Why we love The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching

Thanks to its combination of clear, practical recommendations and deep research framework, The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching has quickly become one of our favorite teaching resources. It’s a core text for several programs here at the CTL (and also in WID), and it’s been a popular book group choice as well. In this Teaching Minute, we’d like to highlight some of what we’ve learned reading the book with so many of you.

Equity-minded teaching, as The Norton Guide defines it, “is informed by principles, practices, and historical understandings that aim to equalize outcomes among all students.” The Norton Guide offers ways to think about this before, during, and after the semester, with sections devoted to

• Designing for equity: making content relevant to students’ experiences and communities; considering how to make rigorous standards accessible to all; articulating transparent outcomes
• Inclusive teaching during the semester: welcoming all students, building a sense of trust and belonging; using structure for clarity and transparency; providing support and challenge for students
• Critically reflecting after the semester: looking back at student work and your experience to consider whether equity, inclusion, and sustainability are working out as you’d hoped.

This may sound a lot like advice you’ve heard at the CTL before, and that’s true! The Norton Guide is attentive to some of the same bodies of research that have long influenced us (like Universal Design for Learning). What makes The Norton Guide special is its combination of accessible research summaries, its range of practical applications, and its emphasis on a continuous cycle of learning that challenges instructors to consider whether our classrooms invite success for everyone. Whether you teach large lectures or small seminars, you’ll find much here to stimulate your thinking.

Interested in reading more? You can request your own free copy of The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching, and look for opportunities to join us here at the CTL!