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Starting the Semester: Hacks for Students and Professors
Episode 131st January 2022 • Real Talk: A Diversity in Higher Ed Podcast • Southern Connecticut State University
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School is back in session! KC and Jamil are here to welcome you all to a new season and a new semester; with some tips and tricks to keep you sane along the way.

Transcripts

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Hello, KC. We're having a busy day. We are having a busy day,

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that today is the first day of the fall semester that we're recording,

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we are back for season four. Boom, in full effect. And we look

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back. I'm really feeling that full effect. Yeah.

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Okay. Today, KC, today, students are coming back to campus where they already

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move back onto campus, classes are starting up,

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students may be transitioning from virtual learning to in person learning,

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or still having virtual learning. How is that going?

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Well, so we are one of those campuses

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who is coming back on time as expected, we're still in the pandemic,

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and so we got the Omicron variants spicing things up, and a number

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of universities have taken different approaches, some like an Ivy League

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school down the street, for example, is virtual for a few weeks and

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then they'll be on ground, but then they're being advised not to go

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to local restaurants or stores or anything. We're coming back and the testing,

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we've got N95 mask, all that stuff. But different schools... Yeah, so you're

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teaching with an N95 on? Oh my god, I'll tell you about that

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later. But so anyway, we're one of those schools that is back as

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scheduled, some are starting later and skipping spring break, we did that

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last spring, and let me tell you, spring break is very important for

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mental health. So, here we are back. I feel like it's still too

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soon for me to know necessarily how folks are doing, but

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I taught a couple of classes this morning,

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and it's a mixed bag in terms of how students are doing,

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I think. Yeah, it's... Can we get a peek inside that bag?

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And you wanna... Alright, here's the peak. So I asked students,

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toward the end of class, I had students write down a few words

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about how they were doing, and then we share some of those out

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loud, and then they turn them into me and I saw more of

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what's going on for folks and just 'cause I think it's really important

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to be very open about mental health and

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open about the fact that everything is not

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"normal" and that folks are struggling, but also you gotta know your audience,

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like "Am I dealing with a bunch of people who are excited and

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ready to learn, or am I dealing with a bunch of folks who

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are stressed out and anxious." So anyway, the first student who said something...

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He said, "I'm curious." And I was like, "Whoa, that's great,

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that's wonderful. I'm also trying to be more curious instead of... "

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What do you learn? Yes, great. I'm trying to be more curious and

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less critical or less judgy to just be like,

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pause, "I wonder, I wonder why that person cut me off in traffic."

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Or "I wonder why this student is acting this way, I'm curious."

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So anyway, that was surprising, and then the next student said,

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"Oh, I'm motivated." I was like, "Oh, wonderful. We're doing great." And

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so of course, it's much easier to share

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when you're doing well, than when you're not, so of course then we

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were hearing, "I'm tired, I'm nervous, I'm hungry,

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I'm anxious, I'm stressed." But we also had excited and optimistic.

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One student said, "I'm introspective." Wonderful, it's a great time of year

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to be introspective. One student said, "Low energy."

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And I was looking at this list motivated,

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nervous, happy, anxious, stressed, optimistic, low energy. It's like I'm

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all of those things, I sort of cycle through those in the day,

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and so it's helpful to see. And then

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when I was looking once I got back to my office,

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people shared a lot more negative... What we would consider negative emotions

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of sadness and loneliness and hopelessness. And I'm glad that they wrote

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that down and were willing to share that

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with me, 'cause I think it's important to express that stuff.

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But students are carrying a lot with them

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when they're back here in the classroom, whether that's in person or online.

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Well, we do know... One of the most important things in higher education

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I have learned, is students sense of belonging and students sense of community.

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That's right. With this pandemic that's been so difficult, so many students

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have been isolated from communities that have enriched their lives and supported

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them and uplifted them while they were completing the undergrad and graduate

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studies. So hopefully as we embark upon this new year, students will have

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a chance to rejoin their communities that so many of us love.

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Yeah, and I think all the educators who I know are really keenly

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aware of this and know that creating that sense of belonging and connection

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and offering grace to students who are out of practice, who are

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struggling, I'm struggling, all of us are to some degree. And I think

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taking care in our approach with students is important

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for all of us. So maybe, giving students grace is a two way

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street, they provide their instructor with grace and... Yes. Grace is extended.

