society
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When In Doubt, Make a Plan
On Monday, I posted a letter I received from a reader, asking advice about whether he should stay in college. I promised you I would post my reply today, and here it is. I sent this response before posting his letter here, and before reading your thoughts on his situation, but some commenters will notice Continue reading
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Three Things That Are Driving Me Crazy This Week
1. Plagiarism In my remedial class, we have been talking for two weeks about paraphrasing, integrating quotations, citing sources and so forth. Nevertheless, three students have received zeroes on the first version of their final paper because of incorrect use of source material. There are a few mitigating factors here. First, I don’t believe that Continue reading
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What Will Happen If I Leave College?
Last week, I received this query from N, a college sophomore. I will publish my reply on Thursday, but for now, I’d like to know what you think. What should he do? Dear Auntie Siobhan: My senior year of high school I found myself going from a good student in AP classes to having no Continue reading
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When to be Nice
Three weeks left in the semester. I am trying not to drown. I can’t write much today, but please read this and tell me what you think: is there such a thing as too nice, especially where female academics are concerned? Image by Chris Bowers, from the Images from #Occupy Facebook album Continue reading
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Five Purposes of Higher Education
What do you think higher education is for? Back in September, Richard Kahlenberg gave a convocation speech in which he outlined five “Purposes of Higher Education.” I don’t entirely buy them. Kahlenberg, in his speech, is critical of the extent to which higher education has accomplished these things; I wonder whether they should be our Continue reading
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Why Do I Have to Learn This?
Every so often, students ask me, “Why do we have to learn this?” It’s no use telling them that learning is a good thing, period. They’re taking seven or eight classes. Some are doing “part-time” jobs that have them working thirty hours a week. Making out with their boyfriends is a good thing. Playing Mortal Continue reading
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How Do Games Help Us Learn?
In an early post of mine, you can read about a couple of games that I have used in my classes to get students moving, talking and thinking: a getting-to-know-you game, and a grammar relay race. A few weeks ago, a reader (OnQuicken), left a comment on that old post, asking to hear about more classroom games. 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 