Community Agreements
Brave space: We are encouraged to be fully present as much as we can be, learn from each other, and share our authentic selves, experiences, thoughts, and observations.
Take space, make space: We do our best to participate and let others participate. We learn from everybody in this space.
One mic, one diva: One person sharing at a time. We do our best to continuously learn and try not to interrupt, although, if we do unintentionally interrupt, we are gentle to ourselves and each other.
"I" statements: We share for ourselves and do not make assumptions, especially harmful and derogatory assumptions about others.
Ouch: If something hurts, we address and resolve 1:1 or together open to multiple perspectives.
Confidentially: We keep the identities of people and their stories and experiences confidential unless there is harm/danger involved which needs to be reported.
Don't yuck my yum: We do not put down people and their ideas down and instead engage in a thoughtful manner.
Agree to Disagree: It is okay to disagree as long as we respect each other’s holistic existence.
Calling In: We make mistakes and we are all learning. We gently call each other in, instead of calling each other and pushing each other out in a fear and punishment based manner. We acknowledge and work through past and present harm in order to minimize harm in the future.
Make Connections: We connect with our learning community in transformative and inclusive ways to practice collective access and liberation. We are here to support each other.
Academic Success
Retention, analysis, and application of knowledge learned
Pay attention to course weekly key concepts and reading, film/media, and lecture themes and key concepts.
Highlight and/or write/type or voice record 1 quoted/paraphrased main idea per every few pages of the reading, every few minutes of film/media, and every key concept of the lectures.
After each chapter of the reading, after each film/media, and after each lecture, write/type/voice record 1-3 sentences of the main ideas and how they connect to course key concepts and/or your thoughts/questions.
Write/type/voice record/Google questions and ask questions with your professor/colleagues.
Rehearse main ideas and key terms during class and outside of class with colleagues for successful retention, critical analysis, and application of knowledge.
Learning during and outside of class
Review notes before and after class, come prepared to class to learn, share, and/or ask questions.
Engage deeply with topics during every class and build relationships of care, respect, and trust with your professor/colleagues.
Time management
Write reading, midterm paper, and final paper due dates in your paper/electronic calendar.
Review your calendar one month, two weeks, one week, the day of, and hours in advance.
Create monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly to do lists.
Check your daily schedule at the start of each day, throughout the day, and set daily alarms for classes/meetings.
Block out specific times for work and rest within your weekly calendar. Have rest scheduled every day, week, and month.
Keep up with readings and assignments, get started early, and turn in assignments on time. Communicate with your professor to kindly request an extension if needed.
Essay writing
Create an outline for your papers/presentation with your introduction thesis, body paragraphs with cited evidence to be analyzed and connected back to your thesis, and a conclusion paragraph around a few weeks before the paper is due. Follow assignment requirements closely and take your paper to be reviewed at the Academic Success Center.
Communicate with your professors
Reach out to your professor. Communicate cordially and professionally.
Example email: “Dear Professor/Dr. _______, body of email with questions and/or requests, Sincerely, your first and last name, pronouns, student ID, major, email.”
Visit your professor’s office hours and ask us about our teaching, research, and leadership experiences (research them if you can) and share your own experiences and interests if you are willing.
Ask us questions about readings, film/media, lectures, and other interests.
Kindly request support if needed. Request access needs (what you require to succeed in learning) if needed.
Class Accessibility
Routine expectations
Clear expectations on assignments and participation.
Routine weekly class agenda where we discuss lectures, film/media, and readings.
Flexible deadlines and participation
Flexible deadlines. Please kindly request a 1-2 day extension on assignments if needed. No need to explain why.
Flexible participation. Please email your professor if you miss class or parts of class (no need to explain why) and watch/read missed class video/transcript and submit the missed class participation assignment within 1-2 weeks of your absence.
Reviewing of class material ahead of time and after
Weekly class lectures/agendas, reading, film/media discussions posted weekly 24 hours before class.
