Reading about the majestic trees in the northwest corner of the country in The Overstory made me want to learn more about the history of the relationship between the ancient trees and the new settlers who lived and died by the forests. Annie Dillard focuses on the years between 1855 … Read More
Author: Kate Stover
“A good answer must be reinvented many times, from scratch.”
At the heart of this year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Overstory, is the question “How important are trees?” What I love about this book is the way it gives eight answers to that question by telling the stories of eight people who have only one thing in common: a … Read More
“A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing.”
Margaret Atwood continues, “The wastebasket has evolved for a reason.” This morning, a student described how difficult writing was for her. She’s not alone. One thing that hasn’t changed over the decades I’ve worked with students is the expectation that writing should be easier than it is. They’re surprised to … Read More
“But what is the truth of our social existence?”
Why would anyone invest a large percentage of their reading time in Knausgaard’s 3600-page novel? Is it worth it? I started reading it because I was curious about this Norwegian writer’s experiment with a new form of writing, which emphasizes frankness, speed, quantity, and courage. I continued reading because … Read More
“The daily achievement of micro-goals here is key.”
How do you succeed in an environment that rewards intellectual achievement? Get great ideas? Adequate funding? Collaborative colleagues? The answer, according to Donald Hall, is not what you might think. He argues that success in academia depends on thinking strategically about how you spend every hour of your day. Hall … Read More
“We must learn to hold the tension between the reality of the moment and the possibility that something better might emerge.”
Sometimes, it looks like we have two choices: up or down, agree or disagree, fight or flight. There is a third way, though, Parker Palmer reminds us. Instead of trying to resolve every tension quickly, consider “allowing opposing ideas to enrich and enlarge each other until a new vision emerges” … Read More
“The room seemed suddenly very hot and I saw Mrs. Gray’s face rather too close to mine, her eyes wide open and penetrating, her teeth very small and pointed, her skin a smooth apricot colour.”
Why do some novels draw me back year after year, while others – perhaps even more worthy – do not? Maybe, as the NPR commentator noted, returning to books read multiple times is like having a drink with an old friend: a mixture of welcome familiarity and suspicion that … Read More
“The power of poetry is, by a single word perhaps, to instill that energy into the mind which compels the imagination to produce the picture.”
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge gave a series of lectures on Shakespeare in 1811-1812. In this particular lecture, Coleridge says that he considers The Tempest to be “among the ideal” plays because it “appeals to the imagination.” Coleridge believes that Shakespeare does this by inserting “some touch or other which … Read More
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
It’s been a long winter for many of us; we’re weighed down by boots, shovels, and ice scrapers. If you are looking for words of encouragement, consider Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance.” It is (among other things) a pep talk for creative people who are wondering if they can … Read More
“Is there just one more way that you can help keep learners on task, just one more way that you could give them information, just one more way that they could demonstrate their skills?”
It’s easy to think of “accessibility issues” from a deficiency-based perspective. For example, sometimes faculty members are asked to do extra things for students with audio-processing limitations. This new book by Thomas Tobin and Kirsten Behling takes a much different approach. They encourage us to think of creating “just one … Read More
“Since students are more likely to learn when they do their own thinking, it is useful to encourage as many to think independently about a question as possible.”
It’s a well-documented trend: college students are increasingly reluctant to participate in class discussions. Especially during the early weeks of the semester – like now – creating the sort of classroom environment that fosters discussion is a huge challenge. I turned to this classic book by Derek Bruff for … Read More
“For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”
The poet Mary Oliver died this week, and I’m convinced that if we all would take a break to read her poetry, we would be strengthened by it. The level of anger – about the shut-down, the bickering, the brutal weather – is remarkably high right now. Mary Oliver believed … Read More
“Whether teaching or writing, what I really am doing is shepherding revelation; I am the midwife to epiphany.”
It’s the dead of winter, which is a hard time to begin something new. And yet, that’s exactly what those of us who are preparing to start a new semester must do. That’s why this is a perfect time for help from poets. This poetry collection comes from The Courage … Read More
Best Books of 2018: Five Favorites
The books I have recommended most often to my friends this year are:
Pioneers! Strong families! Resourcefulness! I’ve always been drawn to the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I’ve often recommended her books to those who are learning to write memoirs. I’m rethinking all of that after reading Prairie … Read More
“It stands to reason, then, that if we notice similar patterns emerging from psychology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, then they might together help us to understand how human beings learn.”
In the last ten years, research by cognitive psychologists has led to many interesting books on how learning works. And yet, questions about why humans learn the way we do remain. Would a cross-disciplinary approach give us a richer context for understanding what by all accounts is a complex process? … Read More