but it's pretty much in my head at the moment.
Right now, I have had a migraine since 4 a.m., and it is now 7 p.m. We are not amused.
I usually just get visual symptoms - the pain kind is rare for me...maybe once a year. So since the migraines are complex, I can't take typical migraine meds.
This is the pain kind. And it sucks.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Two elements of different things
1. Some people enjoy shopping. I do not. My holiday shopping is nearly done (thanks Amazon and the Old Navy Cyber Monday sale!) - just need a few things for my Father in Law that come from campus book stores and the local people like teachers presents, so that shouldn't be too hard. My sisters in law both L O V E shopping. Like line up at the Mall at 3 a.m. on Black Friday. Like dump the little ones with Spouse's parents so they can spend a weekend at a big mall out of town. I do not understand this at all. If I had a weekend of free babysitting, I sure as heck wouldn't waste it at the mall.
2. It's the last full week of classes, so, you guessed it, folks! Student presentation time. It's amazing how much more focused the audience is if you give them a little piece of paper to fill out on each presenter. Even if the papers don't count for anything.
2. It's the last full week of classes, so, you guessed it, folks! Student presentation time. It's amazing how much more focused the audience is if you give them a little piece of paper to fill out on each presenter. Even if the papers don't count for anything.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
*Insert title here
So I was going to call this post "Have you seen my mojo? I seem to have lost it."
But being a freakin' academic, I had to go and look up what it actually means. It doesn't mean potency or motivation (crap!) But whatever the word I am looking for is, I have lost it over the break. I got myself into a pretty good position prior to the break...got nearly caught up on grading. Have solid ideas for next week's classes.
But that little dribble of stuff I still have to do - the easy to grade quizzes? The papers in my "annoying stuff that dribbled in late so you can darn well wait until the end of the semester for it" folder? Calculating "here's how you're doing to date" grades for my students? I just don't want to. I'd love to say I can get up early and do some things, but I won't. I know it. You know it. The American people know it. But I am having the toughest time getting my lazy posterior in gear.
My folks came Tuesday night and left today, and so I didn't do much while they were here, because I'd feel guilty that they took flights just to watch me frowning at the computer.* But I planned to have a small amount to do tonight.
I have a crap week coming up - I know the students will come back having not done anything over the break (like me!) and be thrown into instant OMFG mode. I have meetings up the wazoo (three mornings and two afternoons this week). So time will be short. So where is my [insert word here]?
I think I'll go take a shower. That's productive, right?
*Also, I think my Mom reads this blog. She mentioned several things that I don't think I have discussed with her. Not sure how I feel about that. Any way, hi Mom!
But being a freakin' academic, I had to go and look up what it actually means. It doesn't mean potency or motivation (crap!) But whatever the word I am looking for is, I have lost it over the break. I got myself into a pretty good position prior to the break...got nearly caught up on grading. Have solid ideas for next week's classes.
But that little dribble of stuff I still have to do - the easy to grade quizzes? The papers in my "annoying stuff that dribbled in late so you can darn well wait until the end of the semester for it" folder? Calculating "here's how you're doing to date" grades for my students? I just don't want to. I'd love to say I can get up early and do some things, but I won't. I know it. You know it. The American people know it. But I am having the toughest time getting my lazy posterior in gear.
My folks came Tuesday night and left today, and so I didn't do much while they were here, because I'd feel guilty that they took flights just to watch me frowning at the computer.* But I planned to have a small amount to do tonight.
I have a crap week coming up - I know the students will come back having not done anything over the break (like me!) and be thrown into instant OMFG mode. I have meetings up the wazoo (three mornings and two afternoons this week). So time will be short. So where is my [insert word here]?
I think I'll go take a shower. That's productive, right?
*Also, I think my Mom reads this blog. She mentioned several things that I don't think I have discussed with her. Not sure how I feel about that. Any way, hi Mom!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
I should be grading something
Woke up this morning with a cold. Yay.
I'm at work - although given the population I saw in the parking lot and right outside my window, I don't think I'll have many takers for my 2:20-4 class today!
I have one full week and then one day of each class after today, and my Freshies are giving presentations next week. So I'm pretty much done in that class.
