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Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom By Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy Meeting days and times: Fridays at noon via Zoom;
Facilitator: Rachel Parse The book is available in Holly Gurney's office in the Learning Commons. |
Summary:
In a book written by and for college teachers, Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy provide tips and advice on how to make all students feel welcome and included. They begin with a framework describing why explicit attention to structure enhances inclusiveness in both course design and interactions with and between students. Inclusive Teaching then provides practical ways to include more voices in a series of contexts: when giving instructions for group work and class activities, holding office hours, communicating with students, and more. The authors finish with an opportunity for the reader to reflect on what evidence to include in a teaching dossier that demonstrates inclusive practices.
Discussion Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cBifgjnaTfc4pRdMld2pzDdA81VJ2xuFu4ZhXhrZNoA/edit
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Braiding Sweetgrass By Robin Wall Kimmerer Read online via the SMCC Library or check local libraries for a print copy. Meeting days and times:
Facilitated by: Chris Hoffmann, Science Faculty & Robert Vettese, English Faculty The book is available in Holly Gurney's office in the Learning Commons. |
Please note: This book does not focus on teaching and learning.
Summary:
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.