While an equitable approach to teaching is not new, there seems to be an increased emphasis on (and criticism of) terminology and principles like diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, along with anti-racist and other critical pedagogies.
Key questions I ask to inform my approach to equity in teaching and research are:
What does "equity" mean in this context? What frameworks are being used to understand inequities that persist here?
Who is missing from this conversation and from this space?
How does my background inform who and what I see and what I miss?
I approach my work with humility, always asking what I can learn from an experience. Even as I'm called to be an "expert" in much of my work, this expertise is always tempered with the recognition that students and participants have much to teach me, and to teach each other.
Key questions I ask about my teaching work are:
What specific skills and knowledge do I bring to this teaching context? What are the limits of of my skills and knowledge here?
How can I amplify the knowledge, skills, and experiences students and participants bring to our work?
How can I frame this course, workshop, program, or experience to provide space for conversation or to adjust our trajectory?
As public higher education in the U.S. continues to be systematically defunded, those of us who work in academia are pressured to do more and to be more, to our communities, to our students,and to our institutions.
Key questions I ask in my consulting work are:
How can we engage in our work in a sustainable way?
What kinds of boundaries and efficiencies allow us to do the most meaningful work?
How can we work together to create a academic culture of slowness that values who we are as whole human beings?