[tips] Random Thoughts: The Three "-Tudes"

From them, I discovered seeds that had unknowingly found fertile soil and thrived. Seeds that had sprouted, had become deeply rooted, and had bloomed far beyond the confines of the classroom walls, the end of the term, and the completion of the college experience into the distant

[tips] Random Thought: A Serendipitous Moment

I was savoring a cup of Tanzanian Peaberry coffee by the koi pond early this non-walking morning. Images of a chance meeting the other day, a serendipitous meeting, with a past student I’ll call Bob in Lowes kept dancing across my mind. I was struggling to recover, retain, and savor

[tips] More on "Think 'Naked'"

It’s about 7:00. Slowly, the night’s blackness is starting to be pushed away by the approaching gray of dawn. I’ll go out for my 7 mile walk in a few minutes when the sun is fully above the horizon and I can see when I’m going. This dawning morning, sipping another cup of freshly

[tips] Random Thought: Think "Naked"

Been off the grid for a while. Maybe it’s a combination of the colder than normal winter blahs, lots of holiday travel, futile struggling to rescue my freeze ravaged tropical koi garden, just not being in the mood, or whatever. Anyway, no, this isn’t a porn piece. It’s about a

[tips] Random Thought: "Just Joking Around"

Well, it’s that time of the term when the Scroogey, bah humbug “student blooperers” are out in full force all over the cyber world, and so many in academia do themselves an injustice whenever, however briefly, they are suspending their charitable holiday spirit. During my

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Classroom, XI

Couldn’t sleep. I guess I was still thinking about a student I’ll call Dave into whom I bumped a few days ago about on the back leg of my walk. We had an interesting conversation that I’ll tell you about at a later day. For now, he gave me more of an answer to the professor who kept

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "awe-full" Classroom, X

How to respond to a less than empathetic query from a professor. I’ve been pondering her dismissal questions for quite a while. Yeaterday, as I worked to come out from the fogs of my Thanksgiving tryptophan overdose on my 7 mile meditative power walk, I started thinking about

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Classroom, IX

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Was the Bard right? Maybe. Then, again, maybe not. What we see depends on what we’re looking for. If you’re looking for proof of “don’t belongs,” you’ll find plenty of evidence that they are.

[tips] Random Thoughts: Fro an "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Classroom, VII

Please don’t think that I am flagellating myself when I talk of my 1991 life-changing epiphany. I am not. Painful as it was, I was experiencing that biblical adage: the truth shall set you free. Boy, did it. It was the beginning of coming to terms with myself by acknowledging,

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Classroom, VII

You know, when I talk of seeing a class as an “awe-full” gathering of “sacred ‘ones,’” I have to make a confession. It was not always so. For the first 25 years of my career in higher education I always had proclaimed that “I care about students.” And, I believed it. After all, I

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Classroom, VI

I should really title this reflection “Behavioral Teaching” because I’m asking what’s the difference between an “awful” and “awe-full” perspective a professor has of students? Possibly it’s a question of a lack of academic imagination and subsequent expectations. Possibly it is

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to and :Awe-full" Classroom, V

I was sitting for more than a few minutes on the concrete fence of a bridge, my early morning meditative walk interrupted, arms folded, head bowed, eyes closed, waiting for the long and slow freight train to pass, holding my inner silence against invading attempts of the relentless

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Classroom, IV

Boy, did I have to run for my fire extinguisher to douse the searing flames that jumped out from a message I recently received. “….Emotions have no place in the classroom. My task is to be totally objective, to be devoted to my discipline, to solely disseminate information, and to develop

[tips] Random Thought: From An "Awful" to an "Awe-full" Class, III

I’d like to make six quick points off the bat. First, most classroom professors were not intensely trained as future classroom teachers; they were intensely trained as future research and publishing scholars. Second, despite the herculean and dedicated efforts of so many Teaching and

