discourse & language

3) Students engage in dialogue that invites multiple forms of communication to elevate all voices. 

Students are reminded of and apply co-created discussion guidelines. 

• Five Discussion Strategies to Deepen Student Engagement Edutopia blog post from January 5, 2023, with strategies that encourage student sharing of ideas.

Students have opportunities to reflect/think about their learning in pairs or small groups before whole class participation/discussion.

• Instructor engages with each small group and asks each student if they have questions before moving to next group.

• Assign and rotate group roles so every voice is heard throughout the class.

Student discussions use multiple modes of communication (verbal, shared notes, class polls) to give every student an opportunity to share their thinking.

• Discussion strategies resource from Washington University in St. Louis Center for Teaching and Learning for using questions, reflective writing, and small-group work to improve classroom discussions.

Students are provided opportunities to reflect on and discuss whose voices are centered in discussions.

• The Spectrum Activity, Questions of Identity A University of Michigan Inclusive Teaching resource guide that provides questions for discussion or reflective writing that ask students to critically consider their identities and the relationship between identity and social context.  

Students create space to invite missing voices into the discussions.

• Encourage multilingual or other means of communication between peers in small group or team discussions, assignments.

• Allow students to present understanding in various ways: art, video, poem, essay, etc.

• Create podcasts (or videos, infographics) to convey information to a public audience.

• On Difficult Conversations essay by Derisa Grant from Inside Higher Ed, July 14, 2020, about practicing for difficult conversations. 

• Engaging Students During In-Class Discussion video conversation between two University of Michigan professors about strategies that worked for them. 

• Deborah Ball: Engaging Students in Large Classes with footage from Ball’s classroom.