Gary Weissmann and Roberto Ibarra Ways to Change Your Teaching Activities to Help Our Diverse Student Body to Thrive Gary Weissmann and Roberto Ibarra University of New Mexico Introduce selves but note that they don’t introduce each other….

Our Path for the Next Three Days Day 1: Who am I and how does that influence my teaching? Cultural Autobiography – foundational for next days. Day 2: Who are my students? Where are they coming from? Multicontext model of diversity Day 3: My classroom mode: How can I enhance full participation from a diverse group of students? Applying the Multicontext model

What is diversity? From InTeGrate, Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences Workshop: “We define diversity broadly including ethnic and minority groups, women, people with disabilities, veterans, people of low socieoeconomic status, LGBT and other groups that are not represented in the geosciences in proportion to their abundance in society.” We add age, nationality, and religion. The emphasis is differences in people! http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/broaden_access/synthesis.html

Dimensions of Diversity Structural – Compliance oriented – evaluating the statistics to see if we come close to matching the general population. Multicultural – Infusing diversity via cultural customs or gender issues into our institutions; Valuing underrepresented populations to recruit and retain others; awareness of multicultural/gender issues to help change institutional culture. Contextual – A change in the institutional culture to value different ways of knowing. I don’t have your (Roberto) slides that you had on dimensions of diversity … I liked those better than this one….can you send them to me?

Dimensions of Diversity Structural – Compliance oriented – evaluating the statistics to see if we come close to matching the general population. Multicultural – Infusing diversity via cultural customs or gender issues into our institutions; Valuing underrepresented populations to recruit and retain others; awareness of multicultural/gender issues to help change institutional culture. Contextual – A change in the institutional culture to value different ways of knowing. * we will not be addressing social justice issues here.

A Note About Other Diversity Approaches Many other resources are out there on Diversity E.g., SERC website, InTeGrate, etc. Please attend Panel Discussion, Tuesday afternoon.

Our Path for the Next Three Days Day 1: Who am I and how does that influence my teaching? Cultural Autobiography – foundational for next days. Day 2: Who are my students? Where are they coming from? Multicontext model of diversity Day 3: My classroom mode: How can I enhance full participation from a diverse group of students? Applying the Multicontext model

Starting with the Self: The Cultural Autobiography Exercise In this exercise, we will begin to exam how your cultural background influences your teaching, research, and expectations in your academic career. Identities: We each have many identities including those we were born as (e.g., gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, body type) and those we were born into and learn (e.g., culture, religion or spirituality, socioeconomic class, nationality, norms of our families). Each identity influences who we are and how we experience, interpret, and do everything. * This exercise is described in Chávez and Longerbeam 2016. For more details, see their description in Appendix A.

Place one of your identities in each of the outer circles Identities of the Self Place one of your identities in each of the outer circles ME!!!! Male, anglo, Jewish, Rocky Mountain kid, hiker/camper, geologist…..

Cultural Autobiography Each of our identities has within it an “identity culture” made up of values, assumptions, beliefs and behaviors. Culture, being one of your identities, has these concepts associated with it. By reflecting deeply and analyzing your cultural background, you can get a better sense of how personal values/traits originating in your culture manifest in your daily life (personal and professional). This self-reflection can also offer insights, empathy, and greater effectiveness for living, learning, and working with others from similar and different cultures and backgrounds.

University of New Mexico From Alicia F. Chávez University of New Mexico

Cultural Autobiography Introduction: Describe your culture. Select one that you were born into and have lived within for all or most of your life. Identify, Describe and Illustrate 3-5 major values or traits originating from your culture. ACTIVITY 1 (9-10am): Describe each value or trait – tell stories or give examples to illustrate how/why this value/trait is important to you and how it manifests in your behavior/life. ACTIVITY 2 (10:15-11am): Reflect and write about how this value/trait might show up in your teaching, research, and professional life. Focus on how it may be a strength or limitation. Reflect on ways these traits/values might affect the way you interpret and work with others. Summarize by discussing some ways understanding this identity can help you in your career.

Ways to Teach Those Who Hold a Different Value or Trait Manifestations in My Teaching Practice Value or Trait Assumption or Belief Underlying This Value or Trait From Chávez and Longerbeam, 2016

Cultural Self-Awareness Worksheet Cultural Identity: Value: Value: Value: Origin: Assumptions: Current Reinforcer: Origin: Assumptions: Current Reinforcer: Origin: Assumptions: Current Reinforcer: Behavior: Behavior: Behavior: Cultural Self Awareness Worksheet developed by Alicia Fedelina Chávez, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy, University of New Mexico

Cultural Autobiography – Discussion How do you identify yourself outside your normal environmental conditions?

Activity 3: LC/MC Worksheet Complete the characteristics table on two levels: The Individual Level: Quickly chose between the two parallel statements in each column that best characterizes you as you work or study within the context of the most familiar educational setting (e.g., department, college, campus, etc) but not at home or other non-academic communities, placing your personal values somewhere on the spectrum.

Change to scaled

Activity 3: LC/MC One Page Worksheet Complete the characteristics table on two levels: The Institutional Level: Now, using a different color or marking, do the same but select the most appropriate statement or characteristic that best describes the institution in that same educational setting. Please label which is you and which is the organization on the top of your page.

Activity 3: LC/MC Worksheet When you are finished, please turn these in to us. Be sure your name is on the form (we need that for selecting groups tomorrow) AND that you label which is you and which is the organization.

THANKS! SEE YOU TOMORROW! Day 1 Road Check When you are finished, please go to the Day 1 Road Check at the bottom of the Program Schedule page. Your comments will help us make any needed adjustments tomorrow. THANKS! SEE YOU TOMORROW! I think I lost a slide from RI’s slide set here….ugh