What The Best Christmas Movie Ever Can Teach Us About Teaching
A Muppet Christmas Carol is not just the best Christmas movie of all time (Elf being a close second); it is an apotheosis of teaching. Its lessons are simple but important: know your subject, connect with your audience, understand your medium, and prioritize high quality in all of your efforts.
Thanksgiving: The Case for Gratitude
For many of us who work in the sometimes polarizing world of higher education, where the culture is competitive and the pace can be punishing, gratitude is kind of like a big, fancy dinner: it’s a cool idea, but it’s really hard to make time for. Luckily, many of us get a whole 4-day weekend for Thanksgiving, a holiday with thankfulness literally built into the name.
What’s Most Important?
A new year gives us a chance to ask ourselves: what’s most important? Do we want to be “right” or do we want to grow?
“A Christmas Carol” – Hope for All Times
The ubiquity of “A Christmas Carol” is proof that its message of hope resonates with many. If we’re honest, some days we all identify a little with first-act Scrooge, yet we all have a dream to be our best selves. “A Christmas Carol” promises us that things can be better—that we can be better—if we take the time to listen and look inward.
Thankfully, Words Do Have Meaning
We’ve gotten used to a filtered version of reality, one where we can speak our opinions without seeing the immediate effects our words had on others. The thing is, though, our words do have an effect. They impact other people. They can hurt. They can comfort. They are powerful.
Goodbye, Resolutions; Hello, Houseplants!
We have all experienced unimaginable challenges these past two years and no one yet knows how the stress from these past couple of years will affect our lives, but we do know that it will show its effects. In times of uncertainty, we must remember that the human spirit is strong. We are resilient. In the middle of constant stress, like the snake plant, we can find a way to flower.