7/17/2019 Statement of Diversity

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April Conway

Statement of Diversity

My intercultural responsiveness is built on both personal and professional experiences. For

instance, I grew up in a racially, economically, and linguistically diverse city in the southwestern

United States. My secondary and higher education experiences were influenced by the people I

studied with— including queer and international peers—and the places where I chose to study,

including several Latin American countries. As a secondary English teacher, many of my

students were immigrants or refugees and English language learners, and the majority were

from low-income households. When I taught writing at a community college, many of my

students were service men and women, and many were non-traditional. As a writing instructor

and a writing tutor at a public state university, my students and tutees are racially, nationally,

linguistically, and economically diverse; some are first-generation college students; some are

veterans; and some (quite openly) are from sexually marginalized populations. I also worked as

a teacher consultant to facilitate writing and strategizing workshops for teachers on the Diné 

reservation. Experience as an educator working with diverse populations has prompted me to

consider the cultural connections and the differences between individuals and groups,

especially regarding methods of communication. I therefore incorporate mixed approaches

that are culturally attuned when teaching rhetorics, writing, multimodal composing, and other

literacy practices. My goal as a culturally responsive educator is to help students sustain and

build upon their self agency with these practices.