As an undergraduate, I took a seminar dedicated entirely to Ulysses by James Joyce. Joyce’s modernist novel is mystifying, so question marks hung on the ends of students’ contributions. As we ...

Every week, Debra Satz and Paul Brest will host a conversation on potentially controversial topics between experts with opposing opinions. They will look to positively change the Stanford culture to ...

At some point in their career, every teacher will find themselves having a difficult discussion with their students. My first took place not long after I began teaching. It involved one of my students ...

One of Kevin Gannon’s favorite class discussion activities doesn’t involve much talking. Inspired by complete-the-story games in which players each write a line of a tale that builds off a previous ...

When I first started teaching, my attitude toward students who remained silent in discussion classes could be summed up with the words of Bernard Hopkins, the fistic sage of Philadelphia: “Bernard ...

L ectures are boring. Assignments are busy work. And all of that tuition is for this? When Justin Shaffer hears these kinds of complaints from students, he thinks they have a point. He also thinks ...

KQED's Mindshift podcast visits a language arts classroom where an extroverted teacher has developed creative ways of inviting introverted students to share their thinking. When students head back to ...

As college classes start up this fall, instructors are handing out syllabi and pointing students to official platforms for turning in assignments and participating in class discussions. Meanwhile ...

Middle school English teacher Brett Vogelsinger wasn’t always attuned to the needs of introverts. As an extrovert himself, he found it easy to raise his hand and be vocal in school. So when he became ...

It is an important part of a democracy for citizens to be critical thinkers who question the status quo. Do we want to live in a world where youth passively accept media propaganda, submit to dictator ...

OUTSIDE A CLASSROOM IN TONIGHT’S FIVE FOR GOOD. HOW A HISTORIC COMMUNITY THEATER IS WELCOMING STUDENTS FOR FREE TO LEARN THROUGH FILM. GOOD MORNING. HI. WELCOME. COME ON IN, MY FRIENDS. THE DOORS OF ...

I read with interest Anna Broadbent’s essay on the benefits and pitfalls of class participation grades. From my perch as a provost, former dean and former department chair, I find that the grade for ...