General rules to follow

• Learn every student's name and the name he/she prefers to be called and use the names
• Ask about your students' interests and experiences so you can know them as individuals rather than merely members of the group
• Ask about your students' interests and experiences early on in the course
• Encourage students to respond to each others' questions and comments, not just your own, to foster a sense of community
• Don't make assumptions about students based on what you perceive as their minority experiences and needs
• Try to anticipate issues of sexuality, religion, or other values for students as you give assignments and lead discussions
• Provide guidelines for group discussions so as to create an environment where students will feel safe voicing their opinions
• Don't ignore or single out students and never ask a student to act as a spokesperson for his/her group
• Combine volunteering and calling on students by beginning a discussion topic by asking for volunteers and then calling on other students to support, add to, or modify that student's comments
• Monitor students' comments to avoid any personal attacks
• Introduce controversial topics in impersonal ways
• Give students explicit information about how you will grade their work