Notes on Teaching and Learning

One semester a student came to me disappointed about his grade on an exam. He told me that he had studied for nine hours yet felt unprepared for the exam. I asked him to describe to me what exactly he did during those nine hours.  He explained his review strategy: he reread all of his […]

Read Full Post »

I am a big proponent of assigning writing as an active learning tool in the classroom. This should not come as a surprise, as I am pursuing a PhD in English and have primarily taught English courses that require writing as a major component. Yet, I actually learned the best methods for incorporating writing into […]

Read Full Post »

What are concept or mind maps? Concept or mind maps can help learners think through a question or topic by visualizing the relationships between concepts, arguments, evidence, and themes.  Links between nodes show the connections between these ideas.  In general, the term concept map describes hierarchical diagram building downward, connecting multiple ideas in a more […]

Read Full Post »

Mahler. Mozart. Mendelssohn. What can they teach us about teaching? You may have a flash of genius for a particular course or lesson plan, but most artful teaching requires planning, revision, and contextualizing the lesson or course into the overall curriculum. Much like the composition of the great musical symphonies. Fortunately, most composers do not […]

Read Full Post »

You spent winter break painstakingly selecting readings and learning materials and constructing assignments that will engage your new students and teach them to truly value, and perhaps even learn to love something about, your subject matter. Now, a few weeks into the semester, someone has yawned, someone has tweeted during a lesson, perhaps many of […]

Read Full Post »