Author Archives: Mike

It’s probably a good idea just to say…

that I do not regularly update this blog.  I tend to update it in spates of three or four posts, punctuated by months of silence. Still, there may be something here that interests you. Feel free to browse.

Posted in uncategorized/able | Leave a comment

My View: What will you do with an English degree? Plenty – Schools of Thought – CNN.com Blogs

My View: What will you do with an English degree? Plenty – Schools of Thought – CNN.com Blogs. Well, strange as it may sound, if you’re an employer who needs smart, creative workers, a 50-page honors project on a 19th … Continue reading

Posted in higher education | Leave a comment

Reading and Marking Up PDF Texts for Teaching: Some Observations on Using iAnnotate

Last fall semester, I experimented with using an iPad (courtesy of TLT @ CofC) to read and mark up some of my students’ writing in a graduate course in a late 19th century American literature and some of the literary … Continue reading

Posted in teaching and pedagogy | 2 Comments

Reading List for ENGL 362: Regionalism and Local Color

Bret Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp” —, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” Constance Fenimore Woolson, “Solomon” —, “The Lady of Little Fishing” Mark Twain, Old Times on the Mississippi Hamlin Garland, “Up the Cooly” Charles Egbert Craddock, “The Dancin’ … Continue reading

Posted in teaching and pedagogy | Leave a comment

Test Post for OAKS Integration

This is a post to see if a link on this blog will open in OAKS, CofC’s online learning management  system (LMS). I’m testing because I am strongly considering using a blog as my course homepage and to have that … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized/able | Leave a comment

Book Order for ENGL 524- Fall 2012

Here’s the book order for my graduate class in the fall, the wildly-imaginatively titled, ENGL 524: Nineteenth- Century American Literature II. Heath Anthology of American Literature: Late Nineteenth Century (1865-1910), Vol. C. ISBN: 9780547201665 Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham. … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized/able | Leave a comment

Planning the First Year Seminar on Mark Twain

I am taking time out from my research for a bit to plan my first year seminar on Mark Twain for this fall.  I am excited about the course–about the opportunity to learn more about Twain myself and the opportunity … Continue reading

Posted in teaching and pedagogy | Leave a comment

The Benefits of Making It Harder to Learn – Do Your Job Better – The Chronicle of Higher Education

via The Benefits of Making It Harder to Learn – Do Your Job Better – The Chronicle of Higher Education. A suggestive article by James M. Lang on the positive effects of a little difficulty.  Barriers between a learner and material … Continue reading

Posted in teaching and pedagogy | Leave a comment

The Neuroscience of Your Brain On Fiction – NYTimes.com

The Neuroscience of Your Brain On Fiction – NYTimes.com. A nice, compact, tantalizing run-down of contemporary thinking about what neuroscience has discovered about what goes on in our brains when we read fiction.  Worth the read.

Posted in teaching and pedagogy | Leave a comment

Teddy gets all reasonable and stuff.

from Theodore Roosevelt, “Socialism, II — Where We Can Work with Socialists” (Outlook 27 March 1909). I have copied below a couple representative excerpts from part II of Theodore Roosevelt’s 1909 essay on socialism published in the Outlook in 1909.  I … Continue reading

Posted in research and writing | Leave a comment