As we go into the semester and get already for big conferences, remember: bless the nodder and the joke laugher and the question asker

We actually had a fellow in a grad seminar that everyone referred to as “the nodder.”

I once went to a lecture where the ASL interpreter asked me afterwards if I spoke ASL. I do not, but apparently I make good eye contact? I don’t know

I had a student during COVID who *turned her camera on* so I could see her nodding along, and I still wish her well.

At the conference, BE the nodder, joke laugher, question asker.

Hi, it's me, I'm the nodder. Unfortunately, I also have an extremely obvious confused face. Sorry about that.

😬

In college a prof said he had a group of students who did an experiment for another class where they made eye contact, nodded, and smiled for several classes, then stopped. He found the sudden lack of audience feedback really disconcerting and upsetting

PG Wodehouse wrote a story called The Nodder, about a young man starting out at a Hollywood studio whose job was to nod at everything the studio boss said

Yes a good question is better than a bad question, but in class, a bad question is better than no questions. And for all that is holy, please *teach your students to ask good questions in public*

The Professor's Trinity