I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~William Penn~
During a time of very bad news coming out of our court systems, Kuciembra v. Victory Woodworks, decided earlier this month, is especially worrisome. How worrisome? Well, I’m pretty doom and gloom about COVID and climate change, and this depressed even me. I don’t see how we survive if we adopt the logic of this... Continue Reading →
Let me dream, for a minute, that this was the email we were all getting this week: Dear faculty, Thank you for your service during the Spring 2020 semester. The quick pivot to remote teaching was a reminder that excellent teaching remains the heart of the university. As in-person social activities fell away, your classes... Continue Reading →
An unusual turn here at Any Good Thing and a break from my short break online: a letter to my local school board. I live in a state with D+ rating on its COVID handling, in a county with community spread (and death yesterday), and in a region where most counties have rejected our governor's mandate... Continue Reading →
"You can't be neutral on a moving train" is the title of radical historian Howard Zinn's autobiography. It's a reminder that if we stand still as the world moves, we move in the same direction as the world, even though we experience ourselves as stationary. It's the same when we teach in the classroom and... Continue Reading →
This post originally appeared at Sixoh6, where I'm a contributor. Joe Biden won the 2020 election in part because he promised voters $2000 relief checks--and I say "relief," because, for many people, they are simply rent checks. A one-time payment of $2000 will pay for rent for a month or two or for two or... Continue Reading →
This post originally appeared at Sixoh6, a blog about politics, religion, family, and culture that I contribute to. The impeachment trial asks whether the president can be held responsible for the violence he incited others to do. While the attack at the US Capitol is the violence under consideration now, Trump supporters used the same... Continue Reading →
It's midterm time in higher ed in the US, and I'm hearing from colleagues who are frustrated by what they describe as a lack of engagement in students. High rates of absenteeism and missing work are the main complaints, but some college-level educators are worried about a general lack of preparation, including understanding the high... Continue Reading →
What are your favorite teaching tips? What do they have in common?
Stressing that this is a violation of integrity that won't be tolerated will likely cut down on such behavior.
This post is narrowly focused on my Social Problems course, which I revamped substantially last year in the face of COVID to provide students with more examples of social problems being ameliorated, something we did via service learning pre-COVID that wasn’t possible now. During a time of continual crisis, I found that my students benefited... Continue Reading →
Rebecca Barrett-Fox 