Being Welcome (For Oct. 12 in-class)

Below are some common classroom experiences that make me feel more or less welcome:

Positive experiences

• opportunities to self-determine my learning
• space to give and to revoke consent
• individual attention
• recognition of difference between students (race, sexuality, gender, interest, etc.)
• teacher openness regarding and willingness to correct mistakes
• acceptance and praise of student mistakes as part of the learning process
• deliberate and explicit class and subject expectations
• space for and acceptance of the need for physicality and movement
• space and flexibility for questions and "off-topic" moments
• organization and routine
• respect for personal boundaries
• teacher investment in my learning
• positive interdependence and personal investment in my learning

Negative experiences

• presumptive and gendered language (the scientist = he; the nurse = she)
• cis-hetero-normative assumptions (binary pronouns used without checking, assuming that someone who "looks like" a woman must be married to a man)
• feeling dismissed or having questions shut down
• feeling trapped or bound by the material or the expectations
• not knowing what to expect
• not being seen as an individual