The article we discussed today discusses the impact that the feeling of āfitting in: and having a āsense of belongingā can have on student success. Our CT101 workshop is only four days long. What are some things we can do in that span of time to build belonging and community among our students?
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City Tech 101 4-Session Professional Development June 2024
Preparing Faculty Members to Facilitate CT101: New Student Success Seminar
This is an issue that I haven’t considered enough in my teaching, and I’m really glad to have it on my radar. I think one way of trying build belonging and community is to try to find ways to get students interacting with each other. Belonging can come from connecting over big things, like being a first generation student, or having similar anxieties about being in college, but it can also come from less significant connections, like complaining about commutes or the weather. I want to do my best to find ways to engage all of my students and build in opportunities for them to connect in the ways that they are comfortable. I’m hoping to make the classroom feel like a comfortable, safe place by finding low-stakes ways for students to interact with each other and participate. If the classroom feels safe, I think we’re more likely to be able to have the deeper conversations about transitioning to college that will help students feel less alone in their anxieties and fears and hopes.
This is what I am most worried about – buidling community within the class in such a short (and jam-packed) timeframe. The questions I’ve asked have, largely, been about these logistics.
I know that students (generally) do best when they feel a sense of community, look forward to seeing and speaking with peers, where they look to others for ideas and feedback, when they are eager to share their own ideas, . . . Creating that generally takes time.
As I am thinking about – and planning to prep for – a section of CT-101, I’ll be focusing on activities and exchanges that encourage students to participate and interact. Game-ish things (like the jeopardy/etc for college vocab that we spoke about today), times when they speak in pairs or small groups, low-stakes reflective shares, etc . . . activities that make people smile, recognize shared experiences or feelings, and feel part of a group.
Social interaction early on and activity-based learning will hopefully get students comfortable with one another. I am hoping by Day 2/Day 3 that–as has been the case since Day 2/Day 3 of our workshop–there will be some healthy “underlife.” Underlife, as defined by R. Brooke’s article Underlife and Writing Instruction, “refers to those behaviors that undercut the roles expected of participants in a situation–the ways an employee, for example, shows she is not just an employee, but has a more complex personality outside the role.” This usually takes place in those first few minutes before the start of class, when students have conversations with one another and (this is crucial) in the presence of their professor. It serves as both a social act (getting to know each other) and a performative one (showing their professor who they are outside of class). Research suggests that professors should encourage underlife that is not disruptive (occurring during lecture), as it helps create a healthy community in the classroom. I think our workshop has done a great job in providing us with ways in which we can encourage this in our students. Taking our time with introductions on the first day (as we did in workshop), focusing on activity-based learning, getting our students to work in small groups, having discussions rather than just lecturing the entire time, etc. will be beneficial. Not surprisingly we in the workshop have developed an underlife ourselves. My underlife was so successful on Day 3, that Jessica had to tell me to knock it off, haha.
Getting students to talk to one another means giving them the time to do so. Making sure they understand that *I* am a person who exists outside of the classroom and therefore understand that they too are people that exist outside of the classroom is important in fostering a community at City Tech. In those first few weeks of class, a familiar face goes a long way. Student or faculty.
I’m going to go out of my way to put a lot of the class in the students’ hands. I plan to engage in a lot of group/pair work throughout the four days and I’m also going to tell them that one of the goals of this workshop is community building. I want students to understand that it is helpful to have a familiar face in the crowd on those first days. I might have them set up a WhatsApp or Discord group, although I know not every student loves to participate in those kind of groups, so I may leave it as optional. I’m going to recognize that some students might not want to engage with other students that much, but I’m hoping that natural connections spring up between them as happens in a group of people who spend three hours four days a week together. I’m going to think about this experience in this course. While I knew one person at my table, I didn’t know that other, but we found things to talk about outside of the content by the second session.
