society
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the adolescent brain
This article from today’s Globe and Mail discusses a book by Robert Epstein, the former editor of Psychology Today, which claims that the psychology of “adolescence” has no basis in biology or neurology, but is socially constructed – that adolescents are, at the biological base, intellectually and emotionally no different from adults. This strikes me Continue reading
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Mean ’til Hallowe’en: Classroom Discipline and the First Day of the Semester
Yesterday I attended a small workshop, given by three members of my faculty, on classroom practices and strategies. It was an informal round-table discussion, in which each speaker spent about twenty minutes talking about some of the things they do to make their classroom a productive learning space. There were a lot of suggestions that Continue reading
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what our students know for sure
This list gives some important reminders about where our students are coming from. Incidents in the class confirm daily that our world view doesn’t always match a seventeen-year-old’s (the day I made a “Seinfeld” reference that no one got was a sad one.) Remembering some of these points might help us be a little less Continue reading
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cheating and moral development: an aside
Here’s a post that discusses some of our underlying psychological programming where cheating is concerned, and the most productive actions and attitudes societies can take to control it. Continue reading
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The Incomparable Mr. G: Part 2
Before I began teaching CEGEP, I taught intensive summer English Immersion programs at a university in small-town Quebec. I’d already been teaching in various capacities for a while at that point, but one experience with these five-week programs made me think suddenly of Mr. G. My class that summer was a joy, and I established Continue reading
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does this mean I let them take them out of their bags?
A post on the use of mobile devices in the classroom. Can someone please tell me once and for all whether I should keep confiscating every cell phone I see? Continue reading
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Class Size: The Root of All Evil
My main beef with the educational system as it stands, from kindergarten up through university, is with class size. I believe that if every class in the country were reduced to a maximum of fifteen students, many, if not most, of our educational and social ills would be resolved. Children, young adults and adults would 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 