“We will not succeed in teaching today’s students unless we make a fundamental shift in our thinking: away from preventing distraction and toward cultivating attention.”

While reading James Lang’s newest guidebook for college teachers, I shared one of the ideas with my English 1 students: “Attention is a gift that students and professors give to each other.”  I asked them how their teachers cultivate and sustain their attention.  I got an earful – and their … Read More

“Accept your students with compassion while also holding to the evidence-based truth about race and racism.”

Controlling the tone of difficult conversations is never easy. And yet, it’s especially critical when helping  students gain new perspectives on race. Cyndi Kernahan cites research that shows that making students feel blamed or guilty only leads to backlash, not learning or attitude change (5). Rather than being confrontational, … Read More