I think if there’s anything enduring to say about online teaching–given that the technologies themselves are sometimes impermanent–it’s maybe that online instruction is most engaging when modalities are mixed, when interfaces are intuitive, when the tool is configured as essential…
Author: Prof. Mani
When I was first trained in writing pedagogy, vilifying the 5¶ model was par for the course. It seemed fairly normal at some of my early institutions to announce, “How many of you wrote essays using the 5¶ model in…
In any city, in any country, in any university in which you have been enrolled, go into any classroom and silently say, I seek the Holder of the A. If when you open your eyes a professor stands at the…
The effects of airplane turbulence aside, I’m feeling more like myself and realizing how much I’ve been meaning to write about. The surreal nature of being classified in the ER. The progressively decreased emphasis on quality of work in favor…
Let me tell you a story.
Yesterday, I was working with 10th-12th grade at the Harlem Children’s Zone, attempting to get them to draft personal statements for college. It was a beautiful day, and the senioritis in the air was so contagious even 10th and 11th…
Which is why, of course, I’m blogging right now, but in the meantime, check out this series of posts on abolishing grades in education. While this applies more to secondary ed than higher ed, I’ve often (fruitlessly) toyed with the…
“ROW, ROW FIGHT THE POWAH!!” Gurren Lagann, practically every episode If you aren’t a Gurren Lagann fan or 4channer, you likely have no idea what that means, so let me enlighten you: it’s a rap lyric from the main “theme” of…
Posed by more than 50% of my class almost 100% of the time. This time, the particular unit was themed around fairytales, folktales, and myth, and on this particular day we were discussing a few versions of “Little Red Riding…
I’m a big fan of thinking exercises: short activities that model (in familiar forms) the kinds of thinking students need to be doing when it comes to critical reading and writing. I had astonishing success this semester with two such…