As I’ve been working this afternoon, making some big changes to my online courses here at the public library (my new favorite place to ‘work from home’), and also trying to come up with something to write about on the blog today, it occurred to me that maybe I could blend the two (why is…
I’ve had the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel on my bookshelf for almost 2 years, and I’m just now making a dent in it (I swear I’ll finish it over winter break!). Before I get too far into it, though, I wanted to note a few…
As promised last week, in this post I’ve provided the materials I created to help prepare my students for their TED-style talks (it also doesn’t hurt to have a few copies of Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo on hand- I have 3 copies that I bring to the classroom for student use). I’ve also…
The past week has been an eye-opening journey for me and my students. For the first time ever, I incorporated short TED-style speeches into my course curriculum. The only real guidelines I gave my students were to follow the traditional style of TED speakers, and to simply “be awesome, have fun,” as Brene Brown had…
Let’s talk about adding some spice to the college classroom. No, I’m not talking about a tasty fall treat, although I’m sure I’ll hear plenty of holiday-themed speeches this semester (and I’d bet money someone might even give a speech about Pumpkin Spice Lattes). I’m talking about making changes to my Public Speaking course to…
This is the title of Peggy Liggit’s TEDxEMU talk about connecting with students and making a difference. Like every other thing I feel compelled to write about, I loved it. As the director of faculty development at Eastern Michigan University- and the daughter of a professor so dedicated to teaching that he instilled the same…
For some reason I can’t shake this question: What will they remember 10 years from now? I met a fellow adjunct instructor at the beginning of this term, and we’ve met up in the campus adjunct office quite a bit. This seasoned instructor mentioned to me that, realistically, most students won’t remember what they learned…
Olympia LePoint may be my new hero. Her talk about fear and overcoming it is pretty amazing: ‘Reprogramming your brain to overcome fear: Olympia LePoint at TEDxPCC’ When I stumbled upon this TED talk, I instantly knew I needed to show it in my Fundamentals of Speech class. The biggest problem students have in my…
The subject of low community college graduation rates has been a popular topic in education as of late. According to the U.S. Department of Education in 2013, only 18% of community college students complete their Associates degree and transfer to a four-year school, and the American Association of Community Colleges in 2013 claimed that graduation…
Over the years, I’ve heard colleagues talk about how valuable some media resources are in the classroom, and it all sounded nice enough. However, once I implemented these tools in my own classroom, I started to fully understand how valuable- and handy- these resources can really be in reaching this generation’s college students. Khan Academy…