At Oakland University, we have a short break for Thanksgiving, popping back on campus for one last week of classes before making our way through final projects and exams before heading out again. The break is intended to be a welcome reprieve from the busy-ness of the fall season, a chance to focus on family and friends. For all the hope of joy and rest we put in these holiday seasons, this is not the case of everyone. 

Assistant Dean of Students Dr. Aura Cazares reminded me that, for some students, this season is a double-whammy of tending to their academic responsibilities and being untethered, if not in freefall, from campus housing, provisions, friends, and activities that provide a sense of safety and normalcy. Homesick international and out-of-state students unable to travel see others head home for the holidays. Students could be experiencing grief, or anticipating the challenges of family changes, or an unsafe home. They have spent the semester building their independence and identity away from their families, and may feel anxious to return to a place with less freedom.

Additionally, academic and/or financial stress can add up as students plan for the upcoming semester. If they have not been performing to the best of their abilities, they’re likely realizing that time is no longer on their side. All this is to say that many different challenges can converge on students at this point in the semester. Facilitating a conversation that is this complex and sensitive is not easy, so tapping into our sense of empathy and connecting students with resources are key.  

How to Support Students Going into the Holidays

In class messages, acknowledge the many feelings going into the break season.
As you send timely messages or share parting words to your classes, you don’t have to give up celebrating the joy, rest, and relief of these breaks. Rather, add to this message some acknowledgment of many possible feelings around the break: This might be “I appreciate you being here, and I hope you find a way to celebrate all the work you have done. Be sure to care for yourself however you can during this break from classes.”

Remind students of the resources listed in the syllabus.
It’s all about timing: Most of our syllabus attention is allocated to the first week, when all of us are at our most energetic and optimistic and don’t think any of the support services listed there will be relevant to our experience. Remind students that if they or “a friend” are concerned about how they will care for themselves during the breaks or are carrying a specific, significant concern to review the syllabus for options on free counseling visits, essential material needs, or contacting their adviser or Dean of Students if they don’t even know where to start. See our recommended OU syllabus with such information, or OU Resources for Student Immediate Needs.

Check up on a student or two.
If you know or suspect a student is having a particularly hard time, reach out briefly to make that student feel seen and supported. Simply acknowledge the moment, provide some information, and show that you appreciate them. Such gestures of care can mean the world to students and help bring them back from feeling invisible and alone.

Share your holiday joy with an international student via the CAIR program.
Whether now or next year, the Creating American International Relationships (CAIR) program with OU’s ISSO office is an easy way to connect with an OU international student who would love to join you at your family Thanksgiving, Chanukah dinner, or visit to a favorite lit-up Christmas tree. Rather than providing lodging for a student, this program simply matches you with an OU international student to get to know one another and invite them along.

Caring for Yourself

These times meant to celebrate abundance and joy can sometimes make you more aware of scarcity and sorrow: if you enter these periods mourning the loss of a loved one, feeling burnt out or overwhelmed, navigating changing dynamics in your social circles, or anything else, give yourself the gift of affirmation and support provided by all benefits available to you at OU. See Work-Life Resources for OU Faculty and Staff, and the Faculty Handbook on Holistic Wellness for specific resources.

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Written by Christina Moore, Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Oakland University. Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC.

View all CETL Weekly Teaching Tips. 

Having strong values and a clear sense of purpose have been found to contribute to academic success by providing motivation, direction, and deeper meaning to one's studies – leading to greater engagement and better academic performance. Those with a well-defined purpose and meaning in life are also happier and more optimistic, experience more joy, contentment, and enthusiasm, and are less lonely. It’s also related to lower mortality rates and fewer cardiovascular events.

The impact of having a purpose in education is significant in that it:

• Provides motivation and focus. When academic pursuits align with core values, the student is more likely to stay motivated and focused on achieving their goals, as learning becomes personally meaningful.
• Promotes resilience in challenges. Having a strong purpose can help students persevere through difficult academic situations, as they understand the bigger picture behind their studies.
• Leads to meaningful learning. Connecting academic pursuits to a larger purpose can lead to a deeper understanding and engagement with the material.
• Boosts confidence. A strong sense of purpose can boost self-confidence and belief in one’s ability to achieve academic success.
• Promotes goal-setting behavior. Students with a clear purpose are more likely to set challenging goals, seek out learning opportunities, and engage in critical thinking and problem-solving.
• Impacts well-being. Purpose has also been linked with positive emotions, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being, as well as such physical health benefits as a lower risk of heart disease and stronger immune systems.

