It's in the Syllabus

It’s in the Syllabus and Other First Generation College Student Experiences

Although data on first-generation college students (FGCS) indicate they are just as heterogeneous as any other student group, FGCS are often imagined to be and treated as a homogenous group by faculty. When instructors make pedagogical choices based on inaccurate assumptions, they can unintentionally introduce avoidable barriers to student learning and success.

Through a series of personal stories, It's in the Syllabus offers participants a complex view of the heterogeneity of FGCS’ experiences. Through facilitated activities and discussion, instructors strategize about concrete ways to make their classrooms more transparent and help all of their students feel like valued members of the educational community.

The session is appropriate for faculty, graduate student instructors, and academic leaders. The typical session length is 120 minutes. It can be offered in a fully virtual, synchronous format or a fully in-person synchronous format. It is available by request, depending on the Players capacity.

**The theatrical portion of this session contains strong language and descriptions of stigmatizing behaviors and practices. Please reach out to a CRLT Players staff member for a fuller description of the content of this session.

In this session, participants will:

  • Confront stereotypes/assumptions about who FGCS are and/or what experiences they have had.
  • Discuss barriers that create challenges for FGCS.
  • Consider how to deploy resources on campus relevant to FGCS.
  • Identify specific classroom strategies to better support FGCS.
What people have said about :
Excellent presentation of the characters. I appreciated the diversity of experiences the student characters shared - definitely made me more aware of the campus climate and its effects.
This was beautifully structured, powerfully delivered. The combination of different modes of providing information - historical context, UM timeline, national statistics, and the integrated play and time to process individually and together - was brilliant and very effective.
This workshop/production was phenomenal. It helped bring awareness to some practices I need to change and provided confirmation of some things I already do.
This was the most impactful presentation I've ever been to. The sketch at the beginning was very well-written, and hearing the material presented as a human story was so much more meaningful than reading information off of slides.