At our town hall meetings a couple of days ago, I suggested one simple thing we could all do to promote student success. What would the the student experience be like if every time one of us talked to a student, we asked them a question that conveyed the importance of their academic work?
As it turns out, I probably have more student encounters in which students are selling me things than any other kind of encounter. I’m a pretty good consumer of our division’s goods and services. When I go to the CRWC before work, a student checks my ID. After my workout, I nearly always buy a smoothie (Hawaiian Breeze, with Splenda and soy, thank you). When I get to my office, I usually get coffee (decaf, unless it’s one of those days) at the River Room, and a student rings me up. I’m back in River Room for lunch often, and I’ve certainly been known to hit the C-store for a snack. So, more student encounters.
I try to bring up academics in each encounter. Now, sometimes it would just be weird to try to bring it up. For example, if the same student just rang me up an hour ago, I might skip the conversation. But often, I have really pleasant micro-conversations.
Yesterday, I asked the student at the register at the C-store how classes were going, and then remembered that a few days ago he told me that he had a presentation coming up, so I asked if he had done it yet. He had just done it, and he was pretty proud of how it had gone.
This morning, the fellow who sold me my smoothie (they were out of pineapple, so I had to get a different smoothie– still prefer the Hawaiian Breeze) responded pretty prolifically to my “How are classes going?” I learned that he is taking mostly GERs and prerequisites and is looking forward to getting into classes in his major. I commented that there was always something to get out of a class, even if it wasn’t something you would have chosen, and he politely agreed. He also mentioned that three of his classes are talking about food in one way or another at the moment, and that he had his first tests coming up next week, but felt like he had been keeping up.
I got a mid-morning snack and asked the clerk if he had any tests coming up. He has some starting next week, too, and also felt OK about them. Both of these students, I’m pretty sure, were first year students. I hope they do perform up to their expectations next week. Unfortunately, first year students tend to over estimate their preparedness.
In these conversations, I sometimes had an opportunity to provide a little bit of advice or encouragement, but that’s not the important part. What’s important was that I conveyed an institutional expectation of excellence in academics.
Will you join me in asking students about academics at every opportunity? If we can surround them with a climate of high expectations, they are going to try to meet them. EXCEL is the first challenge in the Iowa Challenge. Let’s ENGAGE students– every student, in every encounter– to help them meet that challenge.
I don’t usually get many comments on my blog postings. How about this time, you share your stories of the micro-conversations you’ve had with students in the comment section below?
Posted by trocklin 
