Hello, All. Bill Smith, Florida Keys. Being a recently retired college prof, I can finally stop going to committee meetings, and start upgrading my professional skils! lol
Andrew, I submit that most rock stars have been teachers all along (admittedly, not always conciously! ;) In fact that was Jim Morrison’s basic premise, and why his group took its name from Huxley’s “Doors of Perception” :)

ahhh yes, but can “rock star” become teacher…. obi-wan…

This sounds like a great group! I love teaching and music… great combination! :-)

Let us start tuning guitars and play good music together! :)

Oh! How i love to become a teacher…oh sorry!…a rockstar…lol

Agreed with Agnes.

ALSO, CAN WE GET THEIR DJ? GREAT SOUNDS lol

Hmmm. Was reasonably lucky in the Arts and Sciences arena. I’d go with “entrepreneurial strategies and planning”, and “systematic assertiveness”; both of these were terra incognita, yet incredibly useful in all walks of life.

In regard to Agnes’ comments on “nation of the wealthy”: This was nicely explained in Kevin Phillips’ “Politics of the Rich and Poor” in 1990. What was true then became doubly so in the first decade of the new century: http://mtprof.msun.edu/Win1991/polrev.html
The cycles he illuminates explain, among many other things, why the national investment in education goes from bad to worse, then back to merely bad. Sticking with traditional approaches saves the rich their tax dollars, since innovation requires increased investment.

Just been reading through this whole thread and found it really interesting, especially Alaia’s point about the shifting stress depending on the part of speech. When teaching pronunciation I think it’s useful to make students aware of these patterns as they can be generalised. In most two syllable noun/verbs pairs the stress shifts from the first syllable in a noun to the second syllable in a verb e.g.

a record to record
an import to import
refuse to refuse

If you come across it a great book on teaching pronuncation is Sound Foundations: Learning and Teaching Pronunciation by Adrian Underhill

Latest blog post:

Don’t think there’s a big problem with education? OK, watch this video…

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Congrats Jeremiah, I’m excited for you! I especially like the follwing line on your class description ;D

I will not settle for a class with the Japanese out of context and without sufficient explanation. You can have confidence that I will maintain a laser focus on a rich educational experience.

Fantastic!

Ahaha, fortunately not. Need a haircut, though :)
The person below has “multiple half-started but yet to finish” books lying around all over the place….

Must-read article in the New York Times about the challenges that schools are facing in California:

A Crown Jewel of Education Struggles With Cuts

Time to show these folks a better way!!!

Hi Mary,

As far as I know, there isn’t any established rule. It all depends on the politeness and respectfulness of both the teacher and the students.

It has happened a few times with some students that they did not show up for their scheduled lesson without preventing me, so that I’ve been waiting for them for the time of lesson and lost valuable time I could had used for another student or other important stuff.

Since we are all humans and further more busy people, I always understand and ask the student not to pay for the missed lesson and to reschedule it.

However, since my regular students are polite and respectful people and know that I always prepare a tailored class for their needs only, I have been paid for the lost time and effort in most cases, and never asked for a refund.

All the best for your teaching here:-)

Cheers,
Katia

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