psychology
-
What Do Students Need to Learn About Learning?
If I could change one thing about the education system, particularly the pre-university and professional college system in which I work, it would be this: Students would learn a lot more about learning. I have a fantasy in which I go back to school to do a doctorate in educational psychology, and then I overhaul Continue reading
-
Why You Should Fall in Love with Abed Nadir or Some Other Imaginary Person
I want my students to believe that it’s good to fall in love with fictional people. But I may be wrong. My English course for Child Studies majors is called “A Question of Character.” We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing what “characterization” means in literature, and what “character” means in life. Along the way, Continue reading
-
The Worst of Me
Which of your character traits is your worst enemy, in your life but especially in your job? In one of my courses, we’re writing reference letters for fictional characters. In addition, as a possible blog assignment, I suggested students write reference letters for themselves, imagining they’re applying for their dream job and giving an honest Continue reading
-
Education and Growing: Reprise
Foreword: It’s been a rough week. Things at work are going fine, but life outside of work – especially life as a new homeowner – has been, shall we say, challenging. Full of minor and major inconveniences. Full of questions about whether buying a house, buying THIS house, was such a good idea. My husband Continue reading
-
One Minute of Solitude: Reprise
We are six weeks into the semester, and I’m starting to pinpoint small classroom management issues and think about appropriate responses. Nothing major has arisen so far (fingers crossed), but whenever I am confronted with hints of passive-aggressiveness, defiance or rudeness, I start evaluating what I need to do: ignore? Confront? Defuse in some other Continue reading
-
What’s a Teacher to Do? Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed
When Paul Tough’s new book, How Children Succeed, arrived in my mailbox, I opened it with great anticipation. I love Tough’s writing; his pieces on This American Life and in The New York Times have always impressed me with their warm, clear prose. What’s more, last year, an excerpt from this book, published in the New York Continue reading
-
Demoralization vs. Burnout
Are you burnt out? Or are you demoralized? A recent article (passed on to me by a colleague) fits nicely with my series on teacher burnout that wrapped up last week: sometimes what we call burnout is actually demoralization. The difference is in the cause. I have been lucky enough to work mostly in contexts Continue reading
-
How I Saved My Teaching Career: Step 6: Meditate
This is the seventh post in a series on how to overcome burnout and love teaching again. See the end of this post for previous entries. I have a confession to make. I’m a bad meditator. Meditation is incredibly boring. Everything in me resists doing it, and I can avoid it for months. If Continue reading
-
Plagiarism: What Do Students Think?
It is only a week and a half into the semester, and already my office mate and I are talking about plagiarism. There are hangovers from last semester – cases that never quite got resolved – and our college has a new plagiarism policy that requires, among other things, that we submit any plagiarism accusations to Continue reading
-
I Like Teaching You
Today is the first day of the new semester. I’m not exactly pumped. I’ve been working all weekend to find a motivator, or an inspiration, or a visualization to turn to when I feel it’s all too much. What’s my objective for the next fifteen weeks? What mantra will I repeat to myself on the Continue reading
About Me
My job is to teach people to read and write; aside from that, I like to learn things.
Classroom as Microcosm 