Monday, January 31, 2011
New evals
So the winter term evals are in. I did better, some. Still not where I need to be, though.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Activity of the professional sort
So once a year, I practice my profession by making baskets at the annual meeting of the International Beard Trimmer's Congress (Spouse's area). It's good for me to practice my field, good for Spouse's field because, really, you need baskets to trim beards, and it counts as professional activity for my job.
Sadly, the annual meeting is pretty soon. In Egypt.
Sadly, the annual meeting is pretty soon. In Egypt.
Nice day
It's a beautiful Saturday for once here - temp above 40, sunny, really nice.
Spouse, Offspring and I all have about 5 hours of work this weekend, so we're trying to get some done, and then we will go outside.
How times have changed - I was telling Bun that one of the best part of being a kid is getting up early on Saturday and watching cartoons. "What's a cartoon?" she asked me.
I remember when I was a kid, sitting around in my pajamas until noon on Saturday, watching cartoons all morning. I guess that was a time when they didn't have Nick or Disney Channel with lots of kids programming, so your choices during the week, so your choices were somewhat limited (they did have Nick when I was an older kid, but we got cable fairly late since we lived outside a big city with 11 broadcast networks). My favorite was SuperFriends.
Spouse, Offspring and I all have about 5 hours of work this weekend, so we're trying to get some done, and then we will go outside.
How times have changed - I was telling Bun that one of the best part of being a kid is getting up early on Saturday and watching cartoons. "What's a cartoon?" she asked me.
I remember when I was a kid, sitting around in my pajamas until noon on Saturday, watching cartoons all morning. I guess that was a time when they didn't have Nick or Disney Channel with lots of kids programming, so your choices during the week, so your choices were somewhat limited (they did have Nick when I was an older kid, but we got cable fairly late since we lived outside a big city with 11 broadcast networks). My favorite was SuperFriends.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Breakfast at the Prof's
Spouse: And if X happened, I would freak.out. How far out? COMPLETELY out.
Offspring: So we studied serfs in social studies yesterday. And. Oh, wait. Don't let me forget, I have some exciting news about Queen Elizabeth to tell you in a minute.
Me: Bun, you have 10 minutes and then it's time to get dressed.
Bun: Protesting.
Me: Bun, you have 10 whole minutes to play before it's time to get dressed.
Bun: YAY!
Offspring: So we studied serfs in social studies yesterday. And. Oh, wait. Don't let me forget, I have some exciting news about Queen Elizabeth to tell you in a minute.
Me: Bun, you have 10 minutes and then it's time to get dressed.
Bun: Protesting.
Me: Bun, you have 10 whole minutes to play before it's time to get dressed.
Bun: YAY!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
intersession
So the winter term class wrapped up yesterday. The more professional presentation was definitely the way to go. I finished grading today, and my students are angry because the grades are lower. Clearly, I can't make everyone happy...
Tomorrow, I finally finish that self-evaluation, that is now quite late.
I just caught myself thinking "I think could pack my office in a day. Maybe less..."
Tomorrow, I finally finish that self-evaluation, that is now quite late.
I just caught myself thinking "I think could pack my office in a day. Maybe less..."
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Proof and pudding
So the group that I took overseas as a part of the Jan. term class was one of four that our grad program divides into for this applied work.
Today is presentation day, and everyone in the grad program, all the faculty in my school, the university's administration, some alumni and people from the media and community are coming to see the baskets the students made.
I have seen most of the others' as a work in progress, and I think ours stands up well. We did a little publicity on our project because we thought it would help our client, and it got a little bit of national media attention, which the students were extremely excited about.
We're also doing the presentation differently than the other groups. Everyone else is planning the "everyone on the 9-person team shuffles up to the front and says something about their contribution to the project" mode of presentation that you might see in a class. I hate those. Wait. Wait. "Um, yeah. I trimmed all the reeds. I used a knife. I almost cut my finger a couple of times, so that was pretty exciting." Wait. Wait. "Um. Just a second. Let me get this out. Ok. I designed the first few inches up near the top rim. Yeah. I learned that in class."
So my group isn't doing that. One student is talking. One is showing the relevant parts of the baskets while he does. If there are questions about particular elements of the baskets, we will let the student responsible for that element answer that question, but otherwise, it's more like a client presentation than a class one.
I hope that will be good.
