It occurs to me that, as with any relationship, a big portion of this work is even invisible to the teacher! Asking the students seems really important. I always wonder whether it’s better to scaffold that with intentional reflection (so the students are prepared to give full answers to the questions you can act on) or more free-form (so the students can tell you whatever’s on their mind that you might not know about). Both seem important.

It seems like you’re asking some questions about faculty assessment and representation. I think one of the important things there is to really reflect on what’s in the faculty member’s control. This is a double-edged sword – it’s not fair to evaluate faculty based entirely on the students’ unpredictable internal state, and yet the work that goes into preparing for the unknown is what distinguishes some of the best teachers.