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Building Relationships

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Smile, and the Whole Class Smiles with You

“When You’re Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You),” first published in 1928 by Shay, Fischer, and Goodwin, has been recorded by many artists. My favorite is the 1929 version by Louis Armstrong. “Oh, when you smilin’, when you smilin’, the whole world smiles with

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Making Connections in Online Classes

Whether you love it or hate it, online higher education is here to stay. In the 2022–2023 academic year, more than half of all college students in the US enrolled in at least one online class (Coffey 2024). Of course, this is much lower than

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Tailgating for Teachers: Building Community before Day One

I’m hopelessly unathletic, which means I’ve usually observed the rituals at the so-called sports school where I teach from a distance—until recently, that is, when a student invited me to something called “tailgating.” My takeaway? The sense of belonging and excitement that I witnessed during

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Courage and Consistency as Keys to Student Engagement

Like so many other professors, I’ve noticed that student engagement is lower now than it was even five years ago. Students are skipping class, skipping assignments, and getting AI to do their reading and writing for them in ever-increasing numbers. When I sign in to

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Trigger Warnings Are about Trust

Virtually all general psychology textbooks recount the story of Phineas Gage, one of the most famous case studies in neuroscience. Gage was a railroad construction foreman. On September 13, 1848, he and his crew were clearing boulders along a route, a process that involved

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It Is More Important for Students to Trust Us Than to Like Us

There is a conundrum in teaching. We hold a stereotype that an excellent teacher is kindly, approachable, and openly supportive of students, yet some of the best teachers I’ve had have been aloof, unapproachable, and cantankerous. Let’s take some fictional examples. In the 1970s,

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Mentoring Students Can Make a Difference

As educators, we can help our students lift their sights to see beyond graduation. We can identify ways to be more effective mentors with our students, but this will require patience and persistence. Mentoring students calls for our best innovation and intentional efforts.

Many

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