positive impact
understanding and caring for students have a positive impact on them
clive,
What are some specific things you do to show you care?
Jeffrey Schillinger
to help with retention,take time to show that you care is one of the key factors.
I agree. Listening to the students and hearing their issues can resolve alot.
Thanks, jane.
I agree with your position that we need to be flexible. It is important that we understand that our students are juggling a lot of responsibilities that traditional college age students may not have to deal with.
I encourage my instructors to be flexible, but not pushovers. Policies like "no late work" or "no make up tests' really do not serve our students well. I encourage reasonable polcies like "late assignments may be subject to a 10% per day penalty." That way, I can use my best judgement and not penalize a student who has been in contact with me while facing extenuating circumstances.
Being nice does not mean we are being their buddy. It means we are showing respect and empathy.
I think we have to be able to work with students when they have unusual circumstances. This shows that you care about them as individual people. So rather than always following the strict rules you've set up as an instructor, such as not accepting late work, we need to be willing to listen to the student and then make a judgment as to whether or not accepting the work late would be appropriate in that situation. I feel that I need to be my students' advocate and supporter, but, at the same time, I can't be their buddy. We do have to prepare them for the future, but we can also listen to them and try to do the appropriate thing for their given situation.
i agree. they can feel normal and want to come to school. they feel welcome
Renee,
There is an old saying that "people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." This is especially true for students who may not have much of a support system in place.
A lot of the retention studies done by traditional colleges focus on things that occur outside the classroom. You may want to look up studies by John Bean or Vincent Tinto for some ideas to assist students who are away from home and need to develop relationships and support systems.
Yes, students want personal attention! We have many students who moved here to take classes and have no family and friends in the city. They look to us to help fill that void. By listening to them, they know that we care. Showing that we care helps give them purpose to succeed!
Jackie,
Thank you for this post. What are some specific things that you do to establish yourself as a role model?
Student's want to see a positive role model in and out the class'room,we must be carefull they are alot of eye's that are fixed upon us as instructor's.We must walk the walk and talk the talk.
Just listening to them is the best way of demonstrating you care. Some of our students have no family or true friends and they want someone who will just listen to what they have to say. If you take the time to show you care, they will keep coming back and this ultimately helps with the retention of the school.
I totally agree with you.
If the students are not your #1 priority, they pick up on that Quickly
Danny,
How do you demonstrate your understanding and caring? How do your students demonstrate that they know you understand and care?