My seniors, the class sessions I'm most worried about are next week. But I think I can make it ok.
My sophomores, we have the coolest class of the semester next week. I'll do my evaluations that day, but of course.
Lots of excitement on the home front...most of it unbloggable. My folks are coming for the holidays, and at this point, I think Spouse may need to go down and be with his family because of a crisis down there. Or not. Don't really know yet.
Tomorrow's my birthday, and Bun is super excited, as only a 4-year-old child can be. We were at the grocery store last night and she kept telling me how happy she was that we are keeping her out of school tomorrow to celebrate. "We'll just be two girls out on the town, Mom. Two girls out on the town," she kept telling me. Secretly, we'll be two girls driving her grandparents around to look at neighborhoods, but I guess that's technically out on the town, right?
What a crappy post...maybe I'll end with a list of a few things I'm thankful for:
1. My family. Each and every one of them are just awesome. I so look forward to having some time to spend with them the rest of this week.
2. We both have stable jobs, and have a really great place to live. It's almost creepy how nice it is.
3. I am not celebrating Thanksgiving in Central State and am not at PrettyGood any more.
4. Spouse is in a job he is just thrilled with. So much better than we were last year.
5. The Kindle books I got for my birthday. And the fact that my schedule is finally loosening up, so I think I will get a chance to read some.
I'm at work - although given the population I saw in the parking lot and right outside my window, I don't think I'll have many takers for my 2:20-4 class today!
I have one full week and then one day of each class after today, and my Freshies are giving presentations next week. So I'm pretty much done in that class.
My seniors, the class sessions I'm most worried about are next week. But I think I can make it ok.
My sophomores, we have the coolest class of the semester next week. I'll do my evaluations that day, but of course.
Lots of excitement on the home front...most of it unbloggable. My folks are coming for the holidays, and at this point, I think Spouse may need to go down and be with his family because of a crisis down there. Or not. Don't really know yet.
Tomorrow's my birthday, and Bun is super excited, as only a 4-year-old child can be. We were at the grocery store last night and she kept telling me how happy she was that we are keeping her out of school tomorrow to celebrate. "We'll just be two girls out on the town, Mom. Two girls out on the town," she kept telling me. Secretly, we'll be two girls driving her grandparents around to look at neighborhoods, but I guess that's technically out on the town, right?
What a crappy post...maybe I'll end with a list of a few things I'm thankful for:
1. My family. Each and every one of them are just awesome. I so look forward to having some time to spend with them the rest of this week.
2. We both have stable jobs, and have a really great place to live. It's almost creepy how nice it is.
3. I am not celebrating Thanksgiving in Central State and am not at PrettyGood any more.
4. Spouse is in a job he is just thrilled with. So much better than we were last year.
5. The Kindle books I got for my birthday. And the fact that my schedule is finally loosening up, so I think I will get a chance to read some.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Deep thoughts
Why would my student think it is easier to e-mail me and ask me when the final is than to look on the uni's web site, where that date has been posted since April?
E-mail me:
Open e-mail client
Find my address
Write e-mail
Wait for response
Look it up:
Open web browser
Type in university URL
Type exam schedule in search box
Read answer
At least in the second option I'm not irritated just because you are lazy...
E-mail me:
Open e-mail client
Find my address
Write e-mail
Wait for response
Look it up:
Open web browser
Type in university URL
Type exam schedule in search box
Read answer
At least in the second option I'm not irritated just because you are lazy...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Commercials
Just saw a Corona commercial with the people on the beach. I want to go there.
Also, I would rather be grading zucchinis than the horrid projects my students have turned in.
Also, I would rather be grading zucchinis than the horrid projects my students have turned in.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Can't we just talk about it?
So as I've mentioned before, basketweaving is a field that has both scholarly and professional aspects. This is troubling when trying to have a department at a university, in that most people who come to college aren't thinking "Oh goody - I can go to college for 6-8 years, and then I'll have comprehended my field." Doing the scholarly side is pretty technical, and would take at least a good, research master's degree. There are quite good jobs if you do, but again, most undergraduates don't aspire to difficult, technical jobs. The professional side also has a lot of jobs, and, as such, attracts a lot of students to universities.
