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Quiet Moments Before Another Interview with James Lang

By Bonni Stachowiak | June 18, 2025 | | XFacebookLinkedInEmail

Bonni wearing headphones and talking into a podcast mic with the cover to James Lang's Write Like You Teach next to her

I'm sitting quietly this morning, reflecting in the final minutes before my interview with Jim Lang. Our conversation will focus on his latest book, Write Like You Teach. In the book, Jim suggests that we ought to be good company in our writing. He has embodied this guidance since I first met him more than a decade ago.

Jim has been good company through his many books as I've yearned to be gentle with myself, resisting the urge to reinvent each class I teach with every new semester (Small Teaching). He's helped me wrestle with what it might look like to ignite students' imaginations rather than control their behaviors (Distracted). He transformed the way I think about academic integrity, encouraging me to focus on fostering intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy while cultivating the conditions in which mastery and deep learning can thrive (Cheating Lessons).

The last time Jim was on Teaching in Higher Ed, he shared a piece he had written: Voltaire on Working the Gardens of Our Classrooms. He invites slowness and stresses:

In the meantime, the gardens need tending. If you continue to believe in the value of the plants that have always flourished in your garden, keep growing them.

In Jim's eighth appearance on Teaching in Higher Ed, I have no doubt he will once again be good company. I'm thankful for all the ways he has shaped my teaching, my learning, and this podcast over the years.

Filed Under: Teaching

Bonni Stachowiak

Bonni Stachowiak is dean of teaching and learning and professor of business and management at Vanguard University. She hosts Teaching in Higher Ed, a weekly podcast on the art and science of teaching with over five million downloads. Bonni holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership and speaks widely on teaching, curiosity, digital pedagogy, and leadership. She often joins her husband, Dave, on his Coaching for Leaders podcast.

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