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full Class, II

It’s 4:15 am. Can’t sleep. Brewed a cup of coffee. Still thinking about “awful” versus “awe-full.” There’s a quieting, transcendant feeling in holding a cup of freshly brewed coffee early in the morning, looking at the dark sky getting slowly painted with a palette of color as it

[tips] Random Thought: From an "Awful" to an "Awe-full Class, I

It’s dawn. The sky is greying with the coming day’s light. I just came in from slowly sipping a cup of freshly brewed coffee by the koi pond. As I gazed at the barely visible graceful sweeping moves of the koi and listened to the music of the waterfalls, I thought of the urgent

Re: [tips] Test Message

Got it. Sent from my iPhone On Jul 18, 2017, at 2:10 AM, Riki Koenigsberg > wrote: I got it. Riki Koenigsberg On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 1:24 PM, Bill Southerly > wrote: Dr. Bill

Re: [tips] Dear "Herr Professor Doktor"

t; Canada > 43.773895°, -79.503670° > > chri...@yorku.ca > http://www.yorku.ca/christo > ... > > On May 14, 2017, at 10:47 AM, Louis Eugene Schmier <lschm...@valdosta.edu> > wrote: > >> Stuart, as I respect yors. However

Re: [tips] Dear "Herr Professor Doktor"

; > > > > ___ > > > > > -Original Message- > From: Louis Eugene Schmier [mailto:lschm...@valdosta.edu] > Sent: May 14, 2017 10:33 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences

Re: [tips] Dear "Herr Professor Doktor"

Stuart, based on my personal and professional experience, supported by the research on learning, I’ll have to respectfully disagree. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org 203 E. Brookwood Pl

[tips] Random Thought: Soft Teaching, VII

I want to back up in this reflection. So, let me remind you of those three penetrating questions that spewed from my epiphany: “Do you want to let go of the influence of those debilitating parts of your life?” “Do you want a new future?” “Do you have it in you to do what has to be

[tips] Random Thought: Soft Teaching, VI

So, what were some of those lessons of the transforming process that led me to “soft teach” which I had to learn and take to heart? First, the overall lesson. I had an explosive epiphany in the autumn of 1991 that would turn out to be my springtime only if I admitted that I had to do

[tips] Random Thought: Soft Teaching, V

I just read Parker Palmer quoting a line from the poem by Maya Spector titled “JAILBREAK." It struck a cord, and I, thinking of this series on “soft teaching” and “soft living,” presumptuously wrote him the following :“You quote the line: ‘Why make a cell your home when the door

[tips] Random Thought: Soft Teaching, IV

You know, Cicero said nothing people do that more approaches the gods than being a healer. I don’t think “soft teachers” are far behind. “Soft teaching” is a pledge, a moral act, a value system, a covenant, an ongoing connection, and a “we” consciousness. "Soft teaching” at its core

[tips] A Long Random Thought: "Soft Teaching," III

Oh Winter, where are you? Had I to spray myself with “No Natz” to ward off the swarms of attacking mosquitos and harassing gnats! It’s February! We’re supposed to have no need for “No Natz.” We’re supposed to shiver, not sweat. The heater is supposed to be running, not the AC.

[tips] Random Thought: "Soft Teaching," II

I was all spiffed up,—uncomfortable noose of a tie, sports jacket, non-jeans slacks—small talking, waiting for the dining room doors to open. It was the community’s “Law Enforcement Appreciation Dinner” sponsored by the Rotary Club. Someone, passed by me, whom I’ll call Jim (not

[tips] Random Thought: Soft Teaching

There’s a 35 degree chill in the dawning air. A slight fog is muting the sharp lines of everything. Wisps of steam are rising from my freshly brewed cup of coffee. Standing by the Koi pond, listening to the soft music of the water falling off the rocks and seeing the smooth,

[tips] A Long Random Thought: Burnout, V

And, the conversation continued: “You want to know how to prevent burnout? Based on recent research and my experience, I say: bring the classroom down to earth. Listen to Carl Jung and put aside your formal theories and intellectual constructs and axioms and statistics and

