I wore a tie every day my first two-years teaching. It was not a dress code requirement, nor was it a fashion statement. I hate ties. No, I wore a tie because without one I would have been confused for an underclassman’s big brother. For a long time, I taught like a...
During this fall PD, I had the opportunity to attend some amazing sessions. I especially appreciated learning from my peers in other departments. I discussed a book (The Power of Moments by the Heath Brothers-I recommend it!) with human resources, public relations,...
We have had Border Collies on our sheep farm since 1993 when a student gifted me with his 9-month-old Border Collie, Doyle, who was not going to transition well to an apartment when he moved up to Houghton. When Doyle moved in we tried to be careful to keep him...
Recently my friend Lisa Blackford gave me a draft of talking points or thoughts leading to potential talking points that her students had constructed in their planning for how they will approach members of the Traverse City community about a shared class project. Some...
Okay, so I guess I should have thought about the fact that Anatomy and Physiology would involve, you know, anatomy--and physiology. It should have occurred to me that one does not learn how the body looks and functions just by reading books or listening to lectures....
I thought for this first week, I’d share a bit of the talk I gave at the TYCA Midwest conference in Indianapolis earlier this month called “Would You Please Start Arguing? When Academic Argument, ‘Mere’ Opinion, and Comments Section Culture Collide”. In the talk I...
I have been doing a lot of research lately on dyscalculia. Wondering if my students have it and what I can do to help them. I was pretty amazed at what I found. I learned that it affects 7% of the population. I learned that some students that have dyscalculia are able...
If you teach a class where you have lots of group activities, as I do, you inevitably face the issue of how to divide the class up. If your class already clumps into prickly social pods, then letting them group themselves risks replicating the same social order. But...
At what point do kids lose their interest in school? It happens, let's not fool ourselves. How do we take a human, that is intensely curious of the world and grind that out of them? Watch any growing up and you can see them performing experiments constantly. The poke...