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#10 Having a Diverse Library
Grades: All grades in the classroom and libraries.

I picked this because I believe this is such a important aspect to have in the classroom so students can learn and experience on their own different cultures, background, genders, religion and more! Working with young students I have experienced many times their minds being expanding by looking and reading from a book !

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Teaching Young Children to Understand and Accept Differences | Lesley University

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Through anti-bias education, early childhood educators can create learning communities that support human differences. Discover how you can foster an empathetic classroom.

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#9 Using Asset-Based Thinking
Grades: Can be worked on in all grades, can get more advanced at they get older

I found this important because it allows students to not have fixed mindsets and deficit-based thinking. When using asset-based thinking the students can develop mindset that can shift and help them look for strategies.

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Implicit biases in education are subconscious beliefs or attitudes that influence teachers' and administrators' expectations of students' performance. David Goobler, who runs a website for college instructors to share teaching strategies, says although most teachers understand implicit biases exist, they tend to think these biases affect other teachers.

Educators may be inclined to believe they don't hold implicit biases because an implicit bias is a passively formed idea, often based largely on stereotypes. In fact, implicit biases generally run contrary to people's conscious values and beliefs. But these biases occur universally, and they are shaped by everything from the way we grow up to the shows we watch on television.

Although implicit biases may be inevitable, that does not mean they're not damaging. In fact, the American Bar Association has found these biases lead to discriminatory educational practices. When implicit biases influence decisions in the classroom-where 84 percent of teachers are white-minority and marginalized students suffer.

However, by confronting implicit bias in education, teachers and educational leaders can create opportunities and change classrooms, districts, and state-wide educational systems to better support students.

Implications of Implicit Bias in Learning

Students who experience the effects of stereotyping and implicit bias in education are at risk of consequences such as lower graduation rates and lower college enrollment. Two equally negative and unfortunately prevalent biases in education can be seen in the contrasting stereotypes of Asian American and Black/African American students.

The Myth of "Positive" Stereotypes

A "positive" stereotype is any kind of stereotype that seemingly attributes something good to a group of people. Examples of so-called positive stereotypes are: Italians are excellent cooks, gay men are stylish, and women are natural nurturers. But stereotyping, no matter the content, wrongly suggests we know something about an individual based on our opinions about the group to which we think they belong.

On television, Asian Americans are often portrayed as "the model minority"-for example, high-achieving students who always go on to attend top universities. But this stereotype has more to do with the lack of Asian Americans represented on TV (as of 2017, just over 6 percent of TV shows featured a series regular of Asian descent) than reality. A Washington state study found students with Southeast Asian backgrounds were actually earning bachelor's degrees at rates below the national average.

The model minority stereotype falsely lumps a diverse group of individual students into one inaccurate category. When teachers see a stereotype instead of a student, they can fail to recognize serious problems-such as poverty, isolation, and the pressure to excel.

Negative Stereotypes

Aaron Kay, a psychologist at Duke University, explains that not only are positive stereotypes harmful in and of themselves, they're also frequently tied to negative stereotypes. Kay warns that statements such as "black students are good at sports" can be linked to academic biases faced by black students.

Disproportionately high suspensions of black students indicate the persistence of negative stereotypes and point to the prevalence of implicit bias in education. A 2017 study conducted by the Brookings Institute found, across the country, black students are suspended at three times the rate of their white peers.

The study concluded that when it comes to implementing school rules, racial bias and stereotyping cannot be discounted. According to Brookings, by the time black students reach middle school, they are more likely than Asian and white students to experience unfair treatment.

Reporting from the New York Times, focusing on Minnesota's treatment of students of color, found rampant instances of double standards for students, beginning as early as elementary school. According to a former Minnneapolis superintendent, white students who acted out in class were more likely to be described as "high strung" or "having a hard day," while black students acting out in similar ways were frequently described as "destructive" or "violent." In one elementary school, a black second-grader was suspended for poking a classmate with a pencil, while a white second-grader threw a rock at a classmate and was assigned in-school chores.

As the American Bar Association found, seeing certain students as "violent" versus "high strung" when engaging in similar behavior leads to discriminatory treatment. One study that looked at racial disparities in discipline across grades three to eight found that higher rates of suspension for black students correlated to black-white achievement gaps. These gaps include lower test scores for elementary and middle school students, and as students continue through school, suspensions are linked to lower graduation rates.

Additionally, research from the National Association of School Psychologists shows suspensions do nothing to improve student behavior. Disproportionate suspensions of minority students harm them by taking away their access to education, and they fuel negative academic stereotypes.

What All Stereotypes Have in Common

Whatever the stereotype, viewing students as a group instead of as individuals leaves them at risk for not getting the support they need to learn. By confronting implicit biases in education, teachers can create culturally responsive classrooms that promote equitable learning environments.

When schools and teachers acknowledge implicit biases in education, opportunities arise to change the systems-from the classroom, to the district, to the state level-that haven't been supporting students.

A network to train and retain science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers, 100Kin10, offers one example of how confronting bias leads to meaningful systemic change. Low-income school districts, which have disproportionately more black and Hispanic students than high-income districts, lag in STEM offerings. To address this, 100Kin10 is committed to working with educational leaders, teachers, and networks across the country to add 100,000 diverse STEM teachers who will promote students' identities as STEM learners and redress inequities for marginalized students.

Programs such as 100Kin10 aims at systemic change. In addition, any teacher can do five key things to make space for equity in the classroom.

5 Ways to Make the Classroom Equitable

1. Confront your own biases: \ Everyone has implicit biases, and though it can be painful to recognize these biases, doing so is the only way to stop them. For example, students with single parents are often stereotyped as having behavioral problems, but research from the American Psychological Association shows that when teachers create welcoming, inclusive spaces, as opposed to judgmental ones, they can help students from single-parent homes thrive.

2. Implement an inclusive curriculum: \ Victoria Forrester, a veteran teacher, administrator, and professor at Mills College in the educational leadership program, suggests that teachers and schools need to implement inclusive curricula to recognize marginalized students and their histories and to encourage tolerance for all students. Dr. Forrester looks at the lack of LGBTQ+ curricula as one example of implicit bias. If teachers don't understand LGBTQ+ history, then they can unknowingly project their biases and misconceptions onto students. But, Dr. Forrester says, "Through comprehensive training about this culture and community, educators can broaden their viewpoints, challenge their belief systems, and guide their students down the path of acceptance, inclusion, and pride."