So here's the rub...while many basketweaving faculty have a small amount of professional experience followed by a doctorate, and a very few have large amounts of basketweaving experience followed by a doctorate, you need that professional experience to adequately prepare people for a very rapidly developing field (baskets! Who knew!)
Departments tend to have one of a couple of ways to handle this.
a) They have adjuncts and sometimes lecturers teach all of the hands-on classes in large numbers (3-4 loads are not uncommon for these folks). These adjuncts are typically working professionals who have master's degrees (as much as the physics of reeds department would like people to believe it, we're not actually devoid of theory...it represents probably at least 1/3 of the most hands-on classes we offer. But that's a story for another day.)
b) They have faculty in tracks. Scholarly types get evaluated on a scholarly track, which means they do traditional scholarly stuff (translation: peer-reviewed scholarship in good journals). Professional types get evaluated on a professional track, which means they do more presentational stuff like designing and making a basket for blind people or having a basket chosen for prominence at something like a trade show.
There's weaknesses in both models. The first major one I see is that you end up having faculty (typically the scholarly types) who can't teach the professional stuff at industry standard and faculty (typically the adjunct/professional type) who can't easily integrate the theoretical, which leads to people thinking of our field as belonging in a technical school. The second major one that I see if that in model a, the professional classes are taught by untenurable, often part-time faculty and, as such, these faculty don't have as much say in things like curriculum design. At PrettyGood, this definitely weakend the program, as many of our more senior faculty seemed intent on graduating students ready for the rigors of being a basketweaver in 1975.
At NewSchool, for some, unknown reason, they made me, in my second, tenure-track, year on campus, the chair of our committee that looks at department policies. This year, the professional activity (which seems to be code language for scholarship) portion of policies is up for review.
The policy in place now was written more than 6 years ago. They tried to make it inclusive of both kinds of faculty. IMO, that's a social good, in that in encourages the egghead types to do some professional-type work that helps to keep them current in the field, and encourages the professional types to try for things like academic conferences, which keeps them exposed to theory.
However (and this is a big however), the statements on "what counts" for tenure include things that are not necessarily going to be fair to the professional faculty. For example, computerized basketry is huge right now. Lots of jobs. Something our program needs to be teaching. We recognize this, and even started a professional masters in it a couple of years ago. You have to have people recently in the profession and continuing to work in the profession in order to offer this masters. So they hired a bunch of faculty into tenure-track jobs to teach in this program. They are not of the scholarly stripe. They have a relevant professional degree that does not include research training. At all. So to ask them to publish a paper in a journal is, in my mind, kind of unreasonable (but not in the minds of some of my colleagues. As one of mine said "Do you mean to tell me you need a Ph.D. to write a paper?") Our present policy says that scholarship that "counts" is peer-reviewed. Does getting it featured in a trade show count as that? Maybe. Policy doesn't say. Our present policy says that scholarship that "counts" is permanent (in other words, journals count. Conferences not so much.) Ok then. If I'm a computerized basketry faculty member, and I write an app that lets you, say, take a picture of a bunch of reeds and will help you figure out what size basket can be sustainably made from that material (sorry - I'm REALLY stretching the analogy at this point), that's great. What if the device I write it for no longer exists 4 years from now when I go up for tenure. It's not permanent. Does it count? Maybe. Policy doesn't say. I am seriously concerned that more than half of the faculty in the new program are not tenurable unless things are made clearer.
I was on the committee last year, and we voted to have listening sessions for faculty this fall to hear what they say about these issues. So I blocked 6 hours in my schedule this week, all at times that all of our faculty are supposed to be free (we have those in our schedule) to hold these sessions. I've done two of the three, and fewer than 10 percent of our faculty have shown up, almost all on the professional side. We all have to vote on this at some point, and I honestly think mostly scholarly-type faculty don't really know what the professional-type faculty can or do, do. I say that, because it has taken a lot of conversations on my part to even kind of understand it myself. So I wish people would come and talk to each other. Or else I think some good people are going to end up getting hurt.
So here's the rub...while many basketweaving faculty have a small amount of professional experience followed by a doctorate, and a very few have large amounts of basketweaving experience followed by a doctorate, you need that professional experience to adequately prepare people for a very rapidly developing field (baskets! Who knew!)
