I used to write a list of between 3 and 10 things I was thankful for each morning, and it really made a difference in my day (sidenote: it seems like we all develop these really great habits and then abandon them at one point or another- why do we always do this when it’s…
As life moves forward and we all strive for simplicity and satisfaction with the day-to-day, I think it’s natural (and necessary) that we also start considering who we spend our time with, and who brings out the best, happiest version of ourselves. The other day I was thinking about the most meaningful friends or family…
I have to admit, I love Christmas movies, and the cheesier the better. I’m the person who starts watching Christmas movies in August every year, and no matter how hard I try to resist, I just can’t help myself. I use the excuse that I’m ‘grading papers’ (very inefficiently, I might add) while I watch…
As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I’ve been working on some face-to-face classroom activities (that I’ve also tried out with my online classes) to help my students answer and analyze questions/concepts more thoroughly in future assignments. After experimenting a little bit, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results. Any instructor, regardless of what…
The dean at one of my local colleges goes through the trouble of sending out department-wide emails each week with school updates and interesting articles we might be interested in reading. As an online instructor, I probably appreciate these weekly emails more than most instructors since it keeps me in the loop, so I try…
Tim Ferriss has talked about how to cut hours from our busy schedules in The Four Hour Work Week, and I took some helpful suggestions to heart after listening to the audio book. However, I’m sure many people, like me, were still left thinking “I don’t know that I could apply this to my job/life.”…
Teaching as an online instructor at a variety of colleges has its advantages- one is that I get to see how different deans, department chairs, etc. run their departments, and most importantly, I can see where there might be some overlap in grading requirements among the schools without too much guesswork on my part. Recently,…
When I started teaching, I was constantly looking for blogs and websites with helpful tips for college instructors. I found plenty of blogs for secondary education teachers, and a number of stuffy, hard-to-read higher education blogs, but I wanted something more personal and relatable, and definitely not a blog that felt like work. Over time…
Have you ever asked students to ‘evaluate,’ ‘analyze,’ or ‘discuss’ a particular concept, only to feel deflated when you get back a (nearly) copy and pasted textbook definition from a number of students? First, you’re not necessarily doing anything wrong as the instructor; I felt at fault when I started seeing this pattern in assignments,…
I recently had a former student ask me how I stay motivated to work from home or coffee shops. I’m currently working from my laptop at the Panera down the street, so I thought now would be a good time to list 4 tips that are helping me stay focused at the moment: Focus on…