CUNY Academic Commons

I had to learn how to record on my phone, though when I do this for my courses, I’ll have to use Brightspace, of course. I didn’t find the content difficult because a few years ago I made the decision to be extremely affectionate and friendly on the first day of class. This really elevated the positivity in my classes! I say I am very proud to…[Read more]

I am very friendly and welcoming to my students, and I tell them directly that I like them and feel honored to teach at BMCC. I have them write about a challenge they’ve overcome, and many open up a great deal in this essay, and I feel they trust me more. I’ve worked hard to build a supportive atmosphere, and over the years, my students have made…[Read more]

Well, I come from a troubled family, so I didn’t feel at peace anywhere, though I began to heal by joining I’d say rather bohemian communities. This began my healing. So, though I was still kind of a depressive, I think the community I was in was a good thing. I transferred in the middle of my college career to a more competitive school. There,…[Read more]

In your course(s), how can you assist students in connecting the course content to their current and future personal lives?
How will students connect what they care about to what they are learning?
How will they actively engage in the process of making these connections?

I can lead writing exercises that help students to connect the course…[Read more]

In your course(s), how do you get to know your students? Share an activity you use, or plan to use, to learn about students’ personal information, interests, and/or goals.

I have students write about themselves, and I learn about them from our discussions as well. Their first writing is about their experience in English class; in this way, I l…[Read more]

This is a very useful skill! I had been trying to identify with students who have trouble getting work done. We professors were almost always studious ourselves, so it’s hard to imagine. Finally, I realized that my procrastination around working out was not good for my health. I learned a kind of “self-helpy” trick to talk myself out of talking…[Read more]

Higher education, from my point of view, opens and trains the mind to appreciate, understand, and study culture. I know that many students will disagree, and think of higher education as something more practical, and I understand that too. Our students need to know, and deserve to know, that their years of work will add up to a comfortable…[Read more]

I’m doing a FYE section this semester, and the ideas of that cohort align with these a lot. I agree that SMART goals are useful. I have always talked quiet a bit about growth mindsets, both to the class and individually with students. I will continue to write notes that say things like, “In order to reach the next level…” and “Just some…[Read more]

This seems like a helpful strategy, I’ll look for the video.

To be honest, I believe I’ve already been like this for a long time. I regularly tell stories of students who became much stronger over the course of the semester. One is of a student who was doing pretty well, getting B+’s on his essays. He said he wanted to be a police officer. Then, another professor asked him if he’d ever thought of being a…[Read more]

I’m glad you mentioned the way you speak to colleagues. I can certainly think about this more, and suggest the modules to coworkers. We have to see our students as full of potential– and our colleagues as well! When people say, “I’m not good at…” I think: well, do you want to be good at that thing? You may never be great at it, but odds are you…[Read more]

I have worked very hard to have a growth mindset. We educators may have confidence academically, but the way I really wanted to grow was emotionally. During a depression in my thirties, I read that people who meditate have the same brain chemistry as people who had stable or happy childhoods. I started the next day, and within a couple of months,…[Read more]

Before I ever heard any discussion of growth mindset, after I had been teaching seven or eight years, I began to notice how much students’ emotions had to do with their performance. I clearly remember a student who took a make up exam in my office, and just before she wrote the conclusion, she ran out of the office crying saying she couldn’t do…[Read more]

I find thinking about these three different styles of failure very useful. I think many of our students may not realize how often they’re giving up without trying much. I think it will be useful to discuss this in class. I also believe much of how we learn and succeed has to do with what we learn about ourselves; certain systems work for one…[Read more]

I like these ideas of redirection and focus; this is a very optimistic way to think, and I’ll be encouraging students to think this way also.

I absolutely agree with this. As a matter of fact, I tell students that successful students fail more than other people because they knock on more doors. I had a student who had failed to get into a fellowship and and internship that he had applied to. He was quite depressed, and when he heard that success involves failure, he said he felt much…[Read more]