Blog

It’s back….the month that shall not be named!
Well friends, the Queen Anne’s Lace is out and the month has arrived: fall classes are on the way! What are you doing to get ready for for the year ahead? Hopefully not a lot of syllabus work. What I mean is, what are you doing to get ready for it spiritually? I’m headed to

YOU. MUST. REST.
Hello fellow educators! Sooooooo, I happen to know for a fact that some of you just turned in your fall semester grades. And that you feel guilty about it because you missed the deadline. And that you are exhausted to the core. And that you are already thinking about next semester. STOP. RIGHT. NOW. It

Fall 2022 Retreat and MasterClass is up and ready to go!
Do you need a little extra encouragement to remember why you do this crazy job? Or just some tried and true methods for building classroom community or handling email? Then enroll today! Want a discount code? Please send me an email at christinabieberlake (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll give you 50% off if you

Educators take your mark…get set…
…and go? But wait, I’m not ready! I didn’t get even a little bit of what I wanted to get done over the summer, and I’m supposed to be getting reading for fall classes? What!!??!! Is this where you are right now? YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Teaching is very, very difficult, and the upcoming month

April is the cruelest month…
At least for educators it is. Why? It’s because spring break wasn’t nearly long enough, and the finish line is still so far away. So what can we do to get that last burst of energy needed to get to the end? Here’s my primary suggestion: double down on getting enough rest for yourself. I

Pandemic fatigue making you long for an early retirement?
You are not alone. After a year of pandemic pedagogy, I find myself longing even more than usual for a small hut in Ireland with no students, no internet, and plenty of books. This article in Forbes indicates that many educators find themselves on the edge of (or fully in) burnout. This is no surprise

Women in the academy gathering at the well!
I was so honored to talk with the InterVarsity gathering for women in the academy and professions about The Flourishing Teacher. If you want a sense of what the book or the group is about, you can listen here. And as always, Keep Calm and Teach On!

Zoom, zoom, zoom!
As the semester begins, most of us are doing the majority of our classes via Zoom. For some of us, it’s an old friend (I don’t have to get dressed and drive anywhere! Sweat pants!), for others, it’s drudgery and makes us long for an early retirement. But one thing I know for sure: it’s

Spring Retreat and Master Class is Up and Ready!
It’s finally here! After spending most of the break updating and providing new content for you all, I’m happy to announce that the Spring Retreat and Master Class is ready for enrollment. There are a couple of completely new sections, including Getting Things Done for Academics and How to Re-think your assignments. Enroll for 25%

The Importance of Real Rest
It’s December, so I know that we are all grading, grading, grading right now. Because I am. But while COVID presents challenges it also presents opportunities: at this moment I’m delivering my final exam to my students across the country, while I’m in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, where I’m on my annual writing group retreat.

Are you living in an echo chamber?
Sometimes you just have to teach off script. Here’s why. I’ve been teaching American literature for over 25 years, and it enables me to raise all kinds of issue of central importance today, including our persistent failure to move beyond the racist attitudes present at the founding of the United States. But sometimes we need

Why we do this!
As some of you know, I use my first two weeks of classes to schedule face-to-face meetings with individual students in my classes so that I can get to know them better. This is one of my top strategies for increasing participation in class, and it really works. But this week I had a first

Flourishing Teacher Fall Retreat Now Available!
I’ve been working all summer on this retreat, so I’m so excited to finally make it available. If you are anxious about the start of the school year and need a vocational renewal, this retreat is for you! I extended the work I did on my book to provide strategies for success with Zoom, as

Are you dreading fall of 2020 classes?
If so, you are not alone. This might be the single most frustrating summer-running-up-to-classes that I’ve experienced in my career. Uncertainty and anxiety do not make for a fun start to the school year. That, and trying to plan our our teaching schedules around our children’s schedules. At least we won’t be bored. If you

Embrace the Lace!
The inevitable has happened around here–the Queen Anne’s Lace is in full bloom, often beautifully interlaced with bright blue chicory flowers. To me this means that the start of classes is right around the corner. Of course, because of the ‘Rona this semester is a bit more difficult and anxiety-provoking than most, but I maintain

On Being vs. Doing
I use an app called “We Croak” that reminds me, five times a day, that I will die one day. Could be any minute–so the notifications appear on my phone at any time, day or night. Totally random. And the notifications come with quotations. This is the one that appeared this morning when I clicked

Keep Calm and COVID On
True confessions: I haven’t completed my book order yet for fall 2020. Yes, I’m one of those faculty members. I just found out that I have to comply this week so I will. Reluctantly. But here’s what I’m not doing right now. I’m not prepping my classes, adjusting my syllabi, and definitely not thinking about

Win-Win Thinking: An Introduction
Just one question: in your classes, who does more work—you, or your students?

Embrace Your Students
It is useful to remember that students often enter our classes completely terrified of us. They also never seem to know (for better or worse) that we are also terrified. The good news is that is doesn’t have to be that way at all.

How to Survive August (Or the Month That Shall Not be Named)
The month I have also called “one big long Sunday night” rushes into our lives with a unique motivational challenge.