Mark Thomas

Somebody on here complained that he has to teach very long blocks of time, so I wanted to give a suggestion about this. I created a form on Microsoft Word in which I break my class down into 15-minute increments, and plan what I'm going to do quarter-hour by quarter-hour. The keys are ACTIVITIES, not lecture, VARIETY, going from loud to quiet, group to single, paper-and-pencil to digital, etc. And LOTS OF BREAKS. They need those to regroup, get coffee, smoke, make friends, take care of personal business, and check their phones. Then I put the schedule for the day… >>>

I teach "critical thinking" and "sociology" and "interpersonal communication," and I am APPALLED at the students' incredible lack of knowledge of current events, and also at the incredible rate at which they buy into conspiracy theories and crap like "mermaids" and "haunted houses." I make it my life's work to help them realize that what sneakers Kobe Bryant wore this week, or what Beyonce said last night, IS NOT ALL THAT IMPORTANT! I try to flood them with information that is really valuable. I give a little "quiz" at the beginning of each class, to give credit to those who… >>>