I had a great time last week, meeting my students for the coming semester. I have three sections of a professional writing introduction, a second-level professional writing course, and an oral business presentations course (not that my students are all business majors!). They are a wonderful group, with alert minds and considerate and respectful attitudes (much like students I’ve had in former years).
Last week, among several requests I made of my new students, I asked them to remove their shoes in the class. Somewhere I had read (or seen) a presentation claiming that students who remove their footwear learn better in classroom situations. Although my memory of this is quite clear, I cannot now find the article, blog post, or video/slide presentation, where this claim is made. Can any of you help me out? I hate making claims in the courses that I cannot provide references for.
The students complied and seemed to enjoy the experience (after all, this is Canada, where people are used to being without footwear indoors).