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| The energy of our September classrooms is part of what keeps us all in this education game. How do you keep that high-level of energy and student focus as the semester builds and everyone’s busy-ness and distraction sets in? Your November self will thank your September self for thinking ahead about strategies for cultivating student attention throughout the semester. |
Teaching Tips
Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
Teaching: What Students are Saying
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| “I am so excited to be back at Denison and to be using my brain muscles in this way again!”
I heard this last week from a senior who has just returned from an outstanding semester abroad experience but couldn’t stop smiling about being back in our liberal arts setting and digging into her Denison classes. |
On the First Day of Class, Begin with Intrigue
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| Planning the first day of class can be both exciting and overwhelming–so much possibility! Amidst all of our first-day goals, Paul Hanstedt’s article, On the First Day of Class, Begin with Intrigue, encourages us to focus on connecting with our students by setting a tone of curiosity and intrigue that will set you and your students up to work together as a community of thinkers and learners for the semester. |
AI Literacy
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| In the spirit of continuing conversations from today’s (August 18, 2025) Fall Faculty Symposium, here’s some food for thought from Michael G. Wagner: “AI literacy isn’t a new subject to be squeezed into our curriculum; it is a modern expression of our timeless goal as educators: to empower students to think for themselves, question the world around them, and make discerning choices about the powerful tools they encounter.” |
How Can Your Courses be AI Aware?
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| As we enter year three of generative AI, where do you fall on the AI spectrum? Do you want to refuse AI? Adopt it minimally? Or Embrace it? This article, “How Can Your Courses be AI Aware,” links out to resources for making writing classes “AI aware” along each category on the spectrum. For example, if you want to resist AI in your writing classes, do so more intentionally. |
Reaching (Not Just Teaching) Today’s Students: A Communication Cheatsheet
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| As we all gear up for the semester and work on conveying our visions and expectations for our classes in our syllabi, here’s a helpful quick read on how a couple of basic concepts from communication theory can help us to think more intentionally about communicating and connecting effectively with the students we’re teaching in 2025. |
Teaching: Rethinking Assessment- Paper Conferences
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| In my March 25 TTT contribution, I promised some suggestions for rethinking assessment to ensure students are meeting learning goals even if they (mis)use gen-AI to create their high-stakes writing assignments. And in my April 22 TTT contribution, I discussed an example of how I am re-weighting low-risk assessments. As promised, in this edition, I share a new type of assessment I am adding to my writing classes: paper conferences. |
Teaching: Procrastinertia and the Importance of Planned Downtime
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| Procrastinertia. You know that feeling—you’re not actually getting anything done, yet somehow, just the effort of resisting productivity is exhausting. It’s all too familiar as we approach summer, caught between the impulse to rest and the persistent nagging of productivity. Last year at this time, I encouraged you to flip the narrative and schedule your downtime first, treating it as sacred space around which other activities must orbit. |
Teaching: Rethinking Assessment- Reweighting Low Risk
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| In my March 25 TTT contribution, I promised some suggestions for how to rethink assessment. If a high-stakes writing assignment can be adequately created with gen-AI, assessing that piece of writing does not provide an accurate measure of how well a student has met a set of learning goals. Instead, we need to seek additional evidence. |
Teaching: A Simple Hack for Focused Discussions- The Follow-Up List
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| Ever feel that tug of tension when a student asks a really thoughtful question—right in the middle of a tightly timed class? You want to honor their curiosity, but you also know: if you go down that rabbit hole, you may not get where you need to go that day. A detour now and then can be invigorating, sure. |