Educators have long considered how best to meet the range of students in their classrooms. Any given college classroom may contain students from all walks of life and with an array of experiences and expectations, and equity-minded educators are faced with the challenge of ensuring that everyone gets a fair shake, and that the differences are celebrated.
“As college instructors, we want all our students to succeed and enjoy the benefits of education,” said Amelia Koford, an associate professor and the assistant director of TLU’s Blumberg Memorial Library. “If we see that students from historically marginalized groups are consistently struggling in our classes, we want to learn everything we can about what barriers they are facing and how we can reduce those barriers.”
That’s the inspiration behind a new book that Koford contributed to and edited. Inclusive Pedagogy in Practice: Perspectives from Equity-Minded College Educators, released this April, offers a collection of chapters written by a handful of educators with insight and inspiration for teachers who want to make their classrooms equitable places where all feel included and where learning can flourish. Among the book’s authors are members of the Texas Lutheran University faculty, including Michael Czuchry, Leslie Flores, Tiffiny Sia, Rodrick Shao, Christopher Bollinger, and Koford—the last two of whom also served as editors for the book.
“Inclusive teaching interventions often support multiple groups of students, not just those from a particular group,” said Koford. “Some examples of interventions are focusing on relationship-building, articulating expectations that often go unspoken, helping students make connections between their lives and course content, and integrating diverse perspectives into the curriculum.”
Koford said the idea to write the book came about through TLU’s Center for Teaching and Learning. “Faculty and staff who attended Center for Teaching and Learning events saw the need to better support their students from traditionally marginalized groups, but they weren’t sure what changes they could make to their assignments or teaching practices to support that goal.”
Koford went on to say that many of the teachers had already begun making impactful changes—but they wanted to do more. “We wanted to put together an edited collection to celebrate the things people were already doing and emphasize the idea that inclusive teaching isn’t about following a cookie-cutter formula, but instead is something that happens through reflection, in context, and in community. Inclusive instructors don’t all do the same things—they teach in nuanced, idiosyncratic ways that work in their particular contexts.”
Chapter authors were encouraged to include rich, narrative descriptions of their approaches and their journeys. The book is an open-access publication—meaning it is free for anyone around the world to download and access.
It can be downloaded by following this link: Inclusive Pedagogy in Practice - Center for Engaged Learning