Personal Context
In my Organizational Behavioural course we talk about self-concept (an individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations). Students are asked to describe themselves in as many ways as possible and I participate in this exercise with them. I describe myself as female, Caucasian, a daughter, sister, wife, hr professional, professor, animal lover, hiker/fitness enthusiast, avid reader, and life-long learner. All of these labels not only describe who I am, but who I am not. I am not male, religious, a visible minority or a person with exceptionalities. I am the product of my history and life experiences as is everyone else. How then, as an educator, can I connect with or reach out to individuals with histories so different from my own?
I think to make connections and enhance inclusivity in the classroom you have to recognize that people are unique and this uniqueness is valuable and to be respected. If I had to boil down my approach to diversity in the classroom to one word it would be kindness. I strive to teach with kindness. The more approachable I am and the more that I take efforts to understand my students’ perspectives and histories, the more we both can benefit from the learning environment. To this end I begin every class with an online student questionnaire in an effort to learn more about my students and uncover if there is anything I can do to enhance their learning experience. I also need to share with my students what my experience is and how this experience has shaped the way that I view HR subject matter. When I illustrate concepts/theories with events from my own HR background, I point out that my HR experience is based on working in both Canada and the US with small to mid-size private organizations – this is unique to me – there is a wealth of HR knowledge out there built on other experiences and I encourage them to seek out and learn from as many different perspectives as possible. More information from credible and varied sources is always ideal. I hope that by being approachable and making an effort to uncover my students’ backgrounds, as well as communicating my own personal history and acknowledging that my perspectives are not the “right” or only perspectives that matter, I am creating an inclusive learning environment.
Although I feel that I am making strides to create an inclusive environment, when taking the Diversity in Teaching and Learning course, I realized just how broad a topic diversity actually is and how much more I can do to improve classroom inclusivity. During this course we were asked to work in groups and prepare a presentation on a topic of our choosing - my group chose Gender. Below please find the deck from our presentation.
I think to make connections and enhance inclusivity in the classroom you have to recognize that people are unique and this uniqueness is valuable and to be respected. If I had to boil down my approach to diversity in the classroom to one word it would be kindness. I strive to teach with kindness. The more approachable I am and the more that I take efforts to understand my students’ perspectives and histories, the more we both can benefit from the learning environment. To this end I begin every class with an online student questionnaire in an effort to learn more about my students and uncover if there is anything I can do to enhance their learning experience. I also need to share with my students what my experience is and how this experience has shaped the way that I view HR subject matter. When I illustrate concepts/theories with events from my own HR background, I point out that my HR experience is based on working in both Canada and the US with small to mid-size private organizations – this is unique to me – there is a wealth of HR knowledge out there built on other experiences and I encourage them to seek out and learn from as many different perspectives as possible. More information from credible and varied sources is always ideal. I hope that by being approachable and making an effort to uncover my students’ backgrounds, as well as communicating my own personal history and acknowledging that my perspectives are not the “right” or only perspectives that matter, I am creating an inclusive learning environment.
Although I feel that I am making strides to create an inclusive environment, when taking the Diversity in Teaching and Learning course, I realized just how broad a topic diversity actually is and how much more I can do to improve classroom inclusivity. During this course we were asked to work in groups and prepare a presentation on a topic of our choosing - my group chose Gender. Below please find the deck from our presentation.