3. Use asset-based thinking: \ For teachers, implicit biases can often lead to fixed mindsets and deficit-based thinking. Deficit-based thinking treats students' challenges as problems to be "fixed," and fixed-mindset thinking focuses on these problems rather than on generating solutions. An asset-based mindset instead shifts the paradigm to look for strategies that help students learn.

4. Connect with students individually: \ Research from the American Bar Association suggests that forming new associations is the best way to change implicit biases. Not only may connecting with students help teachers reshape preconceived notions, but various studies show strong student-teacher relationships lead to increased academic achievement and more motivated students as well.

5. Enroll in a teacher preparation program: \ The National Education Association (NEA) has found new educators and working educators who are supported by teacher preparation programs report higher levels of success in their classrooms.

Confronting Implicit Bias in Education with Leadership

Educational leadership programs contribute to classroom success by training teachers in ways to confront biases through strategies such as implementing diverse curricula, using asset-based thinking, and connecting with students.

In Mills College's online Master of Educational Leadership program, students take classes that focus on inclusive curriculum development, ethical classroom models, and trauma in marginalized student populations through the lens of leadership. The Master of Educational Leadership prepares educators to design twenty-first century learning environments that confront implicit bias in education to support increasingly diverse student populations.

If you are interested in creating inclusive classrooms through leadership models that confront bias and promote equity, learn more about Mills College's online Master of Arts in Educational Leadership program.

Recommended Readings
Learn What It Takes to Become a California School Principal How to Be a Transformational Leader in Education Social Justice in Education: The Role Educational Leaders Play
Sources
100Kin10, 100Kin10 Is Answering the Nation's Call American Bar Association, "Implicit Biases & People With Disabilities" American Psychological Association, "Single-Parent Families: School Behavioral Problems and School Interventions." Brookings, "2017 Brown Center Report on American Education: Race and School Suspensions" The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Yes, You Have Implicit Biases, Too" Education Week, "Black-White Achievement Gaps Go Hand in Hand With Discipline Disparities" Forbes, "Will a New Law Banning Suspensions for 'Willful Defiance' Hurt or Help African American Students?" Foundation for Economic Education, "How Schools Promote Fixed Mindsets and Prevent Growth" The Hill, "Illinois Can Learn from California's LGBTQ Education Lessons" The New York Times, "Why Are Black Students Punished So Often? Minnesota Confronts a National Quandary" NPR, "'Strong' Black Woman? 'Smart' Asian Man? The Downside to Positive Stereotypes" Perception Institute, Implicit Bias Waterford.org, "How to Promote Diversity in the Classroom: Recognize and Challenge Implicit Bias" Waterford.org, "Why Strong Teacher Relationships Lead to Student Engagement and a Better School Environment" The World, "Asian American Students Push to Reveal What the 'Model Minority' Myth Hides"

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Confronting Implicit Bias: Promoting Equity in Education | Mills Online Degrees

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Implicit biases in education are subconscious beliefs or attitudes that influence teachers' and administrators' expectations of students' performance. David Goobler, who runs a website for college instructors to share teaching strategies, says although most teachers understand implicit biases exist, they tend to think these biases affect other teachers.

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#8 Learning Students Identity
All grades

I found this one of the most important strategies, because this is how teachers can get to know students and then learn how they can include everyone's background in the classroom. Doing this will lead to many different positive outcomes for the students like feeling comfortable, confident, self-aware and more!

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Anti-bias education is not just doing occasional activities about diversity and fairness topics (although that may be how new anti-bias educators begin). To be effective, anti-bias education works as an underpinning perspective, which permeates everything that happens in an early childhood program-including your interactions with children, families and coworkers-and shapes how you put curriculum together each day.

This article is an excerpt of the second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards. An NAEYC bestseller, this book helps early childhood educators fulfill their mission of helping all children reach their full potential. The new edition-with major updates to all chapters, including gender identity-will be available early in 2020.

The four core goals of anti-bias education

Four core goals provide a framework for the practice of anti-bias education with children. Grounded in what we know about how children construct identity and attitudes, the goals help you create a safe, supportive learning community for every child. They support children's development of a confident sense of identity without needing to feel superior to others; an ease with human diversity; a sense of fairness and justice; the skills of empowerment; and the ability to stand up for themselves or for others.

Goal 1: Identity

Teachers will nurture each child's construction of knowledgeable, confident, individual personal and social identities.

Children will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.

This goal means supporting children to feel strong and proud of who they are without needing to feel superior to anyone else. It means children will learn accurate, respectful language to describe who they and others are. Teachers will support children to develop and be comfortable within their home culture and within the school culture. Goal 1 is the starting place for all children, in all settings.

Adding to early childhood education's long-term commitment to nurturing each child's individual, personal identity, anti-bias education emphasizes the important idea of nurturing children's social (or group) identities. Social identities relate to the significant group categorizations of the society in which we grow up and live and which individuals share with many others. Social identities include (but are not limited to) gender, racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and economic class groups. (In the forthcoming book, social identity is described in detail in Chapter 2.) A strong sense of both individual and group identities is the foundation for the three other core anti-bias goals.

Goal 2: Diversity

Teachers will promote each child's comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.

Children will express comfort and joy with human diversity, use accurate language for human differences, and form deep, caring connections across all dimensions of human diversity.

This goal means guiding children to be able to think about and have words for how people are the same and how they are different. It includes helping children feel and behave respectfully, warmly, and confidently with people who are different from themselves. It includes encouraging children to learn both about how they are different from other children and about how they are similar. These are never either/or realities because people are simultaneously the same and different from one another. This goal is the heart of learning how to treat all people caringly and fairly.

Some teachers and parents are not sure they should encourage children to "notice" and learn about differences among people. They may think it is best to teach only about how people are the same, worrying that talking about differences causes prejudice. While well intentioned, this concern arises from a mistaken notion about the sources of bias. Differences do not create bias. Children learn prejudice from prejudice -not from learning about human diversity. It is how people respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

Another misconception about Goal 2 is that exploring differences among people ignores appreciating the similarities. Goal 2 calls for creating a balance between exploring people's differences and similarities. All human beings share similar biological attributes, needs, and rights (e.g., the needs for food, shelter, and love; the commonalities of language, families, and feelings) and people live and meet these shared needs and rights in many different ways. A basic premise in anti-bias education is " We are all the same. We are all different. Isn't that wonderful! "

Goal 3: Justice

Teachers will foster each child's capacity to critically identify bias and will nurture each child's empathy for the hurt bias causes.

