Where They Are
A philosophy professor friend once told me about the greatest regret he had from all his years in the classroom. Early in an Intro to Philosophy course, he tasked his…
Forget the Valedictorian; Let’s Recognize the Improvetorian
In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try…
Biases and Prejudging Students
The work by Darley and Gross, as documented in their paper, A Hypothesis-Confirming Bias in Labeling Effects, gives a troubling example of how preconceptions can cause an educator not only…
Cookies and Cameras
Each of us came into the world unable to exert any direct influence, unable to even feed ourselves! Some of us were born with the proverbial silver spoon in our…
Laughter Through Tears
Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion. The character of Truvey Jones in Robert Harling’s "Steel Magnolias" A friend recently commented that he’s at the point in life where he’s…
Teaching, Learning, & Environment: Shifting Perspectives
by Dan Apple During my Keynote Address at a Professional Development Symposium, I asked teams of the 130 participants to reflect on three aspects of successful teaching and learning and…
Course Design with AI in Mind (part 1)
We’re hardly the first to tackle this subject and we won’t pretend to have all the answers. But there are a few things we’re relatively sure of, the most critical…
Jam TODAY
In Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Lewis Carroll shares an interaction between the White Queen and Alice. The White Queen tries to hire Alice, offering “Two…
Choosing Celebration Instead of Regret
In Buddhism, desire is thought to be the cause of all suffering. One extremely common kind of desire is regret: the wish for that which is contrary to reality. You…
What Would Future Me Do?
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If so, then the cement between those paving stones is the tired disappointment we feel with ourselves when we…