An essential element of our workshop will be fostering a collaborative environment, making it a place where students can share their experiences and work together. Integrating peer mentors into the content is a significant step in this direction, providing students with the guidance and support of someone who has successfully navigated through the college environment and curriculum. By sharing their experiences, I hope they can serve as a model and that students will be open to sharing theirs. I also think that gamifying certain activities and creating a fun, low-risk space will help students feel comfortable in their first few days of college, allowing them to take on more challenging spaces and activities in their future classes.
I admittedly think it’s tough to build community in only four days, but the practices that work toward community are worth doing even if that outcome isn’t successful. I’m not able to teach a session of CT101 this summer, but in future sessions, I plan to group students according to major and have them consistently work in the same groups, like I do in my English classes. I also hope to dedicate time and space for students to interact with the peer mentor when I’m not there, perhaps toward the beginning or end of classes. How this class (and any class) is introduced matters greatly, too, so I will be dedicating some time to thinking about how to best get them onboard with the class as soon as possible, to minimize that dead space where things are running just a bit slowly at the beginning.
I think the first thing we should do is perform an icebreaker task almost immediately as community building does not begin unless they know each other’s names. There shouldn’t be a random grouping of students during activities – I would likely advocate for students to be locked into groups (preferably according to their major) for perhaps the entirety of the four days. These new students will likely spend 2+ or 4+ years together. We would have to find activities that require group members to work together to learn about their new environment and strengthen their ties to each other at the same time.
I really appreciate this reflection because I strongly feel that a sense of belonging is a major factor in getting students to stay and commit. In my own college experience (the first time), most of my other fears and insecurities seemed far more conquerable once I had friends and felt like I belonged. However, then the hurdle becomes making them feel safe enough to open themselves up socially. This is quite a task in four days.
I teach a lot of labs, which are generally more informally structured and interactive than lectures. My lab students always comment that I am relatable and approachable, and I think the more informal setting lends itself to breaking the ice a bit more – with me and between themselves. I want to fashion my CT101 courses a bit more like a lab – interactive and more social – but with a purpose and mission in mind. The more I can get them interacting, the more chance they will form early relationships and find common ground to bond over. And maybe I can convince them that professors/instructors are human, and not (usually) the stuffy strict academic cliches they may have been programmed to expect.
I think first day ice-breaker activities are important, name-learning, expectations, fears, what they are looking forward to etc. I fully intend to share some of my own stories and feelings and ask the peer mentor too. This may help get them inspired.
I also feel that just leveling with students in a transparent fashion with something to the effect of “Look – its proven that students who become a bit more involved and make a few friends at college generally do better.” They may then take it up on themselves to deliberately (and early on) look for people/places that make them feel safe and comfortable.
It occurred to me that maybe leaving open an Open Lab discussion board for our CT101 trainees could be a good idea – those who teach earlier sessions can share their experiences – what worked, what didn’t etc for those with later sessions.
Creating a sense of community among the students during the four day workshop will be challenging, but I believe it is achievable. One of the main factors in reaching this goal is to encourage continuous collaboration and active participation throughout the workshop. By consistently engaging with each other, I believe students will naturally build confidence and form a strong sense of community with their future classmates.
To facilitate this, I think it would be helpful to incorporate ice breakers at the beginning of the workshop to help make students feel more comfortable speaking with one another. In addition to ice breakers, integrating group activities throughout the workshop whenever possible is crucial.
This workshop / orientation initially gives structure to the students which is so important for building confidence in a new environment, this knowledge should give them a feeling of belonging at the outset. Building their pride of community is also important, by letting them know that just choosing to attend places them in an elite group of students that have been proven to be more successful in college.
In the workshop itself some of the best exercises to create a sense of belonging and community involve stepping away from the lecture and the power points to create opportunities for the students to work in groups. These interactive team activities are key. Ice breakers to remove barriers and “group thinks” to create comradery. Using games will be important to inject fun and excitement into the learning, while also enhancing memory and retention. The student mentor is also a wonderful asset and using them to support and give personal experience will be important aspect of building community.