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Monthly Archives: September 2017
“When McGraw-Hill Education polled more than 600 college faculty in 2017, 70% said students were less willing to ask questions and participate in class than they were five years ago.”
I’m with the 70%. At some point in every class, I say, “What questions do you have about this?” Seldom do students respond. However, if that same question is included in a quiz, about a third ask for more information … Continue reading
Posted in non-fiction, Pedagogy
Tagged anxious students, class participation, iGen, Jean Twenge, new generation of students
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“Science needs its adventurers.”
It’s hard to imagine a more exciting scientific adventure than the one described in Altered Traits. Forty years ago, when Ritchie Davidson and Daniel Goleman were grad students, their advisors told them that studying meditation would be a career-killer. But … Continue reading
Posted in non-fiction
Tagged Altered States, brain function, Daniel Goleman, meditation, Richard J. Davidson
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“Rock and roll when first encountered seemed to represent two fears: a fear of the future and a fear of the past.”
Some feared, Christopher Hill notes, that this new kind of music had the power to lead Americans to radical decadence in the not-too-distant future. Others, who had experienced gospel music, recognized “the testifying quality, the clear sense that there were … Continue reading
“Our challenge as culturally responsive teachers is knowing how to create an environment that the brain perceives as safe so it can . . . turn its attention to learning.”
Most often, “culturally responsive teaching” focuses on students of color and students who are linguistically diverse. After reading iGen by Jean Twenge, however, I would argue that students born between 1995 and 2012 have unique cultural characteristics that we need … Continue reading
Posted in Pedagogy
Tagged brain, culturally repsonsive teaching, fragile students, iGen, Jean Twenge, mental health, Zaretta Hammond
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