Category: Teaching + Learning
Building A Strong Writing Practice: Does It All Start with Reading?
Like many faculty, I love teaching and learning. As lifelong learners, our hearts and minds often yearn for time to think. To read. To write. We long for a leisurely afternoon to explore new ideas – time to finally pick up one of the books on the edge of our desk that we pre-ordered on…
Elevate Learning: Create Powerful + Uplifting Classroom Discussions
Discussions are an important part of transformational learning. Together, we can learn more. But all too often, discussions (especially in online learning), become dry and transactional. In Dr. Catherine Denial’s new book, A Pedagogy of Kindness, she reminds us that we can create and facilitate authentic, invigorating discussions – about topics we love. “I worked…
It’s time to recognize and value the essential contributions of adjunct faculty.
To all fellow higher ed leaders: As you are launching the academic year, here’s a friendly reminder of one of the best ways to value and honour your adjunct faculty: Process their contracts BEFORE you expect them to do any work. Commit to them, BEFORE you ask them to complete any work. Commit to them,…
Want to remember why you love teaching? Read Catherine Denial’s A Pedagogy of Kindness
Today, I dove into Catherine Denial’s new book, A Pedagogy of Kindness, and by the time I reached the end of the first page, I was already making notes. Denial’s words struck a chord deep within me – finally, someone has articulated the hope I also have to create higher ed environments less immersed in…
Learning is always personal. That’s the heart of education.
This. “No student acquires knowledge in the abstract; learning is always personal. Furthermore, learning never takes place in a vacuum; it is always contextual” (Style, 1988). When we walk in or log on to our classrooms, we are entering the lives of other humans, with their joys and pains and struggles and victories. And, as…
How I fell in love with teaching
I fell in love with teaching and learning in a roundabout way. I was hired to lead an academic department with courses and faculty focused on student success and the first-year experience. At that point, I had limited teaching experience, but I was now leading a college-wide program of incredibly gifted, intelligent, and creative faculty….