The goal of the first class was to create a safe space where everyone could feel comfortable sharing opinions, analysis, and experiences. Creating a safe space can be an interesting balance between promoting risk taking and critical thinking while also making sure everyone is comfortable. Although pedagogically, risk taking and being comfortable aren’t distinct and we recognize that some discomfort is indicative of learning, when dealing with the topics of race and gender, our class must also create an environment where we practice overcoming entrenched and often invisible racism and sexism. Here are some of the guidelines that we came up with and some of the discussion around them:
- Be aware of non-verbal communication. Designate a vibes watcher for each class. This is a person who is responsible for monitoring the mood in the class and should point out when the group seems tense, frustrated, or tired.
- We agreed on the word “ouch” as a verbal cue when someone has said something that another person finds very offensive. This led to an unresolved question: ‘is offense enough reason that something is offensive’? We also discussed responsibility for calling out offensive statements: should that responsibility always lay with people who identify as a group that would be most offended by a particular statement? Since this GISP will be an evolving an on-going conversation, we expect to learn a lot about communication from any issues that might arise.
- Trust that other participants have no bad intentions, but also state when an action has had an unintended effect.
- We will treat this GISP as an on-going discussion, putting aside some conversations until we have learned more. Every class period will start with thoughts left over from last time (because of those times when you think of the right thing to say an hour too late).
- Confidentiality: Take away ideas, but not particular stories. We want people to feel safe sharing stories in class, but also to be able to share the work we do with the outside world
- As facilitators, we found this reading to be very helpful. All facilitators should review this before facilitating and try to be inclusive and open.
- Sometimes, class will be led more in a presentation style, for example when one student is more knowledgeable about a particular topic or when a professor comes in to give a presentation. For those classes, an additional facilitator will be responsible for making sure the environment stays inclusive
- Facilitators are responsible for monitoring the amount that everyone participates and making sure that everyone has the chance to participate
- Inform all guests of the way that our class operates so that they are ready to participate in the inclusive environment!