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Yes, and honestly, I'm in like a day by day

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kind of answer right now... Oh day by day. Wow. Oh yeah.

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Day by day. And I think teaching always terrifies me. I don't know,

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did you have the sense when you were a student

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that your professors were nervous on the first day of school.

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Some. Not just the first day though, the whole time. Are you talking

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about me? No, not you. You are talking about me. Yeah, no, not you, not

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you. Okay, well, I do feel that way. Nervous every class for the

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whole semester. Yes, I think with some professors it's more clear.

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But with others, it seems like we're just reeling. Yeah, it's interesting

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because I love teaching more than anything, and I always feel...

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I mean just like people love being a student, but there's this sense

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of dread right before the semester starts, pandemic or not, it's like,

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"Oh no, this big shift is about to come from

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a time of hopefully break and rest into this, the gear of the

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semester, and we're gonna meet all new people and there's all this unknown

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stuff." That's exciting, but it's also terrifying. And

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so yeah, all of that, and then you add in the stress and

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all the unknowns with the pandemic, and it is a lot,

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and it's what... That's the whole point of the university, is to gather,

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to have class, to learn together, so that gives me life as much

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as it also gives me anxiety. I just thought of the theme of

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this episode sitting here. Oh oh. "How to survive the fall semester,

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the spring semester." "How to survive the spring... " See it's so disorienting,

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these are disorienting times. And also Jamil, you're not a student anymore.

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What do you know? What do you know? I'm over here like are we in fall, are

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we in spring? No, "How to survive the spring semester."

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Yeah. Yes. And beyond. Do you have tips for faculty? I have tips for

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students. Tips for faculty? I don't know, I mean truly offering grace to

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students and checking in a lot about mental health, however that looks.

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And because we know there's a documented mental health crisis among college

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students, and we can have a big impact on that in our classrooms.

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So the way that... One of the ways that I create community in

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my class is by having us draw together

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and draw a three minute soft portrait at the beginning of class.

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It's a unique thing. It's a vulnerable thing. We share those pictures with

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each other, and that shared kinda odd experience

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sort of breaks the ice and creates a community space in the classroom.

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And it's a ritual that we start with,

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so I love that. Getting to know students.

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Putting more attention on knowing students calling them by

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their name, knowing something about them and really trying to create those

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relationships is even more so important now than under normal

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conditions, I guess. Yeah, and also one thing I'll say 'cause I'mma forget

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this, 'cause it's the first day of school.

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The spring semester does always give me some sense of hope because the

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days get longer and we start out and I have a class that ends

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at 4:40. When that class gets out, you know it's starting to get

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dark. By the end of the semester it's gonna be dark for hours

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after that class, and so the temperatures get warmer, the days get longer,

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sun shines more. And so that for me,

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I know the reward at the end of

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the spring semester is summer time. A few things come to mind for

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me, especially with this pandemic in mind. This pandemic for a lot of

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people may expand their already existing inequities. Oh yes.

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The first week of school the first thing I'm thinking about his textbooks.

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Folks trying to afford the high price of text books. And I'm not

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sure if I would tell you this story.

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I got to a point where I was tired of buying textbooks.

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It happened very quickly because textbooks can easily cost you $600 a semester.

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You need a math code that's a $120.

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You need code for a language, which may be 120 again.

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Then you need four or five textbooks, next thing you know you're at $600

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before the first week of school ends. Here are some hacks that I

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have. Okay. For students that may be listening, about textbooks,

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see if your bookstore that you're buying the textbook from, price matches

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online, bookstores tend to have a higher pricing textbook than maybe Amazon,

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Barnes & Noble. And some bookstores, ours do, sometimes it might actually

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be all the time, but they price match, online services, so inquire, shop

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around, see if you need the book in person with you

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is an online edition okay. Is a older edition that may be cheaper,

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extremely similar, 'cause sometimes you just change the cover or change

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the rotation of chapter. So ask your faculty member, is older editions very

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similar. See if the book is sitting in your public or your university

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library. And it may be reserved. So sometimes libraries put books on reserve

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that you can't check out for the day. You can only have it

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for couple of hours. If that's the case,

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if the book is on reserve, here me out everybody. Take the book

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to the scanner. That's right. And sit there for 30 40 minutes,

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scan the book. Your syllabus may tell you what chapters you need.

