April, 2013

Contemplative Pedagogy: Evaluating contemplative practices

Tweet I can’t report that I meditate daily or even weekly, but there were times in my life, difficult times, when meditation was a daily aid. I learned skills and habits that still help me today.  I am, in other words, well aware of both the power and the long-lasting nature of discoveries and habits […]

Contemplative pedagogy: A creative meditation

Tweet This meditation took place between the clarification in class of the goal for the next essay, and each student’s attempt to narrow his or her focus. The lights went out, the door was closed, the students set themselves up by adjusting their posture and taking a few breaths.  I asked them to turn their […]

Peer review redux

Tweet My students hate peer review, at least the way it is traditionally presented.  I don’t like it either. Students are not skilled enough to analyze each other’s papers well, even when the peer review is tightly targeted. My students love individual conferences. I combined them into one activity which would be suitable for a […]

Bullying – Rutgers

Tweet Rutgers just fired its basketball coach for some pretty offensive bullying, including sexual slurs.  Rutgers buried one of its freshmen last year because his roommate was spying on him during an encounter with another man. These were examples of disregard for the welfare of the students.  I am not surprised. I interviewed twice at […]