Inclusive Pedagogies started in January 2017 as a reading group to prepare teachers in the Composition Program who would likely have a high number of international multilingual students in summer writing courses. Another goal was to provide a space in which interested writing teachers could discuss and begin to define what “inclusive pedagogy” might look like in writing instruction.
In November 2017, we organized the successful “Social Justice Through Antiracist Writing Assessment” symposium featuring Dr. Asao B. Inoue, author of Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing for a Socially Just Future (WAC Clearinghouse, 2015). Following the symposium, we expanded the group into a pilot program for implementing labor-based writing assessment in Composition and English courses and has since continued to meet twice a term to read and discuss current composition theory, research, and antiracist pedagogy in support of student writers from diverse backgrounds. With support from CSWS, Inclusive Pedagogies became a Research Interest Group in AY 2018-19.
Unique to our reading group format is that no preparation is required for our two-hour discussion sessions. Instead, we read together for 30 minutes then discuss our selected articles or book chapters in fields of composition and the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, ability, and other aspects of identity and social justice. Faculty, students, and staff from across disciplines are invited to join us. Our goals are (1) to develop a shared language for writing and assessment as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns for teaching our diverse student body; and (2) to build a community of educators who help each other reflect upon and refine inclusive teaching practices and anti-racist pedagogy. Reading together gives us a shared language for reflecting on our work. We use the space of the reading group to discuss not only assessment of students but our own praxis and to share what we’ve learned through national conference papers, invited talks, and other research-based products.
In AY 2019-2020, the IPRIG formed an advisory board of faculty and staff affiliated with the Center for the Study of Women in Society, the Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center, the English Department’s Writing Associates/Writing Tutorial Program, and the Composition Program. This restructuring has allowed the RIG to expand our discussions to include undergraduate and graduate student tutors as well as GEs and faculty across the curriculum. Among the IPRIG Advisory Board’s goals is to explore how to support students and faculty in antiracist writing and tutoring pedagogy, especially by providing funding for groups who don’t normally have access to support. While this goal was curtailed this year, our plans still include the following: (1) sponsor undergraduate and graduate student tutors to attend the annual UOTeachIn on Equity an Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy; (2) develop small grants to support (a) undergraduate research connected to writing and (b) projects by and/or professional development for writing tutors and learning specialists; and (3) expand the Composition Program’s Equity and Inclusion Awards, which recognizes educators who display best practices in creating an equitable and inclusive learning environment, as follows: one for a 100-level WR instructor (all WR faculty and GEs are eligible), one for writing tutors (grad and undergrad at any tutoring site are eligible), and one for an instructor outside of 100-level WR classes who uses writing and inclusive practices in their course (we imagine our first nominees to come from our core IPRIG group).
For more information, contact Jenée Wilde. Subscribe to the IPRIG mailing list.
Co-coordinators: Jenée Wilde and Kate Myers
Advisory Board members:
Emily Simnitt, associate director of composition and senior instructor of English, esimnitt@uoregon.edu
Jenée Wilde, CSWS dissemination specialist and senior instructor of English, jenee@uoregon.edu
Kate Myers, director of Writing Associates Program and senior instructor of English, kmyers@uoregon.edu