Connect Course to Values with Values Affirmation Writing Exercise

One activity you can use to help students identify and affirm their values and reinforce self-worth is a values affirmation writing exercise. These exercises are about 15 minutes in length and ask students to identify values important to them (note: they tend to work best if they are part of a lecture). In addition, students are asked to write about how they incorporate values into their own lives. These exercises can be done at a few points during a semester (most recommend at least twice) and are nice as an icebreaker. Research has found that they are connected with student success as they buffer against negative emotions related to stereotype threat. A Values Affirmation Writing Exercise template is provided for your convenience.

More Classroom Activities for Cultivating a Sense of Purpose

There are many other ways you can help align your class content with a student’s personal goals and values. Choose the strategies that work in your classroom.

1. Facilitate Self-Reflection. Have your students Identify their strengths and weaknesses. Have them think about their best selves and imagine the outcomes they desire.
2. Expose Students to Diverse Experiences. Bring in guest speakers and integrate diverse perspectives into your curriculum.
3. Model Purposeful Behavior. Share stories about how your interests and values have influenced your career choices.
4. Make a Plan. Help them develop a plan for your class and beyond – have them set short-term and long-term objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
5. Connect Learning to Real World Applications. Use real-world case studies and demonstrate how classroom concepts can be applied to solve personal and career challenges.
6. Have them Set Value-Aligned Goals. Have students align their academic goals with their personal values and interests. How does their education fit with their long-term goals?
7. Encourage Exploration. Provide opportunities for students to try new things and foster a growth mindset, embracing failure as a learning opportunity.
8. Seek Inspiration and Guidance. Encourage students to find role models who have successfully integrated similar values into their careers and locate mentors who can help them navigate their academic journeys.
9. Encourage Student Involvement. Encourage your students to get involved by volunteering or joining an on-campus organization. Provide them with the link to the Office of Student Involvement and other relevant organizations.
10. Use a Purpose Statement Writing Exercise. Have students use what they have learned and write and commit to a purpose statement. Have them begin with “My purpose is to….”

Conclusion

Purpose is a critical component in academic success – as it increases motivation, engagement, and resilience. Cultivating a sense of purpose and identifying and connecting values to academics will help students face life challenges and succeed in academic, personal, and professional endeavors. 

References and Resources

Cohen, R., Bavishi, C., Rozanski, A. (2016). Purpose in Life and Its Relationship to All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events: A Meta-Analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine 78(2):p 122-133. DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000274 

Cohen, G.L., Garcia, J., Apfel, N. & Master, A., (2006). Reducing the racial achievement gap: A social-psychological intervention. Science, 313(5791), pp.1307-1310.

Jordt, H., Eddy, S.L., Brazil, R., Lau, I., Mann, C., Brownell, S.E., King, K. & Freeman, S. (2017). Values affirmation intervention reduces the achievement gap between underrepresented minority and white students in introductory biology classes. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(3), p.ar41.

Kizilcec, R.F, Saltarelli, A.J., Reich, J. &  Cohen, G. L. (2017). Closing global achievement gaps in MOOCs Brief interventions address social identity threat at scale. Science, 355, 251-252. DOI: 10.1126/science.aag2063

Martens, A., Johns, M., Greenberg, J., & Schimel, J. (2006). Combating stereotype threat: The effect of self-affirmation on women’s intellectual performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 236-243.

Miyake, A., Kost-Smith, L.E., Finkelstein, N.D., Pollock, S.J., Cohen, G.L. and Ito, T.A., 2010. Reducing the gender achievement gap in college science: A classroom study of values affirmation. Science, 330(6008), pp.1234-1237.

Ratner, K., Li, Q., Zhu, G., Estevez, M., & Burrow, A. (2023 ). Daily adolescent purposefulness, daily subjective well-being, individual differences in autistic traits.  Journal of Happiness Studies, 24, 967-989.

