Proactive Preparation for Challenging Moments

Build Community and Create an Inclusive Learning Environment

The CTLT has created a page on Building Community and Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment that can help you prepare an environment where students can engage in difficult learning moments together. Consider the included best practices, including ways to connect with your students, learn about your students and their challenges, connect students to each other, and assure students that you are there to support their learning and success. Select and incorporate these practices early in the term before difficult moments arise so that you will be prepared when they do. 

Provide Community Expectations 

Distribute or work with your students to co-create a set of community expectations that outline recommendations for how to enact Cal Poly’s principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion and promote Cal Poly’s values of love, empathy, and respect. 

• Include a short syllabus statement outlining your expectations for how students will support the classroom community. You can find examples of relevant syllabi statements related to inclusion, classroom climate, and other statements on the CTLT’s Syllabus Statements webpage. 
• Let students know they should contact you directly if a problem arises about which you may need to be made aware. Let students know when and how they should contact you if a problem arises.
• Additional Resources. For additional guidelines and considerations for writing your guidelines in the future, see the Guidelines for Classroom Interactions from the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. If you design guidelines for courses with a social justice focus, you may find Sensoy and DiAngelo’s (2014) article Respect Differences? Challenging the Common Guidelines in Social Justice Education helpful in your work. 

Communicate to Students the Importance of an Inclusive Classroom Climate

Share with your students your belief in the importance of creating an inclusive classroom climate that supports all students and their learning. You can do this through a syllabus statement or an in-class conversation.  

• Write a diversity, equity, and inclusion syllabus statement. The CTLT’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Syllabus Statements page provides questions and links to sample statements to help you develop a short statement. You may also want to draw from the statements created in your college or department. For example, the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) provides a CLA diversity statement and sample syllabus statements for several topics, including one on classroom climate available at Diversity in the College of Liberal Arts. The College of Science and Mathematics Committee for Inclusion and Equity provides specific commitments to values around inclusion and equity. Many other colleges and departments also have statements that can provide language for incorporation into your syllabus.

Model Inclusive Language

Students may intentionally or unintentionally use language that has a harmful impact on other students and the classroom climate. To contribute to an inclusive classroom environment, it is essential to model the type of language and behaviors you would like students to use. 

• Use Inclusive Language. Take the time to learn inclusive language, particularly to understand why individuals or identity groups refer to themselves in the way they do. Also, be aware that language is fluid, not fixed, and be prepared to adjust it whenever you learn new terms. 
• Correct yourself when you make a mistake. We all make mistakes sometimes; what is essential is how we respond. Try to respond with authenticity and grace when you make a mistake rather than with defensiveness. Sometimes, this may mean returning to something you said or happened in class and explaining why you wish you had acted or spoken differently. Students will appreciate you modeling how to respond and it will likely make them more comfortable to correct themselves, should they also make a mistake. If a student gives you feedback that your language or actions are harmful, see this feedback as a gift and an opportunity to support the student. Begin by thanking the student for helping you to become aware of the impact of your actions, then, if appropriate, make an open commitment about how you will seek to change your behavior in the future. 

Plan Ahead for Challenging Conversations

For classroom discussions on difficult, controversial, or emotionally complex topics it is important to plan ahead and incorporate best practices to ensure a productive learning environment. University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching offers Guidelines for Discussing Difficult or High-Stakes Topics that may be helpful to you in planning. For example, in planned discussions you will want to ensure that you:

• Identify a clear purpose for the discussion and tie it to key learning objectives for the course. This will allow you to connect back to the purpose to keep the conversation on track. 
• Provide students with a shared reference point from which to enter the discussion. This offers a common basis for understanding and may come in the form of a short lecture, reading, other media, or related activity. This shared reference point can provide focus for the conversation and ensure that all students are operating from the knowledge they are exposed to together. 
• Plan the framework and flow of the discussion. Structuring the conversation in a way that is transparent to you and to the students can keep the conversation in a place productive learning. Ensure that part of your plan includes opportunities to include multiple voices (such as group work) and doesn’t suggest any student is obligated to speak on behalf of their identity group (tokenizing). 
• Facilitate with purpose. Be an active facilitator who maintains the focus of the conversation and consistently draws students back to the shared reference point and objective. 

These suggestions and others in the Guidelines for Discussing Difficult or High-Stakes Topics will set you up for success when you have the opportunity to plan in advance. However, you should also be prepared that difficult moments may arise spontaneously. When this happens, always acknowledge what has been said. Next, you must decide whether to discuss the topic as a class or not. 

• If you decide to discuss the topic with the class, it may be because the topic is related to the course objectives, to the discipline, or to student needs. If it is, you can decide whether it is appropriate to continue the conversation in the moment or to put it off to a later date. To make this decision, you may consider whether you have sufficient structure in place to have the conversation—for example, do you have a clear purpose, a shared reference point, and enough of a framework for discussion to continue now? If these important aspects are not in place, you can let your students know and then plan for a later date to have the conversation when more structure can be put in place.
• If you decide not to discuss the topic, it may be because the topic is not related to the course objectives, to the discipline, or to student needs, even though it may be an important conversation to have elsewhere. You can state your reasons for not proceeding, acknowledge students’ feelings, and connect students to supportive resources, if needed.  

Protect Your Privacy and Personal Information 

We advise against sharing your personal email, address, or cell phone number with your students. It may be tempting to share additional personal information from a place of compassion; however, it is more secure to consider how you can connect with your students without revealing private contact information. Be aware that once a student has your personal contact information, they may be able to uncover additional information about you online by finding personal accounts or other internet data connected to your personal identifying information. You can safely communicate with students through the Cal Poly email system, through the Learning Management System (Canvas), or through a variety of other Cal Poly provided technological tools.