“Participating in this program has heightened my awareness of the compelling research findings that emphasize the pivotal role of belonging in students' academic journey.”
Sarah Andreas
“Any doubts I might have had (I’ll admit to some, not many, but certainly some) regarding a focused approach to reaching students and modifying pedagogy or simply my own classroom behavior quickly subsided as I saw the results in my students. . . . . Ӱҵcommunity itself is a welcome bright spot – the support, compassion, and understanding from other instructors is particularly valuable.”
Wayne McDonald
“Being a part of the initial cohort of Belonging Champions has been a positive experience. It has helped me grow professionally since I have reflectively examined my classroom practices in the Belonging Champions structure. There are elements that have been affirmed and others that I had not considered. I have changed some practices and added others.”
Marty Daniels
“The Belonging Champions program fosters a sense of camaraderie among the participants that really feels like we’re all striving for similar goals across our various disciplines and classes. We are encouraged to reflect on our own courses and policies to make our classrooms places where students can feel they truly belong and succeed.”
Scott Tobias
“I learned how to make small changes that help welcome and support students by communicating belonging and in turn enhancing their ability. I changed many of my policies to be more flexible and I removed some of the common identified student roadblocks.”
Kay Amey
“We can’t control the lives of our students outside the classroom- they come to us as they are, and they deal with all kinds of struggles that we sometimes don’t know about. Ӱҵprogram helps identify ways that we can reframe our mindset and establish better classroom behaviors to help our students be successful. We can’t change their home situations or what they learned before they came to us- we can absolutely change our classroom policies to help them be successful."
Bryan Jones
“Being a member of the inaugural Belonging Champions Community of Transformation has immeasurably impacted my teaching. Although I have been committed to trauma-informed teaching for many years now, my work has been mostly on my own, so the structure and the support of this community served to enhance my pedagogy as well as my personal commitment and belonging. Most specifically, I learned to view myself as both a facilitator and a member of my classroom belonging community, as a writing teacher, a writer, and as a first-generation college student who spent her freshman year of college in a state of uncertainty and confusion. I've learned to share my vulnerabilities with my students as a way of fostering their growth mindset, and honestly, my own growth mindset, too.”
Kristine Harrington
“Belonging Champions has given me the opportunity to carve out time in my week to think about what I can do to make my course more inclusive, so ALL my students feel like they can grow as learners and succeed in the course. While providing a nurturing environment has always been part of my pedagogy, being in Belonging Champions pushed me to be more intentional about developing strategies that make my students feel like they belong..”
Ana Wetzl
“Mathematics is the least favorite subject of many students. As a math professor, I find that it is more challenging to engage students to learn math than to teach math contents. This “Belonging Champion” program is very beneficial and effective. I learned many useful ideas and strategies that I can use to engage students to learn math and help them to fit in the math learning community. ”
Min He