‘We Can’t Ignore This Issue’: How to Talk With Students About Racism

“…Talking about racism doesn’t begin and end with one classroom conversation, nor is it a checklist for your class to tackle. “We’re really talking about transformative practices,” says Jamiella Brooks, an associate director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Pennsylvania. “That involves a lot of reflection and a lot of engagement in and out of the classroom.”

‘We’re All in This Together’

The authors -- who include many leading lights in the teaching and learning world -- responded overwhelmingly, and as the selections poured in, Mondelli said in an interview that she was struck by a "thread" that ran through many of them: "the need to center student well-being." That might have been the case even before the pandemic upended students' worlds, educationally and otherwise, but providing education that is student-centered and adaptive "is going to stick here," says Mondelli, who co-edited the collection with Thomas J. Tobin of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "I don't think there's any going back."

Celebration, Collaboration and Care

MU Teaching for Learning Center helps lead the way in impactful online learning.

Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now

This feeling of world-weariness that my student expressed is not uncommon. The social isolation and loneliness of the COVID-19 pandemic present significant emotional and physical health risks that make us feel disconnected and put us on high alert, triggering the body's stress response.