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You may not need the whole book. You may need seven chapters.

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I did that, I proceeded to print the chapters 'cause I needed it

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in person. It was a lot cheaper to print 100 pages than it

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was to buy the textbook. Also, I know our university does this,

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I'm sure there's other services at other universities, other departments

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that have libraries that you can check out a textbook for the semester,

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and does your Dean of Students cover the cost of textbooks if you're

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at... Those things are true and are university.

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Coach at Center has a library or votes, he offers some limited resources

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around textbook relief, I would say look into them, weigh your options when

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you buy them. Yeah, that's great advice, that's great advice. I think often,

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standard textbooks are not in libraries 'cause I feel like there's some

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kind of deal between publishers and libraries, so that people have to buy

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the book. Yeah, I think it depends on the course, like, if you're

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taking an English class... That's right. Sure, this literature book is probably

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available at your local library. Absolutely. If you're looking for a geometry

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textbook? Maybe not, but it's always worth the look.

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Always worth the look. Yeah, if you're talking about a $150 textbook and

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you can scan it in 20 30 minutes, you just made a lot

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of money. Oh yeah, I sure did and I actually printed it at

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work, so I didn't even pay for the...

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Of course you did. Yeah, I get creative, when you're in college,

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you've got to get creative, you do. Somehow, this reminded me of the

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story that I wanted to tell you from today,

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which is not at all related to textbooks,

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but in terms of sort of advice for students, or not even advice,

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but let me just share this story with you and then we'll see what

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you think. So I'm wearing an N95 mask,

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teaching two classes in a row, 10 minutes in between them,

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and teaching and public speaking, especially if you're a nervous person,

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it's a very physical act, it's like exercise.

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You're breathing hard and voice getting shaky, it's like a physical experience.

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And you're wearing an N95 mask, it's super hard to breathe, and when

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you are nervous, it is really difficult, and then your nose is running,

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it's like a whole thing, it's very unpleasant.

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But as you know, I always come out in all my classes

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on the first day, and coming out is...

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Even though I've done it so many times and I'm like out in

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all of these circumstances, it's still quite terrifying and

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very vulnerable, and I try to be cool about it,

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but I just have a visceral response where

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it makes me sweaty, it makes my voice shaky, it makes it hard

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to breathe, and I'm still talking and trying to do this.

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And I do it because it's so important to have that representation and

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it's important that folks know and to see that modeled, etcetera, etcetera.

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So I'm doing that today in my first class,

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and then I was legitimately having a hard time breathing, I couldn't really

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talk anymore when I was done with that. And again, I'm trying to

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play it cool, but it's not that cool. And then I think I

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had them, I was like, "Just read the first page of the syllabus

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and then I wanna talk to you about something else."

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Or whatever, I just needed... I had to buy myself like 30 seconds

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to breathe. So anyway, I was like, "Oh my God, this

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was really harder than usual today." And then after class, I had a

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student who came up and said, "Hey, I'm a part of the community,

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and I just wanna thank you for coming out and for

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representing, and that just means so much to me, I really appreciate it."

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And them saying that was so validating for me, because sometimes I'm like,

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I'm doing this, I know that it matters,

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but I don't always hear that from people, and especially on today when

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it felt hard to have somebody immediately say like... To thank me for

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doing that, it made doing that in the second class,

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so much easier and more meaningful for me.

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It was a similar experience of vulnerability, visceral discomfort, all that

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stuff, but it felt easier for me to do.

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And that just meant so much. And I think sometimes the students don't

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necessarily know how much hearing things like that from them

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makes a difference in our lives, to be perfectly honest.

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Yeah, representation of the classroom is super important,

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no matter how hard that may be at times.

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Yeah. Yeah. And I remember... I don't know, I just... I'm thinking back

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many years ago to being a college student, and

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I didn't have a sense of my professors as vulnerable

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human beings or as folks who might be nervous or people...

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I was so focused really on my own experience

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that it wouldn't have occurred to me that they might need something from

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me, or that something I might say could impact their life,

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like that never occurred to me. Oh, that always occurred to me.

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Of course it did. You know, because we're all people here.

