This past year required each and every student to navigate the otherwise familiar learning environment in an extremely different way. This difficulty is doubled for incoming freshmen who already need to learn how to succeed in the college world. As part of my job as a Peer Leader at the Learning Commons, I had the privilege of connecting with 17 incoming freshman students who are going through this all-too-real situation. Getting to know these students was an amazing experience, and it was thrilling to see their goals and aspirations unhindered by their abnormal first year at college. But being in the position of facilitator made me aware of the responsibility I have as an educator to inform my students about complex, real-world issues. As I was deciding my approach to the semesters’ content, I reflected on the issues I’ve seen in the past couple of years; racial inequality, discrimination of the transgender community, and COVID response throughout the world immediately popped into my head. Given my position as an educator and my passion for social justice, teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the classroom centered my focus this year.

 

          I had several opportunities throughout the year to create and facilitate lesson plans to my students regarding DEI. I centered my content around various topics such as microaggressions, narratives through diverse perspectives, and the different identities one can have. To prepare for these lessons, I used an evidence-based approach and scoured the internet for academic studies and primary sources to incorporate. In order to present this information to the students in a clear and concise manner that will keep students engaged for 50 minutes, I often went well beyond my 2-hour planning time each week! As somebody who comes from a homogenous background – going to an all-male high school and living in a mostly white community – one of my concerns was how to communicate these topics to students from backgrounds that frown upon diversity education. For example, throughout my high school experience, the topic of microaggressions was constantly vilified by people around me as a non-issue that is nothing more than “just hurting someone’s feelings”. Both my emphasis on academic studies and my experience in unlearning those mistaken perspectives prepared me for teaching these topics; I carefully explained with examples and sources that casually saying phrases like “that’s so gay” or “you throw like a girl” leads to lasting mental health issues, contributes to a hostile environment, and reinforces bigoted opinions.

 

          Of course, as a college student with my own experiences and biases, I had to learn alongside my students how I can better educate a diverse community. During early fall semester, I created a voting lesson which informed students how to register to vote in the 2020 General Election and get politically involved in their communities. Unbeknownst to me, one of my students was not a US citizen; they could not vote or become officially involved in any election, so my lesson was completely useless for them. That mishap acted as a bit of a wake-up call for me in the sense that I need to be constantly alert of my “blind sides” if I want to have a truly inclusive education platform. This experience prompted me to become more aware of identities that I often take for granted such as citizenship, nationality, and primary language spoken. I made sure to implement those perspectives into future lessons and fix past lessons for the upcoming semester – my voting lesson plan currently has sections about non-U.S. citizen voting laws and actions to take if you cannot participate in elections such as political activism and volunteering for certain political campaigns.

 

          So regarding DEI education in my position, what’s next? I am happy to be welcoming a new cohort of freshmen into my Learning Community next semester, and as I constantly reflect on and re-work my former lessons, I hope to provide the best learning experience I can for these incoming students. Social justice is an ongoing fight, and I will continue to learn, reflect, and educate not only inside the classroom, but with whatever platform I have to spark progressive change in my community.