{"id":1185,"date":"2024-10-23T12:08:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T16:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2024-10-23T12:08:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T16:08:01","slug":"how-to-rebuild-a-broken-connection-with-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/teaching\/how-to-rebuild-a-broken-connection-with-students\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Rebuild a Broken Connection With Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What to do when they aren\u2019t responding to your tried-and-true teaching strategies.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Kristi Rudenga<\/a><\/em>\u00a0September 25, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“It\u2019s only September, yet I am already hearing a now-familiar lament from faculty members across higher education \u2014 especially, but not exclusively, at the midcareer and senior ranks \u2014 who feel completely unable to connect with their students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustration between the two parties runs higher than I\u2019ve ever seen. This is not a matter of curmudgeonly researchers who can\u2019t be bothered by pesky undergraduates. I\u2019m hearing this from experienced, successful teachers who care deeply about students, as learners and as human beings. And suddenly, they are flummoxed by a sense of acute disconnection, and by students who aren\u2019t responding to tried-and-true teaching strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intergenerational misunderstanding is a tale as old as time. But the tumult of the past five years seems to have supercharged the disconnect between students and faculty members, an especially pernicious effect when layered on top of what the U.S. Surgeon General has called \u201cour epidemic of loneliness and isolation<\/u><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0The Chronicle\u00a0<\/em>reported on a \u201cstunning level of student disconnection<\/a>\u201d in the spring of 2022, as students returned to campuses after higher ed\u2019s online pivot, and, a year later, published a report on \u201cconnecting in the classroom and beyond<\/a>.\u201d But the parade of despairing faculty members looking for help continues apace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could catalog the sources of disconnect all day long, but what teachers need in 2024-25 are simple remedies. Human connection is essential, both for your own job satisfaction and as an important precursor to student learning. How can you revive flagging classroom relationships in the service of learning? Of course students must join you in that work, but the first responsibility lies with you as their instructor. Here are some practical first steps to help you bridge the divide.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Get personal<\/strong>– finding concrete ways \u2014 that you\u2019re comfortable with \u2014 to create moments of human connection. Examples including sharing celebrations in class, learning students’ names, 10-minute individual meetings for feedback, invite to a meal on campus or your home.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Ask what they think, early and often.<\/strong>\u00a0First day survey, mid-semester feedback, exit ticket, minute paper, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Transparent assignments<\/strong>\n