In Sherman Alexie's novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character at one point lists all the tribes he belongs to including the Spokane Indian tribe, the tribe of basketball players, the tribe of small-town kids, the tribe of...
Inclusivity practices should be involuntary, but sadly, we live in a world where that is not the case. I had a difficult moment in the classroom last week as I was trying to get students to think about what it would be like to be… (basically someone other than...
Although I quickly go through all my policies on the first day of class, I don’t expect my students to remember, say, what my absence policy is, or what my late work policy is—let alone minutiae like how much each unit is weighed, grade-wise. Why should they remember...
This past week has been been a challenging one. At times I didn’t know if I was up or down. These two words FLEXIBLE and ORGANIZED are ringing true for my work as an educator, and for my students in…
This past week I had a student come to me within issue. Let’s call her “Jane”. Jane was not going to be able to make class today and wanted to find out what she was going to miss. Jane’s …
Last week my mythology class was reading about trickster figures. Tricksters are playful, amoral, charismatic, and, well, tricky. After reviewing typical actions and attitudes of trickster figures, I asked students to form groups, choose a contemporary character (not...
Since 2004, I have had the same fall responsibilities: lesson planning, classroom prep, staff orientation, lesson planning, student open house, lesson planning, first day jitters, introductions, lesson planning, grading, and exhaustion. Then more lesson planning. At...
“This is your last warning.” That is a line I heard a lot last night while watching The Walking Dead. Of course, it never really was the last warning, because they kept repeating it for every situation. As the semester goes into its 11th week, I was thinking about...