Departments tend to have one of a couple of ways to handle this.
a) They have adjuncts and sometimes lecturers teach all of the hands-on classes in large numbers (3-4 loads are not uncommon for these folks). These adjuncts are typically working professionals who have master's degrees (as much as the physics of reeds department would like people to believe it, we're not actually devoid of theory...it represents probably at least 1/3 of the most hands-on classes we offer. But that's a story for another day.)
b) They have faculty in tracks. Scholarly types get evaluated on a scholarly track, which means they do traditional scholarly stuff (translation: peer-reviewed scholarship in good journals). Professional types get evaluated on a professional track, which means they do more presentational stuff like designing and making a basket for blind people or having a basket chosen for prominence at something like a trade show.
There's weaknesses in both models. The first major one I see is that you end up having faculty (typically the scholarly types) who can't teach the professional stuff at industry standard and faculty (typically the adjunct/professional type) who can't easily integrate the theoretical, which leads to people thinking of our field as belonging in a technical school. The second major one that I see if that in model a, the professional classes are taught by untenurable, often part-time faculty and, as such, these faculty don't have as much say in things like curriculum design. At PrettyGood, this definitely weakend the program, as many of our more senior faculty seemed intent on graduating students ready for the rigors of being a basketweaver in 1975.
At NewSchool, for some, unknown reason, they made me, in my second, tenure-track, year on campus, the chair of our committee that looks at department policies. This year, the professional activity (which seems to be code language for scholarship) portion of policies is up for review.
The policy in place now was written more than 6 years ago. They tried to make it inclusive of both kinds of faculty. IMO, that's a social good, in that in encourages the egghead types to do some professional-type work that helps to keep them current in the field, and encourages the professional types to try for things like academic conferences, which keeps them exposed to theory.
However (and this is a big however), the statements on "what counts" for tenure include things that are not necessarily going to be fair to the professional faculty. For example, computerized basketry is huge right now. Lots of jobs. Something our program needs to be teaching. We recognize this, and even started a professional masters in it a couple of years ago. You have to have people recently in the profession and continuing to work in the profession in order to offer this masters. So they hired a bunch of faculty into tenure-track jobs to teach in this program. They are not of the scholarly stripe. They have a relevant professional degree that does not include research training. At all. So to ask them to publish a paper in a journal is, in my mind, kind of unreasonable (but not in the minds of some of my colleagues. As one of mine said "Do you mean to tell me you need a Ph.D. to write a paper?") Our present policy says that scholarship that "counts" is peer-reviewed. Does getting it featured in a trade show count as that? Maybe. Policy doesn't say. Our present policy says that scholarship that "counts" is permanent (in other words, journals count. Conferences not so much.) Ok then. If I'm a computerized basketry faculty member, and I write an app that lets you, say, take a picture of a bunch of reeds and will help you figure out what size basket can be sustainably made from that material (sorry - I'm REALLY stretching the analogy at this point), that's great. What if the device I write it for no longer exists 4 years from now when I go up for tenure. It's not permanent. Does it count? Maybe. Policy doesn't say. I am seriously concerned that more than half of the faculty in the new program are not tenurable unless things are made clearer.
I was on the committee last year, and we voted to have listening sessions for faculty this fall to hear what they say about these issues. So I blocked 6 hours in my schedule this week, all at times that all of our faculty are supposed to be free (we have those in our schedule) to hold these sessions. I've done two of the three, and fewer than 10 percent of our faculty have shown up, almost all on the professional side. We all have to vote on this at some point, and I honestly think mostly scholarly-type faculty don't really know what the professional-type faculty can or do, do. I say that, because it has taken a lot of conversations on my part to even kind of understand it myself. So I wish people would come and talk to each other. Or else I think some good people are going to end up getting hurt.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Dispostion
So New School's honor code deal has this thing where you tell the student what you believe they did, and they can either sign a form saying "Yes" or "Prove it," which leads to a hearing and other unpleasantries.
I let Prince take the form so he could consult with parents, etc. I told him a hearing was intended to make sure his rights were protected and that he should feel free to take that option.
