What Good Teachers Say

I was looking something up online and happened upon two sites that mean a lot to me. The first was the 826 National site, which I elected to add to my links on the right. That site is meaningful for several reasons, a few of which have to do with my roles and goals as a teacher of writing. One, however, has more to do with my personal history, which happens to include a prolonged stint as a beast of burden for a business just down the street from 826 Valenica, i.e., Harrington Brothers Moving and Storage.

The 826 link led to research Dave Eggers, and that led me to do a quick Web search for signs of the late Art Quinn, and that led me to a posting on Berkeley's Office of Educational Development website by Art about teaching. His brief statement on teaching included several tasty nuggets including this one regarding his preference for thin syllabi: "No schedule should be allowed to inhibit a fruitful line of inquiry."

I expect that I will be going back to Art's thoughts on teaching quite a bit now that I find myself in faculty development. I may also find myself at some 826 sites, as well, both virtual and physical. We shall see.