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I don't know, I took a lot of

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thinking and commitment with building relationships beyond just my peers.

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Yeah, and of course, it's different, I mean different professors, different

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students are different, and some of them you may try to connect with

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and then they don't reciprocate that. Been there, been there, but I tend

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to be the student where like, you just gotta love me,

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you just gotta love me. I have to, yeah. Yeah.

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That's actually a good tip for students to build relationships beyond the

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classroom with their faculty, especially in times in which you feel like

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you're struggling, 'cause it's been... I can think about

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times in college where I would have dropped out,

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but I would have made my professors disappointed or they would have been

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sad to see me leave, and so it kinda made me wanna stay

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if people were sad to see me leave.

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Right, because you know, or even come to class, it's like,

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"Oh no, I can't disappoint this person." So that's just enough to get

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you... Just enough to get you there. Just good enough to get you there,

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to get you in the door, yeah. Right. And I think maybe that's

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one takeaway is that, the ways that we can extend

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kindness, care, attention to other people right now, that maybe... Like

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folks, some folks are hanging on by a thread.

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Yeah, some people are barely there and I've been there.

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Yeah, and so we can... We can take the edge off

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for folks and help try to give people enough foundation that

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we can rebuild during this really... A time that's tough for a lot

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of people in a lot of ways. Yeah, so as students may be

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struggling 'cause especially for second year, first year students,

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maybe this is their first time learning in a pandemic... So the circumstances

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are a little different, all our universities are operating a little different,

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so thinking of tips of how they're navigating this new landscape that we're

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all navigating together I have some thoughts. Oh, let's hear it.

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Virtual learning. Let's start there. Okay. From a student perspective, don't

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do it in bed. Whoo, I... Oh. Yes, don't do it in bed. Why?

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'Cause you will fall back asleep, you're not paying attention, you're too

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comfy, you're too cozy. I can see a lot of students,

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especially if you're allowed to have your camera off and there'd be a

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lot of reasons of why you may have your camera off,

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but if you're in bed, you're not learning. You're not paying attention.

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I would recommend finding a regular spot that you go to all the

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time, whether it's outside of your residence hall, outside of your home,

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in the library, in a quiet cafe. Listen, somewhere quiet that you can

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actually sit your laptop down and have a notebook next to you,

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I recommend. I recommend having your camera on if you can,

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if that's the kind of format your faculty is having, because you'll be

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more engaged. But if it's not a lecture, I recommend

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talking more than you would in in person learning. I find that virtual

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learning, it's hard to feel like you're in a classroom, like you're in a

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space with other people because you're online, it feels a little disconnecting.

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So sometimes over interacting can help make you learn more and make you

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feel more involved. Also, I think this is a time where you should

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be over communicating to your professor, like going to office hours,

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trying to be in the mindset of being a college student as often

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as possible, and when those issues arise, it's a pandemic, you get sick,

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tell your professors. Yep. Yep. You're having to work more because there's

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a working shortage at your job, tell your professor. You can't... There's

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a a essay deadline coming up, it's not looking clear that you can't hit

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it, tell your professor. Over and over communicate and see if there is

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some type of something and some type of relief you can get there.

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That's what I'm thinking first, virtual learning. Yeah, I talked to my classes

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today about, "Look, there's a lot of unexpected stuff that might go on,

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whether that's illness related or otherwise, and what you cannot do is just

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ghost, because if I don't see you, I don't hear from you for

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a month at a time, I don't know what's going on with you."

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And what can you do? Yeah, and I don't know how to support

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you or accommodate, and sometimes just doing the communicating to say like,

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"Hey, I got a lot going on right now,

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I wanna make sure I'm telling you about this, I'm gonna miss class

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next week, but I'm gonna do this and this and this,"

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that accountability piece can make a difference in you,

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'cause that's such a bad feeling when you fall behind

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and you're out of touch with the class and with the professor,

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it can be hard to climb back from that. So I would say

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also yes, absolutely, communicate anything that's going on

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with your faculty member, and also to reach out to the dean of

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students or other support services on campuses to support you in other ways.

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And you know what, I'm gonna extend this conversation to faculty,

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faculty, when they're teaching in a virtual space.

