1) Keep a jar of m & m's on your desk (or some other reinforcing "pellet").
2) Arrange the office furniture so that the student's (visitor's) chair is
on the same side of the desk as the teacher's (authority's) chair. Be aware
that the desk is seen as a fortress or barrier. Place the desk in such a
position that it does not separate you from the student. Try this. Stand in
your doorway and try to look at your office arrangement objectively. Where
could you place your desk, computer, phone, files, chairs, etc., so that
these items are both convenient & efficient for your work habits AND
communicate the silent message that visitors are welcome?
3) Have ambient lighting available- perhaps a desk lamp instead of harsh
overhead fluorescence. I put a full spectrum bulb in my desk lamp b/c here
in the basement, we don't get much sunshine.
4) Occasionally, play background music, if the noise level is not a
distraction to you or to others.
5) Personalize your space with color. Have your office painted a pleasant
color, then put interesting pictures on the walls. To paint even one wall
an accent color can change the whole look.
6) Weave an occasional invitation during classtime to folks to visit your
office outside of classtime. For example, perhaps someone asks a question,
and you answer in part, then say, "Come by my office so that I can show you
an illustration of this in one of my textbooks."
7) Invite students to visit individually. I don't know how large your
classes are, but if you have a manageable number, you could invite them to
come to your office for a private consultation. For example, I ask students
to read an article and summarize it in APA format. They have one
opportunity to rewrite the paper after I have edited it. I tell them during
classtime to come by my office outside of classtime to pick up their papers
individually. When they come to pick up their paper, I invite them to sit
in my guest chair. I get out their paper and go over some of my editorial
comments, show them where to find the guidance source in the APA manual,
and so on.
8) Have interesting things in your office: posted comics, model of a brain
that can be handled, a nerd basketball hoop over the trashcan with nerd
ball nearby, one of those metallic magnetic scultures, a transparent vial
of oil and water that moves when it is inverted -- you get the idea. Place
items around your desk that signal approach and trigger curiosity.
9) Place/attach a small whiteboard with an erasable marker on your door or
hang a pad of sticky notes with a pen for messages.
10) Don't forget the role of smell. Olfaction is the oldest form of memory,
and the first sense to habituate. Does your office smell dusty? moldy?
pleasant? You don't have to put out a bowl of potpouri. I run a small Hepa
air cleaner in my office in the basement b/c mold can build up down here. I
have a lamp ring with fragrant oil in it. The idea is not to overwhelm
someone with in-your-face fragrance, but to make sure that the atmosphere
in your office is not aversive.
***********************************************
Dr. Joyce Johnson
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Developmental/ Experimental
Centenary College of Louisiana
PO Box 41188
2911 Centenary Blvd.
Shreveport, LA 71134-1188
homepage: <http://www.centenary.edu/~jjohnson>
office 318 869 5253
FAX 318 869 5004 Attn: Dr Johnson, Psychology
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