- the wind has died down here. it was already cold, but with winds well into the double-digits, every time I went outside it was like being knifed by God
- found a cheap ticket home. I won't be there for Christmas, but at least I'll get there this year (well, technically next year, but you know what I mean)
- my freshmen have ended strongly and favorably. I had some very good conversations with a few of them today, and it'll be nice to take that into the grading of finals.
- sitting on the table is "Paris Je T'aime" and several episodes of "The Wire" - there's motivation to get things done
- the book chapter (I think I mentioned way back working on it) is almost done. If only I had the style guidelines....
- my Spurs are doing well even with Tim Duncan injured (I'll keep my fingers crossed for tonight's game against the Jazz).
- it's almost time to curl up with good books for the holidays. One Christmas when I was stuck at school, I had all of my friends in the program pick one book that they felt made an impact on their lives, and I read them all over the break. I'm not that ambitious this time, but I'd love to hear those sort of accidental recommendations.
Showing posts with label argh bad motherfucking teaching does it again. Show all posts
Showing posts with label argh bad motherfucking teaching does it again. Show all posts
RBOThank Goodness the Term is Over
All's quiet out there. It must be the end of the term. Things have wound down here, but I feel like I'm out of things to say at the moment. But the end of the term has largely been a good one. It's nice to have things wrapping up this positively. Some highlights:
Karma, I hear you knocking...
So tomorrow I have an educational-by due to extreme religion. As mentioned in a previous post, my institution is headed by a priest and takes its religion seriously. Tomorrow, religion trumps education with a Mass taking place during one of the heavily-used class time options. There's no word on whether students will be refunded for that credit hour they're losing to Jesus.
Needless to say, I won't be attending. But more surprisingly, I won't be using this post to bitch about that. You may thank the higher power of your choice if you're so inclined. I don't care.
Instead, tomorrow is a big deal because it's the first day that my students - who I assume also won't be attending Mass - have to come talk to me about their proposed research questions. This moment of the term always feels a bit like the last segment of "The Dating Game" to me - everyone talked a good game so far (or more accurately, avoided speaking at all), and now we're going to have the big reveal to see whether all those clever moments were leading me to an evening of ugly reality. Trying to launch students on a year long research odyssey (and try selling that bill of goods to students - so much for clever marketing fooling the masses) is always a bit iffy.
Now, as the term goes, I've already had pretty good luck. Out of the students doing more advanced theses and projects, I've dodged some bullets and managed to poach the department's current wunderkind. And having managed that coup, I fear for what the kids in the research class are going to bring as even karma sometimes pays attention in class.
Needless to say, I won't be attending. But more surprisingly, I won't be using this post to bitch about that. You may thank the higher power of your choice if you're so inclined. I don't care.
Instead, tomorrow is a big deal because it's the first day that my students - who I assume also won't be attending Mass - have to come talk to me about their proposed research questions. This moment of the term always feels a bit like the last segment of "The Dating Game" to me - everyone talked a good game so far (or more accurately, avoided speaking at all), and now we're going to have the big reveal to see whether all those clever moments were leading me to an evening of ugly reality. Trying to launch students on a year long research odyssey (and try selling that bill of goods to students - so much for clever marketing fooling the masses) is always a bit iffy.
Now, as the term goes, I've already had pretty good luck. Out of the students doing more advanced theses and projects, I've dodged some bullets and managed to poach the department's current wunderkind. And having managed that coup, I fear for what the kids in the research class are going to bring as even karma sometimes pays attention in class.
Teachers who make a difference
Fair warning: this post could also be titled "One More Reason I Should Get Out of Here" or, after reading my last post, "Nothing Goes Up That Does Not Come Down".
So yesterday, I was out hobnobbing with other faculty around a field throwing things to each other. And during a break, we did what faculty often do: we began to talk about students in classes, comparing notes, horror stories, and the all-too-rare success story. Somebody was telling us about a student who from day one of his very difficult class - and I say this with a twinge of envy: I want my class to be as difficult as his is reputed to be - just got it. The student could offer a good definition off the top of her head, could argue a point, and most importantly, felt not one iota of shame for being smart and liking it.
Incidentally, feminist friends, this is the next mission. Body image aside, let's start to deal with the fear of being seen as smart.
It was at this point that another faculty member chimed in.
"You've got to shut that down," he laughed. And we weren't - or at least I wasn't - quite sure what he meant.
"You've got to shut that down," he repeated. "I had a student once who had their hand up at every question. They answered them all, 10 for 10, perfectly correct. So I said to him 'Man, you've got to get a social life.'"
Awkward laughter and a bit of stunned silence.
"He got up and left the class, and never came back. Never saw him again." And he was beaming proudly. Proudly! He thought he'd done a good thing. Why is it that if a dog craps on my carpet, I can smack it, but when a colleague does it, we're forced to be polite? I can only hope he recognized the sarcasm and bitterness in my voice when I said "Yes, teachers who make a difference" and walked away to get some water.
Argh.
So yesterday, I was out hobnobbing with other faculty around a field throwing things to each other. And during a break, we did what faculty often do: we began to talk about students in classes, comparing notes, horror stories, and the all-too-rare success story. Somebody was telling us about a student who from day one of his very difficult class - and I say this with a twinge of envy: I want my class to be as difficult as his is reputed to be - just got it. The student could offer a good definition off the top of her head, could argue a point, and most importantly, felt not one iota of shame for being smart and liking it.
Incidentally, feminist friends, this is the next mission. Body image aside, let's start to deal with the fear of being seen as smart.
It was at this point that another faculty member chimed in.
"You've got to shut that down," he laughed. And we weren't - or at least I wasn't - quite sure what he meant.
"You've got to shut that down," he repeated. "I had a student once who had their hand up at every question. They answered them all, 10 for 10, perfectly correct. So I said to him 'Man, you've got to get a social life.'"
Awkward laughter and a bit of stunned silence.
"He got up and left the class, and never came back. Never saw him again." And he was beaming proudly. Proudly! He thought he'd done a good thing. Why is it that if a dog craps on my carpet, I can smack it, but when a colleague does it, we're forced to be polite? I can only hope he recognized the sarcasm and bitterness in my voice when I said "Yes, teachers who make a difference" and walked away to get some water.
Argh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts (Atom)
