WHAT DID I MISS – SUICIDE ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

The University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) called off its classes on Tuesday.  After two suicides in the past month, school officials decided to observe a Wellness Day.  The chancellor released this advice, "I encourage every student to use this time to rest and to check in with each other during that day. Reach out to a friend, a classmate, or colleague and ask them, 'Honestly, how are you doing?'” 

As a result, a good friend of mine emailed to ask me what I thought about the pressures college students are under these days and the actions of college officials.  He remembers college well but he has been away for decades. 

My response was simple, “I have approximately 75 students per semester in my classes.  At any point in time, it is not unreasonable that a couple of those students could be under a lot of stress and that, perhaps, one of those students will just not be able to deal with that pressure.  If so, I hope I am aware enough to notice and take action.  Ultimately, 74 of those students will be able to deal with everything—life, school, family, love life, whatever.  But, one might not.  It’s not all 75 that worry me.  It’s that one student that I want to notice.  I don’t want to wait until ‘Wellness Day’ to be aware of a student who is really struggling.  I want to pay attention every day.  When it comes to suicide prevention, my rule is ’74 out of 75 is not good enough.’” 

As college teachers, if anyone is going to notice a student in distress, it should be us.  That sentence is one we should tell ourselves every day.

This past August, I wrote the following note to all of my fellow faculty here at the Robins School of Business.  If you want to do something to address the threat of student suicide, you might write a note like this to your colleagues.  It is a million times better to be aware before a problem erupts than have regrets afterwards.  Hearing it from you might make it more a priority for other members of your faculty.

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To:  B-school Faculty and Staff  

From:  Joe

I am on sabbatical this semester and one of my main goals is to be quiet and invisible so I can finish several projects (the 15th edition of my textbook, for one).  Nevertheless, you should have gotten an email today from the Vice President of Student Development about student mental health and this is one of the few things that I think is so important that I have decided to break my silence. 

We all have dozens of students in our classes, and we interact with them for at least 150 minutes each week.  Under the best of circumstances, college can be a difficult transitional time for them.  With Covid, this is hardly the best of times.  

From my 50 years of experience in the classroom, most of them deal with everything wonderfully well.  Almost invariably, a few of them struggle.  

I think virtually everyone knows that I put a lot of pressure on my students.  I think I hold the record for most tears in one office.  Consequently, I pay very close attention to my students to see if there are behavioral changes throughout the semester:  students who look like they have stopped sleeping or eating, students who go from always prepared to always unprepared, students who stop attending, students who seem to withdraw within themselves, students who say things that just don't make sense.

I usually talk with the students first to see what might be happening but if I continue to have any reservations, I quickly contact one of the deans of students or I complete the university’s formal link to alert officials as to my concerns.  I never hesitate to get the appointed people involved.

I have found without exception that those folks are ready and willing to help.  They will not question you or doubt you.

I probably hold the record for most contacts of the student deans over the years (I can be a mean guy as a lot of students will tell you and that leads to trauma) and I have never never never once regretted contacting them.  The student deans and the mental health folks will take you seriously.  

I could make a list of the things I want to avoid but you already know some of the bad things that can happen to students.   I never want to look back and ask myself, "Why didn't I see that coming?  What did I miss?"

 

HOW MUCH OF THE WORK SHOULD YOU DO?

This is the 305^th essay on teaching that I have written for this blog.  Almost all of my postings during the most recent few years have had several thousand page views.  That level of distribution is because of you, the readers, who think deeply about what I have to say about teaching and then pass the message along to a friend.  Thanks!!  That is how college education will improve.  We read and think about ideas and then pass them along to other folks so that the universal thought process about student learning will deepen and grow.  This message comes back to one of my primary beliefs about education:  The more you think about teaching, the better teacher you will become.  That is all I am trying to do here on this blog – help you think about teaching.

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I was searching for something on the Internet this morning and came upon a 24 second video of me that had been carved out of a speech I gave a few years back.  I am not exactly sure how it got posted on the Internet, but I found the 24 seconds fascinating.  Here is my reaction to my own words.

