Caring… Hamlet in Prison 12 Jul 201111 Jul 2011 Jack Hitt's hour-long report for This American Life on Hamlet performed by prisoners, originally broadcast in 2002, has inspired me all week with its deep insights about Hamlet and encouragement for…
Business… How to Succeed in American Business 11 Jul 2011 Teaching in a multicultural environment often includes overtly explaining American business culture and helping students practice that language. For starters, there's the direct eye contact, the body language, the smiling,…
Change the World… The Poetry of Music 7 Mar 20117 Mar 2011 I'm just home from a university choir concert, aptly named "Waxing Poetic." Several well-trained choirs from Arizona State University prepared sacred and humorous works, performed in a sacred space, and…
Animation… Modern Magic 5 Mar 20119 Mar 2011 “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ~Arthur C. Clarke This weekend, I watched ITT Tech Tempe's graduating design students present capstone projects of architectural plans, or animation, or…
Brain… My Students’ Best Advice 28 Feb 2011 My students are in finals week. I asked for advice to pass along to future students, and they all said, DON'T FALL BEHIND! They sound even more adamant than I…
Academic Writing… Why Do I Have to Take this Class Anyway? 10 Feb 201112 Feb 2011 I haven't studied math since high school. I excelled in it. I took all four years of accelerated classes, keeping college majoring options open. Then I tested out of college…
Baby Boomers… How to Stop Time 9 Feb 20119 Feb 2011 A student who's juggling unemployment stress and family crises (while still getting his schoolwork done) asked, "Can you just tell me how to stop time?" The same day, my son…
Fact-Checking… Carbon Dating for Books 8 Feb 20118 Feb 2011 You could always date a movie by the women's hair and make-up. You can date a book by the technology. Recently I've been teaching with a fifth edition textbook. That's…
Academic Writing… New Messages on Texting 7 Feb 20118 Feb 2011 Could texting be good for literacy? Some early and brief studies are suggesting that it might not hurt as much as you fear. Students who spell well in general can…
Academic Writing… “I Have a Dream” for Writers 17 Jan 20119 Feb 2011 Today you'll probably hear the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And it will probably begin, "I have a dream!" I recently shared his entire speech from the March…
College… Txt Translation 6 Dec 20105 Jan 2011 Who says today’s college students can’t write? With texting, messaging, chatting, blogging, and social media updating, you write all day and half the night. What you need is a handy…