Role-Playing the Public Voice to Integrate Teaching & ServicePosted on May 27, 2014 by Mindy McGarrah SharpLove them and/or despise them, role-plays are one of the most effective strategies for developing a public theological voice. You can use role-plays in many different ways in your classes to inspire public theology while illuminating course content….
Tactical Teaching: Part 2—Four Principles of InteractionPosted on May 21, 2014 by David RhoadsCollege and graduate school teachers have an advanced degree in a specialized field, but they may not have had a course on teaching and only limited opportunities to be teaching assistants. Historically, the assumption of most graduate programs has been that they will teach you the subject matter but it will up to you to learn how to teach it on your own….
“Let Them Read Drafts!”—Integrating Teaching & ScholarshipPosted on May 16, 2014 by Mindy McGarrah SharpLike brioche of “Let Them Eat Cake” fame, students need to delve into the kneading process that moves academic writing from idea to publication. Many of us get stuck believing that a first draft should be a polished draft, which is far from the case. Sharing drafts can also begin to address power dynamics by opening up what can be seen as exclusive academic conversations.
Sleep in Academia: An End-of-Term TantrumPosted on May 15, 2014 by A+ Brooke Lester, CuratorI’m sleeping terribly this month. Because it’s May. Again.In the first two installments of this sleep-deprivation series I bragged about how meticulously I average 8+ hours of sleep per night. But it’s May. Again. Normally, “May” means “grading,” and “grading” means “throwing out my lower back and suffering 3–4 weeks of sleep- and work-inhibiting chronic pain.” As it happens, I’m on sabbatical this term, but I do have an end-of-month writing deadline, which turns out to have the same effect.You don’t need me to tell you what work-related stressors prevent you from getting enough sleep. But having named the problem, and having acknowledged the crippling effects of sleep deprivation on our performance and our health, and before looking for solutions, it seems right to ask out loud: What are the stressors in academia that kill our sleep, whether by introducing physical pain, or by keeping our brains in fight-or-flight mode, or by simply filling too many hours?
Flipping the Classroom: Don’t Sweat the TechniquePosted on May 12, 2014 by Richard NewtonFor those unfamiliar, the flipped classroom reverses the conventional teach-in-class/learn-at-home approach. Instead teachers introduce content in homework lessons, and students practice the material in the classroom. In theory, this will encourage more hands-on learning when students and teachers meet together. With the help of dynamic media, students can interact with content beyond the level afforded by the traditional lecture experience.Truth be told this is not a novel idea. Math and science educators, for instance, have been implementing this for the past 20 years. Humanities professors frequently harbor anxiety over what it means for our praxis….