Children will increasingly recognize unfairness (injustice), have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts.

This goal is about building children's innate, budding capacities for empathy and fairness, as well as their cognitive skills for thinking critically about what is happening around them. It is about building a sense of safety, the sense that everyone can and will be treated fairly.

Learning experiences include opportunities for children to understand and practice skills for identifying unfair and untrue images (stereotypes), comments (teasing, name-calling), and behaviors (isolation, discrimination) directed at themselves or
at others. This includes issues of gender, race, ethnicity, language, disability, economic class, age, body shape, and more. These are early lessons in critical thinking for children, figuring out what they see and hear and testing it against the notions of kindness and fairness.

These lessons build on young children's implicit interest in what is "fair" and "not fair."

As children come to identify unfair experiences and as they learn that unfair can be made fair, children gain an increased sense of their own power in the world. Children cannot construct a strong self-concept, or develop respect for others, if they do not know how to identify and resist hurtful, stereotypical, and inaccurate messages or actions directed toward themselves or others. Developing the ability to think critically strengthens children's sense of self, as well as their capacity to form caring relationships with others.

Goal 4: Activism

Teachers will cultivate each child's ability and confidence to stand up for oneself and for others in the face of bias.

Children will demonstrate a sense of empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.

Goal 4 is about giving children tools for learning how to stand up to hurtful and unfair biased behavior based on any aspect of social identity. Biased behavior may be directed at oneself or another. It may come from another child or adult or from children's books, television, and films. This goal strengthens children's development in perspective taking, positive interactions with others, and conflict-resolution education.

Actions of teasing, rejection, and exclusion because of some aspect of a child's social identities are a form of aggressive behavior. They are just as serious as physical aggression. The old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" is false. Children's developing sense of self is hurt by name-calling, teasing, and exclusion based on identity. And children who engage in such hurtful behaviors are learning it is acceptable to hurt others, the earliest form of bullying. An anti-bias approach calls on teachers to intervene gently but firmly, support the child who is the target of the biased behavior, and help both children learn other ways of interacting.

Children's growth on Goal 4 strengthens their growth on the other three goals. If a child is the target of prejudice or discrimination, she needs tools to resist and to know that she has worth (Goal 1). When a child speaks up for another child, it reinforces his understanding of other people's unique feelings (Goal 2). When children are helped to act, it broadens their understanding of "unfairness" and "fairness" (Goal 3).

Guidelines for your curriculum

Just about every subject area in the typical early childhood program has possibilities for anti-bias education themes and activities. For instance, early childhood education themes of self-discovery, family, and community are deeper, and more meaningful, when they include explorations of ability, culture, economic class, gender identity, and racialized identity. So, too, issues of fairness (Goal 3) and acting for fairness (Goal 4) arise as children explore various curriculum topics.

Differences do not create bias. Children learn prejudice from prejudice -not from learning about human diversity. It is how people respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

The ideas for specific anti-bias education content and activities come from three major sources. One is from children's questions, interests, or interactions with each other that classroom teachers see as important to respond to and develop. Teacher-initiated activities are a second source of anti-bias activities, based on what classroom teachers and families think is important for children to learn. A third source is significant events that occur in the children's communities and the larger world that classroom teachers think need to be explored with children.

Here is an example of an anti-bias education topic at snack time.

It is snack time in the 4-year-old room. The teacher sets a small pitcher of water on the table for children to pour and drink. Lupe, whose home language is Spanish, looks up and asks, "Agua?" Casey, sitting next to her, says with annoyance, "No! It's water-not ahhgwa" (exaggerating the pronunciation). The teacher stops what she is doing and turns to Casey and says, "Lupe is right. What you call 'water' her family calls 'agua.' There are many words for water, for crackers, for oranges, for everything! We all have words. We have different words. It's pretty wonderful!"

At group time, the teacher follows up by asking children about the different words they have for people in their family. As the children call out Grandma, Oma, Pops, Daddy, Papa, Abuelita, and more, she writes them on a chart. She assures them that none of the words are wrong. They are just different. And they all mean someone who loves them.

Meet anti-bias goals in every corner of the classroom

The ongoing examination of how people are simultaneously the same and different provides children with a conceptual framework for thinking about the world they live in. For example, children playing with blocks can learn that although some children like to build tall towers and some like to build long, flat structures on the floor, all the children like to build. Art projects can show enthusiasm and admiration for blacks and browns along with all the other wonderful colors of the spectrum. The common curriculum topic of harvest time can include respecting and making visible the people who grow, pick, and transport our food.

Everyday activities offer opportunities for Goals 3 and 4 as well. Arguments over toys can include discussion of fairness and kindness. Exclusionary play, stereotypes in books, or teasing are experiences open to critical thinking about hurtful behavior and for problem solving toward just solutions.

Planning Anti-Bias Education Activities for Your Program's Curriculum

An anti-bias education approach is not a recipe. Rather, teachers include anti-bias issues in their planning by considering the children and families they serve and the curriculum approach their program uses. Here are key questions to ask yourself as you and your colleagues plan learning activities and environments. Begin by asking yourself these questions for one or two activities a week, and see how they change what you do and how the children respond.

Where do I best fit anti-bias goals and issues into my curriculum plans for the day and the week?

Who might be left out of this curriculum? How will I use the topic to include each child, connecting to the diversity of their social identities and to their individual needs? How can I be sure no one is invisible or unnoticed?

What ideas, misconceptions, and stereotypes might children have about this topic? How can I learn what these are and provide accurate information and counter misinformation and stereotypes?

How can I use this topic to support and strengthen children's innate sense of justice and their capacity to change unfair situations to fair ones?

What learning materials do I need to gather to incorporate an anti-bias perspective into this curriculum topic?

Use child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities

Children's questions, comments, and behaviors are a vital source of anti-bias curriculum. They spark teachable moments as well as longer-term projects. However, it is not sufficient to do anti-bias activities only when a child brings up a relevant issue. Teacher-initiated activities are also necessary-be they intentionally putting out materials and books to broaden children's awareness or planning specific learning experiences around issues that matter to families and the community.

You do not wait for children to open up the topic of reading or numbers before making literacy and numeracy part of the daily early childhood curriculum. Because you have decided that these understandings and skills are essential for children, you provide literacy and numeracy discussions and activities in your classroom. A balance between child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities is as vital in anti-bias education as in any other part of the early childhood curriculum.