[tips] Random Thoughts: Burnout, IV

So, another piece of my conversation with this professor about her fear of burning out: “I think the biggest challenge you have, that I once had, that any of us have, is not to learn how to fuel or rekindle the flame, but to unlearn what it is that’s emptying the tanks. We

[tips] Random Thoughts: Burnout, III

It’s a tad before dawn. Can’t sleep. Finally, there's a chill in the air. Sipping freshly brewed coffee. Standing by the koi pond. Listening to the music of the waterfall. At last, I’ve come out from the thick fog of a Thanksgiving Tryptophan overdose that had sent me into a

[tips] Random Thought: Burnout, II

I had to interrupted my response to the professor who was worried about burnout and go grocery shopping. I’ve been doing that for the last four weeks, along with cleaning the house, straightening up, doing the wash, cooking meals, and most important, taking care of Susie. She’s has

[tips] Random Thought: Burnout

I interrupt my response to the professor who disowned me because I asked “too many” questions about the Ivory Tower. I had received a message from another professor, one sentence of which read: “You call yourself an ‘enthusiast.’ How did keep yourself fired up without burning out?

[tips] Random Thought: How "High" Is Higher Education?

To continue my answer to the professor who was disdainful of my raising questions about academia: “We both are scholars. Curiosity is name; questioning is our game. The quest to find the answers to our queries is the spring well of our research and publication, if not our promotion

[tips] Random Thought: Questions

I thank some of you for missing me and asking after my health. I know. I haven’t shared a thought since the end of September. Susie and I have had a series of “distractions.” First, it was over three weeks in Boston caring for both her brother and his wife. Then, we came home for a few

[tips] Random Thought: "SLM," aka What Does Love Got To Do With It? Part III

As this professor exemplified, academics and emotion have a rocky relationship. As a result, academia is a tough culture in which to talk of faith, hope, and love. Those three words are hard for some academics. It's a culture that traditionally says paradoxically with great emotion

[tips] Random Thought: "SML," aka What Does Love Have To Do With It? Part II

To continue this discussion with the professor: "If you're telling me I have to love each student unconditionally," this professor cynically exclaimed, "that's impossible! Too many students haven't earned it and don't deserve it, and I won't do it!" "No," I answered,

[tips] Random Thought: What's Love Got To Do WIth It?

So, I get this message from a mid-western professor criticizing me as being an "impractical, emotional, dreamy eccentric." I don't think she meant that as a compliment. Nor was one of her other comments. She asked me one question. It was: "Really! What does love have to do with the

[tips] Random Thoughts: Proverbs 4:23, Part IX

Well, having survived Hurricane Hermine's attempt to smash the house to smithereens and blow us into munchkinland, I return with the last part of my series of reflections on the meaning of Proverbs 4:23 for the classroom. "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it

[tips] Random Thought: Proverbs 4:23, Part VIII

Well, after nearly three weeks of spoiling my West Coast grandmunchkins rotten, I'm back home. From the fresh, cool, tolerable breezes of the San Francisco area to the still, hot, muggy, buggy, nearly intolerable air of Valdosta. Fresh breeze and stagnate air are good metaphors for

[tips] Random Thought: Proverbs 4:23, Part II

I told you, didn't I, that this reflection on this passage in Proverbs for teaching so grabbed me that it became a long inner journey. Like all my reflections, I lived in it. It was a deliberate vagabonding that was so deep and extensive that I had to cut it up into a bunch of parts.

[tips] Random Thought: Proverbs 4:23, Part VI

To continue. "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life" Viktor Frankl tied hope and meaning together. He said that without hope there is no meaning and without meaning there is no hope. To that, I would add faith and

[tips] Random Thought: Proverbs 4:23, Part V

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life" Those words are about what Thomas Merton said: "Everything that is, is holy." Don't miss that. Accept that. It takes away the impulse to be judgmental; accept that, and you won't

[tips] Proverbs 4:23, Part IV

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life." You know, all my degrees, titles, positions, publications, workshops, and grants don't approach being all there is of me. They are only a part of my being. They sure aren't the whole of my wholeness.

