Instructor Spotlight: Vanessa Aller on Checking-In with Your Students

In this Instructor Spotlight featuring Vanessa Aller, Instructor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Director of Education Technology at William James College, she shares how she infuses Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into her HMS course, Teaching 101: Bringing Effective Teaching Practices to your Classroom.

This is a course that Vanessa co-teaches with David Ginnings, Senior Learning Designer at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). The purpose of Instructor Spotlights, which are part of our Inclusive Teaching Institute (ITI), is to share what inclusive teaching looks like in action in an instructor’s classroom. For the ITI Series of Workshops hosted by Harvard Division of Continuing Education (DCE), which Vanessa attended, she shares her key takeaways of participating in the Institute from the perspective of an instructor and instructional designer and how she integrated learning from the workshops into her teaching practice: For the ITI Series of Workshops hosted by Harvard Division of Continuing Education (DCE), which Vanessa attended, she shares her key takeaways of participating in the Institute from the perspective of an instructor and instructional designer and how she integrated learning from the workshops into her teaching practice:

What really stuck with me is the value of best practices, that are Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CRSE), and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). It’s really all to remind us that we are all human and that we need to acknowledge that in our learning experience and teaching in the classroom. We need to celebrate our cultural values and acknowledge our emotions where we want to create a better learning environment.

Below is a video of my conversation with Vanessa along with her SEL teaching tips from her HMS course of ways to check-in with students through a feelings imagery chart and a gratitude imagery meditation exercise. Additionally, Vanessa shares her recommended SEL research resources from Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE).

Video Conversation with Vanessa

Teaching Tips to Check-In with Students from Vanessa

Feelings Imagery Chart

On this sheep-scale, how do you feel today?

Check-In Using a Feelings Imagery Chart

From the sheep-scale feelings chart, write a number on a post-it on your name tent that represents how you feel.

Gratitude Imagery Meditation Exercise with Music (4 min)

We are going to do a gratitude technique to get started and grounded.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out (2x). Recall a moment in time when you felt extreme gratitude for something that happened in your life. Put yourself back in that place and feel what you felt at that time. Maybe someone showed up for you in a way you didn’t expect.

Layer on top of that feeling, another memory and another moment where you felt bliss. Gather another moment where you felt pride. Now gather as many memories as you can: memories of bliss, pride, gratitude, and joy. Now take a deep breath in and out.

With your eyes closed, cup your hands as if you are holding water. Imagine there is a seed in your hand. That seed represents your intention of how you are going to show up as an educator. Now go ahead and plant that seed into the ground. Now take a deep breath in and out. You may open your eyes and return to the class.

Check-In After a Gratitude Imagery Meditation Exercise

From your experience engaging in the gratitude imagery meditation, draw an image on a sticky note on your name tent that represents how you feel.

Recommended SEL Research Resources from HGSE

• Defining Social-Emotional Learning: A new digital tool helps education leaders engage with the latest SEL research — and work to apply it in their schools and districts
   
• Explore SEL: Navigate the complex field of social and emotional learning.
   

Reflecting on Your Practice

After exploring the teaching tips and resources that Vanessa shared, think of ways that you can integrate SEL into your course for you to check-in with your students about how they are feeling to get to know and understand each other better.

To share with our learning community how you infused SEL into your course, reach out to me at zahraahmed@g.harvard.edu.

In the following statement, Vanessa shares the power of sharing:

Just make sure to pay it forward everybody. If you learn something new and others can benefit from it, make sure to share it with your colleagues so they can do a better job.

Looking forward to having you share your teachable moments with us!

With gratitude,
Zahra