Live and Learn on Purpose.
This is the fourth in a series of posts about my most recent educational experiment. The quickest way to get the full story is to go read the other three posts, which also have the number ‘44’ in their titles. Application submitted. Interview complete. Offer […]
There is a creature living in your head. It’s called your amygdala, also known as the “Lizard Brain.” This little monster sits at the top of your spine intercepting and filtering all of the messages that your higher mind is trying to send your body. […]
This is the third in a series of posts about my most recent educational experiment. The quickest way to get the full story is to go read the other two posts, which also have the number ‘44’ in their titles. Running a group of 44 […]
For the past year, I’ve been teaching an experimental freshmen course. When I say “experimental,” I mean it in every way: the subject matter, delivery methods, and course structure. One of the big goals was developing a course that is better because it is large, […]
There are few guarantees in life, but this is one of them: sometimes things won’t go the way you want them to. Maybe you’ll have trouble finding a job, or a disagreement with your boss, or get laid off, or… things go “wrong.” But is […]
We learn incrementally. I often use the image of an onion: Learning looks like peeling back layers, not “aha moments” that bring instant clarity. Yet, when dealing with others we often expect them to make instantaneous leaps. We toss out a well-crafted zinger and think […]
One of my obsessions is Student Motivation. Wonderfully complex, and often unpredictable, students don’t seem to fit into any of the typical leadership boxes. How do we motivate students to put in the hard work and focus that deep learning requires? The spectrum of leadership […]
Have you ever felt as though you were talking past someone, rather than with them? Our culture tends to see roles, not people. People tend to see Professor Ferrar, not Tony. Tony is a guy in his early thirties who has a wife and a […]
Yesterday I shared three keys for designing effective homework: Interest: students need to find the material itself interesting Relevance: students need to believe that the activity will cause them to learn the material Appropriate Level of Challenge: students need to be stretched, not broken When […]
Homework. Many students hate it. Many have only one goal: get it done as quickly as possible because they’d rather do anything else with their time. And I don’t blame them. Today, for the first time in over a year, I am writing critically about […]
