Standing Up for DEIA, Emotional Synchrony in the Theater, Book Releases
And what is up with that Barbie movie?
Welcome to Newsletter Eighteen of Once More, With Feeling.
BE THE SPARK - Thoughts on Teaching and Learning
In the wake of disturbing new attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, I share some of the most current books, articles, and thought leadership on these topics in higher ed.
First up, scholars and authors of Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Improving Equity in the College Classroom Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy pen a passionate defense of their life’s work in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Now is not the time to shy away from encouraging DEI training” they write. “Rather it is the time to double-down on it so that more faculty members are skilled at facilitating difficult class conversations and structuring courses to increase student success.” The article does a fantastic job of pulling back the curtain on inclusive teaching practices, describing them clearly in such a way that it is difficult to imagine anyone disagreeing with practices that support all students. You can read the whole article here.
Next, an impressive group of thought leaders (Isis Artze-Vega, Flower Darby, Bryan Dewsbury, and Mays Imad) have published The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching. You can download the e-book for free but as you can see below, the physical copy is gorgeous and also has a very satisfying bookfeel. What stands out to me about this work (besides that list of scholars on its cover and the great ideas in its pages) is how practical the book is. We have so much writing on the why of equitable teaching; this book is solidly grounded in the how. Checklists, figures, and clear organization all map each moment of the semester onto the actions an equity-minded instructor can take. It would be ideal companion for course design (or redesign) institutes.
Is your role more focused on assessment of teaching? The folks at the Inclusive Teaching Visualization Project have developed a tool for observations of inclusive teaching, to accompany their video vignettes or to be used in the field. It is called the Protocol for Advancing Inclusive Teaching Efforts (PAITE). Read more in an article by lead author Tracie Addy (and lead author on the book What Inclusive Instructors Do).
Also, writer and speaker Katie Rose Guest Pryal offers a excellent guide on How to Teach Your (Many) Neurodivergent Students. “Accommodations are special exceptions made for one disabled person who has to jump through lots of hoops to get them,” she writes, “while accessibility is the creation of a space that is hospitable to and usable by disabled people, no hoops required.” She goes on to share many actionable ways we can better create accessible spaces in higher education.
Ok, really finally: when I type “attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” I can’t help but think of this McSweeney’s article on parent bills of rights — “for all we know, our schools could be spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion, when what most parents want are homogeny, inequity, and exclusion.”
Because really.
OUR MONSTERS, OURSELVES - Uncertainty, Challenges, Mental Health
One month until my new book releases (and soon after that you can stop hearing me talk about it!).
The first formal review is out, from Publisher’s Weekly, and they conclude that “educators and caregivers alike will find plenty of ways to help young people thrive.”
There is still time to register for my book launch, open to all.
EMOTION & MOTIVATION - Feeling and Striving
It’s been a busy year, because my other new book is also releasing this May, in time for fall course adoption.
I join the wonderful Lani Shiota in the 4th edition as co-author. For the first three editions the text was Emotion only—one of my contributions was to add motivation science content throughout the text, including a brand-new chapter on goal setting and self-control. (Emotion instructors, worry not—it is still largely an emotion text).
We also modernized the instructor resources, thoroughly revamping the powerpoint slides and recording short introductory videos for each chapter where we chat about the content and relevant popular culture or personal anecdotes. Also exciting is the launch of an e-book version of the text, with color images, frequent self-assessment questions, and other fun content.
Friends who teach Emotion and/or Motivation courses, you can request your instructor copies here.
HIVEMIND - On Social Neuroscience & Our Synchronous Selves
I heard about this research study somewhere—a conference? a tweet?—while it was still collecting data and was so excited to hear what came of it. Now, it is a whole peer-reviewed article and a tweet thread too: Using Wearable Sensors to Measure Interpersonal Synchrony in Actors and Audience Members During a Live Theatre Performance.
The researchers measured interpersonal movement synchrony during a live theater performance (using sensors on the participants’ heads and audio-visual recordings of the performance) and found that audience members with higher ratings on questionnaire items such as the strength of their emotional response to the performance, or how empowered they felt by the performance, showed a high degree of interpersonal synchrony with the actors.
The sample size is pretty tiny and we need to see some replications, but what a fun study.
INCIDENTALLY - What’s Up with That Barbie Movie?
Can someone explain to me the hype over the new Barbie movie? Maybe it is because my (feminist) parents forbade me from having Barbies, or because the one time my aunt snuck and bought me one my brothers dismembered her, lit her on fire, and buried her pieces in various spots around the yard (they were decidedly less feminist), but I just don’t get it.
Everything I have seen about the movie looks tooth-grindingly awful, but every new bit of information seems to be met with rapturous anticipation.
Can someone explain this phenomenon to me? Like I’m a 45-year-old women’s studies minor with an aversion to romantic comedies?