Student Guide Corner

Have you ever heard teachers (or parents) disparagingly call the use of assistive technology a crutch? Can we still see the "crutch" as a negative when it allows a student to read TEN TIMES faster in HALF the amount of time? True story. I worked with a high school student who "eye" read ten pages in four days on her own and then used text to speech ( VoiceDream Reader ) to "ear" read ONE HUNDRED pages in two days . Do the math. That's an impressive difference. And she was independent. Not all crutches are bad. Let's embrace what works and give all students what they need. photo attribution: http://fortyfiedbeauty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/stock_crutches_guy_sm.jpg

I just checked the statistics for this teaching blog.   Sometime over the next day or so, it will likely reach a total of 200,000 page views.   I am always amazed and pleased that so many teachers read these essays.   Since there is no publicity, the word only spreads because readers like you pass along the URL.   Thanks for doing that!!  Whenever you read an idea that you like, I hope you will share it with your colleagues, friends, neighbors, and even your enemies.   I love it when people send me teaching ideas.  Likewise, I appreciate your sharing my thoughts with others.  Teaching ideas should be shared and not hoarded. ** If you have read this blog for long, you know that I am always thinking of possible ways that I can improve my teaching.   I am a big believer that the more ideas you have then the more ideas you will have.  If you have one idea, a second idea may be difficult to produce. ...

I finished my last class of the semester about 18 hours ago.   It was my 45th year in the classroom.   I believe that I taught most of my students a lot of accounting.   I would hope, though, that I helped them see more about life than just my subject matter.   Maybe I am wrong but I think 50 years ago college teachers were interested in more than the pure conveyance of subject matter.   As I look at the weirdness of the current presidential race, I wonder whether we have come to focus too exclusively on subject matter. So, I got up this Saturday morning and sent a final message to my students.   Not sure if it will make them any different but, maybe, in a few cases, they will think about their future lives a bit differently. To:   My Accounting Students From:   JH It's been a great semester (despite all the snow).   I have pushed you hard and you have responded wonderfully well.   No one threw a chair at me and I always consider th...

On Friday morning, April 8, 2016, I will be speaking at the Ohio region meeting of the American Accounting Association on the topic of �Perspectives of High-Quality Teaching.�   If you are in the Cleveland area, I hope you will show up.  I would love to meet you and chat about teaching.   Here�s the URL. http://aaahq.org/meetings/2016/ohio-midyear-meeting ** I am teaching three classes this semester�two Intermediate Accounting II classes and one Financial Accounting class.  I have 78 students.   I realize that some of you teach hundreds but, for me, 78 is a fairly large number.  That provides some challenges when trying to get each student to do outstanding work. I always give three tests every semester and a final exam.   I believe that gives the students a chance to show me what they have really learned.   After the first two tests, I usually have a good group (50-60 percent) who are doing well and have an excellent chan...

If you have read this blog for long, you know that I have two interconnected goals.   --The first is that every teacher should strive to become 5 percent better each and every year.   Never stand still.  Always push yourself to find some area of improvement.   --The second goal is to Experiment-Evaluate-Evolve.   It is that active level of experimentation that leads to improvement.   No improvement is possible without making some change.   You should always be able to look at your current situation and point to specific changes that you are trying and evaluating. If I stopped right now and asked you �what experiments are you trying this semester that might make you 5 percent better,� could you identify one or more?  Experiments work better if they are directed at identified problems.   After nearly 45 years in the classroom, one thing continues to irritate me.   I have many bright young people in m...

Recently, I was invited by Dr. Shannon Orr (Bowling Green State) and Dr. Staci Zavattaro (Central Florida) to participate in an upcoming book project (to be published in 2017 by Palgrave).  They are asking 100 college professors to respond to the question:   What do you wish you had learned back in graduate school? Isn�t that a fascinating idea for a book?   I must admit that I can hardly wait to read it myself and see what the other 99 have to say.  I am always in need of advice.   The question really breaks down to the ultimate life question:   If we had it all to do over with again, how would we do it differently?   That�s a question we should ponder now and then as we consider making changes in our present day life.  You can�t change the past but you do have some control over the present.  Thinking about the past might help us improve the future. I spent several days considering what my honest answer might be....

Last week, the School of Professional and Continuing Studies here at the University of Richmond held its opening meeting for the new semester.   I was asked to give what I would describe as a keynote speech to kick off the semester.  Often, when I am asked to speak in this way, I will present some type of Power Point slide show where I discuss a topic like �My Top Ten Favorite Teaching Tips.�   In truth, I can do those programs fairly quickly and often with good results. However, I decided that I wanted to do something different this time.   Our world has become so cynical and sour.   Every politician with a microphone will stand in front of a crowd and spew anger and hatred.   The news channels do not help as they debate the pros and cons of every single political decision often deriving people who are trying to do their best.   I fully realize that people in every community can be frustrated but I am tired of the sole po...