| Welcoming Practices in the Classroom
| |
|
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the new academic year – with an emphasis on welcome! I hope this semester greets you with curious and ambitious students, that your colleagues stop by your office just as you’re looking for a break, and that you find all the support you need to have a fruitful new year! While you’re settling into the semester, if you’re like me, then you might be thinking about your classroom climate. Perhaps asking yourself, “Am I creating a classroom environment that is welcoming and inclusive? What are some welcoming practices?”
If you have similar thoughts, then allow me to share just a few of my favorite ways to create a welcoming and inclusive classroom:
- Extend a warm welcome and ignite engagement! Make the act of greeting students a catalyst for engagement. That is, as students walk into the classroom, warmly greet them and then present a question for group discussion, voting, or written response. Use tactile mediums, such as whiteboards, large Post-it notes, or electronic devices. Ask your students to create small groups and collectively see which group can come up with the most answers/responses to a prompt or description of a figure or image.
- Introduce your imperfect self. Students are often eager to learn about their instructors, especially the unpolished details. I believe the beginning of the semester is a perfect opportunity to share some of the highs and lows that got you to where you are. Did you fail a couple of exams before you learned how to study? Did you switch majors a few times before finding a match? Was there a homework problem or concept that you couldn’t get as a student, but finally figured out? Share this with the students and I think a connection will soon form!
- Clarify how you want students to address you. Not only does this set expectations, but I find students are relieved to be explicitly told and not left to figure it out on their own
- Learn students’ names, pronunciations, and pronouns. Name tents and perhaps the Canvas NameCoach feature may be helpful here
- Learn something about your students at least a few times a semester. Consider asking your students: Why are you taking this course? What’s one thing you want me to know about you? What do you want to get out of this course?
- Help your students get to know each other. Initiate icebreakers, even if brief, to forge an environment where ideas are exchanged freely. Such activities serve as catalysts, “warming up voices,” and building relationships. Cornell University’s Center for Teaching Innovation has some helpful guidance on implementing icebreakers and TopHat has a list of 50 icebreakers for college courses.
- Engage the senses! This little nugget takes me back to the first time I stepped into *Dixie Stanforth’s Techniques of Fitness Leadership class – listening to soothing music, receiving a tennis ball to massage muscles, and smelling IcyHot muscle rub cream. From the minute I entered the classroom, my senses hinted at the class topics and, perhaps more importantly, I was energized by the sensory experience and immediately connected to the active lecture. I look forward to using music and sound in my work, as well as finding manipulatives to support learning.
Wishing you all the best,
| |
Gwen Stovall
Chair-Elect, Provost’s Teaching Fellows
| |
| *Personal Background Note: I learn a tremendous amount from my colleagues and consider myself a collector of their outstanding practices! A common thread linking these Teaching Tips is the recognition of the work of others and lessons learned over the years.
| |
Upcoming Events and Opportunities
Sustainability Across the Curriculum, Wednesdays 09/20 and 09/27. A two-day workshop designed to help instructors add sustainability-related outcomes and assignments to their courses. During the first workshop, we will explore a few examples from different disciplines and think about how they can be made applicable to courses at UT. We will make reference to a few sustainability education frameworks, including UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in order to begin discussing how UT classroom experiences can be connected to a wider community. After the second workshop, attendees will be invited to submit assignments or outcomes for review and reflection by CTL staff. RSVP for Part 1 and Part 2.
Came to Listen, Friday 9/29, 1:30pm. This storytelling event is designed to foster and bolster teaching and learning among instructors. During this time together, attendees are invited to engage in one of humanity's oldest and most effective tools for learning-- storytelling. This semester's theme is Genuine Intelligence: Demystifying Technology as a Teaching Tool. Come and listen to stories about how we love, hate, and berate technology, all while we simultaneously embark on genuine journeys to discover ways to improve our teaching and learning through the use of learning management systems, hybrid teaching tools, web-based team management systems, AI, and more! RSVP here.
| |
|
|
|
|