He returned it to me with the "yes" signature, indicating he admits he did it. So from my perspective, the matter is closed. He gets my class sanction. If it is a first offense (I don't have a way of knowing that), he'll probably get probation from the university. And I think that's fair.
He did some bad things, but I have to say I am impressed with his willingness to take responsibility for his mistakes. He'll fail my class, but I don't think it will be fatal to him.
I let Prince take the form so he could consult with parents, etc. I told him a hearing was intended to make sure his rights were protected and that he should feel free to take that option.
He returned it to me with the "yes" signature, indicating he admits he did it. So from my perspective, the matter is closed. He gets my class sanction. If it is a first offense (I don't have a way of knowing that), he'll probably get probation from the university. And I think that's fair.
He did some bad things, but I have to say I am impressed with his willingness to take responsibility for his mistakes. He'll fail my class, but I don't think it will be fatal to him.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
All is not well in the kingdom
I'm getting the impression that honor codes are things that people feel like are great for OTHER people to enforce.
So the Prince came in. There were tears, and a novel excuse. See, the Prince is taking a class from a colleague of mine who includes writing about baskets in her course also. And, apparently, the colleague told the Prince's class that it's fine to copy things other people have written...in fact, it's better that way. Makes things more accurate!*
I'm still a bit flummoxed by that one. I called my colleague as soon as the Prince left, just to make sure that's not in fact what she teaches the royalty now. And of course it's not. I felt like I had to call, but I also feel bad for colleague, who I think thought I was questioning HER integrity. But really, it's just the Prince's.
Then, last night, I get an e-mail from Prince saying they went and talked with an administrator in student life who suggested the Prince write me this heartfelt e-mail about how sorry they were, how they'd take an ethics module if I wanted to assign one, and how they were really just confused because of what colleague said. So now I have the Prince's claims in writing.
It just gets weirder.
*She did not tell them to carve zucchinis, but I wouldn't be surprised at this point.
So the Prince came in. There were tears, and a novel excuse. See, the Prince is taking a class from a colleague of mine who includes writing about baskets in her course also. And, apparently, the colleague told the Prince's class that it's fine to copy things other people have written...in fact, it's better that way. Makes things more accurate!*
I'm still a bit flummoxed by that one. I called my colleague as soon as the Prince left, just to make sure that's not in fact what she teaches the royalty now. And of course it's not. I felt like I had to call, but I also feel bad for colleague, who I think thought I was questioning HER integrity. But really, it's just the Prince's.
Then, last night, I get an e-mail from Prince saying they went and talked with an administrator in student life who suggested the Prince write me this heartfelt e-mail about how sorry they were, how they'd take an ethics module if I wanted to assign one, and how they were really just confused because of what colleague said. So now I have the Prince's claims in writing.
It just gets weirder.
*She did not tell them to carve zucchinis, but I wouldn't be surprised at this point.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Ack!
So when we went to new faculty orientation, I was told that cheater reporting was mandatory at NewSchool. I like that, because it puts less onus on me as making decisions to be "nice." What would really be nice would be if you'd do your work, so we wouldn't have to have this discussion, but...bygones.
So I consulted with some colleagues, who said they NEVER report things and that one tried to and ended up with having the department chair give poor princess a hug. Princess who had notes written on her arm DURING a test.
Fan freakin tastic. Now I don't know what to do.
So I consulted with some colleagues, who said they NEVER report things and that one tried to and ended up with having the department chair give poor princess a hug. Princess who had notes written on her arm DURING a test.
Fan freakin tastic. Now I don't know what to do.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Once upon a time
Mommy/Prof tried to be nice, and let her students have an easy assignment. Instead of making a basket, they could go to a presentation on basket weaving. Then, they could write a summary. Credit earned. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.
Sadly, the prince decided he was too good for even this easy assignment. He turned in a summary that he said was his own. But, when the prince said in his summary that the presentation was in a different building on campus than it, in fact, was, Mommy/Prof thought this sounded suspicious.
She compared the Prince's summary to the preview of the presentation on the basket-weaving department's web site. The tense and a few words were changed, but it was basically the same piece of writing.
Poor Prince! Not only did he plagiarize, but Mommy/Prof has every reason to believe that he did not even bother to attend the event.
