The big T comes back again

So they had this meeting about the tenure process yesterday that I went to. Turns out that just about everyone there was up this year, so I wasn't really supposed to go. But it was interesting, nonetheless.

Two things that were worrisome:

1. The amount of documentation they are requesting and the vagueness with which they are requesting it. They want every single student evaluation filled out for the 36 or so classes you will have taught by the time you are up for tenure. They want all the comments. Maybe typed up. Maybe just include the original forms. They don't really know. They just know that they want them. They want some letters. There's no guidelines for who should write them, how they should be solicited or how many. We were told that 1 is too few and 25 is too many. But other than that, it's up to you.

2. There was one point at which the provost was reading aloud from the handbook chapter about what you are supposed to prove. There was a lot of exaggerated tone on words like exceptional and extraordinary. That's great, but as I look around the room, I am thinking we can't all be exceptional and extraordinary (see yesterday's post). So I'm not really sure what they mean by that.

I've been around the block enough that I have an idea of what they are looking for, but the evolving standards game didn't work out so well for me last time.

Much to think about.

Honor

So in our grad program, we have this funky grading system wherein the students can get an honors pass, a pass, a low pass or a fail. It's intended to get the students to focus on learning rather than on grades, and for the most part, I like it because it makes the assignment of letter grades really easy. Did they do what they were supposed to? Pass. Did they miss the mark in some significant way, but get the gist of it? Low pass. Did they surprise me with something creative or original that goes beyond the values of the assignment? Honors.

As you can imagine, the great majority of the students are getting pass on most things. And some of them are very, very unhappy. "I work so hard!" they say. "How is it that I spent two hours on assignment A and you gave me a pass. Then on assignment C, I spent only 15 minutes, and you gave me a pass?" And my favorite, "I don't want to seem disrespectful, but I am forced to question the integrity of your grading system."

We got Offspring's interim report cards (*proud Mama moment - she transferred into a super-genius middle school but is still making all As*) and I can see the beginnings of this. The teachers assign a lot of work, but don't grade it in depth. So completion at a minimal level is 100. 100 is A+. Honors. The best you can do.

Of course, I can only grade results. I don't see the effort. And sadly, that's the way the world works. And if you did what I expected, that's a pass. Which is a fine grade. Few people are going to get honors. We can't all be above average.

Good luck convincing them of that.

Hellooooooo down there

Mommyprof here, up on her soapbox to comment on this post from the Wall St. Journal's Juggle blog which concerns whether people are able to live within their means.

I must say there is one benefit to living below your means that I don't think was covered - freedom.

Spouse and I are unlike, apparently, a lot of married couples in that we very rarely disagree about money. We are both pretty cheap about some things (not everything - we took Bun out to an awesome Korean dinner tonight while Offspring was at a party with a new friend (she's making friends - yay!)). And we have always lived on less money than we earn.

This gives us freedom to not work in the summers. Not owning all the house that we could afford means avoiding something that would just be more difficult to clean and more expensive to heat and cool. To take a pretty substantial pay cut to come here to NewState where my job situation is light years better and the girls are both thriving.

How sad would it have been if we felt like we should have stayed at PrettyGood just because of money. I know they say money can't buy happiness, but it seems like being too attached to it can buy misery.

Like the phoenix am I

So I did an interim evaluation with my undergrads today. I usually do this about a month in, just to see how things are going. I teach in a computer lab some of the time, so when we are in there, I have them write a blank document where they answer 1. What I should stop. 2. What I should start. 3. What I should continue 4. Something they don't understand.

Usually, it's pretty helpful for me. I don't always do everything they think I should, but I do like to have their input.

This time, I would characterize the results as more of a hmmmmmm vitriolic screed. Yeah, that's it.

So I did some lookin. And I found out that although the faculty handbook says otherwise, it's cool with the senior type folks in my area to radically change the way the course is structured, into a way that's a whole lot more pedagogically valid for the subject and students I am teaching. It's basically teaching basketweaving with the Montessori method.

I went in today and laid out the changes for my students. After we discussed their responsibilities, one student raised his hand and basically thanked me for trying to teach the students in a way that works better for them. And the rest applauded.

Damage=controlled for the moment.

