Aug 31 2016

Wretched Summer: Talking about race, policing and terror in the classroom

Mass killings, police shootings, protests, refugees, racial and religious discrimination, and all the other heavy stuff going on this Summer makes me uneasy. Smartphones, through viral videos, tweets and the hyper-sharing of news articles and comments by populist pundits, bring this stuff into the hands and the heads of students at all levels. What ever Read More

Feb 05 2016

4 Ways to Reboot, Refocus and Recharge your Teaching

In the on-season, athletes train for long periods, enter competitions and win (or lose). During the off-season, they rest, meditate, do some physical prep for the next season like stretching and weight training, study their craft and reconnect with friends and family. What athletes like Serena Williams and Christiano Ronaldo do in the off-season is Read More

Oct 09 2015

The Crisis of Multicultural Education- Part 1

Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things? – The Tao te Ching Can you? Can you deny your own mind, your own consciousness, in order to have infinite understanding? Here, the Tao, the way, is referring to the realm of the soul where, through meditation and aesthetic practice, one Read More

Jul 21 2015

Unconscious Bias Part 1: Traditional Family Structure

Do you have an inclusive approach to teaching? An inclusive approach includes all students and fosters equal educational opportunities for all. You probably answered yes. At the word ‘inclusion’ most teachers think about things like non-white students, students who are differently abled or those who need a little extra help to grasp concepts. But what Read More

Jul 12 2015

Reflective Teaching and the Self

You teach your self. Who ever you are, who ever that ‘self’ is will determine the words and deeds you perform in the classroom. It’s really difficult to change the teaching self from the outside. Governments, district leaders and principals could mandate policies and training meant to change attitudes and instructional strategies. But in the Read More

Jul 06 2015

Teaching and Prejudice

Everyone has prejudices. Some judgment or attitude, for or against, an idea, a person or a thing. Prejudice isn’t just about race, ethnicity or culture. Think conservative vs liberal. The student in your class who you give a high grade because she reminds you of your daughter. These attitudes develop over time. And are often Read More

Jun 22 2015

4 Ways to Create Better Tests

All teachers create tests, a type of assessment. Assessment can be used to improve student learning and teacher instruction, as in the case of formative assessment. After instruction, teachers use summative assessment to find out if students have mastered curricula aims. Most teachers create their own assessments for classroom use or use tests created by Read More

Jun 08 2015

7 Tips for Teaching a Great College Summer Course

So you’re teaching a course or two this summer. Most colleges have a lot of fun stuff going on during the summer. Summer is a time of free concerts on campus. There are summer camps for big and little kids, internships, and volunteer opportunities. A big easy. Most students expect a summer course to mirror Read More

May 31 2015

Using Tests to Guide Teaching Isn’t All-Bad

You’ve heard about all the disadvantages of teaching to standardized tests or assessments. Some educators use the content and skills that will be on a standardized test to plan classroom instruction. It narrows instruction to only what’s on the test. Once instruction is focused on the test, the creativity and dynamism of teaching is reduced. Read More

May 23 2015

Don’t Give F’s, Just Chill: 7 Ways to Not Lose it While Teaching

A couple weeks ago, Irwin Horwitz, a Professor at Texas A&M lost it. He gave all his students F’s and abandoned the course before the end of the semester. A rational, lucid person doesn’t normally behave like this. These are the acts of a person at the end of all his wits. This guy felt powerless Read More

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