ACUE Inclusive Teaching Portfolio | Team 2 | Kim Zarins

 

 

Inclusive Practices in English:

Designing Equity-Centered Courses

 

Reflection on Instructional Change:

The module I probably have incorporated the most in my teaching is Module 5, Designing Equity-Centered Courses. The biggest change to my syllabus is a visual one. Under the Reading Schedule, for each new novel our class is reading I now include two images: the cover of the book and a photo of the author. This allows students to see a diversity to the authors, and hopefully lets students see how important diverse authors are to this literary tradition. I also now include a brief statement of what each book is about. Students do presentations, and this allows them to make a more informed choice when they sign up for a given text.

I also changed my curriculum with an eye to more diversity of offerings and models of great writing. On day 1, I had already planned to read a pandemic-themed text--Outside In, by Deborah Underwood--with the students. The author is white, and I thought it might be appropriate to balance out her text with a person of color's. So in addition to her text, students read and discussed a sample of Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. We discussed Vuong's ESL experience as a child and his profound engagement with literature, as he read his first picture book in English about a child and grandmother who see a storm coming, and instead of cowering, they bake a cake. From this sample, we could see that children's literature promotes and celebrates a subversive power to childhood, or as Vuong puts it so beautifully, the reach for "sugar on the cusp of danger." Students were inspired by both beautiful texts (one student bought a copy of Outside In), and Vuong's "sugar" passage has become a touchstone or leitmotif to the course, whenever we see child protagonists locating beauty and passion despite a world of obstacles and storms.

I still have ways to go. I meant to offer a diversity statement but never got around to it. But that's okay, because my priority was to celebrate and promote diverse texts, which is really walking the walk, instead of talking the talk. I used Vuong's passed to make a verbal diversity statement on our first day, which was that we need the perspectives of people like Vuong to broaden and deepen our understanding of literature. That cake-baking picture book he references has a deeper meaning due to his reading it through immigrant, trauma-touched eyes. Likewise, our student body has eyes like no one else's, and we need these perspectives and voices. I thought Vuong really set the tone well for Day 1.

I want to work on fostering more confidence in students, who can get inspired by the depths of these diverse authors and find the depths of their own readings and engagements. A book about a child baking a cake may not seem very significant, but Vuong's reading imparts deep courage to that defiant act of baking during a storm. So, too, as we learn to read carefully, we begin to see the storms and begin to appreciate the sugar...and each other for our perspectives.

There were many helpful learning activities in this course. The ACUE Course Demonstration Videos were not just polished, but helpful peeks into the pedagogy of others. I wanted to sign up for some of their classes! I also found the "Observe and Analyze" videos a helpful springboard to the Discussion threads. It was great to see a sample of teaching and then ponder strengths and areas to improve, and then benefit from the thoughts of my colleagues. The Reflection assignments helped me summarize what to take away from each module and build resolutions for my teaching.

One takeaway I got from the "Observe and Analyze" session was that my colleagues were just as focused on building confidence as I was. One colleague noted that she would have expected Biology majors to have more confidence in their knowledge of the discipline, yet they did not show any more confidence than her non-majors at ARC. I liked how she was striving to give her students a sense of competency. Another colleague, who taught Statistics to Psychology students lacking confidence in math, had a wonderful expression: if you say, "I'm not good at math," you have to add one more word to that sentence. "I'm not good at math YET." That focus on the growth-mindset was a terrific takeaway. For me, I want my student to become confident readers and writers. Many of my Liberal Studies majors lack that confidence, so it was interesting to see how this is a universal all teachers--and of course their students--struggle with.

 

Evidence

Improving the syllabus visually: showing the face behind the book Adding images to the syllabus allows students to see the faces of the authors we study (and also so that it's not assumed that all the authors are white.) We learned it's important for students to see themselves represented in the curriculum, but taking the extra step makes it visible on the syllabus. I also add a brief description of each novel, so students can feel a little introduced to each text to aid their anticipation of reading it and also choosing it for a presentation. I use the QM Template created by Michelle Dang, accessed from our QM Faculty Learning Community in 2020.	Example of Student Group Work: Google Jamboard on Louis Sachar's novel, Holes Students were tasked to work in jigsaw-style to build a jamboard tracking different elements in the novel from Week 2, and noticing connections between groups. Students met on Tuesday in breakout rooms for initial work, then in the same breakout rooms improved their project on Thursday, when the entire novel was completed, and presented findings in class. Different reporters on each day allowed for more voices to be heard in the classroom.	Building Confidence, Overcoming Impostor Syndrome The most inspiring concept I learned from this ACUE course was that of confidence. Professors and students have impostor syndrome. I always took mine for granted and never realized that of course they suffer this issue too! This image of a cake getting baked ties together Day 1 of our class text by Ocean Vuong who wrote about the first book he read in English, about baking a cake during a storm, described by him as finding "sugar on the cusp of danger." We must be brave amidst these storms. Confidence is that sugar, and the baking metaphor is a good one, because when a cake is well baked, you can smell it! Competence is sweet and the fruits of our labors are enjoyed.

 

Final Reflection 

I think my biggest takeaway is that there are all many obstacles to students seeking confidence in their academic disciplines and even their place in the university. This issue is what I wish to target in my teaching, alongside student wellness.

Faculty Biography

Faculty Biography

i	Kim Zarins is a Professor of English. She is the author of a modern retelling of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Sometimes We Tell the Truth. She loves her students at Sacramento State.

 

Sponsors

	This work was supported by the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund and the National Science Foundation (grant #DUE-1832335).