I could just think my plans through and go implement them. I’m better though if I think them through by writing them out. Just trying to think in my head means I may not consider everything. So these Ramblings posts…
Tag: assignments
Rethinking the Structure of My Online Assignments
Full of specific and practical suggestions, Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes (Jossey-Bass, 2019), by Flower Darby with James M. Lang, is a book I wish I had had when I first started teaching online. I’ve read…
Reading, Writing, Eating
Alyssa Rosenberg wrote about Food in Fiction and How Cooking Brings You Closer to Characters this week in The Atlantic. The article asks readers to think about how cooking and eating the same foods as fictional characters strengthens the connection…
Another Trauma Narrative: Bits Flashback for May 8
On Saturday, Black College Wire posted an article on a composition assignment that had consequences the teacher never expected. The teacher, Lisa Carl, asked students to write “either a first-person autobiographical account of a significant event in their lives or…
Turning Blog Posts Into a Book Draft
After thirty days of thinking, sorting, and scribbling, I turned a variety of notes and blog posts into a very rough and informal book draft of 52,967 words. Now as I confessed a month ago, I went about the process…
38 Ways to Write about Writing
The second National Day on Writing is nearly upon us. Wednesday, October 20, is the day established by the National Council of Teachers of English to celebrate the many kinds of writing that people everywhere do. Chances are that the…
6 News Stories to Connect to Orwell’s 1984
Big brother really is watching you. Today we accept a certain amount of oversight by government and business as a part of daily life. Students know about all the surveillance cameras that follow them as they move about in the…
List of Ten: Fun with Crayons
I’m a sucker for office supplies. Snoop around my desk, and you’ll find colored pencils, a rainbow of Sharpies, and a full range of notebooks and pads of paper. It’s no surprise then that I was excited when I found…
March of Time Newsreels in the Classroom
Back in the days before 24-hour news networks, people went to their local movie theaters to see what was going on in the world. The March of Time, perhaps the most well-known producer of these videos, distributed documentaries that covered…
Activities That Ask Students to Explore Cultural Mindsets
This week’s release of the Beloit List got me wondering about how the resource might be used in class. Officially known as the Mindset List of the Class of 2014, the Beloit List has been published each August for the…