Here's an example of how a teacher begins with a children-generated teachable moment and follows up with teacher-initiated activities:

After a windstorm broke dozens of small branches off of the trees surrounding their preschool, several 4- and 5-year-old boys begin building a "club house" by dragging branches and bunches of leaves to a corner in the playground fence. Valeria (4 years old) starts dragging a branch to join them and the boys shout, "No girls allowed! No girls allowed!"

The teacher considers encouraging the boys to welcome their classmate into their play-but then she hesitates. There are larger societal issues embedded in this interaction. As an anti-bias educator, she decides she needs to address the underlying ideas, especially that girls can't or shouldn't engage in play that emphasizes physical strength or that "real boys" don't include girls in their play.

Deciding to find out what the children are thinking, the teacher asks, "Why do you think no girls are allowed?" She listens carefully to the boys' responses: "Girls can't move the big branches." "And they can't build high!" "We're going to be superheroes! Girls can't be heroes." And, finally, "We don't like girls." All these statements reflect commonly held stereotypes about girls. Additionally, she thinks, not seriously addressing the situation reinforces the additional stereotype that boys don't have to pay attention to the feelings of others.

Seeing an opportunity to expand their thinking, the teacher suggests testing these claims. She says, "Well, let's find out if girls can move the big branches and build high or not." Since many of the children are now gathering around, she invites everyone to join in the challenge. "What do you think is going to happen?" she asks. With much laughter the children run and gather branches. Some girls are faster than some boys, some boys are faster than some girls. Everyone is able to add branches to the club house, which is suddenly much higher!

Bringing the children back together, the teacher says, "It looks like both girls and boys can lift big branches and build high. Thinking that boys would be better at these things than girls was a stereotype." Several children repeat the word stereotype (preschoolers love big words!). Still holding their attention, the teacher clarifies and gives words to the program's values: "Stereotypes are unfair. In our school we want everyone to be treated fairly. What can we do so that we can be sure that we play together fairly?" The next steps are suggested by the children. One suggestion is a sign that says "Everyone can play here." "How about," says one of the boys who began this episode, "how about if we want to play alone, we just say 'you can have a turn in a few minutes'?"

Knowing that one interaction is never enough to help children think in new ways, the teacher plans and carries out further activities. She adds to the classroom library books in which female athletes and firefighters are strong and fast. At circle time, she reads books in which girls and boys play together in big muscle games. She invites a female carpenter in to help the children build with real tools. And she begins a curriculum on "Being a hero," about all the ways boys and girls can be powerful helpers.

In the next staff meeting, the teacher relates what she has done and is planning to do, and why. She asks her colleagues to consider the frequency of gendered exclusionary play in the program and they agree to take the important step of identifying how (explicitly and implicitly) they may be supporting a binary view of gender (see Chapter 9 in the forthcoming book) in their classroom. For example, how often do they call out "boys and girls" rather than "children"? Do they ask "strong boys" to help move furniture and big blocks? Do they comment on girls' clothing or hair instead of asking about their interests and accomplishments?
Do they support boys' tender, sharing, inclusive behaviors or mainly comment on their noisy, power-focused play? The teachers agree to observe each other as well as the children and see what changes they can make to avoid the damage that gender stereotypes have on children's sense of themselves and of others.

Using a combination of child-initiated, teachable moments and teacher-initiated, pre-planned activities is the most effective way to expand children's ability to grow in the four anti-bias education goals and to talk about, think about, and understand the world around them.

Pay attention to the realities of children's lives

While the four core anti-bias education goals are the same for all children, specific activities should be relevant to the children's backgrounds and their lives. Some children need support to resist messages of racial or cultural inferiority; others need guidance to develop a positive self-concept without absorbing social messages that they are the "normal" ones and other children are less than, strange, or negatively different. Children of wealthy families need help resisting the message that material accumulation defines their worth and that of others; children of families with fewer resources need support to resist messages that undercut their families' worth. Some girls may need extra support to develop confidence and interest in experiences that are math and science related; some boys may require help to develop skills for having nurturing, cooperative interactions with their peers
and to engage in play that reflects these attitudes.

Closing thoughts

As in all other areas of the curriculum, teachers tailor and scaffold anti-bias education materials and activities to each child's cognitive, social, and emotional developmental capacities. They plan and choose learning experiences that stimulate children to explore the next step of new ideas and skills and allow each child to apply new understandings and behaviors in his or her daily life.

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Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goals to Every Facet of Your Curriculum

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This article is an excerpt of the second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards.

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#7 Understanding Stereotypes
K-12 (can begin this at the lowest grade, and develop more deep meaning as students get older)

I picked this because I think it is important for students to get the chance to hear about stereotypes, learn from them and learn what to do next to help our society. I believe thing would get better if we all talked about it and really discussed how it affects people. Starting in pre-school teachers can make sure there are gender fluid and no stereotypes around the classroom, and when students get older teachers can work on creating discussions and digging deep into what they stereotypes are, how we should address them and what we could do next.

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With incidents of anti-Semitism spiking this year (including, troublingly, in K-12 schools, according to the Anti-Defamation League), and with other forms of intolerance in the news, what happens if or when there's an incident of bias or hateful speech in your school or district? Do you have a plan? The Making Caring Common initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education has a sampling of vetted resources [PDF] that provide a starting point for educators, either proactively or in the moment. The resources (excerpted below) are not meant to be comprehensive, but they offer a foothold and a place to begin.

This collection is one of several resource lists from MCC; the others focus on social media, sexual orientation and gender identity, and social emotional learning and the Common Core.

Best Practices

Creating an Anti-Bias Classroom
A set of practices from the Anti-Defamation League that K-12 educators can incorporate into their daily routines to foster a respectful and inclusive classroom. Also helpful: these additional anti-bias resources - with classroom tips and teaching strategies - from the ADL.

Speak Up at School
This guide [PDF] from Teaching Tolerance provides strategies for responding to remarks made by students and by other adults and gives guidance for helping students learn to speak up. The guide also focuses on preparing adults to act as models for students.

Race: A Teacher's Guide
A substantive teaching tool to help middle and high school educators understand and address race and human variation, from the Race Project.

Group Activity

Understanding Stereotypes
A lesson plan [PDF] from Discovery Education that helps students understand how assumptions can lead to stereotypes and unfair judgments about individuals and groups - and how biases affect our lives and our society.

