Especially when the majority of your students haven't had much experience with small seminar-style courses, it can be challenging to get them sharing their thoughts in a group setting. And the vulnerability involved in discussing identity can pose a further barrier to participation. The tips below are meant as general guidelines to help get you started and avoid creating situations that do harm.
If your TAs can sense that you are expecting them to dig deep and ask difficult questions that you yourself are not willing to answer, they will not engage in the discussion productively.
We highly recommend participation in programs like the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows Program to help you get perspective on how your identities are positioned within Computer Science. If your campus has an affinity group for discussing a privileged identity you hold or an Intergroup Dialogue program, those are often excellent spaces for getting experience with conversations about identity.
At the very least, take the time to review the material in this course carefully and reflect on any aspects which make you uncomfortable or which you feel unprepared to discuss openly and honestly with your TAs. If there's a topic you find yourself wanting to avoid, that is probably where you will need to do the most work to prepare.
This work can be challenging, even draining at times, and it is an ongoing process. However, if you are as kind and patient with yourself as you want your TAs to be with your students, you will hopefully experience the many rewarding and inspiring aspects of the work as well.
When facilitating discussions about identity, it is important to enter the space with a sense of humility. You are probably an expert in some (or many) areas, but each TA will be the expert on their own feelings and experiences.
Rather than establishing yourself as an authority in a space where they can learn from you, the goal is to establish yourself as a facilitator who will maintain a space where you can all learn from each other.
It will help if you model vulnerability, presenting yourself as imperfect and human. Being able to name the privileged identities you hold in that space often helps build trust, and describing how you are positioned in the hierarchy of your workplace can be enlightening for TAs who are often unaware of the power dynamics at work in most academic settings.
If you will be meeting with the same group of TAs repeatedly, or have more than 2 hours available for the discussion, a good starting place is to co-create a list of Community Guidelines which everyone is expected to follow and to which you can refer back as needed.
If you have limited time with this specific group of TAs, it can save time to offer up an existing list of Community Guidelines and invite participants to ask questions or suggest additions.
Whether you are creating your guidelines collaboratively or soliciting feedback on an existing list, here are the guidelines we suggest you make sure to include:
Use “I” Statements: Especially when responding to something someone else said, framing your response around how you feel or what you think can help you get your point across without it sounding like a personal attack. Speak from your own personal experiences and don't presume to speak for others. Similarly, don't expect any one person to be able to speak for everyone who shares one of their identities.
Take space/Make space: Sometimes also referred to as Move in/Move out. Those who are more comfortable speaking in a group discussion setting should be mindful of how much time they spend speaking compared to others in the group, and accept that not all of their thoughts need to be shared with the group. Those who are less comfortable speaking in a group discussion setting should challenge themselves to speak more often and not depend on others to fill the space.
Keep an open mind: Be ready to challenge assumptions you or others might have, doing so with respect and compassion. Especially when hearing about the experiences of others, be open to letting go of the narrative you have in your head so that you can better understand their reality.
We're never done learning: These conversations are often a literacy moment. People come into them with different knowledge and experiences, and it's more useful for everyone to focus on learning and growth rather than judgment.
Maintain a safe/brave space: While it's unrealistic to guarantee a totally safe space, we should all try to interact in a way that invites others to be vulnerable and open.
Call in versus call out: To help mistakes and misunderstandings serve as learning moments, encourage reflection and self-awareness rather than shame. For more on calling in/calling out, see Responding to Someone Else's Bias
Take care of yourself: This includes everything from bathroom breaks to mental health breaks. Everyone should feel free to take care of their physical needs. While a certain amount of emotional discomfort is common, and sometimes even a good sign, someone who feels upset or unsafe should not feel obligated to stay in the space. Sometimes it helps to step away and breathe.
These are adapted from common Intergroup Dialogue guidelines. We included explanations of each, but you might want to just copy the parts in bold and be ready to explain if any of them are unclear to anyone.
We are not assuming that people facilitating these discussions will already have experience with facilitating smaller group discussions, and understand that preparing to do so might produce a certain amount of anxiety. We have put together a description of some general tips as well as some common ways these discussions are often structures on the Common Discussion Structures page.
Especially when discussing identity, don't expect someone from an underrepresented or oppressed group to speak for "their people". Step in and call people in when you see others doing this.
Don’t be afraid of awkward silence, feel free to let it sit for a few moments -- sometimes silence is the sound of people thinking
Avoid formulating questions that have a clear “right” answer, focus more on encouraging everyone to share their own thoughts and connect ideas
Don't take up too much space -- if students start feel that you are lecturing, they are more likely to become passive and less likely to actively engage or share their own thoughts
If someone says something that sparks conflict, avoid escalation. The person who made the comment won’t learn if the group attacks them.
Don't put people on the spot, even if you suspect they have something interesting to contribute to the situation. Try to maintain a "challenge by choice" environment where everyone can decide for themselves what they are comfortable contributing.
If someone says something harmful or problematic, don't pretend it didn't happen -- do your best to judge whether it would be productive to discuss it in the moment and always prioritize the needs of the people most likely harmed by the comment. In some cases, the best thing to do is acknowledge what happened and check in privately later with the parties most likely to be affected.
Be aware of who is speaking the most, and try to avoid having a few vocal individuals monopolize the conversation -- if this becomes a problem, you can remind the whole group of the Take space/Make space guideline and generally invite those who haven't been speaking to share their thoughts (don't single out anyone verbally or by staring at them)
Don't be afraid to acknowledge it when you realize that you misspoke or made a mistake
Like so many other things in life, facilitating these discussions will feel more comfortable and less stressful the more you do it.
Always solicit anonymous feedback at the end of the discussion and reflect on any ways you might do things differently in the future. Also be sure to celebrate any moments that went particularly well or that participants appreciated.
Maintain reasonable expectations for yourself. No matter how many times you do this, it will never go perfectly. Perfection isn't the goal. Connection, understanding, and growth are the goals.
We have developed (and will continue to develop) workshops that you are welcome to use and adapt for your particular situation. You can find the lesson plans and any supporting materials on the Suggested Workshops page.
If you develop any discussion prompts, workshops, or activities that you find useful for deepening the learning of your TAs, we'd love to hear about them at aiice.ta.pd@gmail.com