Now if I can just remember when to go to class!

Should the rally to restore sanity be real

I might go. And take my kid. It seems very representative of our time in history in some way.

Quick update

Met with Dean. Very relieved to walk into central office and find another new faculty member in there with him - he's meeting with everyone.

Still got some damage control to do with the undergrads, but feeling much better about things.

Altius, Fortius, Yada...

Two goals

As I have blogged before, I have two major goals for right now:

1. Take good care of my family
2. Get tenure

I am presently at one of those times where I feel like I am doing a pretty marginal job at both, although, despite last week's general crapitude, I feel like some things are getting better. I have interviews some babysitters, and I feel better about getting some child care issues taken care of that I need to.

I am learning about the students and situation at NewU. I don't feel on top of things, but I feel like I can see a point at which I will be.

I am not as freaked out about the lunches, etc., for Bun's school and I figured out a new place where I can park on campus that makes getting out a lot easier (it turns out that a lot of my problems were caused by being tied up at a single intersection that I can avoid if I park in this other place). So I am still going to late classes and meetings with all my stuff packed up and ready to go, and I do walk out right on time, but I decided to leave Bun where she is and that if I draw a little bit of attention to the fact that the NewU expectations are not, in fact, in line with the expectations that the world puts on parents in general, perhaps that will be a good thing. This may interfere with #2 down the pike, but I hope not. I also told the director at Bun's school that I was sorry, but since my husband works late, we can't be the model family just agog over the wonder that is Montessori and coming to evening parent classes without the kids, etc. I put it more nicely than that, of course.

Offspring is doing quite well at her school and it hasn't been nearly the bear that I expected. There's more homework, but not much more. There's quite a bit of giving parents work (checking stuff, signing stuff, making time to help with homework when I am not comfortable giving my 11 year old free reign on Google Image Search, etc., but so far we're making it.

Three of us have been sick already (darned New State with your new germs!), but we have all survived.

So, while I would not say that at this point things are great, for me at least, I can see where there might, possibly, be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. On the flip side, Spouse is very unhappy. Working on that.

Not my best week

I am having a really hard time settling into a routine here.

Spouse and I both have classes at rather different times than we are used to, and this is surprisingly difficult.

Have you ever had the nightmare where you just forget to go to class, and show up late and unprepared? I kind of did that this week. After Tuesday's disaster, I was prepared for the Thursday class. But somewhere between the drama of my Mom calling to say my Dad was back in the hospital with heart issues again and one of the graduate students in the office in tears over a confrontation with another grad student that left her fearing for her safety, I got confused and ended up showing up at Thursday's class at Wednesday's time, which was about 15 minutes late. I got there right as they were leaving.

It should have been ok - they have a thought problem at the start of every class Blackboard sends to them, which should have kept them until I got there, but they finished up early, apparently.

Now the dean wants to meet with me. It may be unrelated, but I don't know.

Not good.

Not my best effort

So, I was all like, hey, let's show the tots the latest research in basketweaving and how it applies to the baskets they are trying to make this semester. Awesome, right? Sure thing. So I go out and I find a bunch o' articles that have come out recently and basically copy and paste the relevant findings into this word processor document, thingie, figuring that I'd have time to turn it into a real lecture in the, you know, 5 hours between when I arrived at work today and class time. Well, funny thing, but I actually had no time at all what with having 3 meetings, two of which ran long, and another meeting that filled up the rest of the gap. So, I ended up running in to class 5 minutes before class time and having to print said spiffy word processor document on the classroom printer. Smooth, it was.

So, yeah. Ha, ha. You know, it turns out that it's really really hard to have a comprehensive lecture based on copied and pasted paragraphs.

Which leaves me at tonight, during which I am making darned sure that my plan for tomorrow is complete and ready for primetime before I hit the old sackaroonie. Yessiree Bob.

There we go again

So, Spouse gave up tenure and I gave up a consolation renewable position to come here.

I read this blog post on how tenure track can be fun, but I have to say that I definitely feel the pressure again, and so does Spouse.

That is all.

9/11

My brother in law was working the Pentagon when the plane hit it (it's an enormous building and he was on the other side and completely fine). But it was a very tense morning for us personally, as well as for Americans.