Writing Reflection

What's Your Frame?
A classroom activity from Teaching Tolerance that encourages students to reflect on their individual cultures and histories, their backgrounds, the norms they grew up with, and their values. The goal is to help students enlarge their perspective and recognize diversity of belief and background.

Next Steps

Read and download Making Caring Common's full resource guide to race, culture, and ethnicity [PDF].
Updated from a previously published article.
***
We Want to Hear from You
Our country is polarized: How is that showing up in your school? What are you doing to protect students, confront discrimination, prevent bullying, and foster inclusion? Usable Knowledge would like to hear from you. Join us on and , using #OneAllHGSE. Send your advice and resources to uknow@gse.harvard.edu, and we'll share as much as we can. Read more at

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With incidents of anti-Semitism spiking this year (including, troublingly, in K-12 schools, according to the Anti-Defamation League), and with other forms of intolerance in the news, what happens if or when there's an incident of bias or hateful speech in your school or district? Do you have a plan?

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#6 Having High Expectations for Everyone
All grades

I picked this article because it explained the importance of having high expectations for all students. When teacher implement this to everyone they are known for creating better results from all students. It is known that in some classrooms, the minority students are treated different or not given the same expectation because they are "less intelligent", which is very wrong. By grouping everyone as a whole and showing the high expectation will result in everyone doing what they can to reach that goal.

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#5 Not Using Gender Stereotypes
All Grades

I picked this because there are so many different gender stereotypes out there for boys and girls, and we must stop grouping our students into these categories. Teachers need to teach all students and encourage all students the same way and not lead them to liking something because their overall gender does, or leading them away from something they like because their gender usually does not do that. We must teacher students to have the strength and power to like that they want, and teacher students not to judge others for liking or disliking something because of their gender.

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A Pantene ad recently gained attention for addressing unconscious discrimination in the workplace. Watching descriptors like "boss" turn to "bossy" and "persuasive" turn to "pushy" depending on whether a man or woman was onscreen provides food for thought.

While most people do not intend to discriminate, these subtle differences in perception have a lasting influence on how they interact with others.

Ways teachers practice unconscious discrimination - and how to fix it

Most educators are dedicated to treating all students equally, but even they can sometimes fall victim to the phenomenon of unconscious discrimination. We've gathered four examples of hidden bias below, along with strategies teachers can use to defeat them in the classroom.

Teacher bias #1: Boys are out of control in the classroom

The gender biases illustrated in the Pantene commercial are a source of unconscious discrimination for many teachers. In "Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still In School," teacher Jessica Lahey notes that in her own classroom, she punished boys at twice the rate of girls - and nearly every warning was for disruptive behavior. Ask any mother or teacher of boys and they'll tell you that their energy level and need for gross motor movement is difficult to tether.

It is painful to watch a brilliant student fail. Boys aren't broken, and harnessing the very energy that makes them occasionally disruptive can turn these qualities into a strength. Lahey suggests a variety of ways to improve education for boys. These include designing lessons that:

Utilize competitive games and motor activities

Combine competition with teamwork

Encourage boys to struggle with open-ended questions and perceive learning as a sort of quest

In addition to harnessing boys' unique personalities, these strategies can enhance the traditional classroom model and appeal to female outliers as well.

Teacher bias #2: Girls aren't good at math

In a study from the University of Texas at Austin, high school teachers rated the math ability of white girls lower than white boys, even when grades and test scores were the same for both genders. One of the study's authors, Dr. Catherine Riegle-Crumb, said, "The bias teachers revealed against white female students may very well be something they are not consciously aware of, and it's usually subtle, but it's definitely present, per our research findings."

The past few years have brought a renewed focus on getting girls involved not only in math but in all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects. According to Encouraging Girls in Math and Science, a guide published by the Institute of Education Sciences, teachers who want to eliminate the bias against girls in math - and help them succeed in all STEM areas- can use the following strategies:

Teach students that academic abilities improve with persistence

Provide informational, prescriptive feedback to students: "You worked hard to solve that problem" instead of "You're smart."

Introduce girls to female role models in math and science

Teacher bias #3: The students you like get better grades

Another classroom group gets the benefit of the doubt more often than we realize: teacher's pets. A recent study in England found that in one in ten cases, a teacher's feelings about a student had a direct influence on their toughness in grading. Considerations like length and neatness of writing also led to better teacher perception. Researchers considered this evidence that teacher-run assessments can and should be replaced with more formal standardized testing in order to avoid these issues.

While this bias may cast doubt on internal assessment, it is important to note there are means of handling unconscious bias without switching entirely to computer-run standardized testing. Teachers should consider grading in teams, if possible, with norming sessions that help them articulate the expectations of the assessment. Other means of handling such unconscious bias could simply be instituting blind grading or other policies that allow for a separation of the student from their work to some extent.

Teacher bias #4: Introverted students are stupid

Another group that suffers unconscious discrimination in the classroom: introverts. Although researchers estimate that between 16 and 50 percent of people are introverts - naturally inclined to need quiet and time to themselves - some teachers assume that they lack intelligence. A 2011 study revealed that teachers gave (hypothetical) students a low rating on intelligence and academic ability when the child was described as quiet or shy instead of average or talkative. As class discussion and student participation take precedence over traditional lecture-based classes, introverted students can feel increasingly uncomfortable in the classroom.

In Education Week's article "Studies Illustrate Plight of the Introverted Student," Sarah Sparks says that one good way to differentiate for introverted students is to balance class discussions with time for students to reflect quietly. Additionally, allowing students to choose between working in groups or alone gives introverts space to do their best work while also supporting those who excel at working with others.

It appears that the best means of addressing unconscious discrimination is continued improvement on the part of educators. Ensuring that classrooms are dynamic and functional for all students and that lesson planning and assessment methods are fair is one way to eliminate hidden biases. A little reflection on the part of teachers goes a long way toward ensuring that every student gets the education they deserve.
Monica Fuglei is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Omaha and a current adjunct faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, where she teaches composition and creative writing.

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Tags: Instructional Leadership, leadership, Mid-Career Teacher, New Teacher, Teaching Impact, Veteran Teacher

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4 Hidden Teacher Biases & How to Defeat Them | Resilient Educator

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A Pantene ad recently gained attention for addressing unconscious discrimination in the workplace. Watching descriptors like "boss" turn to "bossy" and "persuasive" turn to "pushy" depending on whether a man or woman was onscreen provides food for thought. While most people do not intend to discriminate, these subtle differences in perception have a lasting influence on how they interact with others.