[tips] Random Thought: Proverbs 4:23, Part II

So, to continue. To be honest, I've looked at that passage many times. This past time, however, I couldn't stop, didn't want to stop, reflecting on the meaning it had for my teaching and my life in general. But, that rumination ran much too long. So, I've cut it into a number of

[tips] Random Thought: Proverbs 4:23, Part I

Sometimes, what I call those "you just don't ask" happenings occur in rapid fire succession. First, there was a simple June 14th FaceBook message from a student who was in class over 20 years ago, part of which read, "I'm at this crossroadsIf you have the time I'd love to chat with

[tips] Random Thought: Three Words

It was toasty yesterday morning: 81 degrees, humidity 64%, heat index 89. And that was at 6:30 am before the sun came up! Stinging salty sweat flowed over my headband and dipped into my eyes. My vision soon blurred as if I was looking under water, as I was. Salt stalagmite quickly

[tips] Random Thought: Magic Things

Susie and I have gotten the Avalon back from the auto body shop. Sitting in the driveway cosmetically brand spanking new, it refreshed visions of that sudden high speed sideswiped hit-and-run, a spinout at 75 mph, and coming to rest on the highway's shoulder a few feet from the steep

[tips] Random Thoughts: Gardening and Teaching, V

After all these weeks, I still can't get Shawn out of my head? Well, for one thing, like him, I, too, was once considered a weed, labelled by my high school teachers as the "graduate most likely not to succeed," persecuted as a student by many professors in academia and even executed

[tips] Random Thought: Gardening and Teaching, III

Still thinking of gardening as an appropriate metaphor for teaching, especially at this time of the year as I do my Spring fertilizing, pruning, dividing, planting, and transplanting. Still thinking of Shawn during my nearly 7 mile power walk a few days ago. That every-other-day walk

[tips] Random Thought: Gardening and Teaching, III

I know. I just wrote a Random Thought only two days ago, but in my defense I'm still thinking of that brief but profound conversation with Shawn's mother. In the classroom, my unconditional faith, hope, and love was revealed in how I stood for the likes of the Shawns in the classroom

[tips] Random Thought: Gardening and Teaching, II

It was late Monday afternoon, about a week and a half ago. I had closed the synagogue after sitting around answering phone requests to reserve tickets to the congregation's upcoming locally heralded annual Kosher corned beef sandwich sale. The last call of the day sent me into a

[tips] New Book On Teaching

My new Ebook is live on Kindle. It's an anthology of selected Random Thoughts on teaching that I've shared over the past 23 years. I gave it the title of Faith, Hope, Love: The Spirit of Education. And, I priced it at a modest $6.99. I hope you'll give it a look. To whet your appetite, here's

[tips] Random Thought: Significant-Other

Yeah, I know. I haven't shared a reflection in almost four months. There are reasons. First, I was concentrating on putting together an Ebook, a tome-like anthology of selected Random Thoughts that I've decided to title Faith, Hope, Love: The Spirit of Education. I just finished proofing

[tips] Random Thought: What I have Learned

It's 4:30 am--I think. I hate this time change. Can't sleep. Still recovering from blepharoplasty, or eyelid and eyebrow surgery to correct my continued loss of peripheral vision. Not allowed to do anything. Anything!! Do you realize what you can do if you'er not allowed to lift

[tips] Random Thought: A Classroom Truth

I was reading Daniel Goleman's "A Force For Good" and decided that in the words of David Brooks, we all should be "personalists." It's best described as emotional self-regulation. We should scrub daily our hearts and minds and souls clean with the soap of compassion by practicing, in

[tips] A Long Random Thought: Unbelievable Serendipity

So, I'm sitting here, recalling a memory jogged by my chance meeting with TJ, born of unbelievable serendipity in Boston, to keep my mind off of achy and stingy staples in my scalp and ghoulish raccoon eyes that are "gifts" of very recent eye surgery to restore my declining peripheral

