http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ A personal inquiry into the scholarship of teaching by Michael Arnzen en-us arnzen@setonhill.edu 2008-05-01T19:38:05-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/025576 The "Munch Piñata" pictured above was created by my wife, Renate Müller, as one of the "prizes" students could win in a live "writing contest" held in the final session of my fun "Horror & Suspense Writing" course this semester. She did a knockout job emulating Edvard Munch's "The... 25576@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-05-01T19:38:05-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/025528 I've been reflecting on an approach I consciously employed last week in two different class scenarios -- an online chat with graduate students and in a discussion of a literary reading with advanced writing students -- just to see how it might stimulate the conversation. I launched both by being... 25528@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-04-27T10:30:05-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/025375 I have stopped running a newsletter I used to keep for my journalism/writing students (and also freelance writers), called The Handy Job Hunter for Writers. This newsletter once offered me a place to write articles about some the issues I was teaching, as well as to connect with others in... 25375@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-04-17T18:24:04-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/025248 "...however effectively one 'prepares' for a class, the realities of learning alter the original orientation in a number of creative and unpredictable ways. If the structure is too tight, or the scenario is too predictable, then we move towards a tightly organized outcomes-based approach to learning. We end up... 25248@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Theory 2008-04-09T16:08:29-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/025183 Note: What you are about to read is more about the Donald Trump television show than any college-affiliated apprenticeship (well, unless you count Trump University, of course). I recently employed a version of Trump's "The Apprentice" game show in my "Publication Workshop" classroom on the spur of the moment, and... 25183@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-04-07T18:13:19-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/025006 This afternoon I attended a great Teaching & Learning Forum on our campus on the topic of teaching with technology. Mary Spataro -- our campus technology-enhanced learning guru and Instructional Design pro -- ran a healthy discussion on implementing technology in a way that supports the Seven Principles for Good... 25006@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Theory 2008-03-28T21:12:28-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/024960 ...one question we might ask is: "Do we always know when we are teaching?" I do not think we do. The single most important thing I learned as an undergraduate may have been that I was capable of graduate study. I learned this from a professor who had no idea... 24960@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Theory 2008-03-17T19:09:19-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/024797 Last week in my Horror Writing course (one of my favorite Topics in Creative Writing classes to teach), we looked at the role of the "scream" in horror. I decided this would be a great way to put the "Friday Shout-Out" exercise -- an idea culled from Coyotebanjo's music teaching... 24797@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-03-05T08:10:58-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/024658 I received a message recently from a teacher who hadn't received her order from Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and wondered if I knew how to help. I did a quick search and discovered that ECI -- Educational Communications, Inc. -- ceased all operations in 2007! This came as a... 24658@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ FYI 2008-02-28T13:10:11-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/023023 Sigh. I guess it's almost time to file taxes again. You with me? College-level educators make expenses and sometimes generate income in ways that are different than other professions. Usually a good tax tip book can come in handy for this, especially when you first take on a new tenure-track... 23023@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-02-24T14:20:36-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/022913 I have decided to begin reviewing software, web services, and other technical tools for educators on Pedablogue. Books that focus on teaching strategies/advice and/or educational theory will be considered, as well. I write fair, and extensively analytical, reviews; I expect the average length of reviews to be between 1500 and... 22913@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Pedablogy 2008-02-20T13:31:41-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/023232 "Half my job is asking questions of those who can’t generate questions, in order to model the will to curiosity." -- from "Creative Writers in the Academy," by Orante Churm Churm got me musing over this great line in his otherwise provocatively subversive essay. As a creative writing instructor, I... 23232@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Theory 2008-02-08T23:30:31-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/023022 Last year I signed up for LibraryThing -- a social networking site where book lovers share their personal libraries online. They call it the "largest bookclub in the world." It's actually an intriguing bibliography system, tapping into libraries and bookstores around the globe to pull in information about any given... 23022@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-02-04T23:55:01-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/023014 Just learned about Edublogs magazine -- a new online journal that promises to be useful for teachers who blog or who use blogs in the classroom. It's tied in with edublogs.org and looks to be a good network for this kind of thing, based on the experience people who are... 23014@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-02-01T15:23:45-05:00 http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/022955 I saw myself reflected in the frustrations posted by high school math tacher Amber Arizpe in a recent 43Folders post: "Teacher's Productivity Hampered by Technology.". Arizpe (aka salindger) describes an interesting process: During class, I write out notes on the Elmo. Plain ol’ paper and pen on a notepad. I... 22955@http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/ Praxis 2008-01-29T22:47:19-05:00