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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<\/em><\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n Jim has been good company through his many books<\/a> as I've yearned to be gentle with myself, resisting the urge to reinvent each class I teach with every new semester (Small Teaching<\/em>). He's helped me wrestle with what it might look like to ignite students' imaginations rather than control their behaviors (Distracted<\/em>). 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<\/em>).<\/p>\n 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<\/a>. He invites slowness and stresses:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n