Most people identify summer as school holidays. While many students and teachers take the warmest months off, here are three teachers’ anecdotes of their breaks before September.
Troy Van always had questions about his mother’s past, partly because of Delia’s reticence about it. When she passed away two years ago, new details about her emerged from different sources that totally surprised Troy. A history teacher, he’d built his success on honesty and credibility. In the end, if contradictions in Delia’s life taught Troy a lot about himself, he also learned to accept her choices for survival in a turbulent world.
Some colleagues and I find exams to be stressful experiences for college students who usually cram for them. Given viable options to traditional midterm and final exams, we want to try other learning components for the same marks. We’ve shared with each other reasons for choosing learning over testing. Over time, we’ve also seen administration’s interest in making exams optional.
From receiving flowers as a gesture of love to navigating plagiarism debates, Mina shares amusing stories and insight from her experiences as a college teacher. Discovering diverse cultures and challenges students bring to the classroom, she offers a unique perspective on education.