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As I am grading, I have also been reflecting on this semester and all I’ve learned, and one of the most powerful lessons is this: maybe I AM “that kind of doctor”. 1/
We’ve all made the jokes about not being medical doctors, but the most important things I’ve done this semester have been focused on healing and on “first, doing no harm”. 2/
It’s been a hard semester for educators. It’s been a hard semester for me, at times. Teaching has never felt like more of a struggle. But it has also brought into sharp focus the extent to which I have the power to heal or harm the students under my care. 3/
This semester hasn’t been easy for them. I can’t tell you how many apologies I’ve fielded from students for needing an extra day to turn in an assignment, for getting sick, for crying on zoom because they feel lost and overwhelmed trying to navigate grad school in a pandemic. 4/
It’s easy to forget the power we have, because we often feel powerless relative to the larger academic systems we work within. But “take the weekend if you need it” is such a small generosity to offer, but they often seem surprised by it. 5/
They are listening to what you say (and how you say it). They are drawing conclusions about who they are and what they deserve from how you treat them. 6/
I believe that great teachers are healers, and that in their best moments they can help students overcome and move on from even old, festered, mis-healed injuries (“my high school teacher said I’d never be good at math”).
I met with a student today who told me what she thought her greatest weakness is—and when I told her I would never have thought so based on her performance in my classroom? You should have seen her light up. 8/
More than ever, our students need more from us than to be taught facts (in my case, about marine conversation biology). In the midst of the pandemic, I’ve become more aware than ever before of our real task—growth, which requires health. 9/
Are your students leaving your class stronger than they entered? More curious, more confident, healthier? How would our teaching change if we saw those outcomes as our priority?