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I would say if professors are not equipped with technology, this is the

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time to get better equipped, they have IT on speed dial. That's right. I

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have been... When I was in virtual learning, I can remember

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classes being very delayed because of not knowing how to work different

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software, so hopefully faculty can increase some of their technical abilities,

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and I also think that you have to find new ways of being

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engaging with your students, they're no longer in the classroom standing

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in front of you, and even that can be difficult in in person

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learning, engaging with students and getting feedback and getting students

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to talk, even sometimes breakout rooms with students are bone quiet in virtual

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learning. I know. Sometimes I visited a breakout room and they... And it's

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awkward. And I'm like, "Well, what's going on here?" And they're like,

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"Oh, we didn't feel like talking," I'm like, "Well, sorry... " Well...

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Yeah. "That's what we're doing right now, so let's get it together."

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Do you find any particular methods work for you, or haven't worked?

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Honestly, I really don't like teaching online, which is why I'm not doing

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it right now. So I know that my strengths as a teacher are

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in person in the classroom. That said like you... The same things, of

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course you have to do online and in person and that is to

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create connection, to create a sense of belonging, to make it...

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Students are gonna learn better if they wanna be there, and that's true

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no matter the setting. So what ways can... How can you foster

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a sense of belonging, connection, community, and how can you do that online?

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And I think depending on how big your class is, there are a

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lot of different ways to do it, and there are folks who are

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experts in how to teach well online, but

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it's not... I don't find it easy, and I prefer a synchronous online

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class for the same reason, like if we're all gathering at the same

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time and we can see each other. I'd give, I'm like very...

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When I teach online classes, I record videos of myself saying "Hi"

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to everybody, talking about the class, and I send it out before the

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semester starts. I do a lot of FaceTime

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because I want them to have a sense of me as a person

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and to start to create a connection with me as a teacher.

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It's hard for me though, sometimes I meet students and I'm like,

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"You were in my class, it was online, you always had your camera

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off, you never spoke, and I don't really have a sense that I

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know you," like years later. And so that's the part about online learning

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that, you did everything you're supposed to do for that class,

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and I don't really have a sense of you. And then I'm glad

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that you have a sense of me but

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part of... Teaching is relational, it's about relationships.

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And I think it's a struggle for me

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to do that online. And I admire my classmates especially...

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My classmates, My teaching... My colleagues, that's what I'll call them,

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right? I admire those who can teach online well,

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and there's certainly folks who do a good job at that.

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Yeah, and I hopefully know students are going to office hours.

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I always say office hours is where the magic happens, 'cause it does.

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Just when a person can put a name to a face means all

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the difference. And I'm thinking about faculty in particular. I know faculty

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tend to operate in two different ways. Well, listen, we're going here today.

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We're going here. Okay, alright, alright, alright. You know we're here,

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we're talking... We're gonna go there. Okay. Some faculty operate with the

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aspect of, I'm an educator. I'm here to touch student lives,

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I'm here to prepare them for their next step. I am here to

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build relationships with them. I am here to be a positive influence,

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a mentor, a role model, and the list goes on. Some faculty, this is a space

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that you have paid for, that you are... I'm gonna give you educational information,

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you receive that, and everything in between is kind of your job.

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And so I think as a student, sometimes it's hard to navigate both

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of those lanes especially when a faculty don't view their self as an

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educator, 'cause not every faculty view themselves as a educator. Yeah,

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certainly some folks see themselves more as scholars

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or researchers. I provide the materials, it's their job to navigate and

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show up. Right. And I think sometimes we as teachers forget

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how it is for students to have to navigate

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five different... Not just five different teachers, there's human beings

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with their different styles and preferences and all of that but also five

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different... You're a different person, basically. Maybe not you, Jamil,

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'cause you're 100% Jamil. But you're often a different person in each classroom.

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You're asked, you're invited to be a different kind of person depending

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on that classroom space. And also the way people use online learning management

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systems is completely different. So the way that my Blackboard site looks

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is different from somebody else's. Yes. Yes, I always call that the politics

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of college. It already feels like. It feels like you're entering these different

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spaces, and it can even be like you're re taking the same class,

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but it's different faculty and it's like a whole different experience.

