As we embark on the school year, creating an equitable classroom environment is important for supporting girls and other underrepresented groups in a positive learning experience around computer science. There are several equity-based pedagogical practices that you can employ to ensure that your classroom culture is welcoming and inclusive for all students:
* Provide a welcoming classroom community/environment for all students (i.e. positive feedback, addressing students by name, greeting students at the door, etc.).
* Maintain high expectations for all learners by encouraging students to go beyond the basic level of the task.
* Value and make content relevant to student knowledge (i.e. language, home culture, personal interests, pop culture, etc.).
* Use multiple learning modalities to connect to different learning styles.
* Provide academic supports for English language learners.
What other pedagogical practices do you implement to provide a welcoming and inclusive classroom culture?
Joanna Goode
CSTA Equity Committee Chair