\n<\/p>\n
For Chianti Grantham, her vocation in life crystallized the moment she started teaching. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I\u00a0stepped foot in a classroom, I\u00a0knew that that\u2019s what I\u00a0was supposed to do. I\u00a0knew that was my happy place.\u201d <\/p>\n
Grantham works as an academic success coach at Houston\u2019s University of St.\u00a0Thomas, in the Kolbe School of Innovation and Professional Studies, an associate degree\u2013granting arm of the university that supports nontraditional learners. In her role, Grantham assists students who are facing challenges that are impeding their academic progress, including those who have fallen below a 2.0 GPA. <\/p>\n
In an interview with Inside Higher Ed<\/em>, Grantham discusses how she does the work and effective strategies she\u2019s used to support her students. <\/p>\n Q: What experiences or training have helped you establish your student success philosophy? <\/strong> <\/p>\n A:<\/strong> All of the experience that I\u2019ve had over the years has taught me how to do what I\u00a0do. I\u00a0have a varied amount of experience from teaching, from being a tutor, and I\u00a0think that it grew as I\u00a0matured and grew as an educator. So did my skill level and paying attention to the needs of the students, and establishing those relationships with the students. <\/p>\n One of my very first classes that I\u00a0taught, I\u00a0had a student disclose in a paper that he had HIV. I\u00a0learned quickly, like, \u201cOK, this is about more than just teaching these students how to write. I\u00a0have to be a mother. I\u00a0have to be a support system. I\u00a0have to be that person that they can go to.\u201d Because if he felt comfortable enough in disclosing something like that with me, then I\u00a0have a lot of power, and I\u00a0can use that power for good, or I\u00a0can use that power for bad. I\u00a0decided that I\u00a0wanted to use that power for good, and I\u00a0specifically wanted to serve the nontraditional, underserved population. <\/p>\n I\u2019ve been an academic success coach for going on four years at St.\u00a0Thomas and then two years prior with Lone Star College. I\u00a0have found that, once I\u00a0reach out to a student and I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, your instructor indicated that you have fallen behind. You haven\u2019t turned in your assignments. Your assignments have been subpar. You\u2019ve been unresponsive,\u201d whatever the situation is\u2014I\u00a0always ask for very detailed information about what\u2019s going on with the student\u2014it\u2019s like the floodgates open. Students are like, \u201cOh my gosh, somebody called me, somebody cares.\u201d And that\u2019s what I\u00a0normally hear, like, \u201cYes, I\u2019m sorry. I\u00a0lost my job,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed with work,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed with life,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m depressed,\u201d or \u201cMy husband and I\u00a0have separated.\u201d It\u2019s generally an external factor that is impeding them from being successful in the classroom. <\/p>\n What I\u00a0tell our instructors is: We have to get to the root of the issue, but we have to get to the root of the issue early<\/em>. Early intervention is the best and most viable way to help a student to be successful. If I\u00a0don\u2019t know until a week before classes end, I\u00a0can\u2019t help that student, right? But if I\u00a0know week one, they haven\u2019t submitted any assignments within that first week, I\u00a0tell the instructors to contact me, give me their information, tell me what\u2019s going on and I\u2019m reaching out. In that instance, I\u00a0can help a student to turn it around. <\/p>\n Q<\/strong>: You recently started a program to support students on academic probation. Can you talk about where that idea came from and where you saw a need to improve processes for these students?<\/strong> <\/p>\n A:<\/strong> What we\u2019re trying to do is find as many ways to support the students in their success. So, specifically, when they\u2019re on academic probation\u2014meaning that they\u2019ve fallen below a 2.0 grade point average\u2014at that time, they go under my wing. <\/p>\n They\u2019re required to be in contact with me, either through phone call or meeting face-to-face or virtually, just to help them get back on track. We\u2019re sitting down, we are creating a routine and a study schedule that also includes their personal lives. <\/p>\n What I\u00a0tell a student is \u201cLet\u2019s look at your personal as well as your professional life. Let\u2019s put all of those responsibilities in a calendar.