About the Author

Rebecca Malatesta, PhD, is a Special Instructor and Student Success Coordinator in the Psychology Department. She is very interested in understanding barriers to student success and discovering evidenced-based strategies to address inclusion and belonging in the classroom and students’ subjective well-being. Rebecca loves to read, especially the classics.

Rebecca served as guest editor for the Happiness Factor in Academic Success: Boosting Well-being and Performance series. Contribute to the Teaching Blog as a guest editor.

(Photo courtesy of S. Sheikh. The image features Oakland University student veterans and one military-connected student). 

Are you able to identify a Veteran/military-connected student in your classroom?

Is the non-traditional student in your classroom a Veteran, a National Guard member or Reservist? Are they a Veteran’s dependent? How would you know? Why should you know? This teaching tip brings awareness to how Veteran experiences can show up in the classroom and in their learning, and how to take advantage of their strengths while also being responsive to their needs. This tip comes from OU’s Veteran Support Services, who can be your partner in supporting student Veterans.

About Veterans in Our Classrooms

Almost 2% of OU’s student population identify as military-connected, with half of those identifying as Veterans.  Although they are small in numbers, their VA education benefits pay OU over $5 million in tuition each academic year. According to the VA College Toolkit: Learn About Student Veterans on VA.gov (2023), “47% of student Veterans have children, 47.3% are married, 62% are first-generation college students; in 2017 52% were enrolled in an undergraduate program, 9% in a graduate program, and 75% of student Veterans are attending school full time.”   

Some benefits of having Veterans in the classroom are that they will enhance the learning environment with their lived experience providing well-rounded opinions, their leadership skills, especially in group projects, and thoroughness in seeing their assignments to completion, according to the Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (2012). Their respect for authority can sometimes mean they’re less likely to seek clarification on assignments. They also often balance multiple responsibilities, may receive unexpected military orders mid-semester, and show resilience in managing life transitions or adapting to new environments, all while handling personal challenges such as PTSD symptoms. 

What If a Student Receives Military Orders for Activation or Deployment During the Semester? (And Other Considerations)

Did you know that accepting VA funding of education benefits means we need to follow VA’s Principles of Excellence? The guideline under the Principles of Excellence that has the greatest impact for students and faculty, usually 1 incident per academic year, is the guideline to “Allow active-duty service members and Reservists to take time off to fulfill their service obligations.” 

As the Veterans Support Services (VSS) office, we coordinate with Financial Services and the Registrar’s Office along with other campus partners to ensure we abide by these principles. This includes, but is not limited to

• allowing completion of work online,
• providing an Incomplete grade for students to complete the work during the next semester,
• allowing students to complete assignments early, or
• any other mutually-agreeable plan for successfully completing the course requirements.  

The University does accommodate the termination of a course (based on the timing within the semester) without any financial debt for the student when necessary.  This is facilitated by VSS, with the student, faculty member, and the Registrar’s office.

How to Create a Veteran-Supportive Class

• Include a Veteran-friendly syllabus statement in your syllabus such as one provided by the VA, “Veterans and active duty military personnel with special circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill requirements, disabilities) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor.”
• Encourage Veterans to engage with Veteran Supports Services, which employs Student Veterans! It's a great place to send a Veteran who may need some guidance as the conversation flows easily among Veterans once they discover each other.
• Contact Veterans Support Services for support in navigating a Veteran-related topic. In addition to our student employees, we have 2.5 professional staff working for our Veterans everyday.

Conclusion

Although student Veterans don’t want “special treatment,” there is value in knowing if you have a Veteran in your classroom. By including a Veteran-friendly statement in your syllabus, you are opening the door for them to comfortably self-identify.  VSS is your partner in educating our Veterans, please reach out for any support you need.

References and Resources

VA College Toolkit: Learn About Student Veterans (2023) 

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2012) Veterans in the classroom: Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants.

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About the Author

Lisa Rhoades is the Coordinator for Veterans Support Services and an OU Alum, SHS ‘20.  In addition to advocating for student Veterans, she is an avid runner and OU Wellness Ambassador.

Edited by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Oakland University. Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC. View all CETL Weekly Teaching Tips.