Today is presentation day, and everyone in the grad program, all the faculty in my school, the university's administration, some alumni and people from the media and community are coming to see the baskets the students made.
I have seen most of the others' as a work in progress, and I think ours stands up well. We did a little publicity on our project because we thought it would help our client, and it got a little bit of national media attention, which the students were extremely excited about.
We're also doing the presentation differently than the other groups. Everyone else is planning the "everyone on the 9-person team shuffles up to the front and says something about their contribution to the project" mode of presentation that you might see in a class. I hate those. Wait. Wait. "Um, yeah. I trimmed all the reeds. I used a knife. I almost cut my finger a couple of times, so that was pretty exciting." Wait. Wait. "Um. Just a second. Let me get this out. Ok. I designed the first few inches up near the top rim. Yeah. I learned that in class."
So my group isn't doing that. One student is talking. One is showing the relevant parts of the baskets while he does. If there are questions about particular elements of the baskets, we will let the student responsible for that element answer that question, but otherwise, it's more like a client presentation than a class one.
I hope that will be good.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Meeting time. And the news could be worse.
So I had my meeting with the guy who is doing my eval for this year. He said he thought my career here could recover from this and that he thought I had gotten a really bad load this semester with two classes that had only been taught once before, both with lots of problems. He said they don't usually do this to new people. His language was a little probabilistic - lots of coulds and shoulds, but I need to try to not read too much into things.
Then Spouse and I had a conference with all 4 of Offspring's academic teachers. She's having quite a few problems, but I think a lot of them are fixable, and that our coming in will get her a little more attention. So it wasn't a lot of fun, but I do think it was productive.
My winter term course ends tomorrow, and I did the evals. today.
Then Spouse and I had a conference with all 4 of Offspring's academic teachers. She's having quite a few problems, but I think a lot of them are fixable, and that our coming in will get her a little more attention. So it wasn't a lot of fun, but I do think it was productive.
My winter term course ends tomorrow, and I did the evals. today.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Snacks
A former grad student I advised sent me a Central State care package yesterday that included a snack food we both really miss. There were two big bags, and one is nearly gone! So. Good.
Had lots of interesting nightmares last night. Spouse was snoring (side effect of the weight, I think) and so I was up from about 2:30-5, and then had weird dreams involving teaching classes, my trip to the foreign land with students and the plot of Inception, which we finally watched Friday night.
Exciting, I know.
Had lots of interesting nightmares last night. Spouse was snoring (side effect of the weight, I think) and so I was up from about 2:30-5, and then had weird dreams involving teaching classes, my trip to the foreign land with students and the plot of Inception, which we finally watched Friday night.
Exciting, I know.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
RBOTOL
Random bullets of thinking out loud
*Administrator person didn't show yesterday - I guess his other meeting went over
*If we did go back, there's a basket shop in the area where I am pretty sure I could work part time
*I am just about finished with a Jan. Term class. I think it is going pretty well, and that the evals should be ok
*I finished all the prep for my spring class that repeats one from the fall and I feel a lot better about it
*gtyu
*Previous bullet courtesy of Bun
*I am worried that being here might be literally killing Spouse. He's so stressed out all the time, and he has gained a ton of weight
*Have a conference at Offspring's school Monday because she slid so much this past quarter
*Haven't mentioned any of this to Spouse. Not sure when I will.
*Administrator person didn't show yesterday - I guess his other meeting went over
*If we did go back, there's a basket shop in the area where I am pretty sure I could work part time
*I am just about finished with a Jan. Term class. I think it is going pretty well, and that the evals should be ok
*I finished all the prep for my spring class that repeats one from the fall and I feel a lot better about it
*gtyu
*Previous bullet courtesy of Bun
*I am worried that being here might be literally killing Spouse. He's so stressed out all the time, and he has gained a ton of weight
*Have a conference at Offspring's school Monday because she slid so much this past quarter
*Haven't mentioned any of this to Spouse. Not sure when I will.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Internal and External Loci
So I'm having a lengthier meeting with the administrator who's doing my review later this morning.
One of the things I have never liked about people is when they like to blame others for everything that goes wrong in their lives. A professorly example might be the student who didn't try to buy the book until the night before the reading is due, the bookstore is out, and the student says it is the bookstore's fault that the book won't be read on time.