[tips] Random Thought: A Chance Meeting

Susie and I were in a local restaurant the other evening. We were sitting there, looking at the menu. A server from another table looked at me and asked, "You Dr. Schmier?" "Last time I looked," I answered with an impishly grin. The server smiled back. "That was

[tips] Random Thought: A Meeting Place

Still thinking of my conversation with Crystal, I thought: What determines status on our campuses? Degrees? Titles? Scholarly resumes? Professional renown? Or, is it simply, but profoundly, personal goodness as a result of personal belief and personal effort. My

[tips] Random Thought: Go Take A Walk

Maybe I should titled this Random Thought, "Take Some M & Ms, IV." Anyway, no, I'm not dismissing you when I say, "Go take a walk." I was in a brief discussion on FaceBook, about a Washington State professor who outlaws the use of "offensive" terms, among which are "male" and

[tips] Random Thought: For Your Age?

Well, yesterday morning I heard that dreaded three word it again. This time I heard it on the back three miles of my six mile route. Power walking at about a 13 1/2 minute mile clip, a jogging VSU footballer came up on me and in the course of a short panting conversation said it,

[tips] Random Thought: Enormity in the Classroom

Well, it happened last Sunday afternoon. I bumped into a young (at my age they are all starting to look young) middle aged man at Home Depot, what Susie calls this DIYer's home away from home, who came up to me, extended his hand, introduced himself as John (not his real name), and

[tips] Random Thought: Take Some M Ms, III

No walking today for me. I'm in a reflecting and sharing mood because of what one professor wrote me. I'll just say that I have found that there is a great concrete value, void of fluff, to meditation and mindfulness for the classroom. Meditation is about becoming mindful of myself,

[tips] Random Thought: Take Some M Ms, II

All those exercises, and a few more, that I've mentioned in the last few refections--Teacher's Oath, Just Like Me, My Word of the Day, My Word For the Day, Raisins, Water Diary, Draw It, One, Three, Five--why do them? And, what do they have to do teaching? The answer is simple.

[tips] Random Thoughts: Take Some M Ms, I

No, I'm not advocating you go off on a chocoholic's wild sugar kick devouring those delicious little chocolate filled multi-colored candy shells (I go for the blue ones). Just the opposite. And, no, from personal experience, I'm not offering any atmospheric or banal musings. Just the

[tips] Random Thought: Just Like Me, II

The clock read 4:47 a.m. I leaned over and, in my first act of gratitude for the day, softly kissed my sleeping angelic Susie on her smooth cheek. Got out of bed. Dressed in my neon walking outfit as my second act of gratitude. Brewed a cup of fresh coffee. Looked at the weather.

[tips] Random Thought: Just Like Me, I

Well, it happened again. This time, last Saturday, during intermission of The Little Maid summer stock production at the University. Out of the blue, in front of Susie, a young lady comes up to me, surprise written on her face, letting out a Dr. Schmier, introduces herself while

[tips] Random Thought: Absorption Span

It happened at horse camp last week. I was idly leaning on the white corral fence watching my three out-of-town grandmunchkins riding. A young lady came over to me. She introduced himself. Let's call her Rogette. She extended her hand. With a tear in her eye, she held mine tightly

[tips] Random Thoughts: Faith, Hope, Love, VI

Went out early on the streets this morning amid Noel Coward's mad dogs and Englishmen. But, trust me, his noonday sun doesn't hold a candle to South Georgia's brutally blazing summer morning sun: 82 searing degrees, 84% swampy humidity. For an hour and a quarter, I fast walked six

[tips] Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love, V

So, let's talk some more about faith, hope, and love in the classroom by reflecting about my recent experience outside the classroom. Susie and I just returned from two weeks of family care-giving in Boston. As I settled in my cramped seat on theplane a warm wash came over me. My eyes

