Teresa Thompson discusses joyful connections through intentional teaching practices on episode 539 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.

I’ve had students share with me in the past that they were considering dropping the class, and then they got that welcome email, and they thought, okay, this time, it’s going to be different.

My syllabus was all Barbie themed. In the semester before that, it was Pokemon themed. Semester before that was Stranger Things themed.

I don’t want their first impression of me to be me quickly cleaning the board or freaking out because I can’t find a whiteboard marker that works. I want them to see me calm and ready and happy to greet them as they walk in.

We have to recognize that our students have a lot going on. Sometimes, even despite their best intention, they may not be able to be a 100% attentive in our classroom.