And Mommy/Prof's syllabus says that princes who do that get an automatic F in the course.
What a great week Mommy/Prof is sure to have.
Sadly, the prince decided he was too good for even this easy assignment. He turned in a summary that he said was his own. But, when the prince said in his summary that the presentation was in a different building on campus than it, in fact, was, Mommy/Prof thought this sounded suspicious.
She compared the Prince's summary to the preview of the presentation on the basket-weaving department's web site. The tense and a few words were changed, but it was basically the same piece of writing.
Poor Prince! Not only did he plagiarize, but Mommy/Prof has every reason to believe that he did not even bother to attend the event.
And Mommy/Prof's syllabus says that princes who do that get an automatic F in the course.
What a great week Mommy/Prof is sure to have.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The answer is in. I am crazy.
So today, I left early for work. I went to a group for faculty who are working on new classes for next semester. Sadly, when we set the schedule for the other meetings, I can go to 1/3, so I don't think I'll be able to go again. Went back to my office. Had 10 minutes, before I had to meet my freshies for getting papers for a project. Clearly, I am certifiably insane, as I have now committed to doing a paper with another faculty member AND 2 FRESHMEN for a Dec. 5 deadline. Certifiable. We are heavily incented to do undergraduate research, so that I why I am doing it, but still, bonafide insanity, right there. Did I mention they are first-year students? Been on campus less than 3 months?
Anyway, met with them. Came back to do a quick 15 minutes with Apollo, with whom I am doing no fewer than 5 projects this semester (two of them were discharged with last week's conference, thank goodness!).
Turned out that the person who is the community partner for the overseas project he and I are leading in January wanted to Skype with us prior to his skyping with our students this afternoon. Did that. Had 15 minutes to get ready for class. One of those days when I'm cursing at the copier for not printing my g-d handouts fast enough (in my defense, it's also a networked printer and sometimes will get in this mode where it will take 15 minutes to print 20 copies of a handout that is just words on paper. )
Anyway, run off to class. Teach 2 classes AND THEN do the skype sessions for both mine and Apollo's groups (it's his kids' birthday, so he left early).
Second skype runs long, and I am running to get Bun from daycare before it closes. Get home. Forgot to tell Spouse I had this late obligation, so he's all worried. Offspring is off school tomorrow, so she wants me to play computer games with her. Tell her I'm not sure I'll have time. She gets all offended. So I play with her, even though I know full well that I suck at games (I play, because I am crazy) and get to listen to my whole family, including the 4 year old, making fun of me. Manage to not lose it.
Have I mentioned how I have seemed to acquire another 2 inches of papers to grade?
Yep. Crazy. Tonight, in addition to the 2 inches of papers, I have to cull through and get the things ready for my FRESHMEN to code.
Anyway, met with them. Came back to do a quick 15 minutes with Apollo, with whom I am doing no fewer than 5 projects this semester (two of them were discharged with last week's conference, thank goodness!).
Turned out that the person who is the community partner for the overseas project he and I are leading in January wanted to Skype with us prior to his skyping with our students this afternoon. Did that. Had 15 minutes to get ready for class. One of those days when I'm cursing at the copier for not printing my g-d handouts fast enough (in my defense, it's also a networked printer and sometimes will get in this mode where it will take 15 minutes to print 20 copies of a handout that is just words on paper. )
Anyway, run off to class. Teach 2 classes AND THEN do the skype sessions for both mine and Apollo's groups (it's his kids' birthday, so he left early).
Second skype runs long, and I am running to get Bun from daycare before it closes. Get home. Forgot to tell Spouse I had this late obligation, so he's all worried. Offspring is off school tomorrow, so she wants me to play computer games with her. Tell her I'm not sure I'll have time. She gets all offended. So I play with her, even though I know full well that I suck at games (I play, because I am crazy) and get to listen to my whole family, including the 4 year old, making fun of me. Manage to not lose it.
Have I mentioned how I have seemed to acquire another 2 inches of papers to grade?
Yep. Crazy. Tonight, in addition to the 2 inches of papers, I have to cull through and get the things ready for my FRESHMEN to code.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Nightmare du jour (or du nuit, I guess?)