[tips] Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love, IV

You know, sometimes I hate Isaac Newton, or, at least, his devotees who advocated that everything is a machine and is governed by intelligible, universal, and immutable laws. I say this because the scholarship of teaching and learning has turned the classroom in a Newtonian

Re: [tips] Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love, IV

want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \don't practice on mole hills - / \_ On May 6, 2015, at 12:49 PM, Christopher Green wrote: On May 6, 2015, at 7:57 AM, Louis Eugene Schmier

Re: [tips] Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love, IV

Jim Clark Professor Chair of Psychology University of Winnipeg 204-786-9757 Room 4L41 (4th Floor Lockhart) www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark -Original Message- From: Louis Eugene Schmier [mailto:lschm...@valdosta.edu] Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 11:55 AM To: Teaching

Re: [tips] Professor flunks class

Key word is apparently. Somehow I think there's a lot more to this story. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org 203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta, Ga

[tips] Two Line Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love IV

Wednesday, I heard from Arizona (her real name). She is a former student from years back who is now a high school teacher. Among the things she said was, Doc, you've written a lot lately about faith, hope, and love in the classroom. And, you said you'll write more. Of course,

[tips] Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love II

After I decided to scrap the title of my book of selected Random Thoughts, A Dictionary of Teaching, for my new title, Faith, Hope, Love, I read a comment made by Tyrion Lannister of GAME OF THRONES. “Power resides, he said, where men believe it resides.” Five things occurred over the

[tips] Random Thought: Faith, Hope, Love

With the exception of my eldest grandmunchkin's Bas Mitzvah in mid-February, I've been feeling off-balance for the last two months. My brother-in-law, Stan, died immediately after that last Random Thought on gratitude. He was one of the good guys; as my son, Robby, said, There should

[tips] Random Thought: Micro Nonviolence

Tomorrow we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Having been in the civil rights movement, I slowly began to discover that there are always other ways to experience the world and to act in it, and to refuse to accept the than the dominant this is the way it is reality. In that

[tips] Random Thought: Money and College Sports

Rant alert!! I'll be brief. It's the day after the college championship football game, and I am in a gr mood. I've been gnashing my teeth lately. A lyric has been swirling in my angry head: Money makes the world go round, the world go round, the world go round.

[tips] Random Thought: A Reprint

I was reading in today's Valdosta newspaper of a presentation made by the University's President, whom I highly respect, to the local Rotary Club. Something jumped out at me. According to this article, all he talked about was the University becoming a center for pure and applied

[tips] Random Thought: A Metaphor For Life In Wood, Stone, and Marble

Lately, in the midst of the season of frantic candle lighting, gift buying and baking, wrapping, and mailing, I've been pensive. My brother-in-law, my dearest friend, whom I've known since the days before he met my sister when we roomed together back in the early sixties at UNC, is in

Re: [tips] And a tip o' the sun to ye too.

Annette, you may do the darkness of December a disservice. Consider how more alert you are, how your senses are turned up, how attuned you are to sound and touch and danger when it’s late at night and you can’t find the light switch, and you’re groping your way. I think the paradox is that

[tips] Random Thought: Whisperer

I hope you all in the United States had a joyous Thanksgiving with your families. Susie and I sure did. We had a too brief family reunion as we traveled to Nashville where my son, Robby, the chef, and his family lives, and my other son and his family flew in from San Francisco. You

[tips] Random Thought: Abundance and Scarcity

Abundance. I was thinking about abundance what with Thanksgiving being but a few days away. I was also thinking of the bah, humbug Scrooge-like impoverishment of that professor's attitude about whom I wrote last Thursday. I always say that in the classroom, supported by such research

[tips] Random Thought: A Chance Meeting

It was a good walk this morning. In the fifth mile of my six mile roundtrip, I didn't realize what was about to happen. This is what I best remember. I was moving along at my usual fast pace, abreast of the Phys Ed building, when I heard voice shout out behind me, Dr.