When it comes to creating the learning experience for your students, how much of the work should you do?  I have known many teachers who did virtually all of the work themselves.  They explained things in amazing detail and their students needed to do little more than show up, take good notes, and then memorize them.  Such teachers are often popular because students have little work to do, but those students still feel like they are learning a lot (and should be able to make a good grade).  I often refer to this as a “conveyance of information” model: (a) little work for the students, (b) there can be a feeling of a lot of learning, and (c) a good grade comes with good notes.  If you are a student, what’s not to like?  You can tell students who have been taught in this manner in high school because they are obsessive note takers.  If you want good student evaluations, this is a promising path.

Other teachers explain little and then expect students to work like crazy to basically teach themselves.  These teachers are much less popular because the work is hard and grades are often low.  Nevertheless, for students who can motivate themselves and work independently, the depth of learning can be impressive.  The pressure is great but it can form can great learning.  Few students, though, are able to sustain that level of discipline for too long.  I call this the “you are on your own” model. 

I prefer something in the middle.  I always believe that I should do my 50 percent of the work but not one bit more.  The students must also do their half.  But not one bit more.

As I discussed in that 24 second video this morning, I have always viewed class as a dance.  I explain this to my students early and often each semester.  When two people dance together and everything works perfectly, it is just beautiful to watch.  If one person is trying but the other is not, it is a mess.  However, two dancers can create magic.  In the same way, when it works, the best college classes resemble a ball room dance (such as the waltz or the tango).  Two parties working hard to push each other to be great. 

For me, those are the best days of teaching.  If you have taught for long, you have probably experienced classes where everything works perfectly.  You lead the students through the most complicated material and they responded with excitement and mental discipline.  On those days, learning is practically palpable. 

The real key to making a class come together in this way is getting the students to do their half of the work.  Trust me, if you can do that consistently, you will quickly become one of the best teachers in your building.  The question that haunts every college teacher:  How do you get students to do the necessary work, not just now and then, but in preparation for each class session? 

Here are four tips that can help encourage students to do their half of the work.  Nothing works all the time but these tips can help.

1 – If possible, before the semester begins, tell your students how much you expect from them and why.  You must realize that they will have had scores of teachers over the years.  Each one of those teachers has had a different level of expectation.  Never think your students know what you want from them.  Most teachers are not very clear about what they want their students to do so confusion is often the permanent result. 

Before each semester starts, I write my students and simply say, “I need for you to put in a minimum of 2 hours of work between each of our three classes each week.  I don’t mean six hours per week.  I mean two hours before each class.” 

Then, I explain why those hours are important, “In class, each day, we will build on what you have prepared.  Class only works if you walk in every day prepared.  And, that only comes from doing the work.” 

2 – Always tell the students exactly what you want them to do in preparation for the next class.  If you don’t give them specific instructions, they will do nothing.  “Do some work” means nothing to a student.  “Do this assignment before class” means a lot.  I give my students 3-7 questions to prepare for each upcoming class.  We never miss a day because that sends a confusing signal.  I purposely write those questions at a level to stretch my students.  If they are too easy, my students will have no need to think about them or to come to class.

3 – Make some use of that preparation at every class.  If you ask a student to spend time on an assignment and then you don’t address that assignment in some way, don’t expect your students to ever be prepared again.  You are making them feel foolish.  “Do this work but we are going to ignore it" is a momentum killer.  I have found that college students are willing to do almost any amount of work but they need to see a clear benefit that results from that work.

4 – Make the student work interesting and intriguing.  In other words, DON’T BORE STUDENTS TO DEATH and then expect them to put in a strong work effort.  Ask oddball questions.  Create bizarre scenarios.  I am convinced that the development of critical thinking skills comes from setting up unusual situations and then asking/helping students to work their way to a logical conclusion.  If you have free time to spend, invest it in learning to write questions that will awake your students to a sense of excitement in the subject matter.

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In a dance, both parties need to do half of the work but one party does have to lead.  Likewise, in a class, both parties need to do half of the work but one party does have to lead.  As the teacher, you are the one who has to lead.  And, it is that leading that will encourage your students to get up and do their half of the work so that the class will go beautifully well every single class session.

A question to ask yourself:  How do YOU lead your students into doing their half of the work each day?  For every teacher, that’s a critical issue that must be resolved.

And, in case you are interested, here is the 24 second video that led me to think about class preparation this morning.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfJ7YkE01u0