The 2017-18 academic year is in the books, closing my 15th year of teaching. Summers are the best thing about being an educator. Notice I didn’t write “summers off are the best thing about being an educator?” Whoever thinks teachers get summers off obviously hasn’t been a teacher. My summer workload consists of a lot of work for College Media … [Read more...]
11 Things Professors Do that Irritate Students
Professors may be experts, but we’re certainly not perfect. Being vague about criteria for course success, refusing to give As, wearing funky or distractingly nerdy clothing, and spitting on students while talking are just a few of the things professors do that irritate students. After writing 13 Things You Do that Tick Your Professor Off, I … [Read more...]
Why I Lifted the Ban on Classroom Technology
You won't find any technology bans in my class syllabuses. I lifted them long ago and now encourage the use of technology in the classroom. It's an issue that seems to come up every semester. Should professors or should they not allow students to use technology in class? There are a lot of good reasons to ban tech use in the classroom. … [Read more...]
Eight is Great!
The cliché birthday cards are correct, eight is great! I launched this blog eight years ago while attending what is now called College Media Association’s annual fall conference in St. Louis. I recently returned from attending my seventh CMA conference in Philadelphia. A session Joe Gisondi presented at the St. Louis conference all those … [Read more...]
5 Things I’ll Need to Survive the Summer
Grades are submitted and the 2013-14 academic year is in the books. Summers are the best thing about being an educator. Notice I didn’t write “summers off are the best thing about being an educator?” Whoever thinks teachers get the summers off obviously never has been a teacher. My summer workload so far consists of grading final exams and … [Read more...]
Why I Adore My Most Popular Post of 2013
The most popular post I wrote in 2013 has continued surprising me every time I review this site's stats. I adore the post, not necessarily because of its contents or even because of the traffic it has generated (although that's fabulous). I love the post because it proves that this site is doing exactly what I set out for it to do. I launched … [Read more...]
5 Things that Helped Me Survive Summer
I just returned home from my international teaching assignment and am recovering from jet lag. This means whatever summer I had is ending. It's time to get my children settled into school and go back to teaching, advising and continuing progress on writing my dissertation. In the spirit of The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Prof. Hacker’s post … [Read more...]