My teaching is perhaps (probably) the most important part of my life and my identity. Working with students and honing my craft occupies a large part of my time, my thinking, and my energy. And in case this wasn’t clear, I *LOVE* my work.
Read my teaching-related blog posts
Currently, I’m working on a book manuscript draft tentatively called The Present Professor. The goal of this writing project is to equip student-centered educators with the tools to cultivate greater self-knowledge and bring that into the classroom. Why? As Parker Palmer said in a recent conversation with Dr. Laura Rendón, “Education can never be whole if educators are not whole.” When we cannot bring our entire selves to our work, we become diseased … mentally, emotionally, and oftentimes physically.
Meanwhile, I’m always eager to talk about teaching with others interested in honing their craft. If you’re looking for a speaker or workshop facilitator, I’d love to chat! I’ve recently facilitated teaching workshops or given talks on these topics:
- Heart-centered leadership
- Teaching students, not content (“Stop blaming students!”)
- Creating a faculty peer-mentoring program for online teaching
- How to boost student learning and motivation with ungrading
- Improving civic engagement with Wikipedia (service-learning in teaching)
- TILT yo’self (TILT = transparency in learning & teaching)
- Listener training for ‘sidewalk chats’ (spontaneous conversations with students)
- 10 tips for student success (given before start of fall semester to new college students)
- “I’m terrible at online classes!” Understanding your students’ fears
- Student-centered syllabus design
Other talks I’ve given related to my disciplinary training in political science and political psychology include:
- How to keep your sanity during …. interesting political times
- Seven reasons our politics seem so polarized
- Understanding whiteness
- Iran, explained
- North Korea, explained
- Syria, explained
- The Kurdish people
- Civics 101 (each about 45-60 minutes):
- Federal government
- State government
- Local government
- Elections basics
- Gerrymandering
NOTE: I’m expanding this section of my web site to include some of my favorite resources — both related to the content I teach and to the craft of teaching itself. Look for that … soon.