So indulge me in a brief moment of editorializing:

If

The freedoms of the first amendment are a treasured American tradition that helped the country grow, prosper and sustain itself.

The presence of common sense, wherein individuals mitigate their speech in order to live in community with others allows relationships between people, groups and nations.

Muslim is not, in fact, a synonym for terrorist.

Then it follows that

Rev. Terry Jones is, at best, seriously midguided (and I am trying hard to be charitable). He can. He should not.

Those opposing the community center are, in some cases, legitimately hurt, but in many cases using an opportunity of political advantage to diminish what it means to be an American for all of us. They should know better.

Those who wish the build the community center can, but maybe shouldn't, out of respect for those who are legitimately hurt.

Living in a world where Donald Trump and Jon Stewart look like the only one trying to be the grownup here is puzzling, and maybe a little sad. Maybe a lot sad.

Days and the children who are cared for in them

So Bun is going to the only Montessori school in the county where NewSchool is. It's mostly ok, but there are a few shortcomings.

1. Security. The first day I went to pick Bun up, the teacher wasn't the one who was there in the a.m. and literally asked me "Which one is yours?" I could have had my pick of any kid there. Given that at Bun's first daycare, a stranger went in and asked for a baby about 2 weeks after she started (it was ok - they asked for ID and since the person wasn't on the pick-up list for the Baby, no luck), I am a little uptight about this.

2. Logistics. School is located not very far from the house or where I work, but the traffic is really bad. Given that I have class until 5:15 two days a week (and will again next semester) and meetings that go that late at least 4 times a month and they close at 5:45, there are a lot of nailbiting drives to day care for me and it is seriously stressing me out.

3. Extras. They have evening classes for parents that you need to go to without kids, and I am getting the stinkeye because Spouse has evening classes and I can't go without both kids. Plus there is 20 required hours of work for the school. Plus there's weekend events, too. If I had one precious package and no job, it might be ok, but seriously, it's making me a little nuts.

4. Cost. It's not probibitive, but kind of high. Especially since there is a teacher work day every. single. month. that I have to cover.

5. Lunches and snacks. School doesn't provide them and is very specific about what much be brought. (Fluid milk, fruit AND vegetable and protein lunch. Fruit and whole grain for snack. No disposable packaging. Etc. I am getting better at this, but it does stress me out. Every day.

It also has advantages.

1. Her teacher has a master's degree.

2. Multi-age classroom, which is good, since she is reading. This will also be good next year, since she has a December birthday.

That being said, I went today and toured a daycare very close to PrettyGood that is open until 6. It's ok. The teachers have AA degrees and have been around a long time. They promote by birthday, so Bun would go to the preK in December, which would keep her interested, although next year would be a problem. She would get lunch and snacks included. It's $100/month less and no parent participation requirement.

Not sure what we will do. My two goals for the year are to 1. Take good care of my family and 2. Get tenure. These goals appear to be in conflict right now.

Sis, boom, bah

Told by a sr. faculty member (very friendly way) that it would be a good idea to be seen at football games, too.

Small ponds

So I have been experiencing, lately, the differences between small and large schools. I went to undergrad at BigStateU, grad school at PrestigeU (a large, private research uni) and worked at PrettyGood, which was another large, private university.

Here at NewU, the university is about 1/3 the size of where I came from. Things that are different:

*Library. I am definitely not at a research university anymore. There are 10 years of journals in basketweaving and that's it. Good thing I'm not a historian.

*Bookstore. I went to check it out and literally started laughing. It's miniature!

*Football stadium. NewU does, indeed, have a football team. However, their stadium is smaller than the MidSizedCity High School stadium back in Central State.

*Schedule. They literally serve breakfast one morning a week for all comers on campus (outdoors, when the weather is nice). During this time, there are no classes scheduled. (Idiot that I am, I scheduled office hours during that time. I'll learn).

*Faculty obligations. There are fewer faculty and staff to spread the work around to. So there is a lot more committee work, etc. Even for optional things, the majority of the faculty shows up. For example, the President's welcome back speech for faculty was standing room only.

*Pomp and the circumstances. At PrettyGood, we were encouraged to come to graduation once a year. Here, there are 3 mandatory, regalia required events just this fall semester.

