Obviously, sensitivity to your students' needs is a primary concern in teaching. Diversity in the classroom is an enormous topic about which a great deal has been published lately; we are only able to scratch the surface here. The suggestions below are largely common sense; if you try to show respect for all of your students, including all of the personal and communal history that they bring to the classroom, you should do just fine.

DOs and DON'TS on Diversity in the Classroom

Don't ever ask a student to represent a social group to which they appear to belong; for example, if you are discussing a Chicano text, don't ask the Chicano student(s) in your class to speak for all Chicanos.

Do make an effort to encourage all students to participate, not just by calling on a variety of students but by varying your lesson plans to include writing, group work, and so forth-tasks that all students participate in. Also, make sure that students are allowed to finish saying what they have to say.

The Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that, in business interactions, disabled individuals must self-identify before the person interacting with them can inquire about their special needs. Thus it is not a good idea to ask a disabled student directly if there is anything you can do to facilitate his or her learning; you can, however, make a general announcement on the fist day of class, and/or include a statement in your syllabus. If you have a disabled student and you're concerned about what to do to facilitate his or her learning, do contact the Disabled Students Program. The staff there is a valuable resource that can provide concrete advice that is specific not only to a student's disability but to him or her individually because they know virtually all of the disabled students on campus. You may also want to include on your first-day handout a statement that invites students with disabilities to make arrangements with you if they need special accomadations for their needs.

Don't make sweeping generalizations about any cultural group. If you are in a situation where generalizations are useful to frame a discussion--for example, if you are trying to get students to see similarities among several African American narratives--temper the generalizations. There is a big difference between saying that religion is a recurring thematic in a group of African American texts and making a statement that African Americans are religious.

When responding to student writing, do keep an eye out for patterns in grammar usage or spelling that might signal an ESL or learning disabled student. While you should avoid asking a student directly whether s/he is ESL, you might want to ask a student more diplomatically how many languages s/he speaks and which one s/he learned first. For more information on specific writing patterns to look out for, contact CLAS.

Discrimination is discrimination. Sensitivity should extend to all of your students. Don't write off the members of the group of Baseball Hat Guys sitting in the back of the room. Likewise, just as you wouldn't stereotype members of minorlty groups, don't make blanket statements about Republicans, pro-lifers, etc.

If conflicts arise in the classroom, don't rush to shut them down. On the other hand, do pay close attention to managing the discussion-feel free to ask students to support claims with specific evidence, and feel free to make rules for discussion that stress respect for all of the students in the class. Do let students know where you stand on issues, but don't let your opinions on issues get in the way of your goals as a teacher.
If the emotional level of a discussion becomes overwhelming (to you or to students), do try to return to the focus of the course while preserving relevant disagreements and without condemning students for getting too emotional. Rephrasing students' comments in terms of the text or other course material can do wonders to change the level of discussion from hurling of personal insults to exchanging diverging opinions in relation to a third party a text or the characters or situations in it. In this kind of situation, relative abstraction can be your friend.

Useful Websites

The UCSB English Department Affirmative Action and Diversity Project: A Web Page for Research
This site presents diverse opinions regarding Affirmative Action topics; rather than taking a singular pro or con position, it is designed to help lend many different voices to the debates surrounding the issues of affirmative action. This site is an academic resource and it provides scholars, students, and the interested public with on-site articles and theoretical analyses, policy documents, current legislative updates, and an annotated bibliography of research and teaching materials.

UC Berkeley: Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom
From the hard copy book Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis.