After discovering that we have both been applying Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering (2018) to our teaching, the two of us decided to compare notes. Parker’s book provides practical advice for creating enjoyable gatherings, from business meetings to bridal showers. Both of us were
It was midway through week four of the fall semester. The preservice teacher candidates sat in small groups, reviewing their assignments from the previous week. One student’s brow furrowed as she read her feedback, stopping on the comment “Add more differentiation for diverse learners.” She
Every day, educators encounter the challenge of assisting students in remaining engaged, demonstrating progress, and mastering the curriculum. What strategies can they employ to achieve this? The use of Mastery Paths is a feature in Canvas that allows instructors to customize the learning material to
In past essays, I’ve covered how students fool themselves into believing they have mastered concepts when they really haven’t and how faculty can fool themselves into thinking they have taught effectively when they haven’t. Now I want to focus on institutions of higher learning. I
If you use team projects and the grade comes only from you, you’re missing an essential opportunity. Including peer evaluations in your grades provides necessary information for you and gives your students a valuable team experience. Given that teamwork is one of the top skills
One of the fundamental tenets of higher education is that students should take notes on what their instructor says in order to study from those notes later. But there are two problems with this method. First, note-taking requires focusing on what was said in the
Could doodles, sketches, and stick figures help to keep the college reading apocalypse at bay?
We’ve all faced it: the daunting stack of student work, each submission representing hours of potential grading. The familiar weight of this task can feel overwhelming, leaving us searching for more effective ways to provide meaningful feedback that truly fuels student learning. While the desire
Storytelling is one of the most powerful means of communication as it can captivate the audience, improving retention of the information. It also offers students a means to apply what they learn to real life. Instead of writing a research paper on a historical event,
For some of us, it takes some time to get into the swing of summer. Some of us only finished our academic years mid-June. Others immediately attended conferences or workshops. Every year, I look at the months of summer looming ahead and map out all
