Stephanie Bain: Supports at TAMIU

So I’ll I’ll. I’ll do it through the lens of what we’re doing here at Timmy, you kissed him, Luke is more student success, so that would be freshman seminar, tutoring and mentoring that route. But for Timmy you, we actually get our students in their freshman year into an introduction type of teaching course, and that’s really the first time they see us. They’re on the dean might correct me with the terminology, but it was almost like a fig schedule. It’s pre-populated, you know, we want them, you know, we have benchmarks that each level. So what they will be seeing is when they come into this introductory course is they’re going to be exposed to avid. They’re going to be exposed to not only the requirements of what it takes, but go ahead and at that beginning, say, Hey, this is your support system, this is your circle of care. So you have me as a faculty member, you have your advisors, you have the staff at the college of it. You have all these resources that you may not know. You know, when I was in my undergrad, I really don’t know how I graduated because I felt like I was just floundering out there and here and what I’ve noticed really with the A&M systems, and there’s such a benefit to having smaller classes. You know, we range from about 20 to 30 students in undergrad. Obviously, you know, some courses have larger and I’m speaking from the college of it. Larger classes but that teacher to student or student teacher ratio is just amazing at a higher ed level. So we’ll be able to kind of talk to them on that social level, right? Because so many times our students come through lacking, you know, social emotional intelligence like all of us for brain. I always say the male brain, they completely develop until they’re 30 so. I mean, that’s what they’ll probably need to cut that. I don’t know if I really want to be like the first thing the male brain done with. But it is true. Oh, so so we’re we’re just really kind of laying the foundation of, hey, we know it’s going to be a road. We’ve all been there, but this is what you’re doing. This is why you’re doing it and really step in to you. All right. You want to do this? We’re going to give you support. We’re going to give you experiences. I know that the study abroad program is coming back, which I would recommend for any student to go and see other cultures and experience with. They’re doing on an educational level as well as, all right, you’re going to be going through your classes. This is what to expect. This is how much time you need to spend on it. This is from the lens. And really, I always say you can’t teach grit, right? But you can help them find the grit. You can help them find that motivation. So even though we do teach teaching skills, this support system that we give them, in my opinion, is just as important or more important as the curriculum itself. And so that’s where we come in and we’re like, Hey, if you need to talk to me, come and talk to me, feel like you can. It’s an open door policy. I think many times in higher ed, we are. It is very important for us to get them, you know, get our students to graduate, to go out. But they need that, that support from us on that emotional level and that social level and just basic human kindness. And so even though this isn’t new to Tami you with far as working with our students, when we get into avid more, we’re going to be able to to call that out more and see how that impacts our student retention and our student graduation. And and I love to hear that because, you know, anybody can get online and read curriculum. You know, we can get up here and do high impact practices all the time. But if students don’t respect to you. They won’t learn. So not only are in that’s research shows that, so it’s proven. So not only are we giving them high impact practices were then instilling in them, Hey, you see how I am? You see how I’m helping you and talking to you and working with you. You go out and do that for your students. Here’s what the research says. Don’t just listen to me in my experience. Listen, at what the experts more than me are doing, this is what works. So I say it is a partnership. I also say that when when you’re a teacher, you know what to do, right? Especially in higher ED. But it’s just a totally different experience when you revisit it and you continue. I’ve conducted. Probably over 35 professional developments myself. I conducted them. I still go to professional developments all the time and I learned Symphony. And then sometimes I relearned the thing I taught last night and I’m like, Man, this is great. Oh, wait, I didn’t use that word. But it’s that importance to continue our education and to instill that in our students. Hey, just because you graduate, because you’re moving on and in mean, you know, and it’s OK if you don’t know, it’s OK. If you’re not comfortable, you’re going to fall flat in class every semester, I teach. There’s a lesson that just totally falls flat. You just reflect and you move on and just really put in that positive energy because a lot of our students, I’m sure you’ve heard from others, the backgrounds of our students and just what what they have gone through.

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