An addendum: I participated in an international conference in Tarragona, Spain in the summer of last year. Part of my 17-minute presentation in Spanish was to introduce the concept of growth mindset (mentalidad de crecimiento), a new topic to some attendees.

I’m participating in a Writing Intensive training program at Queensborough Community College this semester. I’m amazed at the benefits for students of adding writing assignments and how to make them look not as extra or too much work. Since I can add short reflection papers or discussion boards about their learning process, I can insert myself by…[Read more]

The first discussion board we responded to was about the quote, “Failure is a greater teacher than success.” I commented that it was the idea of falling and getting up as many times as necessary. It was the way to succeed at something. And that quote relates to Angela’s concept of grit: passion and perseverance to achieve our goals. It is an ess…[Read more]

The first word I tell my students in a welcome video, email, or in-person meeting is ‘Welcome’ in Spanish and English. I want them to feel welcome in my class.  In addition to my name, I tell them I am Colombian, from Barranquilla, and have worked for a long time at QCC. That is the easy part. I find it challenging to choose what I want to say…[Read more]

Hi Lara,

Writing about how they overcome a challenge is a good idea. You get to know students better, and they reflect on it.

Hi, Katherine.

Working with students once we convince them to visit us during our office or during student hours allows us to discover some difficulties or wrong ideas they have about us or the subject matter. I have also seen good results with most students who speak with me outside the classroom.

I have used many of the strategies mentioned in this module, and I think they are very relevant to teaching. We should not assume that students already know the college’s resources, for example. I shared that information on the first day of classes and posted it on one of the modules in Brightspace. Fortunately, we have a food pantry; my students…[Read more]

At all stages of my college career, I permanently joined a group. I needed to belong to a small group with whom I could share ideas and study. I thought we all benefited from it, and we all did. After joining a small group of classmates, I would try to connect with other students. A new classmate I met would connect me with others. It was a way to…[Read more]

I teach Spanish and instill in them the idea that it will be helpful to them in one way or another. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it does for the vast majority. I teach them words that have to do with current events. I ask them to go to one of the museums in town. We discuss healthy eating in class, and I regularly mention something I learned…[Read more]

We begin by introducing ourselves in Spanish on the first day of class. Each student shares their name and country of origin. I start by providing my information and showing them a map highlighting my country and city. As they mention their countries, I mentally note each one, which will help me incorporate cultural examples throughout the…[Read more]

[Apologies for this quite late post: I planned on writing it before the start of the Fall 2024 semester, but the preparation for that semester turned out to be more time-consuming than expected, and the semester itself was quite a challenge timewise.]
I am a Computer and Information Science lecturer at Brooklyn College. I recorded a 2-minute audio…[Read more]

@mpalit – I really like this! How could mindfulness help with growth mindsets?

One idea I got now is that recognizing our own mindsets is not easy in itself and perhaps mindfulness can help with self awareness.