However, in some cases, maybe blame does go outside of the person. For example, if the bookstore never got the book and maybe it was a rare edition or something on-line retailers don't have either.
This is the debate I have with regard to my evals. On the one hand, I taught classes students resented. That's inexcusable. I definitely made some bad decisions and had things come up that I could have handled better.
On the other, when I tried to contact the faculty who taught those classes in the previous semester, I got pretty much the same answer from both of them: I don't know what's supposed to be in that class, and I don't know that anyone does. When I taught it, it was a disaster, and I'm glad it's you and not me.
So I'm still thinking of what to take away from this. Also, if we go back to PrettyGood, I can't go back, and Mid-sized City is in the middle of nowhere, so my career is pretty much over. Then again, it kind of feels that way right now.
One of the things I have never liked about people is when they like to blame others for everything that goes wrong in their lives. A professorly example might be the student who didn't try to buy the book until the night before the reading is due, the bookstore is out, and the student says it is the bookstore's fault that the book won't be read on time.
However, in some cases, maybe blame does go outside of the person. For example, if the bookstore never got the book and maybe it was a rare edition or something on-line retailers don't have either.
This is the debate I have with regard to my evals. On the one hand, I taught classes students resented. That's inexcusable. I definitely made some bad decisions and had things come up that I could have handled better.
On the other, when I tried to contact the faculty who taught those classes in the previous semester, I got pretty much the same answer from both of them: I don't know what's supposed to be in that class, and I don't know that anyone does. When I taught it, it was a disaster, and I'm glad it's you and not me.
So I'm still thinking of what to take away from this. Also, if we go back to PrettyGood, I can't go back, and Mid-sized City is in the middle of nowhere, so my career is pretty much over. Then again, it kind of feels that way right now.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wherein I think out loud a bit
So I, just moments ago, got my teaching evaluations from last semester. As expected, they were brutal. Really bad. Like I haven't seen this bad since the first semester I taught as a graduate student.
NewSchool has this deal where faculty evals are a rather lengthy (5-7 pages) professional development document that then gets responded to by administration, etc. It has to include references to the evaluations, and is also due today, so I have to figure out what to say in response to these evaluations in the next hour or so.
So a bit of thinking out loud.
My overall numbers are quite low. I have these sheets of numbers without labels, and I'm not really sure exactly what they are, but it looks like I have the second lowest numbers in the department.
Across all courses, my average review score is 3/5. In my department of 50+ faculty, 10 people scored less than 4 and the university average is 4.3.
Every single rating was below the school and university averages, leading me to believe my courses pretty much sucked. However, I have to pick some things to work on, so where were the lowest scores...
Grad classes
Got dinged for how useful the textbook was in both sections. I didn't use a textbook and really didn't assign that much reading, so that's not that much of a surprise.
Got dinged for the class being interesting or improving professional growth in one section.
Got dinged for having unclear grading expectations.
In the other section, got dinged for outside readings (see above) and tests. There was one practical exam and then the final, which they hadn't taken.
Undergrad class
Got dinged for communicates material clearly
Got dinged for stimulates thinking
Got dinged for feedback
Got dinged for clearly indicated how work will be evaluated
So, now to explain this stuff and set some goals.
So, let's see...
hmmmmmmm
I know a big problem I had in my grad class was the quite large gap in student abilities. I set the level of the class at the lower end of the spectrum, and this had the double issue of making my assigned grades too high and boring some of the brighter kids. There's some overlap in the grad classes, and I did try to minimize this, perhaps to my peril. When the class was described to me over the phone in the summer before I came, I was told that the students needed to learn to make the basic frameworks and a simple overlay for a common basket. And there were written expectations for the class that were given to me and that I taught. However, this did not seem to be what the students expected to have to do in the class. So was able to cover everything that I was told I should cover, and the students did come out having done what they were expected to, but for some of the students this was a level that was too basic. So I need to re-do some of the assignments to have more advanced options. I'll have to think about readings...in a how-to class like this, it seems like it would be difficult to have readings that do not also make things more boring. I need to re-do my rubrics at Skippy level.
In my undergrad class, the fact that half the students were CAD/CAM basket designers and the other half were hands-on weavers was an issue. Both areas need to work together, but it will be hard to teach this without boring one half of the class pretty much all the time. The solution to this is interdisciplinary teams throughout the semester. I also feel like I need to improve the academic component of the class. Many of my issues in this class had to do with not knowing what the students were able to do when I got them.
