Cheating and plagiarism happen. I knew that in theory, but it was a disappointing thing to deal with in my own classroom. In a particularly bad season of this, I realized that I wanted to find a way to hold students accountable to high standards of academic ethics while teaching them why it so was…
Blog Posts
Seeing Humans Not GPAs
I had to say it again this week. I’m always kind of sad when it happens. A struggling student finally agrees to meet with me (Hallelujah!), and I find out that the reason they’ve been delaying is the embarrassment. They are ashamed about their performance (even if they’ve really been trying) and avoid me because…
Learning Something New
This summer I’m teaching classes AND taking classes for the first time since graduate school. I promised myself back then that I wouldn’t ever take an exam again. I told myself there’s a reason that a Ph.D. is a terminal degree. I knew I’d never be done with learning, but I wanted to be done…
Find yourself a mentor-or two-or three…
I was sitting in a meeting a few weeks ago in a very frustrated state of mind. Something good for students was being proposed, and the negativity of the response just reinforced the need for the proposed change! I raised my hand repeatedly to no avail, wanting to point out the irony. I was not…
Seeds
The seed catalogs have started to arrive. I love this harbinger of spring, evidence that winter is not forever. This week, their arrival got me thinking about seeds and the various forms in which they will naturally appear in my backyard. We always have scores of acorns. My youngest granddaughter spent hours collecting them last…
Student Feedback Week
This week a lot of my time was spent listening to my students. I handed out a mid-semester evaluation form in one class and spent a whole class period gathering feedback on a brand new series of assignments in another. I also had several one on one conversations with students and participated in a career…
What to do when you can’t get it together- Fall Semester 2018
At the start of the semester, I intended to blog every Friday, reflecting on the teaching and learning experiences of the week. Here it is the end of October, more than halfway through the semester, and I’m writing my first post. I could give you a list of reasons/excuses why this happened-family health crises, travel,…