A growing body of scholarship in writing studies has started exploring threshold concepts for writing, providing a synoptic view of the transformations students undergo as they learn about writing. However, the field has not yet undertaken a systematic investigation of threshold concepts for the teaching of writing. A distinction between threshold…

I wrote this reflective piece in 1999 as I was assuming my first full-time position as a professor with limited administrative responsibilities at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). After 30-plus years in administrative roles in higher education that provided the opportunity to teach on a part-time basis only, I quickly became aware of…

The term microaggression is defined and demonstrated from the viewpoint of graduate-level students. Using a classroom assignment, the students describe their personal experiences of being the recipient of a microaggression. The students describe the type of microaggression, theme, psychological dilemma, and recall how they reacted to the…

The practical knowledge that enables good teaching has emerged over the past decade as an area of critical interest to educational researchers. This article reports on insights gathered during a series of teacher practical knowledge research projects that took place over a 10-year period with more than 40 teacher interns and experienced teachers.…