Create a safe and inclusive environment for students to share their experiences and perspectives

 

How can teachers create a safe and inclusive environment for students to share their experiences and perspectives during discussions of current events?

Here are some ways teachers can create a safe and inclusive environment for students to share their experiences and perspectives during discussions of current events:

1. Listen respectfully, without interrupting, and allow everyone the opportunity to speak
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2. Criticize ideas, not individuals or groups, and avoid inflammatory language, including name-calling
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3. Ask questions when you don’t understand, and don’t assume you know others’ thinking or motivations
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4. Establish ground rules with your class to facilitate and encourage open and honest discussion
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5. Use proactive strategies that encourage students to self-correct and learn to regulate their emotions
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6. Get to know your students as unique individuals and build personal relationships with them
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7. Use mini-lessons on topics in the news that can be adapted to teach in one class period or less
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8. Use strategies for addressing current events with your students that help them develop the capacity to examine issues from multiple perspectives and think critically about the world around them
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9. Use current events to engage students in the classroom and make content relevant
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10. Show students that current events do not happen in a vacuum but often are seated in a long history of controversy in our country
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Overall, creating a safe and inclusive environment for students to share their experiences and perspectives during discussions of current events requires listening respectfully, criticizing ideas not individuals or groups, asking questions, establishing ground rules, using proactive strategies, building personal relationships, using mini-lessons, developing critical thinking skills, using current events to engage students, and showing students the historical context of current events. By using these strategies, teachers can help students feel safe and supported, and create a classroom environment that encourages open and honest discussion.

Citations:

[1] https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/diversity-inclusion/managing-difficult-classroom-discussions/index.html

[2] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/publications/2020/apr/creating-safe-spaces-students-classroom

[3] https://www.umassglobal.edu/news-and-events/blog/inclusive-classroom-environment-advice

[4] https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/current-events-classroom

[5] https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-seven-ways-to-bring-current-events-into-the-classroom/2020/01

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