Teachable Moments about Privilege

classroom management
Many faculty wonder how to help students in the dominant group understand societal privilege without making them defensive. One day, a situation arose in my course that changed my approach to this topic. I was teaching about using APA citations, and, in the course of doing so, opened my spiral-bound copy of the APA manual and folded it back on itself. After several minutes of instruction, I gave students a chance to practice. During this pause, a student spoke up, “I wish my manual had spiral binding,” and the group reverberated with this idea. I hadn’t noticed that my book was different than theirs. But apparently, while I was talking, they were very attuned to the fact my manual was spiral-bound and theirs were paperbacks that didn’t stay open that easily.

To continue reading, you must be a Teaching Professor Subscriber. Please log in or sign up for full access.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

I have two loves: teaching and learning. Although I love them for different reasons, I’ve been passionate about...
There are a myriad of answers to this seemingly simple question. Grading probably comes to mind for many...
Fears of disingenuous work, fraudulent and stolen information, and theft of intellectual property have been swirling around education...
Students often struggle academically due to an inability to organize their lives around achievable goals. Students beyond early...
Hey, you. Yes, you. When was the last time you told your students, colleagues, or (gulp) administrators how...

For online faculty, I think it’s more important than ever to be conspicuously human...

Back when I was an undergraduate, students were thought to drop out of college because either they failed...

Are you signed up for free weekly Teaching Professor updates?

You'll get notified of the newest articles.

The Teaching Professor Conference 2024

June 7-9, 2024 • New Orleans

Connect with Fellow Educators at The Teaching Professor Conference!