Tag: James Lang

“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

“The enthusiasm of the educators statistically predicted their students’ ratings of enjoyment and perceived value in the subject matter.”

This is the first week in the spring semester at my college, and it’s a critical time for setting the tone and energy level in our classes.  That’s why I’m turning again to James Lang’s excellent book Small Teaching, which focuses on simple ways to apply current research on teaching … Read More

“The surprising result of this research was that self-transcendent purpose produced the strongest driver for students to persist through challenging academic tasks.”

Jim Lang’s wonderful book Small Teaching was the first one I reached for after finishing the profoundly disturbing book iGen last week, which described in precise, scientific terms the characteristics of many of the students who are entering our classrooms this fall. Lang’s book provides many research-based strategies for reaching … Read More