Every farmer I’ve known – and dad sold tractor tires and I grew up in a SMALL rural ag community – has been a pretty amazing mechanic and maker. The move by big ag companies to restrict farmers from working…
Cell phones
From the article “Child drownings in Germany linked to parents’ phone ‘fixation’” The German Lifeguard Association (DLRG) – the biggest organisation of its kind in the world, providing 40,000 volunteer lifeguards at German beaches, lakes and the coast – has…
Applied Linguistics for the BURN.
I follow Tom Nichols. He’s a bit conservative and crotchety, and his obsession with people in sandals amuses me, but he’s sharp as hell, and not afraid to state his mind. He went to Harvard, which isn’t a bad…
Don’t Judge Others by your Own Values.
I get tired of hearing people ask how many hours I teach then say, “God. I wish I only had to work 15 hours a week.” Bill Self, who coaches KU Basketball, has 40 games a year, and each game…
Advice for students from Comp 1 Profs: part 2
Dave Davis, veteran Prof, provides this advice.
Advice for students in comp -from other profs part 1
Prof. Mathew Schmeer writes: A Few Important Notes About This Class & How I Teach It You are required to do every last iota of the reading and writing assigned, exactly in the format requested in this syllabus, and it…
Andragogy boost from Twitter
We need to write revisions to the natural narratives to see stories from other point of view. I’ve had students do this in the past, but have fallen out of the practice. I recently read on Twitter, “We write from…
Smartphones in class
“Working while receiving texts or email reduces workers’ performance IQ by 10 points“: From the conservative but reliable The Economist. “Study: Allowing smartphones in class lowers grades–even for students who don’t use them” from BigThink.com, a website whose credibility and…
Technology, social media and mental health
I have found, or perhaps my family has informed me, that heavy use of social media on my phone makes me short tempered and unhappy. This is particularly true of my use of Twitter. I had an account I rarely…