I just finished reading the book The Slow Professor. As with many of the books I’ve been reading, the main focus was the idea that in today’s world too much is expected of us in a short amount of time, efficiency is valued over depth and reflection, and we’re all just a bit overwhelmed. When…
Happy September (and almost officially Fall)! As promised, here is part two of my takeaways from the book The Happiness Advantage. As I sat out on my patio, notebook in hand, The Happiness Advantage in the other, I started realizing I had highlighted way too many significant quotes and insights in Achor’s book to make for a concise…
As someone who has taught public speaking classes for many years, I know how much negative self talk, self doubt, anxiety, and other ‘monsters’ can hold students back. It’s one thing for many students to wonder if they can handle college, life, family, and a job all at the same time, but to put yourself…
Back when I taught in the physical college classroom every day, I always carried two Carmine Gallo books around in my oversized ‘teacher bag’: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Job and How to Talk Like TED. I would occasionally flip through them for inspiration, and I offered students the chance to look through these books…
It’s the second month of my reading challenge, and so far so good! If you’re an instructor and would like to borrow the following insights for your students, feel free to copy and paste the following as a class announcement. Enjoy! __ This month’s book is the 12 Week Year (if you’ve ever read Atomic…
I’m challenging myself in 2026 to revisit (and read some new) books that I genuinely believe can help students (or anyone) thrive. About once a month, I’ll be sharing an announcement in my online classes highlighting a few key takeaways from a book that’s worth the read (and if you just want to read my…
The title of this article immediately caught my attention: She sent 1 email. Grades increased 25%. (Here’s the link: https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2018/08/20/she-sent-1-email-grades-increased-25-percent? As someone who likes to produce results in simple and efficient ways, I was engaged immediately. To summarize the short article, if you email students in an encouraging and non-judgmental way after doing poorly on…
As the fall semester approaches, I thought this article should be a must-read for us instructors. If you’re just starting out as a college instructor, or you sometimes wonder if you’re doing the best job that you can, check out the following article from Faculty Focus: Six Things That Make College Teachers Successful It’s a…
The other day I was reminded that what I do is very different from the usual 9 to 5 job. Someone made a reference to someone else having a “case of the Monday’s” (does Office Space get all the credit for that saying, or did that movie just popularize it?), and I realized I haven’t…
It’s been a long time since I included a post for the Happy Professors series here on the blog, but recently, college professor, published author, and vlogger, Deb Kabwang, sent me a quote about why she loves teaching writing classes- and the timing couldn’t have been better! As I’m wrapping up the final edits on…