{"id":2206,"date":"2022-12-09T09:52:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T17:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/?p=2206"},"modified":"2022-12-09T09:52:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T17:52:22","slug":"inclusive-and-socially-just-teaching-in-wic-an-interview-with-deanna-lloyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/2022\/12\/09\/inclusive-and-socially-just-teaching-in-wic-an-interview-with-deanna-lloyd\/","title":{"rendered":"Inclusive and Socially Just Teaching in WIC: An Interview with Deanna Lloyd\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Madeline Hurwitz, Graduate Intern, and Olivia Rowland, WIC GTA<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deanna Lloyd is a Senior Instructor in Crop & Soil Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences at OSU. She teaches a WIC course, Agricultural and Environmental Predicaments, for the Department of Crop & Soil Science. Deanna\u2019s teaching and research focus on inclusive, socially just pedagogies and experiential learning. In the following interview with WIC Graduate Intern Madeline Hurwitz and WIC GTA Olivia Rowland, Deanna discusses the structure of her WIC course, why she invites students to write in many genres, and how she integrates difference, power, and discrimination (DPD) into WIC. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our interview with Deanna, Madeline Hurwitz has also created a tip sheet for WIC faculty, which you can access here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Olivia Rowland (OR): Can you introduce yourself by telling us a bit about your teaching and research here at OSU?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Deanna Lloyd (DL): My name is Deanna Lloyd, and I use she or they pronouns. I teach in the College of Agricultural Sciences. My home department right now is Horticulture, and I teach some organic agriculture classes primarily for them. I also teach for the Sustainability Double-Degree Program, and so I teach one-and-a-half Sustainability classes. That\u2019s the teaching side of things. I\u2019m an instructor, so that\u2019s primarily my role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I do engage in research as well, and that primarily focuses on inclusive teaching online, inclusive ag education, and I\u2019m just starting to explore how futures thinking and imagination can be cultivated with sustainability students to imagine future scenarios that are positive and hopeful for us. Because we can\u2019t make it happen unless we dream it first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madeline Hurwitz (MH): Very cool. Which WIC course do you teach?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: I teach one called Agricultural and Environmental Predicaments. And it\u2019s actually cross-listed as Crop Science, Soil Science, and Sustainability. It\u2019s pretty common for Crop and Soil classes to be cross listed, since the department is actually Crop & Soil Science, but then Sustainability\u2019s on there as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that class, predicament is the key term. I use the dictionary definition of a difficult, perplexing, or trying situation, which is kind of fun. I really clarify for students that this is what we\u2019re going to be talking about, and the questions we\u2019re examining don\u2019t necessarily have clear right or wrong answers. So that\u2019s where critical thinking and systems thinking comes in, which is really fun because I can say, \u201cI don\u2019t know, we\u2019re all experts here.\u201d It\u2019s a nice framing so that students aren\u2019t like, \u201cThere\u2019s a right and there\u2019s a wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Is it hard teaching all three of those disciplines? It sounds like there\u2019s a lot going on.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: Thankfully sustainability, how I engage with it, really is interdisciplinary and holistic in that it can cover anything. I can see anything with a sustainability lens, so that makes that part easy. And then the crop and soil piece is pretty simple because we\u2019re talking about some of those topics, and they have some overlap. I use that sustainability lens throughout the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OR: How long have you been teaching this course? Has it changed over time?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: This academic year will be my sixth year teaching it. I took the class over from someone in the Crop & Soil Science Department, and at that point it was not cross listed with Sustainability. That came on once I started because I was a Sustainability instructor. We kept the idea of the predicaments the same and still having a major paper, those WIC elements that are required, but we each have our own spin on it. So it does look like a different class, and that sustainability lens is something that\u2019s different too. That lens is thinking about sustainability through three dimensions: economic, ecological, and social. That\u2019s the very general way that sustainability is described. It\u2019s a great way to think about something because it usually can pull in so many different ideas if you use those three lenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for how it\u2019s changed, I\u2019ve just evolved as an educator as my strategies change, or I learn a new strategy. And the predicaments have shifted, just thinking about what contemporary issues are going on, what issues I think are going to work well with the assignments. And also student feedback\u2014I solicit their feedback throughout the term and at the end of the term, like which predicaments did you like the most, what ones would you recommend for future classes? So that\u2019s been really fun to see some of those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: That\u2019s great, thank you. How do you approach teaching reading in that course?