Ask-Dr-Kirk

Taking Back the Classroom book on sale at Amazon!

 

 

Just in time for the new semester:

Amazon puts my book on teaching on sale!

Dr. Kirk Has Left The Building...

After 28 years of teaching college courses full-time (and another 5 years of part-time teaching), I have decided to retire. I couldn't have chosen a better career and thank all of my colleagues and former students for the memories...Now it's off to a new adventure!

A Little Teacher Humor

Source: Alec Hosterman

What Would Happen If We Engaged In Behaviors We Sometimes See In The Classroom?

This professor poses the questions we've all had at some point in our teaching career...

What would happen if I walked into class and left my ipod in? If I just pantomimed my way  through a lecture while I actually rocked out in my own little ipod world? It would look like I was teaching, just like it looks like you (chick in the 7th row to the left) are paying attention to me. Or, what if I lectured and played a video game at the same time? Instead of slides, you could see my game. Or if I just decided to work on the campus newspaper crossword puzzle (how can that take you all class period? It’s ridiculously easy, if you want, I can just give you all the answers in the first 2 minutes of class). Hmmm…what if I just interrupted class to take a call on my cell phone, or sent a text message or two. Oooh I know, what if I just ripped off a lecture from the internet. You know, it would be completely and obviously distinct from my usual lecture style. The organization would be different, the format of my slides would be different, it would just scream “I DIDN’T DO THIS” but I just passed it off to you like it was my own work. I will have to try these things. I’ll consider it pedagogical research and will begin as soon as I get tenure.

 

Happy Blogversary To Me!

Today is the 7^th anniversary of this blog on teaching tips.  I would like to thank everyone who has commented on the blog or emailed me with their own tips, stories, and links.  I have learned so much from all of you.

Career Advice For Graduating Seniors: Invent Your Own Job

Thomas L. Friedman, in his article, “Need a Job? Invent It” emphasizes the need to be more creative in searching for a job. As he notes:

“...because knowledge is available on every Internet-connected device, what you know matters far less than what you can do with what you know. The capacity to innovate — the ability to solve problems creatively or bring new possibilities to life — and skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge."

Here's a list of ten jobs that didn't even exist ten years ago such as app designer and social media manager.

Why Students Don't Have The Skills They Need Before Entering College

The Washington Post recently published this open letter from a high school teacher to college professors warning us what we can expect in years to come. It's very interesting and I already see some of the issues that she points out. I also get feedback from students who are upset that I expect them to proofread their papers and catch their own spelling errors in a management course...

Quote Of The Day

Teaching: We’re not in it for the income.

We’re in it for the outcome.

Author unknown

How Not To Take It Personally

We've all experienced this: a student makes a comment either in class or our office that feels like a personal attack. Here's an article that makes suggestions on how to answer these students.

Are Your Passwords Safe?

If you're like me, you have a small number of passwords you use on your various sites: bank accounts, email accounts, credit cards, blogs, etc. And while I worry sometimes about the security of my accounts, I also find it aggravating to have numerous passwords to remember. However, here's a very interesting article on how hackers can hack into your passwords.

My son works for Microsoft and says the best protection against having your passwords hacked is to employ "good password standards." For example:

• Don't use a single word - multiple words are better.
• Use multiple "character types" - upper case, lower case, number, or symbol - in your password.  Microsoft requires three character types.
• Have a minimum password length.  Microsoft sets theirs to 7 or 8, I would set it to longer personally.
• Make your passwords expire:  that way there's a limited window of opportunity that hackers can use your password before they're required to steal it again. 
  

His final advice?  "It sounds funny but the best approach for seldom-used passwords:  like the password to your router at home, for example - is to set an impossibly complex password, say 15 random characters - and then write it down somewhere safe for when you need it."

How Educators Use Twitter For Personal Development

For those of you who use Twitter (or would like to learn how), here's a definition of hashtags and a list of ones related to education that you might find useful.

Here's more on using Twitter.

Five Things You Should Never Say To Your Professor

I'm reading this article by Professor Jorie Scholnik (Santa Fe College) on five things students should refrain from saying.  As she notes: "effective professors care about their classes, put a lot of time into grading and lesson planning and genuinely want students to take away some knowledge from the course." Thus, asking the professor  if he or she is doing anything important today is not going to win a student any points.

The following poem by Tom Wayman comes to mind...

 

DID I MISS ANYTHING? (Question frequently asked by students after missing a class)

Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 per cent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people on earth

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gathered

but it was one place

And you weren't here.

 

Motivation And Changing Your Behavior

Just came across this quotation by John Maxwell at the Success Begins Today blog)

“The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.”

“As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behavior. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to become. Take action on your behavior. Too many people want to feel, then take action. This never works.”

Does This Sentence Need A Comma?

Student:  "I have trouble with punctuation. I just don't have any comma sense."

Me:  Here's an useful article on when to use a comma in a sentence.

Inspiring Our Students

I came across this post by John Richardson that really illustrates what I hope to accomplish in the classroom. He asks:

Have you ever been in a class that was so impactful that you came away so excited that you wanted to tell all of your friends about it? Have you had a teacher with the extraodinary talent to keep you totally immersed in the subject, where everything just seems to click? Have you had a teacher take the extra time to find out your needs and to personally help you with a project or assignment?...You walk away from their class excited and with a renewed sense of direction. You want to do the assignments and learn more. All of a sudden learning has gone from laborious and boring to exciting and rewarding.

He goes on to quote William Arthur Ward who says…The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

Don't we all aspire to be one of those great teachers?

What Makes For A Stupid Question?

I always thought there was no such thing as a stupid question. Even when I thought the answer to a student’s query was obvious, the college student apparently did not know the answer and thus my job was to respond to his or her question accurately and with patience.  Even when a second student asks me the same question in class five minutes later, I think to myself that perhaps I didn’t explain the concept well enough the first time.  However, something that one of my brightest and most engaged students (a finance major!) said to me has me rethinking my original hypothesis.  At the end of class, he came up to me and wanted to know if I had all the grades in the class written down somewhere.  After I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, even he sheepishly commented, “That was a stupid question, wasn’t it?”

A colleague topped that though with his sad but true story about a student who was doing poorly in class.  When the professor questioned as to why the student was failing, the student’s response was that it was not his fault …his roommate had a learning disability and he thought he had caught it!

Are DVD Courses Worth Buying?

I recently received a catalog from The Great Courses at a special sale of 70 percent off. These include history, science, math, literature, and lots more. Has anyone ever bought one of these? I'm curious as to the quality of the instruction.

How To Create A Good Habit

A couple month ago I read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It's a fascinating study of how much habit plays a part in our daily lives and how we can change bad habits. He also discusses how organizations can break bad habits that their employees have that affect safety or productivity. It's one of the books I have on my syllabus for a MBA Leadership class I just started teaching.

Here's a flow chart by the author on how to create a good habit.

10 Ways Students Can Use Twitter For Paper Assignments

 One of the things I like most about Twitter is the ability to connect with others to share links and information. Leslie Anglesey (University of Southern California) shares her tips on how students can use Twitter for paper assignments such as reaching out to experts to ask questions and participating in discussions on paper topics.

Teaching Students To Be Creative In Their Problem Solving

Check out this approach to teaching problem solving and innovation used by Ellen Weber and Robyn McMaster.