It's funny - there are a lot of structural-level suggestions that I could make that would make things a lot better for other new faculty in the future. Like don't give them the senior capstone class. If you have an integrated program, make sure you have a lot of communication about who is doing what. It's not my place to make these kinds of suggestions at this point.
Oh, also the comments on the back were the most direct and hate-filled I have ever seen, especially from the grad students. Wow.
I am seriously doubting I will be able to succeed here.
Did I mention that I had the highest evaluations in the department at my previous gig?
NewSchool has this deal where faculty evals are a rather lengthy (5-7 pages) professional development document that then gets responded to by administration, etc. It has to include references to the evaluations, and is also due today, so I have to figure out what to say in response to these evaluations in the next hour or so.
So a bit of thinking out loud.
My overall numbers are quite low. I have these sheets of numbers without labels, and I'm not really sure exactly what they are, but it looks like I have the second lowest numbers in the department.
Across all courses, my average review score is 3/5. In my department of 50+ faculty, 10 people scored less than 4 and the university average is 4.3.
Every single rating was below the school and university averages, leading me to believe my courses pretty much sucked. However, I have to pick some things to work on, so where were the lowest scores...
Grad classes
Got dinged for how useful the textbook was in both sections. I didn't use a textbook and really didn't assign that much reading, so that's not that much of a surprise.
Got dinged for the class being interesting or improving professional growth in one section.
Got dinged for having unclear grading expectations.
In the other section, got dinged for outside readings (see above) and tests. There was one practical exam and then the final, which they hadn't taken.
Undergrad class
Got dinged for communicates material clearly
Got dinged for stimulates thinking
Got dinged for feedback
Got dinged for clearly indicated how work will be evaluated
So, now to explain this stuff and set some goals.
So, let's see...
hmmmmmmm
I know a big problem I had in my grad class was the quite large gap in student abilities. I set the level of the class at the lower end of the spectrum, and this had the double issue of making my assigned grades too high and boring some of the brighter kids. There's some overlap in the grad classes, and I did try to minimize this, perhaps to my peril. When the class was described to me over the phone in the summer before I came, I was told that the students needed to learn to make the basic frameworks and a simple overlay for a common basket. And there were written expectations for the class that were given to me and that I taught. However, this did not seem to be what the students expected to have to do in the class. So was able to cover everything that I was told I should cover, and the students did come out having done what they were expected to, but for some of the students this was a level that was too basic. So I need to re-do some of the assignments to have more advanced options. I'll have to think about readings...in a how-to class like this, it seems like it would be difficult to have readings that do not also make things more boring. I need to re-do my rubrics at Skippy level.
In my undergrad class, the fact that half the students were CAD/CAM basket designers and the other half were hands-on weavers was an issue. Both areas need to work together, but it will be hard to teach this without boring one half of the class pretty much all the time. The solution to this is interdisciplinary teams throughout the semester. I also feel like I need to improve the academic component of the class. Many of my issues in this class had to do with not knowing what the students were able to do when I got them.
It's funny - there are a lot of structural-level suggestions that I could make that would make things a lot better for other new faculty in the future. Like don't give them the senior capstone class. If you have an integrated program, make sure you have a lot of communication about who is doing what. It's not my place to make these kinds of suggestions at this point.
Oh, also the comments on the back were the most direct and hate-filled I have ever seen, especially from the grad students. Wow.
I am seriously doubting I will be able to succeed here.
Did I mention that I had the highest evaluations in the department at my previous gig?
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Color me perplexed
So Offspring does the rest of her time today. She did get out-of-class assignments to do in ISS, but I am worried about the stuff that might be presented in class that she will miss, and maybe do poorly on tests.
Anyway, her language arts teacher is big on the long-term assignments. One that she is doing right now is a research paper. Fine. So she has to get four different types of sources (books, web sites, articles, interviews, whatever). Fine. Her class went to the library to start work on this on Friday, so we took her to Spouse's uni library to get books on Sunday. Great.
Things I don't understand...
1. The topic had to be in the field of neuroscience. In 6th grade language arts. She picked ophthalmic migraines.
2. She has to do exactly the same index card note-taking system I learned doing this paper in 9th grade. I don't do this any more - does anyone?
