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Gil Sperling ’77, senior advisor for policy and programs at the U.S. Department of Energy, noted the urgency of creating a curriculum steeped in sustainability theory and practice. “We need to create incentives for teachers to take risks,” he said. “We’re at a tipping point [with climate change]. We do not have the luxury of open-ended debate. I've had 30 years [to work on this issue.] The kids graduating today don’t have that luxury.”

“Green as a simple concept has a short life, and society is evolving to see sustainability as a complex set of relationships,” said Thom Wallace ’99, communications director for the National Congress of American Indians. “Dickinson is really at the forefront of charting and understanding the complexities of sustainability.”

Rick Shangraw ’81, vice president for research and economic affairs at Arizona State University, noted that Dickinson is in an ideal position to shape national discourse. “We should spend time discussing the meaning of sustainability,” he said. “We can be a leader in defining it.”

'If there is too big a disconnect between school and the rest of society, people start to think we have got our heads in the sand - and the boys think we are even bigger idiots than they do normally,'

According to Missouri Senate Bill 54 that goes into effect on August 28, any social networking — not just Facebook — is prohibited between teachers and students.

Test scores are an inadequate proxy for quality because too many factors outside of the teachers’ control can influence student performance from year to year — or even from classroom to classroom during the same year.

there’s a far more direct approach: measuring the amount of time a teacher spends delivering relevant instruction — in other words, how much teaching a teacher actually gets done in a school day.

Thirty years ago two studies measured the amount of time teachers spent presenting instruction that matched the prescribed curriculum, at a level students could understand based on previous instruction. The studies found that some teachers were able to deliver as much as 14 more weeks a year of relevant instruction than their less efficient peers.

When a student says, “Just tell me what you want,” the student could be speaking from a place of great frustration.

if students know what we want them to do and they understand how we will evaluate their efforts, they are more apt to do the work we assign.  They’ll take chances, and they’ll do so without much complaint. If we want students to take chances, they must be able to trust us.

Have I met my office hours?  (If not, have I left a note or alerted students to the change?) Is my syllabus online or otherwise available other than on the first day of the semester? Do I return student work in a reasonable amount of time? Do I require a textbook, and am I using that book? Do I respect my students and the knowledge they bring to the classroom? Have I set clear guidelines about assignments, even if the assignment is broad? If I have strict syllabus policies, do I enforce them equally and fairly? Am I creative or innovative in my approach to the subject?  (Am I modeling the kind of behavior/actions I wish to see in my students?) Have I been clear about how interpretive or creative takes on assignments will be evaluated?  (Am I sure I’m not evaluating harshly, for example, if I disagree with the student’s interpretation of the assignment?)

informed professionals with inter-disciplinary skills and understanding to tackle these issues effectively. Our Centre is unique in the range of postgraduate qualifications on offer