Volume XXXV, No. 6 | February 22, 2013 Tips for Teaching Non-Traditional Students More than ever, due to the harsh economic reality and high unemployment rate, more students who were out of school for considerable amounts of time are coming back to upgrade their skills to seek reemployment. Teaching the skills that they [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 5 | February 15, 2013 The Critical Thinking Biology Final During my first five years of teaching Biology II for majors, I gave my students a typical multiple choice/ matching/short essay comprehensive final exam. The subject matter of the course focused on biological organization from organisms to ecosystems. Each year [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 4 | February 8, 2013 Engaging Endings: Finishing the Year with Flair As the end of another academic year approaches, professors and students alike begin to feel the doldrums of fatigue and routine weighing down upon them. This period of the year, however, can be one of the most meaningful [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 3 | February 1, 2013 Moving in the Right Direction Anyone who has ever visited a farm where animals are rounded up by dogs knows that one animal, herding alone, has a more daunting task than two dogs working as a team. Likewise, when students combine their talents, their success [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 2 | January 25, 2013 Music, Anticipatory Sets, and Learning: How to Make Your Students Sit Up and Listen before the Lesson even Begins The Set The anticipatory set is but one component of Madeline Hunter’s “Effective Elements of Instruction.” Hunter, regarded by the Sierra Research Institute and the National [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 1 | January 18, 2013 The Impact of Small Goals on Student Success Goal Activity One of the classroom activities I use teaches students the power of setting and achieving small and very short goals. At first I have students discuss the similarities and differences between wishes and goals. [...]
Volume XXXIV, No. 29 | December 7, 2012 Grammar Without the Teacher Unlike baseball players, such as Hunter Pence, whose special day was celebrated by Philadelphia even after he was traded to San Francisco, they do not make bobblehead dolls out of professors. And yet, I have often felt like a bobblehead in [...]
Volume XXXIV, No. 28 | November 30, 2012 Global Horizons: The Promise of a Global Education In July 2012, Montgomery College, a three-campus institution in Maryland, was awarded the highest grant amount of six community colleges nationally, to carry out the mission of the National Endowment for the Humanities “Bridging Cultures” grant initiative [...]
Volume XXXIV, No. 27 | November 16, 2012 Filling Empty Chairs Student absenteeism seems to be the main topic of corridor conversation these days among colleagues at our college. Many share the feeling that it is getting worse every semester. For me, who still gets a good number of students even when several [...]
Volume XXXIV, No. 26 | November 9, 2012 Year Up: A Pioneering Program As part of my doctoral studies at The University of Texas at Austin, I recently read A Year Up: How a Pioneering Program Teaches Young Adults Real Skills for Real Jobs with Real Success. This text illustrates the workforce problem [...]