Contributed to the TLCo-op by Alina Holmes, Graduate Research Assistant of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment, 2020.

As teachers, we all know that it is important to set expectations at the start of the quarter for all students. One way to consider doing this by having students also join you in creating and setting these expectations. This guide can lead you through some ideas was to how to set-up these guidelines in a classroom and how to help students build expectations for all learners. We also recommend looking at this page which discusses navigating “hot moments” in the classroom.

Additionally, we invite you to read the following article by Sensoy and DiAngelo 2014 which discusses the pitfalls of attempting to build expectations that don’t truly do justice to social justice classrooms. They also provide concrete examples of how to avoid pitfalls.

See also: