philosophy
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Cold Call
Are you willing to put your students on the spot? A reader, Damommachef, has asked me to discuss a problem that can arise with classroom dynamics: the Constant Commenter. She says, “Some kids want to constantly comment, but the smartest are often the quietest. How can we get them more involved? How do we subdue Continue reading
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Willing to Read and Write
Yesterday, I told my college students that they need to read the next 150 pages of the novel we are studying, Life of Pi, over the next seven days. This is not news – they got a reading schedule on the first day of class, and were told to read ahead. Nevertheless, there was a Continue reading
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Late Penalties?
Throughout the years, I’ve heard a lot of arguments against giving penalties for late student work. Back in February, Tom Shimmer outlined some of the arguments against late penalties in a post, and they reflect the main argument I’ve heard again and again: students should be evaluated on the learning they can demonstrate, not punctuality. Continue reading
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In Which Siobhan Does Not Lose Her Temper Over Important Literary and Pedagogical Matters
Is non-fiction less “literary” than fiction? Someone has suggested to me that it is, and I’m so mad about it I could spit. Last week, I attended a meeting with English teachers from several colleges. We were there to give feedback to the creators of some online essay-writing activities. We looked at some sample exercises, Continue reading
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Top 10 Posts of 2010
For your reading and catch-up pleasure, I have once again compiled a “year’s top posts” list. These posts are “top” in that they got the most hits; in some cases this may have been because of timing, a well-chosen keyword, or fluke, but in some cases I think it’s because they truly were the best Continue reading
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What I’m Learning From What I’m Reading: Zadie Smith’s Changing My Mind
There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What Continue reading
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Literature and the Meaningful Life
Here’s a little something I found in my inbox this morning. What makes for a meaningful life? I consider each day, not just the life as a whole. I look at four ingredients. First, was it a day of virtue? I’m talking about …avoiding harmful behavior of body, speech, and mind; devoting ourselves to wholesome Continue reading
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The New Semester: 10 Resolutions
Classes start again in less than two weeks. (Primary, secondary and university teachers who are already back at work, I know what you’re thinking: “Shut up.” Believe me, I know how good I’ve got it.) I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. However, one theme that presents itself frequently in my Buddhist meditation practice and my Continue reading
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Education and the Meaning of “Growth”
Is education primarily about growth? What exactly is “growth,” and does it always equal “education”? The philosopher John Dewey defined education as an accumulation of experiences that stimulate both growth and the capacity for further growth. In Experience and Education, Dewey tells us, “…the educative experience can be identified with growth,” and further clarifies that Continue reading
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Arrows Into Blossoms
I’ve just finished reading Pema Chodron’s Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears. If you’re not familiar with Chodron, she is perhaps the world’s most famous Tibetan Buddhist American nun, and her works are meant to help Westerners understand the basic precepts of Tibetan Buddhism and apply them usefully in their own 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 