I have been teaching at the college and university level for the past 30 years, and for many of those years, I have taught introductory first-year courses. As I creep closer to retirement, I’ve been reflecting on how teaching first-years has challenged me over the
I was recently invited to write an essay about a pedagogy of joy, an approach to teaching that treats joy as part of learning. I had a visceral reaction and wanted to say, “No, thank you.” But I didn’t, even though I felt my body
Two of my past articles for The Teaching Professor describe different types of educational “moments”: teaching moments and critical moments. Although I have been in the classroom for nearly 35 years, I continue to seek out strategies, like these moments, to fine-tune my teaching. In
For many, Richard Feynman (1918–1988), the Nobel Prize–winning physicist turned cultural icon, is the prototype of a creative genius (Gleick, 1992). Beyond physics, he became renowned for his impish personality, boundless curiosity, and adventurous spirit (Feynman, 1985). He was an avid proponent and communicator of
Every semester, we conclude our courses with grades, reflections, and the quiet hope that, somehow, what we have taught will show up later in our students’ lives, when they actually need the information, when it will actually count. In teacher education, that’s not wishful thinking.
A few semesters ago, I found myself caught in what I now call a fairness trap. Teaching qualitative research methods to over 150 undergraduates (equivalent to three sections), I tried to recreate the close mentoring I’d experienced during my doctoral training. I began meeting more
Not one. Not two. Eleven. That’s how many times my fellow panelists and I touted our university’s low faculty–student ratios during a recent session for prospective students. But how could we resist? Each time we invoked those magic numbers, parents smiled (“My child will be
I admit that I watch way more YouTube videos than I should. The algorithm, of course, is meant to keep suggesting videos that grab my interest per my viewing history. So I was a bit surprised one day when YouTube kept recommending a bunch of
Like many college instructors, I approached this summer with one goal in mind: to figure out my approach to AI once and for all. I assembled a sizable stack of AI-related teaching books and embarked upon my reading program.
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