Recorded class videos and class transcripts for reviewing, retention, analysis, and application of knowledge learned.
Interactive learning with feedback
Daily class participation (real time out loud or in chat or afterwards) engaging lecture, reading, film/media, and activity discussions centering multiply marginalized community wisdom quotes and students' thoughts/questions prepares students for midterm paper, final paper, and to transform society within their respective fields of study/careers and communities.
Midterm paper feedback prepares students for final paper.
Paper outlines assist students in mapping out paper main ideas and citations and analysis supporting these ideas.
Open and accessible communication
Image descriptions provided.
Text to speech and speech to text accessibility.
Speaking at a steady pace
Live transcriptions or closed captions.
Medium and large font size accessibility.
Accessible color contrast.
Opportunities for participating verbally and/or non-verbally, in real time and/or afterwards.
Class materials are available for free.
Inclusive relationship building
Questions/announcements welcome at the beginning of class, throughout class, end of class, through email, and during office hours.
Students are welcome to email their professor and/or visit professor during office hours with any questions/concerns or simply to engage course material further or ask questions about academic/life journey tips.
Students are welcome to foster inclusive relationships of mutual care, respect, and trust with other students and their professor.
Focused, relevant, and responsive learning
Focused collective note taking of quotes from lectures, film/media, and readings allow students to focus in on one area and learn from others in other areas of learning
Weekly key concepts encourages students to focus on main ideas from lectures, readings, film/media.
Taking notes of several quotes and thoughts/questions per lecture, reading, film/media for retention, analysis, and application of multiply marginalized wisdom knowledge learned.
Lectures, film/media, readings, and activities are relevant and responsive to critical intersectional issues experienced by multiply marginalized communities today and encourage the critique of harmful systems and the creation of transformative systems.
Facilitation of interactive activities to retain, analyze, and apply knowledge learned.
Self/community care
Rest and self/community care is encouraged throughout class.
Class community check ins foster camaraderie.
Doing our best to continuously learn and minimize harm, bias, and assumptions.
Content notes encouraged and the minimizing of re-traumatization.
Faculty and staff are mandatory reporters and are required to report any harm or possible harm.
Students are encouraged to seek student and community support resources.
Accessible Scholarship
Please say your name every time you speak for all to know who is speaking.
When you first introduce yourself, please describe how you look and provide a land acknowledgment and your pronouns. Here is my example: “I am a light brown skinned gender fluid diasporic Pilipinx person with black hair and brown eyes who uses any pronouns. I am zoom videoing in from Tongva and Chumash ancestral homelands today.”
At the beginning, share how people are always welcome to take care of themselves and their access needs at any time. For example, I share: “Please feel free to take care of your access needs at any time or request access needs. Feel free to move around, stim, use the restroom, take a break, eat food, drink water, ask a clarifying question, etc.” Please welcome all to share their individual and collective access needs and how you will do your best to meet their access needs.
Community agreements. Example: “Brave space, take space make space, I statements, confidentiality, ouch, etc.”
Speak at a medium pace to allow time for all to process information.
Please have an outline of what you will speak about and content notes for sensitive information.
Bullet points are helpful
Definitions for any non-common words, phrases, and acronyms are helpful.
I recommend utilizing Canvas, Microsoft Word, and Powerpoint as they have built in text to speech and speech to text accessibility and accessibility checkers.
Use a readable font with white background and black text for color contrasts and visual accessibility. Do not use color as the only method for distinguishing information. Italicization or bolding can be used.
Make sure that backgrounds are not cluttered and leave plenty of “white space” in the background.
Use large images.
Provide detailed and brief image descriptions within alt text (maximum 100 characters).
Weekly Activities
Week 1: Introductions, course wishes, access request email to the class/professor
Post to our class Canvas Week 1 Activity or through a private email to me before the end of Wednesday's class:
Subject: Introduction, Course Wishes, and Access Requests
Dear Dr. Pau Abustan and colleagues.