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The way they teach, what they expect of you, how you are allowed

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to show up, what is encouraged, what is not encouraged,

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everything. Can you have your laptop out? Is like phones allowed? Are they

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not? Can you speak to your peer casually? Are you not allowed to

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speak? Is that rude? Are you formal? Are you informal? Some people are

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serious, "I'm Doctor, so and so." Some people are like, "Just call me,

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Fred. I had a great time last night." Right. "Can I eat in

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this class? Can I... " Yeah. So different. And to navigate

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five, six different environments, while navigating the rest of the university

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experience, while navigating work and life. And then you add a pandemic,

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can be so difficult for students to deal with.

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Yeah, especially in these first few weeks of the semester because all of

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it's new. And I have some students now who... They've been... They took

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a year, a year and a half off of school. And now they're

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coming back. They're coming back, also pandemic, also all the stuff,

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so it's... That's a good point. Some folks took a year off,

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took two years off. Yes. Yes, yes. Or maybe even going back to

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school for the very first time in a long time because,

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job shortages, maybe they're changing fields. The pandemic has made certain

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workforces pretty hard to work in. Retail, customer service jobs, healthcare

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jobs. Education. Yeah, education. People are leaving fields. So, we maybe

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even looking at a new population of students all together. Well,

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you know what, I have thoughts for students that are jumping back into school

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and I have some thoughts. Your next podcast is gonna be called, "I

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have thoughts." "I have thoughts." Shout out to Allison because she said

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it during a meeting, "Jamil's tagline is, "I have thoughts."

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I just always have thoughts, that's why you know we have a podcast.

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You do, you have more thoughts than I do. That's for sure.

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They just come to me. So do you remember I used to be

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an academic success peer mentor, I believe they called them. Yep. Where

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you basically try to set students up to success throughout their academics.

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You work on time management, scheduling, all these different

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skills students need to succeed. Hear what I'm thinking, alright,

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we need to have time management down packed especially in a pandemic,

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we need a really good calendar, we need a good routine,

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a good schedule. We need to to do Jamil's textbook hack,

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'cause that's a good idea. We need to also talk to all our

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professors individually. Get a feel for the class.

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Is there some breathing room? How late work works.

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That kind of stuff. As a student, I always remember too looking at

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my syllabus. And as a faculty, you may hate this. I probably will. I

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used to look at my syllabus and go, is this important?

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I would look at the grading, 'cause you know certain things take so

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much time. I do hate this, I do. I wish you wouldn't... It's true. Certain

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things take so much time but are not worth many points.

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And if you don't have a lot of time, or...

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I know that this is true, and at the same time...

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Yeah, how do you go with that? It makes me...

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I don't know. Everything that's in a class,

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if it's well designed, it's there for a reason, and it matters.

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I'm really more of a holistic grader than points. You can look at

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somebody and say, "Well, this is worth five points and this is worth

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50," so the 50 point thing is so much more important,

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I must spend more time on that. Now, that will likely take more

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time anyway, but it's possible that that five point thing

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is central to your learning and your experience in the class.

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So I... Whatever, I did that as a student too.

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But it also makes me think of capitalism and it's like,

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"Well, if something costs less, it's not... This isn't important.". And

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more... And that really kinda feels at times as a student.

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Like, "I'm doing this to get a point, I'm doing this to get

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a grade," or like... I'm thinking back, like I'm reflecting. And I can

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think of every semester, these classes were really important and really

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learning and educational, and other classes, I'm there because it's a requirement.

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And even the content felt like I was there to achieve X,

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Y and Z points. And I'm thinking about taking classes all the same

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time that your focus is being shared and dragged in different directions.

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Yeah. If the only class you can have this week,

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these little blog posts maybe, for example, that are worth very small amount

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of points, and then boom, 1.30 of your grade in this class and

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this other class, this huge research paper. I'm thinking back to prioritizing

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as a student, I'm gonna have to give this my weight and not

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this other thing. And I think about privilege,

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when you're able to sit in every one of your classes and fully

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engage and fully do the class to its capacity, having the privilege to

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do that, 'cause I often see students don't typically have that privilege.

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Yeah. That certainly... I'm kind of an idealist, I guess, in that way.

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But I also think that sometimes... You're probably gonna hate this.

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Whoa. Yeah. So let's say that there's a difference between someone who's

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working all these jobs and doing all this stuff,

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and trying to juggle five classes. So there's that person

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who is really truly strapped for time and perhaps over committed

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out of necessity. And then there are other folks who

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could manage their time differently. Yes. And could get more things done.

