My friends lament about how nice it must be, as a professor, to have the "summer off." The idea that teachers sleep in late and spend their days floating around the pool on a raft, drinking cocktails in coconut shells is a common misnomer of the profession. It's true that I spent most of the summer at home with my children. I enjoyed a fair … [Read more...]
The Class of 2016 Mindset: My Students are Getting Younger
When I first started teaching in Fall 2003, I worried that I was too close to my students' ages. The 26-year-old version of me created obsessively clear boundaries between myself and my students—some of whom were the same age as my younger siblings and knew my undergraduate classmates. My fear of being considered a peer instead of a professor … [Read more...]
Tapping Out of the Classroom Tech Fight
My gloves are off. I decided for the first time this semester to stop fighting the use of technology in my classes. Actually, it sounds really silly even reading what I just typed. Why would a mass communications professor have a problem with students using technology in her classes? I previously viewed students' cell phones and laptops as my … [Read more...]
5 Things that Helped Me Survive Summer
I'm finishing my second summer teaching trip. This means that whatever summer I had is over. I will return home just in time to attend an academic conference, get my children settled into school and go back to teaching, advising and completing my Ph.D. In the spirit of The Chronicle of Higher Education's Prof. Hacker's post by a similar name, … [Read more...]
Learning to teach
This one's for you, professors! Inside Higher Ed recently posted a piece on lecturing. I was surprised to learn that some professors are afraid of lecturing. I previously assumed that speaking in front of others is "second nature" to those who do it for a living. This apparently isn't the case. I was interested in a variety of the points made in … [Read more...]