Guru's Handbook

Man plans. God laughs.
This is a very old saying. It means, in essence, that no plan survives contact with the world.
As teachers, we know this — at least intellectually. But do we embrace it? Do we take the odd twists and turns as we teach with any measure of appreciation? Or do [...]

“Good work, people!”
What does this mean? Good performance? Good effort? Good that the teacher’s class is fully subscribed?
Especially in a large class where inevitably some students are doing better work than others, the student will wonder what, if anything, this statement has to do with them.
Students always have a choice to participate [...]

At one time I had two cats who would hiss and spit and tear about when the other came near. It was quite an impressive show of conflict.
When I moved into a small house the situation became even more unpleasant. I was awoken in the night by furious, exploding encounters.
I began to feed [...]