As summer comes to an end I once again find myself in “prep week” – that short but essential time to get everything in place so that an amazing semester is inevitable. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year because nothing is set […]
Category: Learning
Things Successful Students Do
We’re whole people. You may have heard the term “work-life balance” before. Personally, I don’t like the use of the term “balance” here because it implies that work and the rest of our lives are somehow opposed to each other. Instead, let’s focus on nourishing […]
The Importance of (Every/No)thing
“Is this on the exam?” “Sort of.” I’d just shown my students how to use trigonometric substitution to simplify the process of integrating functions involving radicals. If esoteric integration techniques aren’t your thing, what you need to know is that there are many of them. […]
Integrity as a Learning Objective
It’s that time of year, writing course syllabi and deciding on the policies that we’ll be living with for the next 15 weeks! One component that always causes me to stop and think is the “Academic Integrity” section of my syllabus. Cheating is more common […]
Fear, Pride, and Exploration
Gripped. That’s the word for it. I’d just climbed three quarters of a route when I found a great place to “rest” – a larger handhold, a few flaky edges for my feet, all on an overhang. I’d hang from one hand and shake out […]
Everyone Around Me is Better than I Am
A couple weeks ago I managed to successfully climb the hardest route I’ve ever completed without falling since I started rock climbing. It’s rated 5.11b, and I spent four different days over a two-month period practicing it before I finally succeeded. During that time, I […]
The Process, Not the Result
“I want to be a millionaire.” “I want to get all A’s this semester,” “I want to lose ten pounds.” We love to set goals for ourselves, dreaming of what life would be like if we just accomplished that next thing. I’m a “big goal” […]
When the World is Out to Get You
We spend a lot of time wishing things were different than they are. I had a bad day on Sunday (I’m thankful that they are few and far between). We had plans to meet a friend for rock climbing. I spent most of the week […]
Are We There Yet?
I taught my first course as a graduate student, during my fifth year in grad school. One thing my advisor was always really great at was making sure his students were funded with research money. However, we ran into a 1-semester gap between contracts that […]
This is What Successful People Do
Stop for a second and think about the three biggest things you’re hoping to accomplish right now. What came to mind? For some of you, you instantly thought of school assignments or work projects that will be finished in the next few days. Others might […]
