Teaching With Heart Practices
The teaching with heart practices listed are divided into three categories:
- Practices that are easy to implement and that take little time.
- Practices that require reflection and a change of habits.
- Practices that require a sustained effort.
Please send us your suggestions for additional Teaching with Heart practices.
Practices that are easy to implement and that take little time
The practices below are easy to implement and take little class time or preparation time, and take little new skills of teachers. We just need to remind ourselves to pay attention to these practices.
Use name tents and ask for preferred pronouns
ask students how you can best support them
Be available, come to class early, and reach out to students
Put a few items that a student may need in your bag
- a snack, such as a granola bar,
- a painkiller, for example Tylenol, and
- a few Band-Aids.
Bringing these items is easy and cheap, and students appreciate it enormously if we can help them with these items in a difficult moments. And the benefits go beyond the student in need; all students feel cared for by a simple gesture of support. We all need somebody who acts like a parent at times!
Be grateful and thank your students
Practices that require reflection and a change of habits
Be aware of privileges
Show up as a whole person and be willing to be vulnerable
Be intentional in building the container for your class
It helps in every course to set the tone for a course in the first class(es), this is like building the container in which the teaching and learning takes place. It is tempting to focus on outcomes, assessment, and grading. These are important topics, but limiting the conversation to these topics communicates to students that as a teacher we there to evaluate and judge. Why not extend the conversation to more inspiring topics? As a teacher you could communicate a sense of joy for the topic, you could be inspirational, you could communicate that you want the class to be a safe environment where students are heard and seen, and that you care about students. The course syllabus is, of course, another opportunity to communicate this to students.
Encourage students to be fearless
Develop students’ analytical and intuitive thinking
Promote students’ wellbeing
Take good care of yourself
Prioritize important issues over the class schedule
Sometimes traumatic events occur that preoccupy students’ minds. An example is a suicide on campus. Students appreciate it very much to have a class conversation when such events happen. By doing this we not only create a platform where students can discuss unsettling events, but also emphasize the importance of coming together in community in times of crisis. A 20-minute class conversation can make a huge difference!
Teach with a humble heart
Being the expert in front of students and holding power over their grades can be an ego-gratifying experience, which might lead us to teach with a mindset of superiority. But if we bring a humble heart to the classroom, students feel much safer, and we better serve their needs. Teaching with humility may help us be aware that our explanations might not be perfect for every student, and we could offer alternative explanations or resources. It stops us from pretending to be perfect and all-knowing, and instead we may show our doubts or gaps in what we know. Humility may help us remember what it was like to be a student and the challenges that we faced. And perhaps most importantly, a humble mindset helps us be aware that teaching is not about us as teacher; it is about students’ growth and learning.
Focus on the potential of students instead of their current level
Adapt to the learning needs of students
As teachers we may be inclined to think that students learn in the same way as we do. For some students that may be case, but we may have students in our classes that have learning needs that are different from our own. Their hearing or vision may be impaired, or they face other physical challenges. Other students may be neurodivergent, for example in the form of dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, or being on the autistic spectrum. Some students may need special accommodations, for example, we might help a hearing-impaired student by using a microphone. Students who have a hard time focusing can benefit from the ability to draw or doodle during class. Some students may feel so much stress and anxiety by being in a classroom environment, that they learn better from material provided outside the classroom. How do we know what assistance students need? Asking them and giving them the option of responding in-person or online may be the best way to get the feedback that we need as teachers to create a productive and safe learning environment for all students.
Mix with students outside the classroom
Students love to get to know their teachers outside the classroom. Spending time with students outside the classroom gives the opportunity to get to know each other better and in different ways. It also creates the opportunity to step out of the hierarchy that might exist in a classroom environment. How could you mix with students outside the classroom? Perhaps you can attend sport events, be faculty advisor to a student club, attend a play or other event organized by students, or simply go to one of the dining places on campus and sit down with students. The photo shows Chuck Stone, who champions building connections with students at Mines. He stands behind the pumpkin wearing an orange shirt on a day when students decided to dress as Chuck wearing shorts in Colorado winter weather.