Reply To: Put your own mask on first

[Michael Pelaez]

Thank you for this.

I finally got around to watching this one, and wow, what a comforting and vulnerable conversation between professionals.

I have realized a trend over how students use the office hours available to them for my courses; maybe 9 or 10 years ago, the office hour was primarily used by students asking mostly about material and technical questions. In the last 2 to 3 years I have noticed a trend where students are seeking more information related to resources available to them, they are being more open about their mental health struggles when it comes to classes and work overload.

It becomes important for us as educators to have information on resources available to students handy, but more importantly, this openness from students has opened my eyes to the importance of putting students at ease from the beginning of the semester. While the thought of a “fun” project may be exciting for some students can be stressful to others.

I liked how the panelists spoke about sometimes letting their students know what helps them relieve stress as pointers. I think this has a two-prong effect, it shows students we are human too and at the same time they get some advice of what has worked for us.

What has helped put students in my courses at ease is regular reminders throughout the semester that if they are not doing well grade-wise there is still time to recover, and that they can come to me for pointers as to which assignments to pay more attention to. Sometimes students come to me and we come up with a “game-plan” where they get a quick lesson in time management and setting priorities. I may give informal tips to them like “Ignore these 2 assignments for now and focus on this one that is worth a lot more points and warrants more of your attention”.

It was a great webinar overall.

Michael Pelaez

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Michael Pelaez.