It is very rewarding personally and professionally to teach psychology in higher education. As I reflect on teaching and working with students, I am mindful of the five key ingredients I have found to be valuable to their success in a course.

The first ingredient is creating a trusting, safe, and respectful learning environment for students to thrive. When students feel comfortable in their learning environment, they feel confident to express their ideas, ask questions, and connect with the course in a meaningful way.

The second ingredient is caring about students’ well being and expressing genuine concern for their success. This is paramount to teaching in a meaningful way. As Parker Palmer (1998) wrote, “Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves” (11). There are few things more rewarding for a teacher than to witness our students seeing the value of the course material and connecting it to their own lives as it relates to their educational and professional goals.

The third ingredient is to help students aspire to their goals in the course. It is important to facilitate learning opportunities using discussions, technology, course assignments, and group work throughout the course to connect theory and practice. Supportive relationships in the classroom can encourage students to become more invested in learning, enable them to extend beyond their current abilities, and form a bridge of mentorship (Meyers, 2009). These learning opportunities can help students discover their ‘why” as it relates to their educational and professional goals.

The fourth ingredient is responsibility. I see the value of discussing my responsibility as an instructor and the student’s responsibility on the first day of class. Discussing responsibility on a regular basis with students and building rapport with them is valuable to their success in the course. Rapport impacts students’ attitudes toward the class, their academic behavior, and the extent of their learning (Meyers, 2009). Being approachable to students, expressing excitement for the course content, making time to discuss students’ concerns, and exhibiting positivity towards their class performance are important elements of responsibility. Wilson (2006) found that students’ perceptions of their professors’ positive attitudes toward them (e.g. concern, desire for students to succeed) accounted for 58 percent of the variability in student motivation, 42 percent of the variance in course appreciation, and 60 percent of their attitude about the instructor.

The last ingredient is to maintain enthusiasm—for teaching, working with students, re-imagining course content, and celebrating students’ successes. Students need to know their instructor supports them and wants them to succeed. Importantly, attending to the personal role in college teaching is most effective when it is coupled with a focus on the instructional role (Lowman, 1995). In other words, caring is a part of effective college teaching, but not the totality. Supportive relationships between faculty and students are not a potential detriment to instructor rigor, but instead function as a conduit for students to master difficult material (Meyers, 2009). Constructivist perspectives (e.g. Vygotsky) assert that students’ social interactions with a more knowledgeable person enable learning and development. This relationship is an important facilitator of learning because it provides support, encouragement, and assistance for students to develop higher-order learning skills and to integrate new information with their current understanding and past experiences (Daniels, Cole, and Wertsch, 2007).