Patrick R. Johnson, MJE

Ph.D. Candidate | Lover of horror, ethics, villains, and media | A "Prince of News" | Searching for the Second Star

Teaching Tuesday, a blog for JMC thinkers and teachers

  • The power of nonverbals

    The power of nonverbals

    Entertainers are known to be able to “read the room.” The same can be said for public speaking. Yet, do we think the same about educators? I believe that having my undergraduate degrees in education and journalism (from the Diederich College of Communication) afforded me the perfect mix of reading and adjusting to the room.… Read more

  • Contract grading and the role of professionalism

    Contract grading and the role of professionalism

    When you ask educators what one of the worst parts of their jobs is, they will usually respond with “grading.” While it doesn’t have to be the worst part of our jobs, it certainly can be. And for those of us in professions-focused departments, schools, and colleges, grading doesn’t seem to reflect the professional expectations… Read more

  • Building from the bare bones: Skeleton notes and lesson structure

    Building from the bare bones: Skeleton notes and lesson structure

    Scaffolding learning for students is one of the best ways to get students from where they start to the place we want them to be at the end of a lesson, unit, or class. A way to do this is to use skeleton notes, also known as guided notes, to give students a structure for… Read more

  • “Explain Your Choice”: Metacognition as a form of reflection with student work

    “Explain Your Choice”: Metacognition as a form of reflection with student work

    I’ve spent all my teaching career working with students on production skills–writing, design, audio, video, photo, social media, and others. And throughout the last decade+, I’ve wrestled with how best to (1) have students reflect thoughtfully on their production work, (2) integrate more metacognitive practices into my classroom, and (3) find more opportunities for students… Read more

  • Integrating classroom interactivity with Pear Deck

    Integrating classroom interactivity with Pear Deck

    Finding the right classroom tech is difficult, especially when so many schools provide different types of access or have varying resources–and many have none. This post reflects on accessible educational technology (with premium trial and option) and easy to integrate into your classrooms using either Microsoft or Google. For transparency, I use the Google-based platform,… Read more

  • Who Do You Want to Be? Setting up your classroom for culture-focused learning

    Who Do You Want to Be? Setting up your classroom for culture-focused learning

    Changing first-day questions can help elevate classroom culture for the remainder of the term. We all know that the first week of classes is commonly and comically referred to as “syllabus week.” It stems from the likely time spent reading the syllabus as a class, or what is more likely: to the class. There is… Read more

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