[tips] Random Thought: Life Savvy

Without getting into the out-of-control imbalance and hypocrisy of college sports, higher education makes its appeal to students in an unbalanced and distorting way. It advertises itself in economic language, not in social or cultural or moral language. It sells itself as a producer

[tips] Random Thought: What Really Matters

Saturday is my 74th birthday. It has become a sober as well as a celebrating time for me. For the past seven years, before the elated moments of celebrating with Susie, and the joyous gorging myself on her cheesecake, I always feel deeply introspective, dive real deep, about my

[tips] Random Thought: Believing Is Seeing, III

How does that saying go? In the strangest places at the strangest times in the strangest manner. Yesterday I had a luncheon coffee clutch with my friend James Martinez from the College of Education. It was the first time in over a year that I stepped on campus other than going to a

[tips] Random Thought: Believing Is Seeing, II

We aren’t really the very rational, objective creatures so many of us academics profess to be. You think only subjective emotions lead us astray? You think we don't have what I'll call cognitive biases? Think again. Those biases are called labels, stereotypes, generalizations,

[tips] Random Thought: Real Mother Lodes of Teaching

Still thinking of Sam, the Reverend Sam. In the course of our conversation, he said something like, you saw us beyond the label 'student' as individual human beings This has gotten me thinking over the last few days. We let so many labels reduce or even block human contact: average,

[tips] Random Thought: What Academia Needs

What is this? Are they standing in line? Well, yesterday morning, I bumped into another past student, whom I'll call Sam, at the DIY store. When I told Susie, she giggled, Another experience, huh? She wasn't kidding. Do you know what Sam and talked about, mostly Sam? Love!

[tips] Random Thought: Peacefulness

Well, I bumped into another past student in my favorite DIY store. It seems to be happening every day. Then, again, after having taught at the University for over 46 years, maybe the entire town had gone through class with me. Anyway, this past student, whom I'll call James, and I had

[tips] Random Thought: Believing Is Seeing

Well, I'm still in a introspective mood that I find myself getting into during the reflective times of Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur. In this instance, a few days ago I was talking with a colleague here at my university who was lamenting that students are getting in my way of his

[tips] Random Thought: Hear My Voice

Days of Awe, of Fear and Trembling, of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), are upon we of the Jewish faith. As I sat in synagogue Thursday, listening to the supplications of the soulful prayer, Avenu Malkenu, asking hear our voice. I asked myself,

Re: [tips] Women's Skirt Size Causes Cancer!!!

I think we're skirting the issue? And, it's past Friday!! Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org 203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta, Ga 31602 (C)

Re: [tips] Women's Skirt Size Causes Cancer!!!

Mike what about the variable to mini, midi, maxi? Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org 203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta, Ga 31602 (C) 229-630-0821

[tips] Random Thought: Teaching is….

I got a call yesterday morning from an high school teacher who was in the Holocaust class with me as a student a few years ago. After exchanging pleasantries, part of our conversation went something like this: Doc, another reason I'm calling is that I'm in a jam. I was

[tips] Random Thought: Walk and Talk, II

As part of this discussion I had recently mentioned, I explained to a bunch of complaining professors that teaching has a gleaming, but masking, veneer to it. To make something seem simple is very complex; to make teaching a giving of yourself takes a lot of self-possession; to make

[tips] Random Thought: Talk and Walk

Hot, hot, hot! I went out before the sun came up and it was still 82 degrees with a heat factor of 89! That heat factor was high because it was also wet, wet, wet! It was so humid I was swimming more than walking my 5 1/2 miles, and I discovered why they call this week Shark Week.

[tips] Random Thought: Respectful Listening

Haven't really been interested in sharing lately. I've had another thing on my heart and mind. These haven't been the best of times. But, they sure have been testing times. I've been focused, maybe distracted is a good word, or concerned is a better word, or maybe consumed is the

[tips] Random Thought: fulness v. lessness

I've always found that my experiences are formed by the words and ideas I attach to them. That is, if I name, or attach the meaning of, fun to my teaching rather than work, it made all the difference between labor of love and laboriousness, between happiness and unhappiness, between

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