First: Effective Teaching

A thought for all the troops on the eve of the next campaign.

Many of us wore our "Inconsequential" buttons through the latter parts of the spring and summer semesters.

In the next few weeks, we'll be meeting students for the first time, and every little factor that might impact our credibility should be weighed carefully.

I'm suggesting that we take off the "Inconsequential" buttons until September. Most students don't know what they mean, and the subconscious message is that, as teachers, we don't matter to them. Let's do everything we can to establish our authority in our classes and in ancillary services to our students for the first couple of weeks of the year--then we may resume this protest knowing that we've mitigated any potential negative impacts on our overarching goal, which is education.