I've been hearing this more and more from friends both at work and at other schools: students are missing [skill]. Sometimes that skill is something that used to be taught, but given the COVID changes, just slipped through the cracks as content was watered down due to hybrid or online teaching. Sometimes it's a "soft… Continue reading What’s missing?
Category: Student stuff
Minor Musings
Wow, it's been a while since I did one of these. As we move into the Winter Break season, here are some links to enjoy/bookmark/get inspiration from. Books, Reading, etc. The Cybils are always a good RA tool, and now they have playlists! What could be better to share with students? Yes, this is a… Continue reading Minor Musings
Why a small school?
A few years ago I was interviewing at a well-known "SLAC" (Small Liberal Arts College) and was asked to do a presentation on why a liberal arts school. The position was for an instructional technology job, and one of the initiatives was to be able to have hybrid classes with students at other institutions. After… Continue reading Why a small school?
I feel so old
https://twitter.com/adrisheares/status/1557885461154111490?s=11&t=C3_I1GsVaBsvx3wFpJLvYQ Wow. When I started research, my "search engine" was the card catalog, and sometimes (for deep searching) the <i>Reader's Guide</i>. Remember those? Good times. This isn't an attempt to paraphrase Sondheim, but I've been through CompuServe, AOL, AskJeeves, AltaVista, Infoseek (via Netscape Navigator)... and I'm still here. I currently use Duck Duck Go, but… Continue reading I feel so old
Inspirational grace
For a variety of reasons, it has taken a few days to post about a loss to our community: a colleague had a recurrence of cancer and decided to stop treatment and enter hospice. A short time later, he died. His last message to everyone read in part: That message resonated with so many of… Continue reading Inspirational grace
Hashtag concerns
A few years ago, in response to global events, we created a display that I promoted on our Instagram. Later that day a member of the administration asked me to delete the hashtag we'd used because clicking on it could lead to some inappropriate content. Of course I did. To be honest, I should have… Continue reading Hashtag concerns
Better Late Than Never
At Milton we have a "research season" split into three parts, where three different groups come in for a month to work on a project. This past month was the first of those parts and the juniors (and a few seniors) came in. The majority of those students were Milton freshmen in March 2020. They'd… Continue reading Better Late Than Never
If I were in charge
Over the years that I've worked with students on research, I've had the opportunity to think about how to do it right. Now, these aren't unique observations or things we wish students could do/teachers wouldn't do, they're just 30+ years of thoughts that if I were in charge would be put in place. Example? The… Continue reading If I were in charge
Anyone else missing time?
Yesterday I proctored the ACTs and the first person that walked through the door was a student I'd known for seven years. The last time I remember seeing him, he was shorter than I and clearly an awkward boy... and suddenly, he's approaching six feet and very much growing into a much more confident man.… Continue reading Anyone else missing time?
Language matters
I've been interested in how language changes for years, in part because when I was younger I went from having a mailman to a postal carrier, from stewardesses to flight attendants, and actresses to actors. It was also in part to my uncle being one of the founders of sociolinguistics, specifically language planning. As an… Continue reading Language matters