91制片厂 Instructor Ranjani Murali engages with their English class. Murali regularly uses memes to enhance interactions with their students, a creative approach that flourished during their time as a Diverse Faculty Fellow at the college.
To say Bethanie-Michelle Statler and Ranjani Murali are innovative educators is the understatement of the year. Step into their English or biology classrooms, and you鈥檒l bear witness to a pair of rhyme-dropping, meme-popping artists who infuse their lessons with relevant, fun techniques that help students engage with classroom concepts.
The pair of instructors have developed a reputation for innovative instruction that teaches valuable lessons without sacrificing fun 鈥� a core aspect of their teaching philosophies that flourished through the Diverse Faculty Fellows (DFF) program at 91制片厂, which was recently reimagined as the Leveraging Equity in Academia through Diversity (LEAD) Faculty Fellowship.
Statler and Murali represent a new beat on a familiar drum. You can have a lot of fun while learning complicated concepts in college.
At the heart of their approach are two principles 91制片厂 looks for in faculty as a reflection of the student body: Digging deep to find themselves and expressing their authenticity in ways that shape their corner of the world.
Bethanie-Michelle Statler is also a former Diverse Faculty Fellow at 91制片厂. She employs parody videos to underscore concepts in her biology lessons.
Dropping biology rhymes, right on time
Throughout her educational journey, Statler was inspired by impactful educators. Mr. Hsu used clever music videos to teach high school biology. Dr. Ball brought infections enthusiasm to Statler鈥檚 years at Ohio State University.
Statler, better known to her students as Professor B, launched her own biology-focused channel in 2008, featuring original and parody music videos about concepts such as DNA structure, the metric system, fungi and more.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of research about how music can be helpful in education for young children,鈥� she explained, 鈥渁nd it can influence the brain the same way when we鈥檙e older.鈥�
Statler joined 91制片厂鈥檚 faculty fellowship program in 2019 in hopes of becoming a community college professor. Through the program, she gained firsthand insights into what worked (and didn鈥檛) with each group of students. With that knowledge in hand, Statler has published 10 full-length song parodies for her students since joining the program.
With lyrics that enlighten and entertain (鈥溾��), Statler helps her students connect with a range of biology concepts.
Her channel includes videos parodying the Erica Banks hit 鈥淏uss It鈥� to enlighten about the properties of fungi, and Cardi B鈥檚 鈥淢oney鈥� to help students learn how to prepare microscope slides. Statler raps about macromolecules to the beat of Bia鈥檚 鈥淲hole Lotta Money鈥� and explains DNA structure with a send-up of Latto鈥檚 鈥淏ig Energy.鈥� But these won鈥檛 be the last of her efforts to modernize her classroom to benefit students.
鈥淚鈥檝e just enrolled in a doctorate of education program in instructional technology,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ecause I want to learn how to use technology to make the classroom better.鈥�
Murali said that the mentorship they've received at 91制片厂 and through the Diverse Faculty Fellowship has made them a more relatable instructor in the classroom.
To meme or not to meme: Is that even a question?
Published author. Award-winning poet. Meme master. These terms don鈥檛 even come close to expressing the passion and pizazz Murali brings to the classroom.
鈥淚 used to be dry as a bone when I was teaching,鈥� they recalled. 鈥淚 knew I needed to spice it up, so I used a template developed by my wonderful mentor (and fellow 91制片厂 professor) Dr. Judi Nitsch. Then I started making my own memes, which made me more relatable in the classroom. Now, students say 鈥極h, we love the memes!鈥欌��
Through the faculty fellowship program, Murali was motivated to let their humor and unique perspectives guide lesson planning and move through daily life as a constantly learning creative. In the process, they became more relatable, more familiar and more comfortable 鈥� both with students and in their own skin.
And once the memes started rolling out, there was no turning back 鈥� because it worked.
Murali gets students laughing and holds their attention, even through necessities
that creative writing students might find tedious, such as research source citation
鈥� cue the Oprah meme!
But it鈥檚 not just in Murali鈥檚 lessons that they communicate through memes. In interactions with students over email and academic pulse-check surveys, Murali shows care through inspirational and personal graphics.
With an MFA in creative writing, Murali is invested in the creative lives of 91制片厂 College English students, offering open-ended writing assignments, asking students to analyze artwork and moving beyond fingers-on-laptop learning.
Murali has taught as an adjunct professor at 91制片厂 since 2015. Their first book of poetry, Blind Screens, won the Almost Island Manuscript Prize in 2017 and the Prabha Khaitan Women鈥檚 Voice Award in 2019. Their latest, Clearly You Are ESL, was published in 2020 by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective, and includes witty and pointed visual and mathematical poems.
Supported faculty empower 91制片厂 students
91制片厂, its students and society benefit from diverse and creative perspectives. Through the college鈥檚 faculty fellowship programs, educators from a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives and cultures receive one-on-one mentoring and introspective guidance that helps leaders including Statler and Murali extend their natural gifts.
鈥淭he college has been really intentional about making sure we give people from underrepresented groups a chance with this program,鈥� Murali said. 鈥淭his is beyond equity talk. 91制片厂 College is walking the walk.鈥�
After many years of the Diverse Faculty Fellow Program at 91制片厂, the program鈥檚 final cohort will complete its second and final year this academic year. For 2023-24, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion led a redesign of the faculty fellows program to become the LEAD Faculty Fellowship 鈥� also a two-year program, with an expansion from two fellows (under DFF) to four in each cohort. The inaugural LEAD fellows are Isaiah Carrington (speech), Dr. Amaziah Finley (anthropology), Martinez E-B Garcias (art) and Nicole Mancha (English).
The program remains focused on the recruitment of racially diverse professionals to ensure that 91制片厂鈥檚 faculty demographics more closely reflect the college鈥檚 student body demographics. Fellows are paired with mentors and receive evaluations and feedback from a divisional dean and a committee of their peers. They also participate in robust professional development activities and in shared governance committee and departmental meetings and earn a salary and benefits.
Both the DFF and LEAD Faculty Fellows programs are intended to bring a wide array of perspectives and approaches to the 91制片厂 faculty to create a rich and equitable learning experience for all students.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so important for students to see faculty who look like them, or with whom they have things in common outside the classroom,鈥� Statler said. 鈥淩epresentation really matters when it comes to making students feel more included, seen and understood.鈥