provide students with ways of relating to each other in productive ways.
Criticising Kindly:
This article, by Maria Popova, details Daniel Dennett’s four rules for criticizing kindly from Intuition Pumps and Other Thinking Tools. Setting up a good set of guidelines for how to criticise the ideas of others provides students with a structure for critique and criticism that is productive, by inviting the individual criticised to respond as a collaborator. This also advances the discussion in philosophically useful ways.
Complete Turn Taking:
In this blog post, Rachel McKinnon describes a group activity wherein students are broken into groups, and pose questions for discussion to each other. This activity emphasizes that all students speak, listen, and respond to each other. It can be a good way to encourage quiet students to participate in a low stress setting.
The Chilly Climate: How Men and Women are Treated Differently in Classrooms and at Work:
There is a wide body of research which shows that men speak more frequently and for longer periods of time in mixed-gender environments. This web resource contains a number of articles that will be of interest to anyone looking to ensure that their pedagogical techniques are not inadvertently creating a chilly climate (or if you’re just looking to ‘warm up’ your classroom). In particular, there are tips for what to do as an instructor, as well as guidelines for student behavior that you may consider implementing.
Faculty Teaching Excellence Program at University of Colorado:
This inclusive resource includes a number of documents concerning the best practices for teaching to diverse classrooms. Of particular interest, “Fostering Diversity in the Classroom: Teaching by Discussion” by Ron Billingsly provides 14 ‘tips’ for developing discussions in diverse classrooms, as well as a set of recommended readings the include studies on teaching to diverse students.