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#4 We Must Stand Up for Each Other
All Grades

I picked this because as a community if we want things to get better we must all play our part. We cannot have people recognize hate or bias towards one another, we must stand up for ourselves or for other people. Regardless of race, gender religion, etc. we must all play our part and look out for one another.

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#3 Create Cross-Group Friendships
Grades: All and Teachers

These groups can be created in the classroom and outside of classroom for both students and teachers to decrease prejudice. These friendships can create many different positive influences by opening people up, allowing them to be comfortable and willing to meet new people. Teachers can join activities, volunteer and get involved in events to meet new people with different background.

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A friend of mine recently told me about an incident involving students at Berkeley High School. On the first day of classes, African-American juniors and seniors were being asked by their honors course teacher to show him their schedule when they entered the classroom. The teacher, who was white, apparently assumed the black students were lost and in the wrong room, and his gesture made them feel unwelcome and humiliated.

This is an example of implicit bias-a behavior that arises from subconscious associations, which may even contradict someone's explicit values. Implicit racial bias plays a role in many classrooms and schools with potentially devastating effects. In one recent experiment with preschool teachers, researchers found that when teachers were primed to look for behavioral problems while watching a classroom video with black and white children (none of whom were misbehaving), teachers gazed much longer at black children than white children, as if anticipating the behavioral problems would come from the black children.

In another experiment from the same study, teachers read a vignette about a behavioral problem with a preschooler randomly identified as a black boy, black girl, white boy, or white girl, and then were given details about the child's background or not. Providing the background information on the child increased the severity of suggested disciplinary actions when the race of the teacher didn't match that of the child, supporting the idea that we are more inclined to punish those who look different from us.

In fact, disciplinary actions are more likely to be perpetuated against African Americans-boys and girls alike-than any other group of students, regardless of the infraction. And while it's understandable that teachers would want to prevent disruptions in the classrooms and take actions to avoid them, some seem to have little idea of how to do that without turning to ingrained biases.

Of course, teachers are not alone in having racial biases. Their behavior reflects how social messages are hard to escape, even for people of color. But studies like these show how racial disparities can be perpetuated in classrooms, too. If left unchecked, this kind of biased treatment can haunt a student well into elementary school and beyond, making the promise of "schools as the great social equalizers" a false one.

The good news is that teachers can learn to combat their prejudice, even the implicit kind, if they become more aware of it and take steps to actively fight it in themselves. Here are some of the ways that might help educators treat all of their students with dignity and care.

1. Cultivate awareness of their biases

Teachers are human and therefore influenced by psychological biases, like the fundamental attribution error, when we assume that others who behave in a certain way do so because of their character (a fixed trait) rather than in response to environmental circumstances. In-group bias leads us to assign positive characteristics and motivations to people who are similar to us.

Biases like these are natural, used as cognitive shorthand for making quick social judgments in ambiguous situations, especially those involving people from unfamiliar ethnic or social groups. They become a problem when we're not aware of their impact on other people. And if we're part of a majority group with more social, economic, or political power than a minority one, then accumulated unconscious bias can be extremely destructive, limiting the life opportunities and hurting the well-being of the minority group.

Many researchers believe that becoming more aware of our biases can help us improve our interactions with others, decrease our sense of unease in interracial contexts, and make better decisions. Though most of this research has been done with other professional groups or the general public, the same lessons are likely to apply to teachers.

However, many teachers feel pressures not to cop to those biases, perhaps out of fear they will be accused of racism. This leaves them blind to the ways that biases work at an unconscious level. Pretending to be colorblind is not helpful and in fact adhering to a color-blind philosophy has been shown to increase implicit bias, at least in college students. Admitting that we are all subject to biases creates a safer space to examine them more carefully and to take steps to fight them.

2. Work to increase empathy and empathic communication

Empathy -the ability to understand another's perspective and emotions-is important in all human social encounters, including teaching. Yet, often teachers have little understanding of the communities where their students live and have trouble understanding their perspectives, leading them to treat these students more harshly.

One solution: learning about the lives of students and showing that you care. At least one study has found that actively trying to take the perspective of another person-as opposed to trying to be "objective"-increased one's ability to not fall prey to stereotypical views of others. Actively inducing empathy for another person has been tied to a willingness to consider environmental circumstances more closely when handing out punishments for misbehavior. And, one recent study has found that training teachers in empathy cut down student suspension rates in half.

Though perhaps more research has been done on empathy in other professionals (such as physicians and police officers), teachers may want to take note of the ways that they have learned to increase their empathy through a combination of stress reduction, learning how to manage difficult emotions, and practicing empathic communication. Treating students with kindness and consideration is a sure way to bring out kindness in them, too.

3. Practice mindfulness and loving-kindness

Mindfulness practices-such as paying attention in a nonjudgmental way to one's breath or other sensations-has been shown to decrease stress in teachers, which can indirectly have an effect on reducing bias. But according to some research, mindfulness may also have a direct effect on bias reduction as well.

In one study, young white participants who listened to a 10-minute audiotape with instructions in mindfulness showed less implicit bias towards blacks and older people than those who listened to a 10-minute discussion of nature. This suggests that nonjudgmental awareness, even when not specifically focused on reducing prejudice, can help reduce unconscious biases.

Loving-kindness meditation-a practice that involves consciously sending out compassionate thoughts toward others-may also help. In a recent study, the random assignment of a short-term loving-kindness meditation reduced implicit bias toward a targeted group, though it didn't decrease implicit bias for other groups not targeted by the meditation.

4. Develop cross-group friendships in their own lives

While it's important to take steps in the classroom, the relationships we form outside of the classroom can also have an impact on bias.

Cross-group friendships have been shown in several studies to decrease stress in intergroup situations, to decrease prejudice toward outgroup members, and to decrease one's preference for social hierarchy or domination over lower-status groups. These findings alone might encourage teachers to seek out cross-group friendships in their lives so that they can be more receptive to the diverse students they find in their classrooms.

Another reason for teachers to consider developing cross-group friendships is that they may influence their students to do the same. When people see cross-group friendships working out in positive ways, they tend to be more willing to engage in cross-group friendships themselves.