I have a recurring work nightmare involving having a paper to give at a conference and being unable to find the room in the soul-less morass of the conference hotel. My paper's in Icicle 6, and it seems to skip from Icicle 5 to Icicle 8, for example. I usually have this one near the start of a new semester.
Last night was a new one.
We have this applied basketweaving project where our students go overseas in groups with a faculty member and work with an NGO to develop basket competency or market their baskets, or improve their materials choices or whatever might be appropriate. I am taking one of these trips, as are 4 other faculty.
Well, I dreamed that one of the other faculty told my students that the outcome of the trip was going to be an elaborately carved zucchini, and that they could go ahead and carve the zucchini, and then enjoy the trip as a vacation.
So they carved a zucchini. It was very nicely done (and this is a literal zucchini carving, mind you), but of course there ere a couple of problems. First, that's not the project and my colleague (who I usually get along with quite well) has no business telling my students that it is. Second, after all the groups complete the projects in the january term, we have this big presentation where they show their work in front of all of the other students, the entire faculty, the president of the university and invited guests, including potential employers for our students. It's November. The presentation is at the of January. Even if a zucchini was what was required, it would not be in a state to show by the end of January. Madness!
My nightmare ended with me chasing the other faculty member down the hall waving the zucchini saying "You can't expect me to show a rotten zucchini to all these people." He called back over his shoulder "Too late! They already carved it!" and disappeared through the door at the end of the hall right as I woke up.
Last night was a new one.
We have this applied basketweaving project where our students go overseas in groups with a faculty member and work with an NGO to develop basket competency or market their baskets, or improve their materials choices or whatever might be appropriate. I am taking one of these trips, as are 4 other faculty.
Well, I dreamed that one of the other faculty told my students that the outcome of the trip was going to be an elaborately carved zucchini, and that they could go ahead and carve the zucchini, and then enjoy the trip as a vacation.
So they carved a zucchini. It was very nicely done (and this is a literal zucchini carving, mind you), but of course there ere a couple of problems. First, that's not the project and my colleague (who I usually get along with quite well) has no business telling my students that it is. Second, after all the groups complete the projects in the january term, we have this big presentation where they show their work in front of all of the other students, the entire faculty, the president of the university and invited guests, including potential employers for our students. It's November. The presentation is at the of January. Even if a zucchini was what was required, it would not be in a state to show by the end of January. Madness!
My nightmare ended with me chasing the other faculty member down the hall waving the zucchini saying "You can't expect me to show a rotten zucchini to all these people." He called back over his shoulder "Too late! They already carved it!" and disappeared through the door at the end of the hall right as I woke up.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Why is this semester so freakin' busy?
So here I am at 6:30 in the morning checking my work e-mail and feeling guilty because I didn't work last night. Oh yeah, except for driving Bun home and driving back to school (hour and twenty in the car round trip) to go to a speech I made my students go to (55 minute speech and Q & A which was extremely interesting).
But no grading or lesson planning, so I feel guilty now.
But no grading or lesson planning, so I feel guilty now.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
I got a call on Friday from Offspring's homeroom teacher saying we had to come in for a conference today (it was a scheduled conference day) because they wanted to talk with the parents of everyone new to the district.
What a difference middle school is. First, the number of people - 4 core subject teachers, the counselor, the Spanish teacher, the PE teacher. (They didn't make the band teacher or the track coach come, but I think that was pretty much it).
And it wasn't so much as talk with as it was a talk at. Offspring's doing great academically - straight As the first quarter. I had expected that they'd want to talk about her interests, what might be challenging to her, etc. But no, it was mostly that they are concerned about her socially and she is disruptive in class because she's a blurter - she wants to share her knowledge when it comes up in class.
I didn't really say much of anything, in part because they insisted that Offspring be there, and I don't feel right talking about her in the third person when she is sitting right there. If I want to talk to her, I have plenty of opportunity to do that.
It really felt like they wanted to air grievances with Offspring while we were there to witness it.
And I thought she was doing as well as can be expected this year.
What a difference middle school is. First, the number of people - 4 core subject teachers, the counselor, the Spanish teacher, the PE teacher. (They didn't make the band teacher or the track coach come, but I think that was pretty much it).
