{"id":795,"date":"2023-05-18T02:41:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T06:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/?p=795"},"modified":"2023-05-18T14:44:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T18:44:18","slug":"they-need-us-to-be-well-by-sarah-rose-cavanagh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/teaching\/they-need-us-to-be-well-by-sarah-rose-cavanagh\/","title":{"rendered":"They Need us to be Well by Sarah Rose Cavanagh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018They Need Us to Be Well\u2019<\/a><\/h1>\n

The surprising recipe for building students\u2019 emotional well-being in the classroom? Rest and joy \u2014 for professors.<\/h2>\n
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By\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Sarah Rose Cavanagh<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
MAY 2, 2023<\/div>\n
Excerpt:<\/div>\n
“… Energy and passion are infectious. <\/b>Social-emotional contagion in the classroom is a demonstrated phenomenon, one that I\u2019ve\u00a0explored in my work<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and been fascinated by\u00a0for years<\/u><\/a>. It\u2019s variously been called\u00a0affective crossover<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0emotional transmission<\/u><\/a>, or\u00a0spirals<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of enthusiasm and engagement. Whichever label you prefer, it indicates a contagious quality to emotions in the classroom. Instructors and students synchronize their positive and negative emotions as well as their degree of engagement in the material.<\/div>\n
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…So far, most of the research on how professors influence students\u2019 mental health has focused on intentional<\/u><\/a>\u00a0interventions<\/u><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 activities explicitly designed to teach students about well-being or to practice positive psychology in the classroom. What I\u2019m arguing is that our potential influence goes well beyond such explicit activities. In my\u00a0new book,<\/u><\/a>\u00a0Mind Over Monsters: Supporting Youth Mental Health With Compassionate Challenge,\u00a0<\/i>I consult research, talk to students, and interview various experts to make the argument that, as teachers, we may have an unprecedented opportunity to regularly shape and support the well-being and mental health of our students.The\u00a0best evidence we have<\/u><\/a>\u00a0suggests that well-being consists of a pleasant brew of positive emotions, a sense of meaning and purpose, a general feeling of life satisfaction, and an ability to pursue self-defined goals. All of those elements are at work in a well-run course led by an enthusiastic and committed instructor. A good course generates interest and excitement, joy and pride in learning and succeeding, social connections with peers and instructors, and purpose and competence emerging out of class activities.<\/p>\n

…This semester I participated in a \u201cfireside chat\u201d with the remarkable teacher and scholar\u00a0Eugenia Knight<\/u><\/a>, an associate professor at Simmons University, where we both work. She has decades of experience as a clinical social worker and teaches in our social-work department. The topic of the campus chat \u2014 uniting my research and Eugenia\u2019s clinical expertise \u2014 was how to support both student and faculty mental health. Something she said hasn\u2019t stopped reverberating in my brain since the chat because it perfectly encapsulates what I hope to convey here: \u201cFor our students to be well, they need us to be well.\u201d<\/p>\n

A joyful (and sustainable) path forward.\u00a0<\/b>The trouble is that these are\u00a0anxious<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0disheartening<\/a>\u00a0times for faculty members. Pandemic overwork and new challenges like ChatGPT are just the half of it. Tenure, academic freedom, support for equity and inclusion, and other cornerstones of academic life are also in the crossfire. Add in all of the work that goes into providing student-centered experiences in the classroom, and the effort to better support\u00a0their<\/i>\u00a0mental health can end up taking a toll on\u00a0ours<\/i>. This kind of teaching often means extra time and emotional labor on the part of an\u00a0already-burnt-out<\/u><\/a>\u00a0work force. What to do?<\/p>\n

… One such practice, I believe, is to cultivate mutual joy in learning environments \u2014 be it a physical or online classroom. Yes, much about the current landscape of higher education (and the broader world in which it operates) does not naturally invoke joy, but we can foster it in sustainable ways. \u201cEven a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy,\u201d writes Robin Wall Kimmerer in her luminous\u00a0best-selling book<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.<\/i>\u00a0\u201cI choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here, then, as the academic year ends, are some ideas for rekindling the joy of teaching this summer.<\/p>\n

First, get some rest.<\/b><\/p>\n

Personalize your course policies and syllabi to reflect your values.<\/b><\/p>\n