The session began with a bamboo chime. The presenter, Dr. Doreen Dodgen-Magee, walked around the tables while soft tones filled the room. Fifty harried professors breathed in and out. The moment modeled a larger point: all of us (faculty and students alike) live in a world in which technology has diminished our ability to be present with ourselves and others. In this context, our classes need to create not just opportunities but also supports for recentering and reconnecting. The bamboo chime gave our brains and bodies something to focus on, which provided a sensory on-ramp to centering better than simply asking us to breathe might have done. Doreen believes that our classes have enormous potential for providing countercultural islands of connection in the sea of physical and emotional dysregulation created by technology. And yet, she cautions that we need also to provide students with structured, guided opportunities for social connections and critical thinking. This sort of embodied presence doesn’t come naturally for anyone, and for our students, who spend more time with technology than any generation before them, it is only natural that they may need more supports when we ask them to disconnect from technology in the classroom. In many ways, I think of Doreen’s recommendations as a kind of emotional and physical complement to Jose Bowen’s work Teaching Naked. Both argue that solid learning happens well (although not exclusively) in low-tech environments. And while Bowen’s work gives good advice for the intellectual activities that might help students navigate low-tech learning in the classroom, Doreen’s talk helps teachers understand the physical and emotional habits that students need.

A few recommendations that stuck with me:
1. Allow and encourage movement through walking and/or fidget toys. Attend to students’ bodies when lecturing.
2. Create social norms in class by writing or discussing community agreements.
3. Talk about awkward moments and reactivity vrs. responsiveness (she recommends the “oops/ouch” approach to difficult moments in the classroom)
4. Take pauses when needed in class.
5. Assign work that builds internal loci of control and encourages growth mindsets

Finally, she recommends we reserve judging students (and ourselves!) for our use of technology or generational differences. True growth might best happen in the classroom if we accept who are students are and meet them there. Find Doreen’s slideshow in the Belmont Digital Repository for more great tips!