Late January Newsletter

Strong Start Continued Series | MITs Beginning! | Save the Dates

Now more than ever. Every one of our disciplines matters now more than ever. So does good teaching. And lifelong learning. None of what we do is easy, but please know that “teaching well is its own good and hopeful thing” (a phrase borrowed from Rebecca Weaver’s recent piece). As further reminder, here is a short list of what really matters in our classrooms and makes a tremendous difference in students’ lives:

Fostering relationship building
Communicating clear expectations
Co-creating knowledge with students
Empowering students to make choices
Building self-efficacy and confidence
Elevating and honoring voices and experiences
Valuing diversity and humanizing others
Fostering resilience
Engaging students in reflective practice
Devoting significant amounts of class time to active learning

Oh, and this list was drawn from descriptions of feminist pedagogy, trauma-informed pedagogy, and anti-racist pedagogy. GV faculty and staff shine in providing learning opportunities in alignment with these principles and for that I am truly proud.

There’s a podcast for that. Earlier this month, I asked about interest in teaching and learning podcasts. Enough readers responded with enthusiasm, so here are a few of my favorites:

Teaching for Student Success – engaging interviews with a wide range of accomplished scholars
Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning – a long-running podcast about ideas that are not in fact dead
Teaching in Higher Ed – 554 episodes and counting of conversations with leading experts
Diverse Joy – their tag line is spot on: Infusing science, practical skills, and joy into diversity discussions
Faculty Focus Live – part of the Magna Publications lineup, focusing on timely topics of broad interest

I draw your attention to one particular episode, How Mattering Matters, featuring Peter Felten, the author of Relationship-Rich Education. This quote from Peter caught my eye: “Mattering is not about if you fit or not, it is about being valued.” After hearing the excellent presentation on mattering by Tiburcio Lince (Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs) at the Promising Practices for Increasing Student Success Conference last month, I have spent some quality time down the research rabbit hole learning about mattering and how it differs from belonging. I could share a raft of articles with you. Or you could listen to this podcast to learn more about mattering and the key role that teaching practices such as those listed above play in support students’ sense that they matter.

There’s a theory for that. While on a plane last week, I reflected on the connection between hope and action. When I landed, a quick search led me down a lovely path of exploration of what others have written on the subject. I had secretly hoped to find an infographic to share here and I’m glad that I did. There is much that appeals to me about this Hope-Action Theory image – the centrality of hope, the dynamic nature of the pinwheel, the two-way arrow push of environmental factors, and the articulation of the competencies that are within us all. We just need reminding from time to time that there is a path forward. May this framework offer a reassurance and strategy to take hopeful action. The word “hope” came across my radar in several other venues, including this Chronicle piece, Why Generation Z Gives These Professors Hope. This piece prompted me to reread Kevin Gannon’s book that helped many of us through 2020, Radical Hope. I will end with a line from the approachable and important 2024 book Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing, “As members of the academy, we are hard-wired for hope – to teach it, to share it, and to imagine a better future.”

-Christine Rener

This Winter series, an extension of the Strong Start Teaching Institute, continues conversations on small teaching practices to support first- and second-year students. Led by Dr. Maggie Goss, Pew FTLC Assistant Director, these in-person workshops will be held on the Allendale and downtown campuses. Open to all faculty, the workshops offer valuable insights for teaching at any undergraduate level, with no prior Strong Start participation required.

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RESCHEDULED: Register for Workshop #1 – Expanding Student Reading Competencies (NEW!) Here

Tuesday, February 11th 10:00-11:30am (3068 Zumberge Hall)

Thursday, February 13th 10:00-11:30am (411 Eberhard Center)

Reading is a commonly assigned activity to introduce students to new or existing ideas, scaffold the learning process, and practice analytic skills. Ideally, students enter our classes with the ability to make meaning of texts, summarize arguments, and form unique responses. In reality, more and more students struggle to meet reading competency expectations. While GVSU has support systems in place for students to improve their reading skills, this workshop focuses on approaches to reading comprehension across disciplines. We know learning strategies are more impactful in the context of a course (while the course is happening), therefore participants will leave with strategies for clarifying expectations for students in class and ways to integrate the teaching of disciplinary reading skills across the semester.

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Register for Workshop #2 – Boundary Setting with Students (NEW!) Here

Tuesday, February 25th 10:00-11:30am (3068 Zumberge Hall)

Thursday, February 27th 10:00am-11:30am (411 Eberhard Hall)

Imagine this: you return to your office on Monday to an inbox full of student emails sent at all hours of the night, each demanding your attention on an urgent matter. You then head to teach where you’re confronted with more requests – the slides from last week’s class, an extension on the proposal draft, and an opportunity to retake the first exam. You want to be available and accommodating to students but are wondering if you’ve stretched yourself too thin. In this workshop, participants will learn how to balance structure and flexibility. Specifically, how to establish boundaries by setting equitable expectations with students. Given the mid-semester timing of the workshop, we will also address how to recover and reset boundaries.

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Register for Workshop #3 – Rejuvenating Your Syllabus (with live student feedback!) Here

Tuesday, March 25th 10:00-11:30am (3068 Zumberge Hall)

Thursday, March 27th 10:00-11:30am (411 Eberhard Hall)

As a required instrument for documenting key policies and procedures, a course syllabus is essential in creating a strong framework to help instructors summarize course information, outline the course curriculum, and communicate expectations for students. However, this content often focuses on the instructor’s own agenda, rather than student engagement. In this workshop participants will revise their syllabus, with the help of GVSU undergraduate students, to better promote inclusivity and a sense of belonging for their students. Specifically, participants will learn strategies for promoting feelings of student belonging and receive feedback from students, as well as provide peer-to-peer feedback on their written syllabi.

Though most groups have already met once this semester, new members are still welcome to join a 2025 Winter Mentoring Group! Visit our Mentoring Communities webpage to see a complete list of mentoring groups as well as their meeting dates/times.

Email us (pewftlc@gvsu.edu) to be added to an existing Mentoring Community today!

Congratulations to the 2025 Pew FTLC Teaching Award Recipients for their dedication, excellence in teaching, and exceptional service! Join us in celebrating their achievements at the 2024-2025 Faculty Awards Convocation on February 18 at 4:00 p.m. in the Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Campus.

Pew Teaching Excellence Award for Adjunct Faculty

Carey Guernsey, Nursing

Burch, Jacobs & Moore Diversity Teaching Excellence Award

Ja’Kia Marie, School of Interdisciplinary Studies