“So,” asked Julia as we continued our conversation of last week, “if teaching is tough, how do you keep at it? Don’t you get tired of it, of us?” “I focus,” I answered. ”You don’t know the power of focusing although you use it and don’t realize it. It’s a heart skill that too many [...]
I bumped into a student on campus last week as I went to the Union to get a couple of bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks for my flower garden. “Hey, Dr. Schmier, how are you doing in your retirement?” “Pretty good–now.” “You know, I’ve changed my major from accounting to education because of you.” [...]
Well, I’m getting myself in the groove to give a webcam session for Florida Gulf Coast University–you know that March Madness No.15 seed dream team that sent No.2 seed Georgetown packing–and then an all day workshop on creating a motivational classroom environment at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu a week later. Susie insists on sitting [...]
The other day I met someone whom I didn’t know. The introductory part of our conversation went according to a simplistic script: “What do you do?” “I am a university professor.” “What do you teach? What should my three word answer to that second question be? I walk into a classroom. Is the answer a [...]
Proverbs 17:22 says “A happy heart doeth good like medicine. A broken spirit drieth the bones.” And I believe that, after I had received this message the other day. ”I don’t know if you remember me, but I was in your class last spring semester. My name is Connie Turkson, and I just want to say, [...]
One of these days, I just might succumb and do actual tweeting. Until then, here are my next two telegram-ish pseudo-tweets: First tweet: Open yourself. You look when your eyes are open; you see when your mind is open; you understand when your heart is open. Never be closed to any student, only be close [...]
I’m still thinking about Jenny. If I tweeted, I would first tweet this: When it comes the classroom, if you pay attention, you just might learn that the classroom is a very complicated place filled with very complex individuals. And, then, I’d send a second tweet: To paraphrase Fat Albert, if you pay attention to [...]
The other day I was walking across the campus when I heard a joyful scream coming from behind me. ”Dr. Schmier!” I turned. It was Jenny (not her real name). She ran up to me exclaiming. ”I making good grades in all my classes. You were right. All those conversations you had with me. Everyone [...]
I’ve just read four studies on employee motivation to which I was directed by an article in HBR. Interesting and pertinent stuff. There’s the 2111 study by Yoon Jik Cho and James Perry called “Intrinsic Motivation and Employee Attitudes: Role of Managerial Trustworthiness, Goal Directedness, and Extrinsic Reward Expectancy,” the 2010 study by Timothy Judge, et [...]
I had just finished having a deep conversation with a colleague of mine, Danielle. On the way home, as I was thinking what we talked about, I bumped–almost literally–into a non-traditional student who was in my last class. We stopped to chat. “How’s retirement going? You weren’t too happy on that last day.” “Fine,” I [...]
