Ideas

Idea #2: Establishing Classroom Guidelines... Carefully

"The classroom can, to some extent, be transformed into a miniature society with its own culture, norms, deviants, and sanctions. Students can be encouraged to see their personal norms within the context of group norms and to witness the effect of individuals on groups and of groups on individuals"²

Learning Intention

Setting norms includes setting the tone for the day and the tone for the course. Establishing classroom norms potentially provides students with a protocol to go about having challenging conversations.⁵ However, the danger in establishing guidelines, is that students of non-marginalized identities will feel affirmed in saying anything, including damaging statements such as microaggressions.

Considerations

• Be Explicit: If you choose to set guidelines for discussion—or have students set guidelines for discussion—explain to students you will step in and stop the conversation if it is degrading to marginalized groups or identities.⁵

• Assume Good Intentions with Criticality:^{1, 3} Start by assuming that all students have good intentions. But also be willing to step in and shut down prejudiced or micro-aggressive comments. “All too often claims of good intentions (or their converse, claims to have meant no offense) allow members of dominant groups to avoid responsibility for our transgressions.”³

• Protocol: Let students establish the protocol for conversation but with the contingency that any protocol must honor human rights.^{4, 5}

• Evidence: Require that one of the protocols for conversation is that students must use text evidence to back up their claims. This can help recenter conversations that can become heated and can lead to accountability from students to each other.⁴

References

1. Beare, K. (2020). Difficult Conversations: The Art and Science of Working Together. Mountain View, CA: Pop the Bubble Press.
2. Learning for Justice. (2019). Let’s Talk: Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students. Montgomery, AL: Teaching Tolerance; A Project of The Southern Poverty Law Center.
3. Sensoy, Ö. & DiAngelo, R. (2014). Respect Differences? Challenging the Common Guidelines in Social Justice Education. Democracy and Education, 22 (2), Article 1.
4. Snarr, M., Griffeth, B., Beasley, V., & Tung, T. (Panel discussion) (2010). Teaching Challenging Topics [Audio Podcast]. (No. 19) [MPEG Audio]. Vanderbilt University.
5. Sue, D.W. (2016). Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.