Spring of 2021. I’m walking my son home from school. He’s 7. At the first corner it began. Me, to my son: “You remember you lost video games.” Son: “That doesn’t make sense!” We started walking up the hill. Me: “Nothing could make more sense. You can take off your mask.” Son, removing his mask: […]

This one was a banger. The special issue draws on the popular essay by Arundhati Roy’s popular essay about the pandemic. The idea is that the pandemic represents a unique opportunity for change. In this issue the articles have as their focus the idea that the public education system missed a great opportunity to learn […]

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer I think everyone should read this book. It’s a series of essays from the author, a moss specialist of the Potowatamie tribe. The book is heartfelt, kind, and earnest. It’s an invitation to understand concepts including indigenous science, remembering to remember, the honorable harvest, and all thriving is mutual. It […]

Hey Tennesseeans!  The TN State Department of Education is going to revise its Social Studies standards. ALL OF THEM. They are seeking public input through July 18th. The surveys are linked here.  YOU (yes, you, whoever is being addressed by this written statement), as a citizen, should contribute to this important, civic process!  The content […]

A recent article I co-wrote with Dr. Kathy Greenberg and Dr. Lauren Moret focused on a graduate online course that was “ungraded.” Ungrading is a trendy term used to describe courses that, at minimum, don’t use grades in a traditional way, and, at most, throw grades out the window. A lot gets written about grades […]

I was looking at some webinars shared by a faith-based organization regarding school equity and I saw “Global Climate Justice Teach-in” from Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability was on the list. Only half an hour? I put it on my calendar, sure that when the time came, I would ignore it and do work that […]

There’s a movie my kids watch obsessively, The Secret Life of Pets 2. The main character, Max, a dog, has developed anxiety because he tries to keep Liam, a toddler in his family, safe in a very dangerous world. Sounds familiar…is this movie for kids or their parents? There’s a scene where Max goes through […]

No one has ever asked me to lead prayer, and that’s always been ok with me. I’m pretty private about my praying. But I’m in my fifth year at Carson-Newman, a Christian university, so I guess it was a matter of time. A few weeks ago, Dave McNeely, who is a colleague of mine who […]

One day this summer I took my kids out climbing. Thanks to some friends with keen (obsessive) eyes for rock, I was alerted to some boulders on a strange little greenway installed next to some office parking lots. The boulders range in size from a foot up to around 10 feet. They are limestone, cut […]

Empathy has been the buzz for a while. I already wrote about it once on this blog. It’s a word on a lot of people’s lips. Sympathy has been relegated to being an almost derogatory thing that people who are jerks do. Really they need to step up and be EMpathetic. Empathy is big in […]