Office Space

So my old office was right across from

a) the chatty receptionist
b) the printer everyone in the department shared.

My new office is inside the admin suite for the grad program. It is commodious and has a view. However, it also has a lot of traffic and the very nice and crucial to my success guy in the office next door has all his phone calls on conference call.

Fortunately, I have found my noise canceling headphones.

AAAAAND...I'm behind already

I was hoping to stay at least a week ahead on prep for my classes, but so far, not working so well.

I have two this afternoon that I am pretty much ready for, and I'm about half done with tomorrow. One problem is that they have a really different class schedule here - all my classes are 2 hours long. I'm used to either an hour and 20 or 3.

Well, it's Labor Day, but I really need to get back to work!

Week 1, by the numbers

1. Hours I sat in various meetings = 5
2. Contact hours = 6
3. Office hours = 6
4. Students who didn't complete the first week's assignment in one class = 3/18
5. Poorly thought out answers from pre-test that I shared with colleagues = 2 (there were a lot more, too)
6. Times I spoke in a meeting =2
7. Times my ideas were shot down in meetings = 2
8. Times I reminded myself of my plan to just keep my mouth shut the first year =2
9. Drives to Bun's daycare where I was seriously worried about not making it by closing because of a combination of late-running meetings and traffic = 2
10. Number of people in my house who have work/school on Labor Day = 1 (me)

Wherein my new grad students tell me about themselves

I had them do a little student info form this semester, and the last question was "What are two things I should know about you in order to teach you better." Here are some highlights. Please to enjoy.

1. Availability to student after classes
2. I can google stuff well enough if I don't understand, instead of asking lots of questions.
3. I guess with basketweaving, it would just be great to have a quality control person. When I have a quality control person, it makes sense to me after they correct my work.
4. I'm very much a kinesthetic learner.
5. I learn things better when I have to work through what I am learning.
6. I am a perfectionist.
7. I am very much a perfectionist.
8. I like getting logical criticism
9. I am a great multitasker
10. I am a visual learner

I interview Bun

Freely ripped off from Pigs

How old are you? 3

When were you born? I don't know

Where did you come from? Mid-sized city, Central State


What is your dad's name? David

What does your dad do? Work.


What is your mom's name? Mommyprof


What does your mom do? She works
What do you do at school? I play

What is your favorite color? Green, no purple

What is your favorite food? Apricot, salad and burritos and water and fish


What foods do you not like? Radicchio and orange peels.


Where is your favorite place to eat? McDonalds because sometimes they have playgrounds. Isn't that exciting?

What is your favorite animal? Don't know.


What does Daddy say to you? Lots of words like hat, hit, horcher, hot. He does speak nonsense like me a little bit.


What does Mommy say to you? Bun, you cannot climb on anything that's dangerous.

Who is your best friend? My partner. I don't know the name.


What is your favorite movie? Monsters Incorporated.


What is your favorite toy? The one that we buyed at the store. The wiggly worm. Because it wobbles around so much. It's a game, Mom, not a toy. Give it away when I'm tired of it. I don't want all the toys I hate. I'm about to say a bad word. Guts.


What is your favorite thing to do? Play.


What is your favorite book? Dick and Jane.


What do you want to be when you grow up? Uh. Uh. Uh. I don't know. A watermelon.

Where do you want to live when you grow up? Mid-sized City, Central State.


Are you going to get married? Yes.


Are you going to have any kids? Yes.


How many? About 2.


Boys or girls? Boys AND girls. One boy. One girl. Two more girls. I'll have 3 girls and one boy. Alright? You know why? I picked them and I'll be a good, good carer.


Who will clean the house? The Dad.


Who will take out the garbage? Me. We'll do different things.


Where is your favorite place to go? Nowhere. Or Connecticut. Because I love Connecticut a lot.

Conversation with the associate Dean

Sat next to hir at a meeting.

Says to me "You know, we were assigning new mentors to new faculty, but I told everyone you didn't need one since you have so much experience."

I say "Well, I know how to teach and write a paper, but I could use some guidance in navigating the university-level issues."

Hir says "Well, you can feel free to ask me about any of that political stuff."

What a two-edged sword that is!