Academic Writing… Grade Inflation: What’s Really Going On 3 Sep 201213 Oct 2012 I had the dubious honor of starting college during the first crackdown on grade inflation. My professors overtly ensured that every grade on our transcripts was hard-earned. Then I immediately…
College… Online Learning Success 20 Oct 2011 Online classes can be so efficient. You waste no time in travel or trivia, but only if you manage that time! Here are a few tips for success in the…
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,…
Blogging… Most Beautiful Words 5 Jul 20114 Jul 2011 A reposting of a list of 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language has me wondering what my own favorites would be. For example, bucolic doesn't make my list. Its meaning, in a…
Blogging… Thanks, I Needed That! 2 Jul 20112 Jul 2011 WordPress showcased "10 Prolific Post a Day/Week Participants," and I'm one of them! Shall I tell you what this meant to me? I realized today how burned out I've become…
Baby Boomers… Beginning Again? 18 Jun 201118 Jun 2011 Does it feel as though you're always starting over? I'm beginning new projects, new rounds of old projects, new teaching quarter. Therefore, clients and students are doing the same; some…
Advertising… Your Brain on Ads 14 Jun 201114 Jun 2011 Take a therapist who trained her daughter to watch media, including ads, with critical attention. Now imagine this daughter, Maya Cueva--already a journalist while still a teenager--not only applying that…
Caring… Dead Grandmothers 9 Jun 20119 Jun 2011 We've been known to joke about it in faculty meetings: how many grandparents some students can lose in a single year. (And yes, we do name names.) Here's one professor's concerns…
College… College Endeavor 1 Jun 20111 Jun 2011 With the final landing of Endeavor, this shuttle chapter of space exploration will be closing soon. At the moment, I'm closing a college quarter and identifying with NASA. I have…
Academic Writing… My Favorite Kind of Payday 31 May 2011 In my introductory college skills class this quarter, a student told me about repeatedly sabotaging his final Naval promotion because at that level, he'd be required to write reports galore. Writing…
Art Books… Books: Too Good to Die 14 Apr 201117 Apr 2011 True--you're reading this online and you probably read eBooks of some sort. But technology also expands the options for traditional books as well. Back in 2005, Valerie Kirschenbaum published Goodbye Gutenberg:…