Have you considered submitting a program proposal for the 2010 Teaching Professor Conference? You should and you’ll find all the information you need to do so at www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/proposals. The deadline for program proposals is October 31, 2009.

What makes students hate group work? A 2003 study found that getting a poor grade on a group project and having a free-rider in the group were the two factors most highly predictive of negative attitudes toward group work. Students want to be in groups where the work is shared equally—don’t we all? So what can teachers and students do to handle the problem of group members who do not do their fair share of the work?

The upcoming October issue of The Teaching Professor contains a thoughtful essay on the value of “modeling stupidity.” I know, it doesn’t sound like something any self-respecting professor should do, certainly not regularly. What the author advocates is being able to honestly admit to students when you don’t know something and regularly acknowledging how much there is to know and how little of it even highly educated professors know.

I got my book finished last week ... packed up and mailed off. Letting go of something you’ve worked on that hard for so long is difficult, at least it is for me. But I wanted to share two experiences relevant to the finishing up and sending off.

I’m reading a great book. This probably won’t be the only blog entry about it. The title is long: Why Don’t Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions about How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. The cognitive scientist, Daniel T. Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, writes about how the mind works to an audience of basic educators. Even so, the book clearly and compellingly explains mental functions equally relevant in the college classroom. Here’s an example.

On the road again this week, I was listening to a talk show in which callers were invited to talk about taking their kids to college for the first time. Having never done this myself, it does sound like an emotional letting-go moment. But what impressed me even more were the high expectations these parents have for college experiences. Yes, most of them did mention hopes that their child would fit in, find friends, and have as one mom described it, “a wholesome social life.” Also true, most of them did mention career goals—the hope that college will prepare students for professions that pay well and for professions where there will be jobs. All that I expected.

“If the shift from the instructional to the learning paradigm is to have a lasting impact on education, it must influence not only how people think about teaching but also how teaching is evaluated. Evaluation is one of the primary means by which an institution conveys what is valuable and important to its members. If institutions fail to emphasize student learning in their evaluation practices, they will find it very difficult to promote a focus on student learning. Evaluation practices must be aligned with and support the learning paradigm.” (p. 345)

I’m teaching a young woman to knit socks. She’s a beginning knitter, and socks aren’t the easiest place to start when you’re still a bit tentative about the basic knit and purl stitches. But she “really, really” wants to do socks and so that’s what we’re doing.

I’m trying out content from my new book at some of the workshops I’m doing this month. The discussion we had about teaching style and teaching personae at Georgia State College and University got me thinking more about the topic. I’m convinced useful distinctions can be made between the two.