Why do I teach? You might as well ask, “Why are you breathing?” That’s how essential teaching has been in the daily pattern of my life since 1980. And like breathing, it is hard to figure out what the mechanics of my teaching are; they
In May 2024, Annalise Nisly graduated from Goshen College with an environmental and marine science major with a concentration in marine biology as a member of the “Covid class” of students who had started college during the height of the pandemic. Lamar Nisly has since
In Rasselas, Samuel Johnson’s philosopher Imlac offers the following bleak assessment of life: “Human life is every where [sic] a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed” ([1759] 1999, 31). Having been a teacher for more than 30 years,
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For me, the move from in-person teaching to asynchronous online teaching took place over decades, but it still presented a challenge that threatened fundamental aspects of my identity as an educator: the dynamic exchange of energy between me and my students and the importance of
I’ve been wanting to write about my journey to embrace Rumi’s wisdom in my pedagogy. My teaching career began at a community college, where I served from 2007 to 2021, initially as an adjunct and later as a full-time faculty member in the Department of
What’s the cringiest word in higher ed? Lecture? Nuh-uh. Engagement? Nah. Assessment? Nope.
Many years ago, I taught college composition at a small art and illustration college in Chicago. The students in my classes were a diverse and irrepressibly creative bunch with an intimidating range of writing confidence and experience—a true challenge for a relatively inexperienced writing
As part of my graduate training in clinical psychology, I was given the opportunity to serve as the primary instructor for one section of an undergraduate course. Excitement mounted as I awaited my assignment. Abnormal Psychology was the gold ring. It was always the
This article first appeared in the December 2011 issue of The Teaching Professor.
I can’t remember when it happened; I just know that it did. I changed vocations in 2003, becoming a full-time academic after being president of a heat treating company in Ohio.
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