3. She's doing a paper on a scientific topic, but the required citation format is MLA.
How fun it is going to be trying to get her to understand the books and articles - any recommendations for a good online medical dictionary?
Anyway, her language arts teacher is big on the long-term assignments. One that she is doing right now is a research paper. Fine. So she has to get four different types of sources (books, web sites, articles, interviews, whatever). Fine. Her class went to the library to start work on this on Friday, so we took her to Spouse's uni library to get books on Sunday. Great.
Things I don't understand...
1. The topic had to be in the field of neuroscience. In 6th grade language arts. She picked ophthalmic migraines.
2. She has to do exactly the same index card note-taking system I learned doing this paper in 9th grade. I don't do this any more - does anyone?
3. She's doing a paper on a scientific topic, but the required citation format is MLA.
How fun it is going to be trying to get her to understand the books and articles - any recommendations for a good online medical dictionary?
Monday, January 17, 2011
"Day Off"
So this overseas trip was part of a 3-week course in the January term NewSchool has. This means that everything relating to the project from the trip has to be done by next Tuesday. Which means the students are (or at least should be) putting in 12-hour days every day. I don't have to be there all the time, thank goodness, but I was at work Saturday, Sunday, I will be today, and Saturday and Sunday of next weekend, etc.
Spouse, who'd really like some time away from our precious little people, is getting the short end, for sure.
On the plus side, some of the more slack students have shaped up and I no longer have as strong of an urge to smack them. Also, this counts as a class in the spring semester for me, so I'll only have two. I might even get some research done...
Spouse, who'd really like some time away from our precious little people, is getting the short end, for sure.
On the plus side, some of the more slack students have shaped up and I no longer have as strong of an urge to smack them. Also, this counts as a class in the spring semester for me, so I'll only have two. I might even get some research done...
Friday, January 14, 2011
Offspring narrowly misses juvie
Offspring got suspended today (ISS).
I was overseas at the time, but apparently last Friday (the last day she had school before today - we've had some bad weather) she was in her class with Ms. Legumbre, who was describing a desired action as something you might see between boys and girls at a dance (awkward approach, I think, and yes, you have a dirty mind).
Anyway, Offspring and her ilk are at the tail end of the "boys are icky" phase of life, and while the students were falling out of their chairs in mock disgust, Offspring thought it would be funny to pretend to whack her teacher upside the head. The teacher moved, like I would if you were coming towards me like that, and Offspring actually hit her. Even she knows that is completely, shockingly inappropriate. The teacher called Spouse Friday night wanting an explanation, got one, and said she was writing Offspring up, which, of course, she had to.
So Spouse and I have been quite worried about the consequences for hitting a teacher, particularly in the age of zero tolerance. I looked up the state law, and found they would have a hard time expelling her because of her age, but we were figuring best case she would have to leave her school and go to the decidedly mediocre middle school in the part of the county where we live. Worst case, they would send her to alternative school, which would have meant the end of public school for Offspring, since I investigated that campus and believe it to be unsafe. We even talked about moving back to Central State. PrettyGood is lobbying Spouse to come back, and since I would not be working, I could homeschool her.
She got ISS for two days, which I think is really going to finish off her GPA, which may send her to mediocre middle after all. We'll have to see. If it doesn't, I'm thinking about seeing if she can be dropped from Ms. Legumbre's class. I am sure Ms. Legumbre would appreciate it, and I asked Offspring, and she said she'd like it, too, since it's the class she gets threatened in.
So on the one hand, I feel very relieved. On the other, I feel like kind of a crappy Mom at present.
I was overseas at the time, but apparently last Friday (the last day she had school before today - we've had some bad weather) she was in her class with Ms. Legumbre, who was describing a desired action as something you might see between boys and girls at a dance (awkward approach, I think, and yes, you have a dirty mind).
Anyway, Offspring and her ilk are at the tail end of the "boys are icky" phase of life, and while the students were falling out of their chairs in mock disgust, Offspring thought it would be funny to pretend to whack her teacher upside the head. The teacher moved, like I would if you were coming towards me like that, and Offspring actually hit her. Even she knows that is completely, shockingly inappropriate. The teacher called Spouse Friday night wanting an explanation, got one, and said she was writing Offspring up, which, of course, she had to.
