Statement of Diversity
I am committed to creating an inclusive and friendly classroom for all my students. An instructor cultivates an inclusive classroom setting by recognizing and building the learning environment around the diversity of students who (might) enter her classroom. Inclusive pedagogy means meeting students where they are at academically and with other events or situations in their lives; the primary aim is to promote the most learning for all the students in the classroom. Examples of inclusive pedagogical concerns include different levels of knowledge about the U.S. healthcare system for international students in a bioethics course, the lack of first-person experiences of racism for the non-Hispanic white students in a philosophy of race and racism course, and the impact on socially anxious students of the emphasis in upper-level philosophy courses on oral communication as the mode of course participation. Competent inclusive pedagogical strategies negotiate the differences between students in the class; in some cases, this may mean incorporating strategies that promote learning for all students despite these differences and in other cases it may mean making the differences explicit while creating an inviting environment for those students with relevant life experiences to teach their peers.
My philosophical and empirical research on explanations for the underrepresentation of various groups across disciplines (especially philosophy) has influenced the ways that I teach my own courses. As an instructor, I promote the message that success in philosophy requires skills and strategies that can be developed through practice. At the beginning of my courses, I explain that I aim to improve students’ skills as defined by the course goals, but that students should also have their own personal academic goals for the course. Each student is asked to write on an index card two academic goals (at least one course goal and at least one personal goal) that they will focus on for the term and put the card in an envelope. Periodically throughout the course I hand back their envelopes and ask students to write their reflections upon their progress according to their two goals so far and strategize how they might improve their progress in the future. I do so even on the last day of the course because, as I tell the students, each of the skills should transfer outside of the context of this particular course. Making students responsible for their own learning objectives allows them to connect personally with the course and to set goals that are sensitive to their own academic struggles. For example, many students set goals for overcoming their social anxiety by learning to orally participate more frequently in their courses. Other students struggle with completing all readings and smaller assignments across their courses due to factors such as chronic illness or jobs; these students sometimes set goals to stay caught up with weekly requirements in the course.
This self-reflection communicates to students that philosophy does not require innate brilliance but rather continued practice. For example, I scaffold the philosophy paper by requiring different assignments designed to slowly build students’ work into the term paper every few weeks over the entire term: a few sentences proposing a topic, an annotated bibliography of sources, a thesis statement, an outline, and a draft of the paper. This demonstrates for students how to successfully complete a term long project on their own terms while ensuring they have the relevant skill base necessary to perform higher-level tasks such as writing a philosophy paper.
My philosophical and empirical research on explanations for the underrepresentation of various groups across disciplines (especially philosophy) has influenced the ways that I teach my own courses. As an instructor, I promote the message that success in philosophy requires skills and strategies that can be developed through practice. At the beginning of my courses, I explain that I aim to improve students’ skills as defined by the course goals, but that students should also have their own personal academic goals for the course. Each student is asked to write on an index card two academic goals (at least one course goal and at least one personal goal) that they will focus on for the term and put the card in an envelope. Periodically throughout the course I hand back their envelopes and ask students to write their reflections upon their progress according to their two goals so far and strategize how they might improve their progress in the future. I do so even on the last day of the course because, as I tell the students, each of the skills should transfer outside of the context of this particular course. Making students responsible for their own learning objectives allows them to connect personally with the course and to set goals that are sensitive to their own academic struggles. For example, many students set goals for overcoming their social anxiety by learning to orally participate more frequently in their courses. Other students struggle with completing all readings and smaller assignments across their courses due to factors such as chronic illness or jobs; these students sometimes set goals to stay caught up with weekly requirements in the course.
This self-reflection communicates to students that philosophy does not require innate brilliance but rather continued practice. For example, I scaffold the philosophy paper by requiring different assignments designed to slowly build students’ work into the term paper every few weeks over the entire term: a few sentences proposing a topic, an annotated bibliography of sources, a thesis statement, an outline, and a draft of the paper. This demonstrates for students how to successfully complete a term long project on their own terms while ensuring they have the relevant skill base necessary to perform higher-level tasks such as writing a philosophy paper.
