by Eric Royer, Program Director, Reinert Center
The Reinert Center’s Resources Revisited series highlights existing resources available to the SLU teaching community that may be especially timely or useful at certain points in the academic year.
With the fall semester just around the corner, our August 2026 entry highlights strategies for creating inclusive classroom environments that promote equitable learning experiences for students of different backgrounds, identities, and abilities. These inclusive practices can help foster a sense of belonging, and provide value and meaning to our students in the learning process.
As you prepare for the semester, consider exploring our resources on Supporting Affective Executive Functioning Skills, Supporting Cognitive Executive Functioning Skills, and Supporting Neurodivergent Students in Group Discussions. These guides offer practical strategies for using course design to better support diverse learners.
The beginning of the semester also presents an opportunity for you to signal your commitment to inclusivity and belonging upfront. To support this work, we recommend our resources on Creating a Welcoming Classroom Environment, How to Get to Know Your Students, Strategies for Learning Student Names, and Tips for Using Student Names in Large Classes.
Since inclusive teaching involves an explicit commitment to recognizing and minimizing the potential for exclusion, these resource guides might be particularly helpful for conceptualizing and acting on stereotype threats, microaggressions, and deficit framing: Seeing the Diversity in Your Classroom, Understanding Stereotype Threat, Reducing Stereotype Threat in the Classroom, Avoiding Microaggressions in the Classroom, and Avoiding Deficit Thinking by Emphasizing Cultural Wealth.
You may also find value in our resources that focus on inclusivity in assessment and assignment design, including our resource guides focusing on Assessment in Diverse Classrooms, Creating Inclusive Course Assignments, and Culturally Responsive Assessment.
For those teaching online this fall, we also have several resources devoted specifically to inclusive distance teaching: Inclusive Online Teaching, Practices for Inclusive Teaching in Asynchronous Distance Courses, Practices for Inclusive Teaching in Synchronous Distance Courses, and the “Do Nots” of Inclusive Online Teaching.
As you reflect on how your teaching is already inclusive, and how you might further strengthen that focus, we’re happy to meet with you to discuss how you are creating inclusive classrooms by requesting a teaching consultation with Reinert Center staff.
The Notebook 