In addition, positive cross-group friendships can have contagion effects in other people within social groups, turning whole communities into warmer, more receptive spaces for cross-group interactions. All of this bodes well for teachers role-modeling the kind of behavior they want to see in their students.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean teachers should indiscriminately approach someone just because they are from a different racial group. Instead, teachers can reach out to colleagues at work, or get involved in activities or perhaps attend events where people with different backgrounds and perspectives come together for a common cause. Developing friendships can be one of the best ways to break down barriers of prejudice, and it's more easily done when people have some common interests.

Is this a lot to ask, given all the burdens our society heaps on teachers? Perhaps. Teachers should get more support than they do, and, ideally, school districts should make reducing implicit bias a priority backed up with money, policy, and training. Individual teachers can only do so much.

Luckily, the teaching profession tends to attract altruists who want to teach in a way that helps their students. By working at countering implicit bias in themselves, they can truly make a difference in the lives of their students, making them feel safe, cared for, and welcome in the classroom.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Four Ways Teachers Can Reduce Implicit Bias

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We're all subject to bias. Here are tips to help teachers treat all of their students with dignity and care.

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#2 Show that you Care
Grades: All

This is simply a rule that every teacher needs to do in all their classrooms and with all students. I picked this because from the article I read they talked about how some students have said that their teachers do not like them or treat them poorly, simply because of their race. In all my years of school I have defiantly seen this in the classroom, especially in my High School. I have experienced moments where the teachers have pointed them out or other staff members tend to look at them when something goes wrong. So, do not be like the teachers I have experienced and treat everyone with care and respect, by doing that means telling the students, learning about them, including their culture and background and showing patience.

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Educator Gail Thompson has written numerous books, including the book Up Where We Belong, on the challenges faced by what she calls "America's stepchildren" - black, Latino, Southeast Asian, Native American, and white, low-income students. Instructor talked with Thompson about what teachers can do to improve their own practice.

1. Be honest with yourself
Admit that you are not color blind. Practically no one is. "There are various common mind-sets that teachers aren't even aware of, which are rooted in biased beliefs," says Thompson. So she prescribes what she calls a "checkup from the neck up."

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I truly believe that all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic background, are capable of being academically successful?

Do I have beliefs about their home lives or community that prevent me from seeing their academic potential?

Do I treat students how I want my own children to be treated by their teacher?

2. Show that you care
When Thompson surveyed an underperforming school in California, black students were twice as likely as white students to believe that "most of their teachers didn't like them," even though nearly all the teachers answered that they cared about their students' welfare. Clearly, teachers' caring doesn't always get communicated effectively. Remember to ask how your students are doing, listen to their answers, learn about their distinct cultures and interests, and show patience and kindness, Thompson suggests.

3. Treat students their age
According to several studies, white adults tend to engage in "adultification" of black children, especially of boys. "Instead of viewing black students' behavior as that of children," Thompson explains, "they viewed the boys as if they were adults"-and ratcheted up punishment accordingly. Remember to grant all of your students the same status as children, and recognize the innocence and vulnerability that status entails.

4. Don't judge parents too quickly
Thompson notes that some teachers may blame students' academic problems on bad parenting. "Most African-American parents do care about their children's education," Thompson writes, "but they may express caring differently from how white middle-class and upper-class parents do." Black parents, Thompson found, ask about school, listen to their children read, and express interest in grades, but are less likely to help with homework. Working-class parents and single parents may also be less likely to attend parents' nights and parent-teacher conferences, not because they care less about education, but because to attend might present a major inconvenience or financial hardship.

5. Don't tolerate racism from your students
It is important to set strict classroom rules on teasing and the use of racist or other derogatory comments: "Leadership sets the tone - be it the teacher, the principal, or the parent - about what's acceptable and what's not," explains Thompson. "And when the leader sets a tone that says, 'We're not going to condone certain behaviors, and every child is going to be treated fairly,' it works."

6. Maintain expectations
At a recent workshop, says Thompson, "a black principal at a school that is 76 percent black told me his biggest battle was getting teachers to raise their expectations. And that's not uncommon. Sometimes teachers assume that black students can't do the work that kids in white, affluent, and middle-class communities can do, and so they lower the expectations. The result? Standards are very low."

7. Take testing seriously
"Although I have problems with the current high-stakes testing movement," says Thompson, "it's important that teachers take it seriously. Students often feel that because they are not spending time preparing, the tests must not be that important. I hear high school students, particularly African-American boys, say, 'The tests don't matter.'"

8. Treat your problem child as a "star pupil"
Thompson challenges teachers to "select a student about whom you've formed a negative opinion," and for 21 consecutive school days, force yourself to view and treat this student as if he or she were the brightest student in your class. "If you actually try this experiment, even once," says Thompson, "it just might change your teaching forever."

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Educator Gail Thompson has written numerous books, including the book Up Where We Belong, on the challenges faced by what she calls "America's stepchildren" - black, Latino, Southeast Asian, Native American, and white, low-income students. Instructor talked with Thompson about what teachers can do to improve their own practice. 1.

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In June, a mathematics professor from a California community college unwittingly made national headlines after sending an email to a Vietnamese student asking her to "Anglicize" her legal name. He told her that the pronunciation of her given name sounded offensive, like "an insult in English." She refused, telling the professor that his request was discriminatory, but he repeated the request. Once administrators learned of the incident, Laney College put the professor on administrative leave.

While this example may be extreme, it illustrates one way that unconscious bias seeps into university classrooms, creating an uncomfortable environment for international students who already face a host of challenges when adapting to a new culture and an unfamiliar academic system.

Such expectations of conformity and attempts to suppress or alter cultural identity may interfere with international students' sense of belonging on campus, explains Christina Yao, PhD, assistant professor and coordinator of the Higher Education and Student Affairs Program at the University of South Carolina.

"The potential implications [of situations like this] could be feelings of alienation, or feelings of being [viewed as the] 'other,'" Yao says.

Recognizing Unconscious Bias

Unconscious, or implicit, biases are the attitudes, preferences, and assumptions that any person holds toward another individual or group of people. These beliefs-centered around a wide range of characteristics, from race, ethnicity, and gender to religion, speaking accent, physical appearance, and physical abilities-are formed from birth, outside of a person's awareness. However, they play a role in perceptions of and interactions with others.

