Introduction: Building the Course for Equity

This page offers the reader insight at what equity, inclusion, and belonging can impactfully appear in our classrooms; there is not one method for doing this, but here we offer some suggestions to consider.

Building a course for equity — designing lesson and assignment structure allowing students to pursue and reach equivalent outcomes by starting from their distinct positions (in life and learning), and by applying their unique and circumstantially-informed strengths as individuals — encourages us to recognize more clearly the broad inequities built into incarcerated living. Identify specific/concrete/tangible pressures and restrictions you know incarcerated people and students experience daily, and how these pressures and restrictions can undermine learning, and in general, a positive educational experience. We can allow our own educational experiences to inform how we reflect on others' — you may ask yourself, for instance:

"How many times a day do I enter my classrooms on the main campus, or an office or another facility, by simply passing through an unlocked door, and how would my day (and my productivity) change if I were expected to wait for authorized clearance and/or an escort every time I needed to enter a different space on campus?"

Consider, distinctly, major logistical challenges unique to working and living within prisons and jails. Whereas teaching and counseling faculty (and occasionally administrators in other capacities) travel through multiple security checkpoints in order to arrive at a classroom or education building which may or may not have key amenities many of us are likely accustomed to on our main campuses — internet or computer access, standard air conditioning, etc. — our students contend with these logistical limitations, and a great many more, before and after we ever enter the classroom each week.

Setting Tone and Building Rapport

Be welcoming for your students as they join class each day/week. Convey a sense of stability/consistency by having a clear plan as well as a back-up plan. Set classroom rules and expectations. Some may be necessary, and others may be co-created with students. Early on, and frequently, demonstrate respect for students as you discuss what students can expect of you, in addition to what you expect of them, and what they should expect of each other. Engage with students and encourage students to engage with each other using icebreakers and other activities. Whip-around activities Links to an external site. as icebreakers can help to release tension and build rapport.

Example: have students say their name or what they want to be called, and then share something more (something simple and of their choosing). It could be something they are grateful for, why they are taking the course, or something interesting about themselves, and would be new to you. Simply prompting the class during attendance, "Please share something new," can go a long way helping a class strengthen rapport with one another.

Co-create additional classroom norms or expectations. Continue to engage students with short, interactive discussions on course-specific topics or elements of the class. Discuss what elements of the class mean to students, and what they look like in practice. Encourage or prompt all students to ask questions; it is a helpful strategy for building a culture of curiosity and exploration, especially in an environment wherein students have reduced, little, or no immediate opportunity to project and share their voice on a range of subjects, beyond potentially the bounds of your classroom. Finally, make clear what students should do in preparation for each following class, and always aim to allow time for questions.

Recommended and Promising Practices

Considerations for Assignment Grades and Deadlines: Following a reliable schedule for submitting and returning coursework (recommended within two weeks of deadlines for a standard semester) helps keep both instructor and student responsibilities manageable. Students should be informed prior to the end of the semester if their work, which is their intellectual property, is unable to be returned. It is highly recommended that faculty utilize the Canvas gradebook, despite it being largely inaccessible to students, in order to easily track student progress and provide a print-out for students when needed throughout the semester. For colleges currently using CDCR Canvas while teaching face-to-face, it is highly recommended to keep the grade book current even if you are not using Canvas for assignments and content.

Turning in final grades on time is very important as updates to students’ transcripts can impact milestone credits and or impact the students’ release time. Often, students may not receive their official grade in a timely manner. Without access to Canvas or their college's online student portal, instructors cannot guarantee students will actually be in a position to learn what final grade they have earned (or may wish to dispute) whenever grades are handed out within the prison or jail (when hard copies of grades are distributed students may be working at their job, participating in other programming, meeting with visitors, etc.). Aiming to ensure students have a clear sense of their final grade by the final class meeting can help mitigate grade-related anxieties.

Grade Changes and Disputes: Our incarcerated students face higher percentages of grade reporting errors due to their lack of access to transcripts, regular contact with the instructor, and or lack of contact with other college staff. It’s highly recommended that faculty incorporate information on the policies and procedures of grade changes and or grade disputes in the course syllabus or other material officially distributed as part of your class. This language can be found in your colleges’ catalog along with other language that outlines a student's rights and responsibilities. More information on transcripts can be found in the Counseling & Advisement module.