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I enter a fancy clothing store. “Hi! Welcome to [store]! May I help you find anything?” The young, blonde-haired, blue-eyed clerk makes my introvert self cringe inside at her enthusiasm—she’s got to work on commission—but I smile politely, thank her, and assure her I will ask for help if I need it. I start browsing the well-spaced racks of the season’s best offerings.

Before I move too far from the front of the store, I hear the door whoosh and the same clerk says, “Can I help you?” with decidedly less enthusiasm. In fact, it sounds more like hostility, barely disguised.

I don’t have time to wonder about the change in tone before I look up and see the smiling face of my best friend coming through the door. “No thanks,” she responds cheerfully to the clerk as she waves at me.

The difference? I’m white; my best friend is black.

This wasn’t my first realization that racism exists: I live in the United States, after all. But this was the first time, I’m ashamed to say, that racism felt personal to me. It wasn’t so much the store clerk’s actions as it was my friend’s reaction. She saw the look of outrage on my face and knew I was about to say something, but she brushed it off. “It happens all the time,” she said. “You can’t let it get to you or you’d spend your life being mad.”

That casual acceptance broke my heart. I wanted to understand my friend’s experiences in the world. That led to some research that made me aware first of my white privilege and then of how to be an ally (hint: be quiet and listen). The journey is life-long, but we have to start somewhere.

As I learned more, I knew I wanted to wrestle with how to make my classroom a more equitable place for all my students. I teach writing and literature at a small, rural community college in Kentucky and am working on a doctorate in English Pedagogy. These are some of my preliminary resources for ideas on how to make my classroom a space where equity is part of the curriculum in both content and design.

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From the NY Times, a series chronicling the history and impact of slavery.

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From the NY Times, a series chronicling the history and impact of slavery.

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American slavery began 400 years ago this month. This is referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the country’s true origin.

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White Fragility: An Important First Step

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White Fragility: An Important First Step

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White Fragility by Robin Diangelo is a book which explores the “defensive moves white people make when challenged racially” (cover copy) and addresses how, as white people, we can disrupt the constant societal messages of racism and white supremacy.

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A series exploring white people, racism, and antiracism.

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Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels new, but in truth it's an old story.

Why? Where did the notion of "whiteness" come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for?

Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen took a deep dive into these questions, along with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this fourteen-part documentary series, released between February and August 2017. The series editor is Loretta Williams.

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Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels ne

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For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y'all Too

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For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y'all Too

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Christopher Emdin - For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood ... and the Rest of Y'all Too

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Another great place to start.

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Practical steps for dealing with the reality of students' lives.

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Reality Pedagogy: Christopher Emdin at TEDxTeachersCollege

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Addresses an often overlooked minority group and how a writing course attempted to disrupt the heteronormative narrative, to much pushback.

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Making Writing Assessment More Equitable through Badges

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Making Writing Assessment More Equitable through Badges

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This sounds promising as a way of disrupting the traditional assessment models with the teacher in control of everything. As usual, minority and self-identifying lower class students see the value; white, affluent students seem to believe it's too much work (146).

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Making Writing Assessment More Equitable

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Teaching White Students about White Privilege

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Teaching White Students about White Privilege

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From psychology, but useful in the tips it gives on how to teach about white privilege.

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Teaching White Students about White Privilege

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Inoue argues from a Marxian perspective for contract grading. Includes a case study of a class with student artifacts and reflections.

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Helpful to read a black scholar's perspective on academics and society.

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This really hit a nerve with me as someone who has had many students resistant to the ideas of white privilege and racism. LIke the teacher in the article, I wish I had better ways of dealing with it.

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Anyone Can Hurt You_ Elaines Attack and Defense in Writing Abo

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This was good as a reminder of how uncomfortable race discussions can be in the classroom and how resistent white students can be. No real suggestions here, though.

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Using Race as a Writing Prompt in a Composition Classroom

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Rethinking Peer Review and Grade Comparison

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Rethinking Peer Review and Grade Comparison

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Hahn's ethnographic study of one student's move from feeling comfortable in a mental space of white superiority to a more complicated attitude is fascinating.

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Gamification as a Way to Work Toward Equity?

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Gamification as a Way to Work Toward Equity?

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Again, mostly useful for its Works Cited page, since I'm just beginning to explore this, but I'm intrigued.

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I haven't read this one yet, but it looks like an interesting theoretical framework to use to sort through all these ideas.

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Could Creative Writing in Composition be a Means of Encouraging Equity?

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Could Creative Writing in Composition be a Means of Encouraging Equity?

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While this article is more about encouraging composition teachers to bring in multimodal compositions, I wonder if I couldn't use creative writing as a means of social justice and equity in the classroom? Something to think about further.

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Response to Creative Writing and Composition

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Response to Creative Writing and Composition

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Mainly useful for its implication that traditional creative writing-style workshops might have something to offer composition: can it replace traditional peer review?

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Response to Composition and Creative Writing

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Service Learning and Race (in all Stakeholders)

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Service Learning and Race (in all Stakeholders)

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This article is a little beyond where I am right now (I'm just starting to explore service learning as a means of making the classroom more equitable), but it's useful for its Works Cited page.

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KNOW THE BASICS ABOUT RACISM AND WHITE PRIVILEGE:

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KNOW THE BASICS ABOUT RACISM AND WHITE PRIVILEGE:

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I started by learning about institutional racism and white privilege.

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Minoritized Students and the Classroom: How to Work Toward Giving Students an Equitable Experience

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Minoritized Students and the Classroom: How to Work Toward Giving Students an Equitable Experience

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Most of this is about academics and teaching in general, but was still important to get through.

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Explains what white privilege is, with specific examples.

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'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' and 'Some Notes for Facilitators' - National SEED Project

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Downloadable PDF © 1989 Peggy McIntosh 'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' first appeared in P...

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Using Self-Assessment as an Equity Tool. I've used this with some success.

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Possible Ideas for Equity in the Writing Classroom, with an Emphasis on Alternative Assessments

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Possible Ideas for Equity in the Writing Classroom, with an Emphasis on Alternative Assessments

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Most of these come directly from the field of composition studies.

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Could using comics be an equalizing force? Could reading a comic help students understand disability? Something to explore further.

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Smitherman and Villanueva, Language Diversity in the Classroom
Focuses on Non-Standard varieties of English and their implications for the composition classroom.

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Linguistic Diversity and the Question of Grammar

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Linguistic Diversity and the Question of Grammar

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I would be remiss if I didn't address the basic questions of what constitutes "good" writing and how traditional grammar fits into it. These articles address language diversity and ways to deal with it in the classroom.

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A classic book that any scholar of English and equity should be familiar with.

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Published in 1974 and still hotly debated in composition circles.

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Written in 2010, Young advocates and practices code meshing as a means of equity.

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Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

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Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

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Interesting work on social justice and cultural relevance.

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Something to think about when we ask students to do this.

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The Cost of Code Switching | Chandra Arthur | TEDxOrlando

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nounLINGUISTICS:

the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation.

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Code Meshing is the act of combining local, vernacular, colloquial, world dialects of English with SWE on formal assignments and in every day conversation, in an attempt to embrace the globalized and diverse world we live in.

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Vershawn Young: Code Meshing | Connections | KET

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I haven't made it through this one, yet, but it looks fascinating. Inoue's work always delivers.

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Advocates reflection on both the teacher's and students' parts

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Teaching for Equity, with Empathy Webinar

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Teaching for Equity, with Empathy Webinar

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From Dr. Jessica Calarco

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Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

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Teaching for Equity, with Empathy

The uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic are creating tremendous challenges for students, and especially students from vulnerable and marginalized groups. If we fail to support students through these challenges, we risk exacerbating inequalities on campus and making students' trauma worse. As educators, then, we have a responsibility to teach for equity and with empathy. In this webinar, Dr. Jessica Calarco, Associate Professor of Sociology, discusses what that approach looks like in practice, with concrete recommendations for administrators and for instructors teaching on campus and online.

Thanks to our co-sponsor of this event, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Additional resources:

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The uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic are creating tremendous challenges for students, and especially students from vulnerable and marginalized groups. If we fail to support students through these challenges, we risk exacerbating inequalities on campus and making students' trauma worse. As educators, then, we have a responsibility to teach for equity and with empathy.