Faculty and GSIs from across campus are invited to register for the second annual Inclusive Teaching @ Michigan series. Instructors can register for any or all of over 15 workshops, panels, and presentations focused on a range of inclusive teaching topics. Sessions are free and open to U-M instructors in any field. 

Events will kick off with a session featuring the CRLT Players theatre program, focused on building resiliently inclusive classroom climates. Throughout the series, CRLT facilitators will be joined by collaborators including The Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR), the Center for Engaged Academic Learning (CEAL), the Ginsberg Center, Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), and the Lecturers' Employment Organization's (LEO's) Anti-Racism Task Force to offer sessions that help instructors develop awareness and skills in areas including: 

• Understanding the ways student and instructor social identities, both visible and not, shape learning environments and experiences at U-M
• Developing deliberately inclusive and equitable approaches to syllabus design, writing assignments, grading, and discussion
• Managing tense interactions or classroom challenges in ways that further all students’ learning.

Some sessions are designed particularly for instructors who are relatively new to conversations about inclusive teaching. Most are designed for a broad range of instructors, including those who are seeking to develop their established inclusive teaching practices. 

See the full schedule of events here.  Anyone who participates in an Inclusive Teaching @ Michigan workshop is invited to join us at a catered closing lunch where we will reflect together upon the series and ways to continue developing the conversation about inclusive teaching among U-M colleagues. ​

• You can begin by recognizing that it was a long night, everyone is likely very tired, different people have strong emotions from a variety of perspectives, and it may be hard to focus.  
• You can give your students a brief chance to write for a minute or two -- to process their thoughts and feelings and/or identify people they want to reach out to later today, for whatever sorts of connection and processing would be beneficial to them. And then move on to your plan for the day. 
• You could note the difficulty of focusing and of controlling strong emotions and let students know they can feel free to step out of class if they need a minute to refocus.

If a student raises the election as a topic when you hadn't planned to discuss it, these resources may be helpful if you want to engage everyone in conversation. If you do not feel prepared to do so, you can recognize why the student might want to have the conversation, but explain that you want to think further about whether and how to engage it as a class because it is important to do so carefully given the intense emotions and divergent perspectives around this election. 

Teaching and learning are never entirely void of politics, but this fall—as a new U.S. president is elected mid-semester—the tension, drama, and controversy of the political moment will no doubt be especially palpable in classrooms across the university.

Instructors in every discipline have cause to prepare thoughtfully for the impact of this election season on their students, their curriculum, their classroom climate, and themselves. Maintaining a commitment to inclusive teaching during an election that is itself fraught with hostility around questions of diversity requires a renewed insistence on the free and fair exchange of ideas. To support this commitment, we offer the following three questions instructors might ask themselves while preparing to teach.

1. What role does my discipline play in the issues raised by this election?

Our students need to be able to critically evaluate the platforms of candidates and elected leaders. Every discipline is somehow implicated in these agendas, whether the topic is immigration and the rights of refugees; fracking, genetically modified foods, or climate change; education and health care; history, race, and the Black Lives Matter movement; gender (in)equality and LGBTQ rights; or international relations and the “war on terror.”

Instructors can ask:

• Which topics within my discipline might require special attention in light of the election?
• How might the candidate platforms be a resource for teaching and learning these topics?
• What are the diverse perspectives and voices that characterize my field related to these topics, and how do I maintain some balance in presenting them?

​Many U-M students will vote in this election.  By asking questions such as those above, we as instructors can help them engage with the data and skills they need to weigh the issues and make informed decisions.
 

2. How might my courses allow students to practice some of the fundamental, particular skills required by democracy?

In addition to the content of our individual disciplines and courses, there are overarching democratic skills that students can develop in courses across the University.  These include: