by Kristin L. Gustafson, University of Washington Bothell

When a History Division member asked at our August business meeting about considering nominations from the floor, we first met his question with silence. On the screen before us were the names—including my own—to fill proposed leadership positions. Many of us were eager to run an efficient meeting and do the vote. Yet his question invited us to slow down the process.

Silences like these can be awkward.

Perhaps our collective silence reflected respect for the behind-the-scenes labor needed to recruit volunteers. We all know the hard work it takes to cultivate division leadership and find members who will take valuable time to run our division successfully. Perhaps our silence reflected recognition of how our process might lack transparency and limit inclusion. We value rigorous scholarship that does not preordain answers.

Whatever the silence meant, we stayed with it momentarily. We paused. We listened. And then we acted. We addressed the question. We invited nominations from the floor. We changed the process.

There was something about this moment that reminded me of the way excellent classroom teaching requires similar careful attention and structure to make learning accessible to all. As teaching chair, my aim in the year ahead is to engage with inclusive teaching strategies— practices that encourage diversity, collaboration, community and justice. I invite you to help by sharing your best practices for classrooms and projects.

One of the lessons I learned early on in my teaching was about silence. Whether students self-nominate to speak or wait for me to call on them directly, it is easy for me to reward those who speak first. It makes the classroom feel alive and interesting. As an extrovert myself, I enjoy these vibrant, electric moments.

But Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, challenges us all to resist this impulse of prioritizing external and verbal discussion. Doing so can exclude valuable voices and insights. The “Extrovert Ideal,” as she calls it, prioritizes gregarious and action-oriented people over those people who might take heed and value contemplation.

To encourage the best ideas in our classrooms, we might work against the extrovert norm and find ways for more ideas from all of our students. We can welcome ways to become comfortable with silence and recognize quiet as a space for learning and growth.

There are many strategies for doing this. John Bean, in Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, offers one that involves writing. He encourages “time-outs” in conversations when there are more hands in the air than can be called upon. Students get five minutes to write out their ideas. This method offers students space to say their arguments in writing completely and clearly without fear of being interrupted by their more vocal classmates.

Let me share an example of how this strategy has worked in my classroom recently.

Once a year, students in one of my introduction journalism classes visit small newspapers in their communities. They spend an hour talking with the publishers, editors, writers and photographers. (As we know, this is sometimes the same person.) In the days leading up to the visit, the day of the visit, and then the days after the visit, students work in groups to create a blog documenting their experiences. Through guided prompts, they write about their feelings, thoughts, analysis and reflections.

One learning goal of the course is to learn through revision. So we take time to evaluate the six blogs produced mid-stream. It gives everyone time to refine and improve. By seeing the work of others, students get a sense of best practices for the blogs.

When I first taught the quarter-long course, we would spend an hour of one class evaluating each of the six blogs in progress. This was all the time we had, and the amount of feedback was too limited. In a class of 30 students, we got through three or four comments per 10 minutes. If every student spoke once, then we heard from 18 to 24 students at most. And the ideas of six to 12 students went unheard. And as might be expected, some students spoke more than once. So the number of student voices not heard was about half the classmost quarters.

This measure was misaligned with my goals toward inclusive pedagogy. I wanted to hear from all students. So I changed things around.

Through a flipped-classroom strategy, I assigned each student to view the blogs of other students and make a comment. This work was done online and outside of class time. For example, one person from each team had to respond to these sets of questions: “How well does the blog address all of the W’s? Are there any gaps? Is there one W that is addressed especially well? Respond for each of the blogs.” Another person from that same team had to respond to these: “Look at how the book provides tips for writing blogs. Which of these tips have been applied the best? Which ones do you recommend the group look at more closely? In what ways does the blog provide quickand- easy information? Be specific. What works well? What could be improved? Respond for each of the blogs.”

What happened as a result of this shift was that every student had an opportunity to verbalize a response to the prompts. The strategy increased the amount of feedback for each group significantly as well. It created the space that Cain and Bean promote.

In the year ahead, I welcome your ideas for inclusive teaching strategies that work for you. Tell me about your classroom practices and curriculum designs that encourage diversity, collaboration, community, and justice. Send them to me at gustaf13@uw.edu.