Are We Normal? Learning About Ourselves Through Data
This past semester has been an emotionally grueling one. After my initial foray into this topic in my first blog post (exploring the balance of skilled practice with true mathematical inquiry, pursuing authenticity of the discipline), I began to see just what I...
What Happens When Function Follows Form?
This semester, I've been working towards creating opportunities for my students to marry an insightful analysis of literature with a creative use of language that highlights unique authorial voice. I documented my efforts (and background on my course) in my last...
Authentic Responses to Literature JRC#2
In my first blog post I talked about our department's mission to create authentic responses to literature beyond the traditional structure of a five paragraph essay. My solution this semester was to require two forms of response for every project: one...
Authentic History Practice: Which narrative? Whose history?
In my first post I posed two Problems of Practice: How might I ensure that what all students are doing is an activity or task that a historian, in the midst of gaining new knowledge through research and analysis, would actually do in the course of their work? How...
¡Más y más español!
In my first blog post, I alluded to how difficult it was to get students to speak Spanish in class. I described my struggle with wanting students to speak perfectly and their struggle with actually using the target language in class. After thinking a lot about this...
Protected: Believing that Your Work Matters
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Unburying Voice
I have some students who naturally imbue their analysis with voice—the future English majors, future video game critics, future New Yorker contributors—but what of the rest?
What do mathematicians do?
Paul Lockhart's article "A Mathematician's Lament" speaks of a society where music is treated the way mathematics is currently treated within our school system. He pleads his case for math to be treated as an art form within society, but specifically within schools....
Why We Speak French in French Class
The first time I travelled to France happened to be the year I spent studying abroad. I hadn't gone every summer with family or even had the opportunity to spend a week or two abroad with classmates in high school, so it was an entirely surprising experience. Like...
Authentic Responses to Born A Crime
I just finished teaching “Born A Crime” by Trevor Noah to my class. In the memoir, Noah describes his childhood during and after apartheid in South Africa. The book discusses a wide range of themes related to identity, including race, gender, language, education,...