So Spouse and I have been quite worried about the consequences for hitting a teacher, particularly in the age of zero tolerance. I looked up the state law, and found they would have a hard time expelling her because of her age, but we were figuring best case she would have to leave her school and go to the decidedly mediocre middle school in the part of the county where we live. Worst case, they would send her to alternative school, which would have meant the end of public school for Offspring, since I investigated that campus and believe it to be unsafe. We even talked about moving back to Central State. PrettyGood is lobbying Spouse to come back, and since I would not be working, I could homeschool her.
She got ISS for two days, which I think is really going to finish off her GPA, which may send her to mediocre middle after all. We'll have to see. If it doesn't, I'm thinking about seeing if she can be dropped from Ms. Legumbre's class. I am sure Ms. Legumbre would appreciate it, and I asked Offspring, and she said she'd like it, too, since it's the class she gets threatened in.
So on the one hand, I feel very relieved. On the other, I feel like kind of a crappy Mom at present.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Thinking of the semester ahead
So tomorrow I leave the warm tropics and go back to winter (it hasn't been above 32 at NewSchool since I left). Although there are two more weeks left in the winter term, it mostly involves my students using the knowledge they have gathered to make appropriate baskets for the folks we met. So I am thinking ahead to the next semester.
As I have blogged before, Basketweaving has a substantial applied component, and the classes I have next semester are all applied in bent. So I am going to try to reverse them.
Typically, the instructor delivers content in the classroom, and the students practice and demonstrate in homework. This semester, I am going to make the students responsible for learning the lion's share of the course material on their own (hello weekly quizzes for accountability) and I am going to use the class time for hands-on exercises, at least as much as possible. I think I'll take questions from the reading and other out-of-class work for about 10 minutes/day, but that's it. Basketweaving isn't rocket science, for starters, but I also think it would be good for the students to struggle with the concepts on their own.
It might be a horrible disaster, but I think it is worth a try. It may help me compete with Facebook and texting in the classroom.
As I have blogged before, Basketweaving has a substantial applied component, and the classes I have next semester are all applied in bent. So I am going to try to reverse them.
Typically, the instructor delivers content in the classroom, and the students practice and demonstrate in homework. This semester, I am going to make the students responsible for learning the lion's share of the course material on their own (hello weekly quizzes for accountability) and I am going to use the class time for hands-on exercises, at least as much as possible. I think I'll take questions from the reading and other out-of-class work for about 10 minutes/day, but that's it. Basketweaving isn't rocket science, for starters, but I also think it would be good for the students to struggle with the concepts on their own.
It might be a horrible disaster, but I think it is worth a try. It may help me compete with Facebook and texting in the classroom.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Dear students on my study abroad
OMFG, you are so freakin' shallow. There just may have to be a round of slapping. Please, please grow up. Especially you, who are almost as old as I am. Please.
Update
Its a snow day for Spouse, too.
Although I am a proponent for free speech, I am REALLY tired of Westboro Baptist Church. I do, however, like these folks..
Although I am a proponent for free speech, I am REALLY tired of Westboro Baptist Church. I do, however, like these folks..
Monday, January 10, 2011
Home difficulties
So Spouse's school started classes today. I am out of the country and both girls had a snow day. New School runs a limited session in January, so our babysitter wasn't around, so today's solution was that he put them in the conference room at his school and I watched them on Skype from overseas, so I could call him in class on his cell if something happened. They have a snow day again tomorrow, so I really hope Spouse's school is cancelled, too.
A little verklempt
New School, being a private university like PrettyGood was, has a population of mostly students from an affluent background, mixed with highly qualified scholarship students with a more varied set of life experiences. So one of my challenges on a trip like this is to make sure that the students get the part of the picture that has to do with understanding the life situation of the people with whom we work.
Yesterday, I got some help, as one of the officers of the organization we were working for invited us to his house for lunch. We went, and his whole, huge extended family was there, including his son-in-law, who was educated at an American school and spoke great English, which was a huge help, since we only have one person who can really translate well. We were talking with the officer's wife, and she got pretty emotional about how difficult it is to have her husband take time away from his family in order to help his countrymen with the needs that they have. Although that family is doing pretty well, so many that the organization serves are not, and it is a great personal cost for this officer to help them. He leaves at 4:30 every morning to go to the center that works with the people.
By the time the translator finished translating, most of my students were crying, too. Lesson: getting closer to learned.
