It was the last time slot for sessions at The Teaching Professor Conference in Orlando. The room was full with close to 100 faculty attending a session on active learning. But the conference was winding down and people were tired.

I like to arrive in the classroom well before the students. It gives me time to get things organized. I create an entrance table (I use chairs or desks if there's no table) that holds handouts for students to pick up.

I had a terrible time getting to and from The Teaching Professor Conference this year. It was as if all of Delta Airlines conspired against me. I will spare you most of the details, but I ended up with a return ticket that had a 5 p.m. departure from Orlando connecting with a 2:15 p.m. departure from Atlanta (no, I don’t have the a.m. and p.m. mixed up). Apologies were offered for this “computer-generated” error (what kind of software program are they using?). Apologies were not forthcoming for cancelling direct service (permanently) between Atlanta and State College and not being able to get me home to State College on Sunday. I had an airport 125 miles from home.

Now there's an article title that gets your attention -- at least it got mine. The article that follows this title (reference below) is a bit depressing, but the points it makes do constitute worthwhile reminders.

Shelley Reid, an English professor at George Mason University, did a presentation on peer-review at the recent Teaching Professor Conference. (For information about The Teaching Professor Conference, visit www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/index.html.) She has written previously on the topic in The Teaching Professor. I attended her session and was not disappointed. Her thinking about how students can be substantively engaged with each other’s writing is robust and creative. The strategies she proposes avoid the problems that frequently emerge when students are asked to provide each other feedback and, as the title of her session indicates, get “Beyond ‘Good Job, Jenny.’”

I’ve been working on my article library here recently, exchanging paper copies for pdf files. It’s a great chance to re-read significant material. Yesterday it was a 1993 article in the Journal of Chemical Education (despite my humanities credentials, I’ve been a regular reader of this periodical for years) by Kersey Black. I can’t imagine how many times I’ve referred people to the article. At the time of the article Black taught organic chemistry, and in it he describes his growing discontent with lectures that basically re-do text content.

Many faculty incorporate a peer-assessment component in team projects. Because faculty aren’t present when the groups interact and therefore don’t know who’s doing what in the group, they let students provide feedback on the contributions of their group-mates. In addition to giving the teacher accurate information on which to base individual grades, the process gives students the opportunity to learn the value of constructive peer feedback. It’s a skill applicable in many professional contexts.

I recently read two wonderful books on the medical profession, one by Jerome Groopman (How Doctors Think) and the other by Atul Gawande (Better). I’ve been thinking about how closely the tasks of teachers and doctors are aligned.

My blog entries aren’t generating as many responses as I had hoped. Some of you are sending me personal emails ... thanks. Be welcome to share your responses with all of us reading.