Quote of the Day
“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Lily Tomlin
The Evolution of The Lecture
Why are there lectures? Could we live without them? Who ordered them anyway? These are important questions that many students have thought about vaguely, but they deserve more serious consideration. The “lecture” derives from the medieval university. In those days, before the printing press, access to educational materials was defined by a model of scarcity:…
Vitalizing Music History – or How (Not) to Teach the Canon
Today’s guest author is Hannah Lewis, a fifth year PhD student in the Music Department, and former Head TF for the General Education course “American Musicals & American Culture.” Vitalizing Music History Teaching (James R. Briscoe, ed. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2010) is one of very few recent edited volumes on music history pedagogy, and its…
Quote of the Day
“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” – John Steinbeck
Mid-Semester Surveys!
As the College moves out of midterm season and into the second half of the semester, now is an important time for professors and teaching fellows to reflect on how the class is going. I assure you, students are definitely doing so. Putting up a brief midterm course survey on the iSite (or handing it out in…
Beyond Critical Thinking: Curious Questioning
Today’s post was written by John Girash, Associate Director at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. John poses some additional thought on our Oct. 3rd ‘Curiosity’ post – this time without the unique facial hair. As teachers we often think of questions as the beginning of discovery, and critical thinking as the end goal…
Harvard Shorts screening on October 23rd
Teaching with Technology: A peek at the 2012 PITF fair
Want to know what’s new in classroom technology? On August 16th the Bok Multimedia team visited the End-of-Summer PITF fair to scope out the projects that were developed for the Fall term. The PITF (Presidential Instructional Technology Fellowship) program supports Harvard courses by developing digital and technological materials to be integrated into the curriculum. This…
Quote of the Day
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” -Henry Ford
Last Minute Learning: Assessing the All-Nighter
We’ve all been there: you walk into class with an utterly splendid lesson plan. What discussion activities you have planned! What exciting, insightful, yet accessible questions you have prepped! What engrossing and provocative issues you have to discuss! You can hardly wait to begin. Let’s go! And then it all just fizzles out. Your activities…
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