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: Honestly, I need more professional development and help with that to do it with intentionality. Two assignments I plucked from the WIC workshop. I have students do guided readings where you take either statements and students can identify them as true or false and support them with evidence from the readings, or take quotes and ask them to elaborate on that. That\u2019s one part, making them dig a little more. That was full WIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do also try to support them in considering how to evaluate research papers and journal articles, so that when they\u2019re sifting through they can do that effectively and efficiently. And then we do a lot of synthesis through concept maps, mind maps for the articles and material that they\u2019re reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OR: Teaching reading is something we\u2019ve been thinking about in WIC, and that\u2019s what the WIC workshops and seminar are for, is just to take things.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: I love them, those little pieces that I just implement. It\u2019s so handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OR: How do you teach different genres and types of writing in your WIC course?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: This is what makes it the most fun for me as an instructor. I kick off the class just with a place-based essay. I have students read a number of papers by people that describe their relationship to place in some way, shape, or form, positive or negative. The readings highlight not only place connection but also issues of difference, power, and discrimination while integrating perspectives from authors with diverse social identities. We read texts like Birding While Black <\/em>by J. Drew Lanham and Goldenrod & Asters: My Life with Plants<\/em> by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Then I invite students to just write a couple pages about some place or community, or some relationship they have to place, and to reflect on that. It\u2019s a great way to kick off the class, because a lot of times students are like, \u201cOh my gosh, a writing-intensive course, this is going be full on.\u201d And I can say, \u201cLet\u2019s just reflect here.\u201d So that\u2019s a great way for me to get to know them better and to get their wiggles out with writing. And it\u2019s a fun way to remind them that all writing doesn\u2019t need to be objective and scientific, because all of the readings that I use for this assignment are creative nonfiction from folks who work in some way in ag or natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then throughout the term, we just have different assignments that practice synthesis, like a social media post that goes along with a journal article review. So, students synthesize material into a journal article review, and then they synthesize that into however many characters for a social media post. That\u2019s a fun one for them to do. We practice writing an extension publication, so we read through a bunch of publications, think about the commonalities we\u2019re seeing, and talk to some extension professionals. That\u2019s really fun because a lot of students are more interested in that trajectory; they\u2019re not going to be researchers. We do letters to the editor, stakeholder statements for issues that have two sides. Sometimes, depending on the topics, we do something like a policy brief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those are all in addition to that big scientific paper that they\u2019ve been working on throughout the whole term. I do peer reviews on every assignment, except for that place-based essay, so they\u2019re constantly learning from each other too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I really like that place-based essay prompt. I bet those are fun to read.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: They\u2019re so fun to read, and sometimes they bring me to tears. They\u2019re so heartfelt and vulnerable. I think it sets a stage too for students to know that they can bring their lived experiences to this class, and that those experiences will be validated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: How do you incorporate difference, power, and discrimination (DPD) into your WIC course?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: I took the DPD Academy right as I was developing the WIC course, and so it was really in my mind. I would say the biggest thing that I bring to this course and all of my courses is the practice of systems thinking with that sustainability lens, because we can see all of these issues and topics we\u2019re talking about through those different lenses. And that really helps students consider how an issue affects different communities, or economics, or the sustainability of our ecological systems. Just practicing systems thinking in every class\u2014if that\u2019s all students get out of it, that\u2019s a top learning objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think about the topic and material choices that I make, so I purposefully focus on topics where we can examine pretty clearly how different systems and structures can create inequities, power differentials, and also these things called predicaments, which are complex and difficult and trying. For example, one of the main topics of the course is seed patenting and sovereignty, and with that we might read and talk about how it connects to food justice, Indigenous rights, the Green Revolution, and corporate consolidation. With cacao and chocolate, some of the subtopics include their connections to food labeling, import and export issues, impacts of trade agreements, labor concerns, fair trade, and so on. There\u2019s a lot there about interrogating whose perspective are we reading about and what angles we\u2019re