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And without sacrificing rest, without sacrificing a social life... Money.

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Money, or whatever. It's like, "How much time are you spending looking at

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your phone?" Yes. And I agree. I think...

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That's why in the beginning of the semesters, I always recommend faculty

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additional tips. I recommend checking into the offices

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in your University that support students. So if you have a Academic access

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center, or maybe it's called something different, maybe it's a tutoring

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centre, going to tutoring in the beginning of the semester, even when you

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don't believe you need it can really help set the groundwork for you

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as a student, help you grow from semester to semester 'cause you're supposed

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to showcase some type of growth, I believe in my mind.

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Sitting down with a person, maybe a friend, maybe a professional, and really

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dedicating time. Because you're supposed to put a certain amount of hours

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into credits. If you're taking five classes, you should be giving,

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if you can, in the perfect world, 20 25 hours to this course

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work, to studying, to reading, to absorbing the work outside of going to

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class. University, all sort of learning happens outside of the classroom.

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And so, I think doing those things and even maybe going to counselling services,

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going to a wellness center and working on your spiritual and mental health

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while you're doing these things can really set the ground work to having

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a really successful semester. Yeah, and having good systems in place.

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Like you're saying with setting yourself up for success so that...

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You have good days, bad days, good weeks, bad weeks, but if your

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overall system is set up to support you as a student,

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you know that you sit in this chair

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and you do this class, and you show up to

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your tutoring session, that's when you get this done,

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you have those regular systems in place to support you, that way,

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you don't have to reinvent everything week to week and feel like you're

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behind. And now, beginning of the semester is the time to set up

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those systems. Yeah. I'm thinking back to my first semester. I had a

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system. When I mean... Did you? Oh, I had a system system,

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and listen, that was a great system. Do you know how freshman don't

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pick their schedules their first semester? Well, at our university, they

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don't. You get handed a schedule. Well, I had

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the early classes, first year is typically get these super early classes,

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like 7:45, this bright and early sunshine. Brutal, brutal. So I would have

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classes typically from 7:45 to 11:00 AM I would have lunch,

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and then I will go to the library. Our library at our university

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closes at 11 at the time. I would stay till 11.

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I would do my course work for the week, I would do my

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readings, I would do tutoring, I would do study groups, all types of

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stuff. And then at 11 o'clock, my social life begins.

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And then at 2:30, 3:00 AM, we were starting this all over.

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Is this a good system? And it worked. It was a good system. You

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know, I don't know. I don't know. Personally, I use schedule.

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That works for you. Sleep more than Jamil, please. It worked great for me.

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I should have kept that going. No, no. You need to sleep more.

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I mean now you do. Now I do. It worked at the time.

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Yeah, it's a struggle though. Honestly, this is something I'm constantly

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working on, because it's really... There's so many distractions

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in life and also digitally, it's tough to do. So if you know

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someone who seems to be good at this, see if they'll show you

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their system for how do you organize your life, how do you organize

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your days, how are you managing and implement some of those practices?

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Now that I'm thinking about it, I stopped that schedule 'cause I started

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working. And I could only imagine going to school and working in a

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pandemic. How challenging that may be. Yeah, because being a student,

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really, it feels like a job. Oh, it is a job.

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It is a job. Yeah. Alright, new season, new semester. Yeah. We have

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some very interesting episodes for y'all. We do.

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And we are gonna be asking you all to contribute in some ways

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to our future episodes. Yes, it's about time you all joined the conversation.

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Yes, so be on the lookout. We'll share more as we go,

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but be on the lookout for calls to answer questions, to ask questions

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for our guests to suggest podcast topics in the future, and to contribute

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your voice, your experience to our conversation. So we will be asking,

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so be prepared to chime in. And you know, I'm hoping to be

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flooded with responses that we can maybe air, we can talk about.

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We can hear what you all want to talk about. Yeah.

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Yeah. Put that in mind. Holla at us on social media.

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A Diversity in Higher Ed

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Reach out to us, connect. Subscribe to our podcasts, like our podcast,

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leave a review, share it to a friend, a neighbour, your roommate. Yep.

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Alright, Jamil. I think that will do it. We'll see you next week.

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