Issues and perceptions around racism and unconscious bias affect international students studying in the United States, as well as those studying in other parts of the world-including U.S. students studying abroad. In the classroom, these biases can manifest in a number of ways:

A professor calling on certain students most frequently-for example, research shows a tendency by teachers at all levels to call primarily on white, male students

The readings and multimedia materials chosen for any given lesson not representing or reflecting the diversity of the classroom

A presumption that international students have expertise or an interest in issues related to their race, ethnicity, or home country

A tendency to equate lower proficiency in spoken English with poor writing skills

Initiating a discussion on a hot topic, such as racism in the United States, without realizing that international students in the classroom may not understand the historical and cultural circumstances linked to the issue

Faculty members are not the only ones who hold biases; students do as well. Yao points to research showing that non-native English speakers tend to be marginalized when it comes to group work, possibly because they struggle to comprehend or speak in an unfamiliar language or may not grasp the norms of peer collaboration.

Unconscious biases can hinder student recruitment, engagement, and success. In professional settings, it may stifle innovation or hinder efforts to diversify the leadership pipeline.

"If we're really trying to use education as a force for positive change, then we have to be constantly shifting and challenging ourselves to see the things we do that exclude or marginalize or devalue others," says David Wick, EdD, assistant professor with the MA program in international educational management at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. "The only way to do that is to begin dismantling our implicit biases."

Here are a few tips for identifying, acknowledging, and actively working to counter unconscious bias in the classroom.

1. Get real-and embrace discomfort.

Addressing unconscious bias starts with awareness and acknowledgment, says Holly Carter, PhD, associate professor of sociology and interim principal of Harlaxton College, which is part of the University of Evansville.

"First and foremost, we must be aware that these biases exist, [everyone has them], and they don't make you a bad person," she says. "Secondly, [we all] have to be willing to acknowledge the fact that they can have some interplay in our life. And then I think we have to be open to experienc[ing] things that will change that socialization."

By the nature of their profession, international educators likely are interested in learning about different cultures and people. They should take time to reflect on how personal belief systems develop and how a person's worldview impacts their interactions with people and places that are different.

"If we're really trying to use education as a force for positive change, then we have to be constantly shifting and challenging ourselves to see the things we do that exclude or marginalize or devalue others." -David Wick

Malaika Serrano, MA, vice president for diversity and inclusion at WorldStrides, has worked with students to boost self-awareness through a process of naming their "privileged" identities-characteristics that give a person an advantage over others-and "targeted" identities-those that can hold someone back. The exercise sparks open conversation about biases and strategies for change. "We just take a deep breath and then lean into the discomfort," Serrano says.

2. "Spend time with people who are not like yourself."

A longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, Carter quotes fellow Habitat supporter President Jimmy Carter as frequently saying, "The most important thing you can do in this world is to spend time with people who are not like yourself." An openness to hearing other people's stories can foster a deeper understanding of the vast range of human experiences.

At the University of Evansville, the weekly I-House series gives students from different regions of the world an opportunity to share with the campus community about their customs, beliefs, and culture.

"Sometimes we dance, and sometimes we eat, but these opportunities have been valuable in helping us to understand people in a different way," Carter says.

Following months of highly publicized acts of violence against Black Americans, Serrano led "Listening Circles" for employees at WorldStrides to discuss the personal and community impact of this violence. Serrano facilitated respectful conversations around questions such as the following:

What is your understanding of recent events that have transpired?

How has this made you feel?

What is one thing you would like to learn about someone from another community?

3. Apply intercultural communication techniques.

Globalization is a force that has led to more frequent and powerful intercultural interactions, and navigating those interpersonal relationships is more complex than ever. With one of her colleagues, Kathryn Sorrells, PhD, communication studies professor at California State University-Northridge, developed the Intercultural Praxis as a guide for "critical, reflective thinking and acting" in the context of global engagement. The process involves several steps:

1. Inquiry: Ask questions to understand more deeply another person's beliefs, or ask ourselves how we learned to think a certain way. "Fundamentally, our assumptions come from unasked questions," Sorrells explains.

2. Framing: Look at issues from different perspectives. "We develop certain ways of seeing the world based on our cultural frames [gender, race, etc.]," Sorrells says. "[Become] aware of your cultural frames and then [learn] through practice how to expand those."

3. Positioning: Consider the access to power in any given situation, based on materialistic and/or symbolic circumstances.

4. Dialogue: Engage in conversation to build bridges of understanding, tolerance, and acceptance.

5. Reflection: Create a better understanding of ourselves and how we relate to others, as well as the willingness to change our perspectives and actions.

6. Action: Use what we learn about ourselves as motivation for doing our part to make the world more peaceful and just.

"We've used the model as a way to understand that people bring very different perspectives and frames and they're positioned differently," says Sorrells, "but how can we benefit from our differences?"

Be the Change

Even taking the smallest steps toward countering unconscious bias can make a big difference. Educators should learn to pronounce international students' given names, for example, and ask for their help when needed.

Wick uses a technique called Pair Share to expand equity in the classroom. The method enables each student to reflect on class topics with a partner, then each group shares their insights with the entire classroom.

"[It can be difficult] to get educators to become conscious enough to ask these kinds of questions and start challenging themselves. ... By asking the questions and putting it into a public forum, I model that I'm continuing to push myself and asking for that kind of feedback in front of other people." -Tasha Willis

"One of the benefits of this teaching technique is that it can change which voices are heard," Wick says. "The pair conversation makes it more likely that every person in the room has a chance to express their ideas."

Technology also can be used to expand equity, Wick says. For example, students can contribute ideas through platforms such as a Doodle poll or a Google Form, reducing the risk of feeling like their ideas are wrong or unpopular.

And though it is not always comfortable, international educators should be honest about their own unconscious biases-for their benefit and that of their students.

"[It can be difficult] to get educators to become conscious enough to ask these kinds of questions and start challenging themselves," says Tasha Willis, EdD, associate professor in the School of Social Work and faculty director for internationalization at California State University-Los Angeles.

"By asking the questions and putting it into a public forum, I model that I'm continuing to push myself and asking for that kind of feedback in front of other people," she says. "That helps humanize me to other people around me-faculty, staff, and students-and lets them know that this is just part of being human, and that we have all inherited the world as it is." *

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Strategies for Countering Unconscious Bias in the Classroom

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NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.

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# 1 Recognizing Unconscious Bias
Grades: All ages

I picked this article because it talked about the importance recognizing unconscious bias. This helps us all think about all the hidden bias we may have towards others and shows us what we need to work on. I found this important and I picked this because no matter what everyone has hidden bias and it takes us all to reflect and think deeply about things that have happened in our lives. When we recognize our own bias then we can then move forward in our classrooms and work towards of having a unbias classroom.