WatSEE-aligned Actions
- Create a positive environment that respects diversity (e.g., use inclusive language, model respect, strive to learn student names)
- Foster a sense of belonging (e.g., normalize but don’t minimize academic stress or lived experience, learn how to respond to students in distress, refer students to supports and services)
- Foster a growth mindset (e.g., share own academic and personal challenges while a student, communicate ability can be improved and developed, provide constructive feedback when appropriate on how students can improve)
- Learn how to respond to students in distress and how to interact with disabled students’ assistive devices (e.g., wheelchair, guide, listening aid)
- Employ trauma-informed strategies, such as:
- Understand that students notably vary in their life experiences and that trauma (one-time, ongoing, or generational) impacts their learning and behaviour
- Empower students by educating them about their options and giving them voice and choice, when possible
- Be open and transparent about your role and actions
- Promote safety by fostering healthy relationships with students
- Recognize that an academic accommodation is a legal responsibility, not a favour; it removes barriers that exclude students, and it does not reduce rigour or academic integrity
- Consider in your interactions with others that the way your nervous system responds to sensory stimuli (e.g., fluorescent lights, perfumes/colognes) may not represent everyone
- Adopt strategies that support Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQ+, disabled, and other historically underrepresented students
- Encourage students to determine how they should mediate their UWaterloo experience and support their well-being via organized activities (e.g., sports), unstructured activities (e.g., crafts), and/or university services and supports
Resources
Accessibility at Waterloo
Ableism
Athletics and Recreation
Warriors Recreation Activities
Centre for Teaching Excellence
Supporting Students Mental Wellbeing: Course Design
Supporting Students' Mental Wellbeing: Instructional Strategies
Integrating Movement Breaks into your Class
Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism
Anti-Racism Education Road Map
International Experience
Open-source modules for developing intercultural competence
Strategies to become a better intercultural communicator
Student Success Office
Making Referrals
IDEA Series for Advisors (support strategies for marginalized students)
Strategies for becoming a better intercultural communicator
Quick Tips and Tools (for students)
Campus Wellness
Mental health training opportunities
Identifying and responding to students in distress
Office of the Associate Provost, Students
Campus Life
Explore Your UWaterloo Life
Equity Accelerator
Effective Social Belonging Messages
Effective Growth Mindset Culture Messages
Creating a Belonging Story
Addressing an Identity Threatening Incident
Supporting Financially Stressed Students