Elina Salminen, assistant director of educational development in the Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington University in St. Louis, told me about its “Teaching With Joy” program. The idea, Salminen wrote, grew out of a professor’s request for programming that reminds instructors how fun teaching can be. That thought resonated with the faculty developers, too: “It seemed to me that much of the work in educational development revolved around ‘crisis management’ — important and necessary,” Salminen said, “but also draining.”
Making space for the fun can be restorative.
The program includes monthly sessions and, when the weather is nicer, a “Pedagogy Picnic,” she wrote.
The sessions have been well attended, Salminen wrote. “Most importantly, the participants have really engaged and found, well, joy: I’ve seen them laugh at a video of a toddler telling us ‘If you believe in yourself, you can ride a bike!’; pass along imaginary gold bars and play the mirror game; jitter with excitement as they describe an artwork to a partner whose eyes are closed; conclude ‘I’ll be okay, I’ll be safe’ while reflecting on a photo of a daunting cliff and then noticing the helmets and harnesses also in the picture (this was in response to ‘Pick a photo that reflects how you feel about teaching right now.’); and tuck away mindfulness stones with meaningful phrases as we launch into the new semester.”
Professors in the sessions, she added, have seemed relaxed and happy. “People have seemed especially excited to share parts of themselves that might not be the focus of their typical work week,” she wrote.
We’ve heard in recent years that many instructors are uninterested in traditional professional development around teaching. If you or your college have come up with an approach that seems to be resonating, I’d love to hear about what you’re doing and how instructors have responded. Let me know at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com and your example may appear in a future issue of the newsletter.
Current events
These past few weeks, following the news — even just the higher ed news — has felt like a full-time job. I’ve been curious whether and how professors are discussing the Trump administration’s raft of executive orders or the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency in class.
I’ve noticed a few examples in my social feeds of professors teaching what these actions mean for the content they teach, their discipline, or higher ed itself. Some science professors are explaining to students how federal research funding works after the NIH capped its contribution to indirect costs (the cap is currently under a nationwide pause). Professors teaching courses on law and government, among other topics, have had to pivot from teaching how our country’s systems and norms work to how they worked until recently.
In one post that caught my eye, Emily Farris, an associate professor of political science at Texas Christian University, described starting each class by asking students what questions they have about the current moment. Farris added that when she asked if they were talking about it in other courses, the majority said no.
Have you had to adjust the way you cover your usual content because what was once settled is now up for grabs? Are you talking about how the Trump administration’s actions affect what you teach? If so, what have those conversations been like? Share your examples with me using this form. We won’t quote any instructors by name without their explicit permission.
ICYMI
- Efficiency isn’t the right goal for education, writes Emily Pitts Donahue in an issue of her “Unmaking the Grade” newsletter that connects the purpose of writing to the attacks on higher ed.
- Many people working in higher ed are grieving a vision of this work that is gone, writes John Warner in his “Just Visiting” column for Inside Higher Ed. Warner writes that he hopes those grieving will soon find acceptance — which, he says, can put them in a place of resolve, rather than defeat.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or beckie.supiano@chronicle.com.
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