And it wasn't so much as talk with as it was a talk at. Offspring's doing great academically - straight As the first quarter. I had expected that they'd want to talk about her interests, what might be challenging to her, etc. But no, it was mostly that they are concerned about her socially and she is disruptive in class because she's a blurter - she wants to share her knowledge when it comes up in class.
I didn't really say much of anything, in part because they insisted that Offspring be there, and I don't feel right talking about her in the third person when she is sitting right there. If I want to talk to her, I have plenty of opportunity to do that.
It really felt like they wanted to air grievances with Offspring while we were there to witness it.
And I thought she was doing as well as can be expected this year.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
You win some, you don't win some
Got e-mail from my mother tonight. She found me on Amazon, and thinks I wrote a book.
Turns out, some dude vanity published a book in which he refutes an article I wrote several years ago that I don't think he read very carefully, or maybe at all...
That's a complicated one to explain to the parental units...
Turns out, some dude vanity published a book in which he refutes an article I wrote several years ago that I don't think he read very carefully, or maybe at all...
That's a complicated one to explain to the parental units...
There and back again
Well, as of 1 a.m. I'm back from my conference. It was in a city that's typically a good bit colder than New State, and Thursday it was cold and gloomy, but yesterday was stunning beautiful, so in the afternoon, Apollo and I walked out to a fairly well-known tourist attraction in the city. I think my tolerance for the soul-sucking sensory deprivation of hotel/conference centers is declining by the year. I just have to get outside after a while. Sadly, a 30-minute walk in dress boots = a blister the size of Montana. I was glad to get to the airport and be able to slip into the bathroom and change my clothes/shoes.
The conference is one I've never been to before, and is fairly far outside of my field, but we did some research on using their glassblowing techniques in weaving our baskets, and it really worked well. We had two papers accepted on different aspects of the project, one with me as the lead, and one with Apollo, and they both got accepted. I was surprised to get there and find that there were about 70 people in the room - by far the biggest at any conference presentation I've given (15-20 is a good number at the big baskets conference). I think they were there to hear the other paper in the session, but I'll take it. I also found out from the other New School faculty member there that our big glassblowing lady, who has an international reputation and actually edits one of the journals, has been rejected from this conference before, so I was especially surprised to hear that.
It was a crappy, crappy time to be away from my classes, though, and a crappy, crappy time to try to polish a paper. I got pretty behind on my grading last week and had to take a 2-inch stack of it with me. This was complicated by the fact that my first flight back, people used all the overhead space before I got on the plane, so they forced me to check it through both flights. So I had to quick pull out that 2" stack of papers and shepherd it through two flights and an airport in order to be able to work on it.
So to all you flyers out there in America who think that a very large roll aboard, a backpack, a purse, a coat and a couple of full shopping bags fits within the definition of one small carryon and a personal item, I see what you are doing. I also dislike you intensely.
The conference is one I've never been to before, and is fairly far outside of my field, but we did some research on using their glassblowing techniques in weaving our baskets, and it really worked well. We had two papers accepted on different aspects of the project, one with me as the lead, and one with Apollo, and they both got accepted. I was surprised to get there and find that there were about 70 people in the room - by far the biggest at any conference presentation I've given (15-20 is a good number at the big baskets conference). I think they were there to hear the other paper in the session, but I'll take it. I also found out from the other New School faculty member there that our big glassblowing lady, who has an international reputation and actually edits one of the journals, has been rejected from this conference before, so I was especially surprised to hear that.
It was a crappy, crappy time to be away from my classes, though, and a crappy, crappy time to try to polish a paper. I got pretty behind on my grading last week and had to take a 2-inch stack of it with me. This was complicated by the fact that my first flight back, people used all the overhead space before I got on the plane, so they forced me to check it through both flights. So I had to quick pull out that 2" stack of papers and shepherd it through two flights and an airport in order to be able to work on it.
So to all you flyers out there in America who think that a very large roll aboard, a backpack, a purse, a coat and a couple of full shopping bags fits within the definition of one small carryon and a personal item, I see what you are doing. I also dislike you intensely.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
You should to it
National blog post month. I know I can't (conference), but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try : )
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