Writers thrive in communities that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Teaching Writing with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Mind
WID is committed to providing resources and programming that foster a culture of respect and belonging, rooted in the assumption that learning to write is both a deeply personal and deeply social activity. Teaching and learning writing explores how disciplinary communities create and maintain standards, beliefs, and practices—in ways that include or exclude writers and teachers of varying social identities. Here, you'll find a growing collection of resources and information dedicated to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in our campus writing community.
Join us as we consider how power is (re)created, shared, and challenged.
Resources by Subtopic
Academic Ableism
- Creating accessible classroom environments requires a simultaneous commitment to reducing barriers to success and designing activities and assignments that invite all students to participate in an intellectual space. Building an accessible and equitable writing course requires an ongoing conversation between faculty and students to negotiate the course environment that works for everyone in the moment. See WID's Fighting Academic Ableism handout (PDF) for ideas and strategies for navigating academic ableism and supporting students.
Accessible Documents
- Accessible materials are an important element of inclusive pedagogy. While accessibility features are necessary for readers with some disabilities, the practice of creating accessible documents benefits everyone. WID's list of document accessibility tips and resources can help you get started with making accessible documents.
Anti-racism and Language
- Asao B. Inoue's Above the Well: An Antiracist Argument from a Boy of Color (New Tab) is a mix of argument and memoir encouraging antiracist work in classrooms and beyond. Upended your assumptions about “good” language use and engaged with a call to do antiracist work around language.
- Shawna Shapiro's book, Cultivating Critical Language Awareness in the Writing Classroom (New tab), explores how to design, scaffold, and respond to writing assignments in ways that are in line with our commitments to equity and inclusion. See examples of writing assignments across disciplines that draw out the assets of multilingual and international writers review strategies that for responding to and evaluating student writing in ways that are both effective and affirming for writers of all language backgrounds.Critical Language Awareness (CLA) is an approach to writing instruction that prioritizes students’ self-reflection and rhetorical agency, and promotes social justice in the academy and beyond.
Inclusive Teaching
- Inclusive Teaching (New Tab), written by Vijy Sathy and and Kelly Hogan, offers a host of practical strategies for welcoming all students, fostering a sense of belonging, and enhancing peer and student-teaching relationships. Their framework emphasizes how structuring instruction and communication with students builds equity and inclusion. In addition, Sathy and Hogan address how documenting your experiences can help to reflect on and demonstrate inclusive teaching practices.
- WID has compiled a list of low-prep, high-engagement activities from several sources that you can use to increase inclusivity in your classroom.
Trauma Informed Education
- Some students have experienced trauma that makes typical classroom practices inequitable for them. In Alex Shevrin Venet's book, Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education (New Tab), Venet offers six principles that can help instructors and administrators make changes in classroom approaches and institutional policies, starting a process of transformation that is essential for our time. This text will help you to xxplore ways that these principles can help to create a more trauma-informed and equitable student experience.
Universal Design for Learning
- Informed by the field of neuroscience, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to teaching that addresses the diverse learning needs of all students. Some individuals may learn best by engaging activities such as listening, writing, drawing, reading, experimenting, building, discussing, designing, observing, or enacting. The goal of a UDL-based curriculum is to provide students with a variety of options, so they can each learn in the way that’s most effective for them. In addition to the UDL resources offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (New Tab), the CTL partners with WID to offer workshops on this topic.