Yesterday, I got some help, as one of the officers of the organization we were working for invited us to his house for lunch. We went, and his whole, huge extended family was there, including his son-in-law, who was educated at an American school and spoke great English, which was a huge help, since we only have one person who can really translate well. We were talking with the officer's wife, and she got pretty emotional about how difficult it is to have her husband take time away from his family in order to help his countrymen with the needs that they have. Although that family is doing pretty well, so many that the organization serves are not, and it is a great personal cost for this officer to help them. He leaves at 4:30 every morning to go to the center that works with the people.
By the time the translator finished translating, most of my students were crying, too. Lesson: getting closer to learned.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
I know where you live
So here in our tropical location, we are staying at a place that was an old army base, and the developing country has converted it to a zone for NGOs and science. The military housing is for rent - they are duplexes with 3 bedrooms each, two baths, a partial kitchen (aka a fridge, a microwave and a coffee maker) and a living area. My female students are in one duplex and my males in another. The students decided that the female student unit should be our work center. We go out into the field gathering basket materials during the day, and assess and plan for baskets at night. We'll actually make the baskets back at New U (how fun packing to go home will be!).
Our evenings go pretty late, and it gets awkward when the students start going to grab showers, etc. It's back in the bedroom area, but it is still weird.
Another New U group is in another country, and they only have Internet at a bar, so that's where they are spending their evenings. They are having a much more vacation-y experience than we are, but I don't think my students care.
In other news, Skippy is in the other group here in this country, and I have learned from my students that none of the other students like him either, because he is whiny and pouty.
Our evenings go pretty late, and it gets awkward when the students start going to grab showers, etc. It's back in the bedroom area, but it is still weird.
Another New U group is in another country, and they only have Internet at a bar, so that's where they are spending their evenings. They are having a much more vacation-y experience than we are, but I don't think my students care.
In other news, Skippy is in the other group here in this country, and I have learned from my students that none of the other students like him either, because he is whiny and pouty.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Well that didn't take long
So when I travel overseas, I get to a point where I feel like I'd rather just be at home. Now, please.
I think I have hit this point already on this trip.
If you are reading, leave me a comment with what you like about traveling. Please.
I think I have hit this point already on this trip.
If you are reading, leave me a comment with what you like about traveling. Please.
Worries
So I am here in our exotic study abroad location. This program basically takes grad students in basketweaving and has them go make baskets for some needy people, while simulataneously involving some exotic foreign travel.
It's hot and sticky and the place I am staying smells like a church camp or the rental mobile home I had to live in while an apprentice basketmaker right out of college.
My bigger worry is our project. I was supposed to have everything in place for my group. I have sufficient connections that I could have set up a meaningful project, although not in this country, but New School came here last year, and so believed that they could come again and do a similar project. The faculty member who went to this country last year was supposed to be putting everything together, but evidently had a lot of trouble with the international partners. I'm worried that they don't actually want baskets for their organization, and that my students and I are going to have to convince them. In Spanish. I'm also worried about making this a meaningful experience for my students. Finally, my fellow faculty member down here got pretty sick after Christmas and is still pretty ill. He started a new antibiotic yesterday because the first wasn't working, but I'm worried that he may get worse while we are here. (On the plus side, I'm glad I convinced the folks at New School that the travel insurance rider really was worth paying for...)
It's hot and sticky and the place I am staying smells like a church camp or the rental mobile home I had to live in while an apprentice basketmaker right out of college.
My bigger worry is our project. I was supposed to have everything in place for my group. I have sufficient connections that I could have set up a meaningful project, although not in this country, but New School came here last year, and so believed that they could come again and do a similar project. The faculty member who went to this country last year was supposed to be putting everything together, but evidently had a lot of trouble with the international partners. I'm worried that they don't actually want baskets for their organization, and that my students and I are going to have to convince them. In Spanish. I'm also worried about making this a meaningful experience for my students. Finally, my fellow faculty member down here got pretty sick after Christmas and is still pretty ill. He started a new antibiotic yesterday because the first wasn't working, but I'm worried that he may get worse while we are here. (On the plus side, I'm glad I convinced the folks at New School that the travel insurance rider really was worth paying for...)
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Old Friends
One of my best friends from college is in town. He's in higher ed admin and his college and New School got a combined grant that they are working on together.