Inclusive Pedagogy Instruction and Resources
I also help my peers in Pittsburgh reflect upon their own teaching strategies and how to incorporate inclusive practices in future courses. I have also been invited to co-lead (with Liam Kofi Bright) the inclusive pedagogy session of the graduate student instructor training courses for both the University of Pittsburgh Department of Philosophy (Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016) and the University of Pittsburgh Department of History and Philosophy of Science (Spring 2016). In these sessions we cover how to improve minorities’ and women’s sense of belonging in the classroom, why and how to diversify course syllabi, why and how to anonymize grading, and among other topics. A revised version of our lesson plan and handout can be found here: [insert link] . I have also served as a local organizer (with Nora Boyd) for the American Association of Philosophy Teacher one-day workshop at Pitt, which focused on inclusive pedagogy. Nora and I organized all financial and hosting aspects of the workshop as well as conferencing with the facilitators about pedagogical methods demonstrated through their sessions. For academic year 2017-2018, I have been selected by the HPS faculty to serve as the HPS TF/TA Mentor.
In addition to sharing my work and resources in inclusive pedagogy with the Pittsburgh community, I have created a number of resources for the wider philosophical community on inclusive pedagogy. I helped create the Best Practices for the Inclusive Philosophy Classroom website for the Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) organization. Specifically, I reviewed empirical research on the underrepresentation of students in philosophy and other disciplines to provide an annotated bibliography on the "Empirical Research" page, which you can find here: http://phildiversity.weebly.com. Another resource I created, a handout for improving the philosophy classroom climate for underrepresented groups, can be found here (links to my academia.edu page).
I also teach other philosophers about best inclusive practices based on my own research and research from other disciplines. I have been invited to present on these topics at the University of North Carolina’s Workshop on the Recruitment and Retention of Female Undergraduates in Philosophy (April 2014) and at the Minorities and Philosophy chapter at Princeton University’s Conference on Implicit Bias/Stereotype Threat and Pedagogy (October 2016). For example, at Princeton I led a discussion on aligning course goals, assessment of student participation, and inclusivity concerns. I argued that the traditional method of marking participation for quantity and quality of in-class comments is often not well aligned with course goals and may conflict with goals of inclusivity. Instead, I argued that if instructors’ course goals are to cultivate engagement and thoughtfulness about course content, a better assessment of learning would give credit for students’ written and out-of-class participation too.
In addition to sharing my work and resources in inclusive pedagogy with the Pittsburgh community, I have created a number of resources for the wider philosophical community on inclusive pedagogy. I helped create the Best Practices for the Inclusive Philosophy Classroom website for the Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) organization. Specifically, I reviewed empirical research on the underrepresentation of students in philosophy and other disciplines to provide an annotated bibliography on the "Empirical Research" page, which you can find here: http://phildiversity.weebly.com. Another resource I created, a handout for improving the philosophy classroom climate for underrepresented groups, can be found here (links to my academia.edu page).
I also teach other philosophers about best inclusive practices based on my own research and research from other disciplines. I have been invited to present on these topics at the University of North Carolina’s Workshop on the Recruitment and Retention of Female Undergraduates in Philosophy (April 2014) and at the Minorities and Philosophy chapter at Princeton University’s Conference on Implicit Bias/Stereotype Threat and Pedagogy (October 2016). For example, at Princeton I led a discussion on aligning course goals, assessment of student participation, and inclusivity concerns. I argued that the traditional method of marking participation for quantity and quality of in-class comments is often not well aligned with course goals and may conflict with goals of inclusivity. Instead, I argued that if instructors’ course goals are to cultivate engagement and thoughtfulness about course content, a better assessment of learning would give credit for students’ written and out-of-class participation too.
