Motivate students who get discouraged with difficult research tasks by letting them know you believe they can do it and that some tasks are meant to push their boundaries so they can grow.
Create formal and informal environments for spending time with your mentees to build multifaceted personal and professional relationships.
Let students know it’s okay to make mistakes, you’ll learn just as much (and sometimes more) than when something works.
Focus your grading on student understanding rather than creating a curve to help each student learn as much of the content as they can.
Remind students that you’re there to help them, especially when students apologize for asking a question.
Get feedback from your students before the course is over so you have time to implement their suggestions!
Ask students to reflect on what could have done differently when a class or project doesn’t go well in order to work together to improve future coursework.
Hold yourself to the same standards your students comply with to reinforce that these standards exist for a reason, out of respect for each other and learning.
Reward students when they catch a mistake or ask a question you can’t answer to encourage critical thinking and engagement.
Call students by their preferred name and make sure you’re pronouncing it correctly to demonstrate your respect.
Take any start-of-semester survey you give your students to show you won’t ask them questions you wouldn’t answer yourself.
Listen to your students before giving out advice when they ask for guidance, even if they’re considering doing something you disagree with.
Be explicit when you’re making suggestions to student work, rather than corrections, so your students understand the difference and that it is okay to disagree with your suggestions.
Encourage students to identify their unique skills and perspectives explicitly, especially when working on projects, to build confidence in their ability to make meaningful contributions.
Set up comforting and encouraging meetings with students leaving the CS major to ensure they know they can always try CS again in the future.
Encourage your students to apply for things that seem out of reach by sharing stories about what you learned from applying for things you didn’t get or that seemed out of reach.
Praise students for receiving feedback well to encourage them to be open and receptive when they get information that will help them improve their learning.
Reflect on how implicit bias impacts your teaching so that media representations of female students and students of color don't impact your classroom.
Improve the way you talk about your students and remove words from your vocabulary that make the students sound like outsiders instead of members of the school community.