taking for these different topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bring in different guest speakers to share their pieces. I\u2019ve partnered with different folks around campus, like Natalia Fern\u00e1ndez in SCARC [Special Collections and Archive Research Center] at the library. We\u2019ve been doing this amazing introduction to the Bracero program, which brought workers from Mexico up into the United States during World War II. Students get to learn about this huge component of agricultural labor that they didn\u2019t know about, and they\u2019re actually working with archival material, which is really cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also do the pedagogy part of thinking about the learner-focused classroom, peer-to-peer engagement, that validation of knowledge. I try to think about my own positionality and practice that reflexivity. So, there are different tiers of how I try to incorporate DPD ideas into the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OR: That\u2019s great. I think it definitely has to happen on so many different levels. I\u2019m also curious, since you teach a WIC course, if you use writing to engage students with DPD issues.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: It comes back to reading and writing. A lot of the materials that I use push students to think about those topics. Some of the reflections and prompts for the different assignments ask them to think about those topics from different perspectives. I also expect systems thinking in their writing. Like, I don\u2019t just want students to evaluate what chlorpyrifos pesticides do for crops, I want them to think about what a pesticide ban means for the communities that were using them, for the communities that were exposed to them, for the animals, for the economics of our state, all of these pieces. Trying to extract that in their writing and helping them synthesize that through their writing is the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Did you face any obstacles in implementing DPD?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: Yes, well, we\u2019re just humans and we\u2019re all socialized into different ways of knowing, and people are at different levels of understanding around some of these topics. So, I have to think about how to scaffold the information so that I can support students who might be new to these ideas and also challenge students who have engaged with these ideas before. That\u2019s where some of that peer-to-peer learning is amazing, and they can learn through dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dialogue facilitation is one piece that, as an instructor and curator of information for students, I\u2019m constantly trying to get better at. I try to pull together these ideas, which some folks in the class might agree with and some might not, and share these perspectives in a way where we can all have our minds expanded in terms of understanding that there\u2019s different ways that we all approach these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love that WIC has a cap on the number of students because you can have some of that nitty gritty dialogue facilitation and guide and support it in a meaningful way. Students are willing to go there; it\u2019s just creating that space for students that might feel like maybe they\u2019re in the minority in terms of their perspective to actually feel comfortable sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OR: Do you have any tips for other teachers, especially about integrating DPD?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DL: There are a ton of resources on the DPD website<\/a>, so I would point people in that direction if they\u2019re thinking about how to talk about or integrate some of these DPD concepts into specific disciplines. I would also say take advantage of the professional development opportunities that we have at OSU, like the Social Justice Education Initiative<\/a>. The Dialogue Facilitation Lab<\/a> is amazing. Of course, the DPD Academy<\/a> for folks developing DPD courses. There are lots of DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] trainings and the WIC trainings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking about the interdisciplinarity of all of the topics that we teach\u2014even though we\u2019re siloed in disciplines, they stretch and connect to everything. When we\u2019re willing to expand how we think about what we teach and what counts as our topic, that opens up a lot of perspectives. It also opens up a lot of opportunities to call on other experts to share their perspectives, which has been so fun. Having a small class and integrating guest speakers is something students love, and it helps expand my mind too, because there\u2019s all of this expertise that I learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An overall tip would be to solicit feedback from students, because students are all amazing. They have so many ideas, and they engage with them in a different perspective from faculty. I\u2019ve found what I\u2019ve learned from students to be so insightful, and it helps me go deeper with my reflection and reflexivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019d like a condensed version of Deanna\u2019s advice, you can find a list of suggestions and resources from this interview in the tip sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Madeline Hurwitz, Graduate Intern, and Olivia Rowland, WIC GTA Deanna Lloyd is a Senior Instructor in Crop & Soil Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences at OSU. She teaches a WIC course, Agricultural and Environmental Predicaments, for the Department of Crop & Soil Science. Deanna\u2019s teaching and research focus on inclusive, socially just… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2262,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions\/2262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}