We had a bit of a falling out (really, he and Spouse, who were roommates, did) and although I friended him on Facebook about 4 years ago, I really haven't talked to him for about 21 years.
I'm over it, obviously, and so I picked him up last night and brought him over to the house for a while. It was kind of weird - we saw my old roommate over Thanksgiving and spent hours with our families at the zoo and didn't run out of things to talk about. But there were a lot of awkward silences last night. Not for any great reason, I just think our adult lives have less in common.
He's married now and has kids and a doctorate. And so do we, of course. So I don't know what it is.
He'll be back in town in the Spring, and maybe we'll try again.
We had a bit of a falling out (really, he and Spouse, who were roommates, did) and although I friended him on Facebook about 4 years ago, I really haven't talked to him for about 21 years.
I'm over it, obviously, and so I picked him up last night and brought him over to the house for a while. It was kind of weird - we saw my old roommate over Thanksgiving and spent hours with our families at the zoo and didn't run out of things to talk about. But there were a lot of awkward silences last night. Not for any great reason, I just think our adult lives have less in common.
He's married now and has kids and a doctorate. And so do we, of course. So I don't know what it is.
He'll be back in town in the Spring, and maybe we'll try again.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Dear January
Why is it that you are barely here, yet I am having to seriously fight the urge to just blog my to-do list?
I can't decide if I am really looking forward to this semester or really dreading it. One thing I know for sure: I have allocated WAY too many things into the "stuff I'm going to do in the evenings on my study abroad."
Right now my internal debate is if I should spend a lot of time de-cluttering the house, since I know in my heart of hearts that it's going to be trashed when I get home. Maybe not - I suggested a Chore Wars challenge while I am gone. I can't do most of the adventures from my study abroad location, but I am way ahead of the rest of the family. So I suggested that when I get home, whoever has the most XP will get a $20 shopping spree at the store of his/her choice.
We'll see if that helps any.
I can't decide if I am really looking forward to this semester or really dreading it. One thing I know for sure: I have allocated WAY too many things into the "stuff I'm going to do in the evenings on my study abroad."
Right now my internal debate is if I should spend a lot of time de-cluttering the house, since I know in my heart of hearts that it's going to be trashed when I get home. Maybe not - I suggested a Chore Wars challenge while I am gone. I can't do most of the adventures from my study abroad location, but I am way ahead of the rest of the family. So I suggested that when I get home, whoever has the most XP will get a $20 shopping spree at the store of his/her choice.
We'll see if that helps any.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Prospero año nuevo, yada yada
So here we are in 2011. To say 2010 was a big year for the Profs would be an understatement. I've been a little lax in posting because we were on the road pretty much continuously between Dec. 23 and yesterday, so my Internet access wasn't super.
We have generally tried to do the "fish and visitors" thing and not spend more than 3 days at any one place, but we ended up being at Spouse's parents for an extra day. It was my idea - in part because his brother from DC and his family, whom we rarely see, was there for that period, in part because we didn't want to be driving back on New Year's Eve and, I think, in part because it was nice to be around people we know well for a while. Our work/school schedules have been so crazy in the fall that we really haven't made friends here. We're going to a church, which helps a little, but we're still the "Oh, visitors!" type. Offspring is sick, so I don't think we'll go today, either.
Back in the summer, I was told that I would be expected to do a study abroad trip in in January as part of a Spring class, and I am leaving Wednesday. Not excited about that, and Spouse is very concerned about having to cover for me. At least his classes don't start back until next week, so that will help some. The girlies go back to school tomorrow.
People are up, so time to start the day.
We have generally tried to do the "fish and visitors" thing and not spend more than 3 days at any one place, but we ended up being at Spouse's parents for an extra day. It was my idea - in part because his brother from DC and his family, whom we rarely see, was there for that period, in part because we didn't want to be driving back on New Year's Eve and, I think, in part because it was nice to be around people we know well for a while. Our work/school schedules have been so crazy in the fall that we really haven't made friends here. We're going to a church, which helps a little, but we're still the "Oh, visitors!" type. Offspring is sick, so I don't think we'll go today, either.
Back in the summer, I was told that I would be expected to do a study abroad trip in in January as part of a Spring class, and I am leaving Wednesday. Not excited about that, and Spouse is very concerned about having to cover for me. At least his classes don't start back until next week, so that will help some. The girlies go back to school tomorrow.
People are up, so time to start the day.
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