Don Laackman

Down the Shore

Please donate. This morning, Sandy got personal. I spent many summers down the Jersey shore. My mother would ship me off to Sea Isle City to live with my grandparents for a few weeks in the summer. Our evenings were spent eating dinner, followed by saying the Rosary. Baba and Nana would alternate prayers, startingContinue reading “Down the Shore”

Electric Electra

The Loop Players present Sophocles’ Electra, using Frank McGuinness’ adaptation. The play is a must-see for everyone at the College, their family and friends, and anyone else you want to impress with the high quality of drama at HWC. I saw a rehearsal performance last night. Directed by Kathryn Nash, this modern update of the classicContinue reading “Electric Electra”

Mindset

I had the good fortune last Thursday to have a conversation with Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed. I took the opportunity to ask him if my hypothesis in my post Tough Call is correct. That is, can we help our students develop the social-cognitive skills alongside the critical thinking, literacy, numeracy and other skills we expectContinue reading “Mindset”

A Remembrance of Books Past

Joe Queenan’s full-throated defense of books in this past Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, “My 6,128 Favorite Books,” set afloat a reverie during my walk to Mario’s. Queenan supplies an urgency to my quest to read more. I don’t want to just read more; I want to read more stuff with which I can connect. Books that moveContinue reading “A Remembrance of Books Past”

HWC Art Student Featured

Bruce Wilson, second-year student focusing in Art at HWC, is featured in a piece highlighting Marwen Alumni. Marwen is an arts education non-profit that administers arts education programs for Chicago students in grades 6-12. Bruce looks great in this video. I had the good fortune to buy one of Bruce’s pieces as part of lastContinue reading “HWC Art Student Featured”

Evaluating Teachers

We will soon distribute our “pulse” survey to staff and faculty. It is our attempt to capture a sense of how people are feeling about the College and to ask for ideas on what we can do better. We are also in the midst of classroom observations for faculty moving through the tenure process asContinue reading “Evaluating Teachers”

For Alvin

Sometime towards the end of Alvin Bisarya’s remarks to the Board of Trustees in September, his voice cracked and his eyes welled up. He had presented on Reinvention progress. His closing remarks were a summation of the progress over the past two years and a hopeful projection of what great things we would do inContinue reading “For Alvin”

For Better and Worse

A friend recently asked if I write the entries on Don’s Desk by myself. I thought the quality of writing itself would attest to the lack of any editorial guidance. To remove any doubt, I write these entries by myself. In retrospect, many of the posts would benefit from a strong editorial hand. This week,Continue reading “For Better and Worse”

StudentsFirst

I noticed chatter in the Lounge about GradesFirst. The arguments are balanced and invite comment (even if some are posted by anonymous cartoon characters). My takeaways from the discussion center on the role of faculty in supporting our students’ success, and the appropriateness of an early alert system to track our students. Before I goContinue reading “StudentsFirst”

Tough Call

I at times ask myself whether what we do matters. Do we really change students’ lives? Do we put them on a new path, increase the slope of their trajectory forward, or transform the way they think about the world? I have much anecdotal evidence that this is the case. Students return to tell usContinue reading “Tough Call”