My name is ____ and my pronouns are____. I am a ____ year majoring in ____. My image description is ____. I am zoom videoing in from ____ Indigenous lands. A fun fact about me is ____.
During this course, I hope to learn more about _____. I am excited about _____. I have a question/concern about _____.
Wondering if it is possible for you to honor my access requests? My access requests are _____.
Thank you for all.
Sincerely,
First and Last Name (pronouns)
University
Major
University Email
Week 2:
Browse through websites and feel free to use as a future resource.
Please focus on your group's assigned website for this activity and you are also welcome to discuss all.
In this class, we do our best to honor each person and each person’s story by honoring language/actions they appreciate along with honoring overall communities and their movements for wider accepted language/actions which minimizes harm. We avoid deficit language/actions and seek solidarity language/actions.
As much or as little you would like to share, what did you learn after browsing your assigned website and how will you apply what you learned to supporting yourself and multiply marginalized communities you may or may not be part of? How can you avoid savior and pity narratives and instead work toward solidarity with yourself and others around you?
Week 3: As much or as little you would like to share, draw/describe your walk/drive to your K-12 school and/or your K-12 education experience. Did learn about multiply marginalized people’s histories and current issues? Did you learn full histories and current lived material realities of BIPOC, sick, disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, two spirit, multiple feminisms, etc.? Did you feel welcome to express your authentic self and thoughts/questions? How can we change up our schooling systems to be more educational and transformative instead of teaching everyone to be the same, quiet, following orders, etc.?
Week 4: Scavenger hunt! As much or as little as you would like to share, please post a photo of an item near you. It can be an ordinary item to you or it can be an item of personal significance to you. How is this item friendly or not friendly to communities of multiply marginalized backgrounds? Is this item friendly to sick, neurodivergent, and disabled people? BIPOC? People of diverse (a)genders and (a)sexualities? Low-income people? And more? Friendly for our health, environment, etc.? Let’s continue to ponder how we can build future worlds which are friendly, caring, and accessible to all.
Week 5: As much or as little you would like to share, share a song or poem or anything else which describes an aspect of your positionality of who you are, your life experiences/perspectives, and your relationship to yourself and others. How can you better listen, learn from, and support people of diverse race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. backgrounds around you in a solidarity way and not in a savior/pity way? Note how tons of books, research, films, organizations, etc. are out there and you are always welcome to learn from existing knowledge or ask me, your professor, any questions.
Week 6: As much or as little you would like to share, respond here within this discussion to all or at least one person from your small group to what they discussed in week 1, 2, 3, 4, and/or 5 activities. What did you learn from them? What can you do to transform yourself and transform our local/global systems (food, housing, healthcare, education, work, leadership, community, arts, etc.) to further support diverse disability, race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. communities?
Week 7: As much or as little you would like to share, draw an iceberg or write your iceberg. At the top, write in what people assume/expect you to be in terms of identities/characteristics. At the bottom, write who you are. How can we work toward a world which dismantles harmful stereotypes/assumptions? How can we minimize our own stereotypes/assumptions of other people/communities/issues?
Week 8: If you are willing and as much or as little you would like to share, what are your top favorite movies/shows/books? Are people of diverse race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. identities represented in them and if yes, how are they represented? Are dreams for systemic transformation and change (quality access to food, housing, healthcare, education, work, rest, community, joy, art, culture, etc.) represented in them? What movies/shows/books do you want more of?
Week 9: As much or as little you would like to share, post a drawing/image and/or wordle (collection of words) of what your dream world looks/feels like. How can we transform systems of food, housing, healthcare, education, work, rest, community, joy, art, culture, etc. to be quality and accessible to all?
Week 10 Conclusions: As much or as little you would like to share, what did you appreciate learning about in this class? What are your last words for our class? What photo best represents what intersectional X means to you? Please provide an image description.