Well, at least many students think they are very cool. I have slowly moved my courses to a quest-based assignment system. I have taken my regular assignments and tests and broken them up over the semester so students are doing many small things rather than a few big...
4 x 4 x 16 Challenge Articles
NMC Podcast: Season 1, Episode 2: Putting Perfume on a Pig
(Free) Affordable Community College for All
Free Affordable Community College for All Making college more affordable is a hot topic right now. Student loan debt is soaring into the trillions of dollars and 4.7 million borrowers are in default on their student loans. We all know that the cost of college today is...
One-on-One Conferences vs. the Classroom
This past week, I “cancelled” class for conferences. My ENG 111 students were required to come see me with a complete, though not final, draft so we could discuss where they were and where they were going in the writing process for Project 2. Conferences are my...
Mindfulness and Mediation
I have been intrigued as of late, with the vast influx of Mindfulness and Mediation Information available today. What intrigues me more, however, is that when I incorporate these techniques and information into my classroom, the students respond favorably. They ask...
The Logical Consequence of an Overly Corrective and Punitive Pedagogy
Once upon a time, when I was a bright and shiny new graduate student teacher at the University of Tennessee, I was assigned an office with two veteran instructors. Both women had been there for decades; both were best described as “old school” in their outlooks about...
Pouring from an Empty Cup
I don’t know about you, but I will admit to being a hypocrite. I think most of us have been guilty of the occasional, “do as I say, not as I do” in one situation or another. I think the best examples for me was writing a paper for my own academic pursuits, the topic:...
The Tables are Turned on the Teacher: Tales from Writing Workshop
A few years ago, Susan Odgers, Michael Anderson, and I received an NMC Foundation Grant to run a writing workshop with local people who had in the past or were then currently experiencing homelessness. With the help of Ryan Hannon of Goodwill Street Outreach, my...