\u201d So whether it be a paper calendar or on a cellphone\u2014I\u2019m an old-school person, so I\u00a0actually do paper and I\u00a0do my cellphone\u2014I\u00a0help them in that way. <\/p>\n I\u00a0also refer them to other resources. If they\u2019re telling me they\u2019re having some type of housing issue, I\u00a0will contact our residence life department. I\u2019ve also sought out shelters, other community resources. I\u00a0have advocated for students to get scholarships so that they can pay their rent. It\u2019s a gamut of things. <\/p>\n I\u2019m in the process now with one of my colleagues to write an academic probation course that the students must take for an entire semester, and it focuses on time management, organizational skills and some mental wellness tips. All of these things that I\u00a0have either seen myself in interacting with students or in my conversations with faculty and adjuncts, things that they\u2019ve seen. We\u2019ll be launching that this semester. <\/p>\n Q: How do you balance the complexity of student support work? Each student is going to need a different thing, so how do you keep yourself educated as to what those resources are and who\u2019s going to help you and be a partner in this work? <\/strong> <\/p>\n A:<\/strong> What I\u00a0found early on in this role is that it\u2019s super important, actually, that I\u00a0build relationships with other departments around the campus. <\/p>\n I\u00a0have also learned that it\u2019s super important that I\u00a0build relationships within the community. So there have to be people within the community that I\u00a0can have a conversation with about, like, \u201cHey, I\u00a0have a student that is unhoused. Can you help me? They need food; they need somewhere to live. They need clothing.\u201d Those relationships are key. If I\u00a0didn\u2019t have those relationships, I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be able to support my students. <\/p>\n Q: How have you built up relationships with instructors as well, letting them know that you\u2019re here to help with students\u2019 success?<\/strong> <\/p>\n A:<\/strong> At the beginning of every semester and then midway through the semester, I\u00a0always send an email to all of the instructors reminding them, \u201cI\u2019m here. These are the services that I\u00a0offer. These are the hours that I\u2019m available if the students are performing at a lower level, if they\u2019ve inquired about additional resources, if they\u2019re unresponsive, if they said, \u2018Hey, I\u00a0just need help.\u2019\u201d If faculty feel they can\u2019t offer that, those are the kind of things that I\u00a0tell the instructors that I\u00a0am able to help the students with. <\/p>\n Also, I\u00a0advocate for the students. Because I\u00a0know these students very well, I\u2019m copied on all emails that are sent to students when there is an external factor that\u2019s going on that\u2019s impeding them from being successful. I\u2019m able to just keep a pulse on what\u2019s going on. But yeah, my relationships with the faculty are great. It has to be, because otherwise I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be able to support my students. <\/p>\n Q: Do you have any advice for other academic success coaches you\u2019d like to share? <\/strong> <\/p>\n A: <\/strong>The one thing that I\u00a0would say is the relationships that you build are so key. If you have relationships, if you reach across the aisle, so to speak, and you keep an open mind, just because someone doesn\u2019t look like you, just because someone doesn\u2019t share the same interests and beliefs as you, doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t have a relationship with them. <\/p>\n Some of the most beneficial relationships that I\u2019ve had with students have been with people that are not like me and don\u2019t share similar interests as me, but we\u2019ve been able to come together. <\/p>\n A perfect example is I\u00a0had a student come to campus. He is local, but he didn\u2019t ever come on campus because our programs are fully online. He\u2019s really shy, so when he came to campus, I\u00a0made a point to introduce him to one of my colleagues over at the peer-mentor program so that he could become a peer mentor. I\u00a0took him over to career services because he was interested in an internship program, so I\u00a0put him in touch directly with the person that handles that. Then he was like, \u201cOh, well, I\u00a0also want to get involved in this particular club.\u201d Well, it just so happened that the person in career services is also over [at] that particular club. <\/p>\n I\u00a0didn\u2019t just pass him off like he was a baton or a number. I\u00a0took him to these specific people. We had a conversation. We determined what the need was. I\u00a0already knew what the need was, but I\u00a0also have to help students advocate for themselves, right? That is the biggest thing\u2014those relationships have been key, because I\u2019ve been able to go into spaces that I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t otherwise be able to, or maybe not effectively go into.<\/p>\n If your student success program has a unique feature or twist, we\u2019d like to know about it. Click here to submit.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Chianti Grantham, her vocation in life crystallized the moment she started teaching. \u201cThe first time I\u00a0stepped foot in a classroom, I\u00a0knew that that\u2019s what I\u00a0was supposed to do. I\u00a0knew that was my happy place.\u201d Grantham works as an academic success coach at Houston\u2019s University of St.\u00a0Thomas, in the Kolbe School of Innovation and Professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[5708,1623,393,873],"class_list":{"0":"post-16066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-coaching","9":"tag-stories","10":"tag-student","11":"tag-success"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}