Volume XXXII, No. 17 | September 3, 2010 Common Read: A Community of Learners Experienced instructors have long recognized that reading well means being able to enter into useful, shared conversations with others. These conversations allow students to express their own ideas and to do so in an informed way as a response [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 16 | August 27, 2010 How Hurricane Katrina Changed Me as a Teacher Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005. The day afterwards, the 17th Street canal levees broke. The break was three blocks away from our modest home on Bellaire Drive. My husband, his family, and I [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 15 | May 7, 2010 Team-Based Learning I could never quite understand why students who come to class every day, hand in their assignments on time, and ask questions during lectures performed poorly on exams. I assumed that by merely sitting in class and listening to the lectures they would [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 14 | April 30, 2010 Adding Fun to the Assessment of Learning Outcomes Most foreign language conversation classes are heterogeneous, no matter the prerequisites. The instructor is faced with various issues, including how to create activities that help students progress at various skill levels without boring the advanced students and [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 13 | April 23, 2010 The Nursing Troupe: Healthcare Learning from Theatre Problem “I’m afraid to talk to those patients; I don’t know what to say to them.” These remarks are shared by associate degree nursing students as they prepare for psychiatric clinical experiences. Students often are afraid to talk [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 12 | April 16, 2010 CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FROM OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM I began my teaching career in 1970, when I was hired by the Irving Independent School District. I majored in P.E. and English, and my teaching assignment was to coach sports and teach seventh-grade English. Crockett Junior High was [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 11 | April 9, 2010 Things I Wish I Learned the First Year This Will Not Be Your Last Syllabus. I must admit that the first time I wrote a syllabus, it did not occur to me that I would be creating hundreds more, similar and different, as well as [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 10 | April 2, 2010 Economic and Environmental Sustainability: Active Learning Approaches Active learning may take many forms, from lecture and discussion to service learning, but it intends to have students apply what they are learning. Faculty members across the curriculum at Pensacola Junior College (PJC)engage students in active learning [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 9 | March 26, 2010 Technology and Education: Making the Best of It Passaic County Community College’s student body is diverse—culturally, religiously, and economically. It is often hard to know where to start when it comes to teaching writing to such a diverse group where needs vary so widely. Often [...]
Volume XXXII, No. 8 | March 12, 2010 CREATIVITY MATTERS IN THE COMPOSITION CLASSROOM Students hate writing essays. Writing takes concentration, dedication, and hours of hard work. There are just too many “cooler” things to do. Who has the time to sit at a computer and write when that same computer offers hours [...]
