Education Commons^™

Connect & Thrive: Perspectives Of A Newly Tenured Professor, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

This essay encapsulates my perspective (newly-tenured and seven years into my career) on how average professors can become highly effective professors. The secret rests in the ability to genuinely connect with students. Connecting really matters - even if it takes some personality adaptation and thrusts academics out of their comfort zones. Many professors fail to connect with students in a meaningful way. My evidence for this assertion is simple and straightforward. In addition to teaching, I am blessed to travel the country and speak on college campuses.3 After extensive discussions on these trips, students consistently claim their professors are boring, …

Putting History Teaching 'In Its Place', Keith A. Erekson

Keith A Erekson

Recent literature on history teaching has emphasized "doing history"—whether as "active learning," "historical thinking," or reading photocopies of primary sources. This paper extends the discussion of a "signature pedagogy" of history teaching and learning to include attention to the places where historians do history--in the archives and at the presenter's podium. It presents a case study of effective teaching from the 1920s and 1930s and provides recommendations for helping students to research in nearby archives (such as the home) and present their findings to public audiences.

Tpck For Impact: Classroom Teaching Practices That Promote Social Justice And Narrow The Digital Divide In An Urban Middle School, Savilla I. Banister, Rachel A. Reinhart

Savilla I Banister

US schools have long struggled with what has recently been identified as the “achievement gap.” While the debate ensues in regards to an explicit definition for this phenomenon, research overwhelmingly demonstrates that students of marginalized populations remain on the lower end of most measures of school success. Accordingly, advocates of social justice point to the disparities of resources, including quality teachers, experienced by students in poverty. As a part of this movement, access to appropriate technological resources in schools has become an issue, commonly labeled the “digital divide.” This study reviews evidence of teaching for social justice and impacting the …

Teaching Grammar And Writing: A Beginning Teacher's Dilemma, P. Smagorinsky, Amy A. Wilson, C. Moore

Amy Wilson-Lopez