Category Archives: Education

The two best writing teachers I’ve ever had were Sallie Sears, who taught a course in the contemporary novel, which I took during my junior year, and June Jordan, who led the poetry workshop, my first, which I took that … Continue reading →

Whenever I teach ENG 105, I always begin with the same lesson, the point of which is to get students thinking about how much they know about the grammar of American English without even realizing they know it. I start … Continue reading →

I have always loved this Calvin and Hobbes cartooon. It reminds me of Dr. Aaron Carton, one of my favorite undergraduate linguistics professors. One day, I was sitting in his office and he was telling me about a conference paper … Continue reading →

I think the piece pretty much speaks for itself, but here are a couple of paragraphs that stood out for me: How practical versus idealistic should the approach to college be? I’m somewhat torn, and past columns have reflected that. … Continue reading →

I was, of course, intrigued by read the headline of an article on CNNMoney.com that read “Community college grads out-earn bachelor’s degree holders.” Written by Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Institute, the article reports research done by Georgetown University’s Center on Education … Continue reading →

Next semester, I will be teaching Introduction to Women’s Studies for the first time. Now, Women’s Studies is not my field and I do not, and would not, normally ask to teach this course. I took it as a favor … Continue reading →