... I just dug my 'winter Birkenstocks' out of the closet.
This has been the summer of the red Birkenstock sandals.
They've been to chemo with me.
They've been to Vegas and Canada with me.
Now it is time for them to rest up for next summer, which will be a whole new adventure.... although, if we end up someplace warm this winter you can bet they'll come out of their hibernation.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
You know it's time to go to Costco...
.. when you choose the bathroom to use based on how much toilet paper is left on the roll.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
This time tomorrow night...
... Hubby will be about to walk in the door.
I miss him -- a lot.
The big question is when New Kitty will forgive him... ah, the suspense and drama of having a highly interactive, intelligent and ambitious kitty. She's either causing chaos or having a good pout. Sometimes she does both, and then our best bet is to leave the house for a while.
I miss him -- a lot.
The big question is when New Kitty will forgive him... ah, the suspense and drama of having a highly interactive, intelligent and ambitious kitty. She's either causing chaos or having a good pout. Sometimes she does both, and then our best bet is to leave the house for a while.
Grading jail -- ignorant, sexist pig version...
Today I'm grading papers on Held -- she's a feminist philosopher from the 1990s who writes about the feminist idea of the ethics of care.
So far I've seen an amazing amount of sexism from my students... Out of four papers, I've been told that "these feminists are ruining philosophy", that "men are more logical than women and thus men should be in charge" and that "if a woman were elected president, she'd look out for women and not for the whole of the country." The fourth paper doesn't even understand the theory at all, so his objection doesn't make any sense.
This pile of papers is really making me ill...
Please, internet feminists -- grant me the strength and wisdom to deal with this crap -- and the professionalism to refrain from writing "go to hell you little sexist asshole" on their papers...
Today could be a long, long, long day. I have 14 more to grade-- and some of my favorite students are in the pile -- maybe it will get better.
Edited to add...
The papers actually did get better -- after the first few rants, in which feminists were blamed for the woes of the world, the papers turned into the usual mix of brilliance and misunderstanding... which was a relief.
So far I've seen an amazing amount of sexism from my students... Out of four papers, I've been told that "these feminists are ruining philosophy", that "men are more logical than women and thus men should be in charge" and that "if a woman were elected president, she'd look out for women and not for the whole of the country." The fourth paper doesn't even understand the theory at all, so his objection doesn't make any sense.
This pile of papers is really making me ill...
Please, internet feminists -- grant me the strength and wisdom to deal with this crap -- and the professionalism to refrain from writing "go to hell you little sexist asshole" on their papers...
Today could be a long, long, long day. I have 14 more to grade-- and some of my favorite students are in the pile -- maybe it will get better.
Edited to add...
The papers actually did get better -- after the first few rants, in which feminists were blamed for the woes of the world, the papers turned into the usual mix of brilliance and misunderstanding... which was a relief.
Presentation groups
Today one of my tasks is to create presentation groups. They will present ethical dilemmas -- and they'll be responsible for all of the content for a part of the class.
I've learned a couple of good lessons -- among them, not to have drug legalization as a possible topic. Last time I did it, I ended up with all the pot heads in one group. Counter to the stereotype, they fought like cats and complained to me -- even tossing them bags of cheetos didn't work. Predictably, the presentation was a complete flop.
The other problem I've had is that the groups shrink at unpredictable rates. Students drop or disappear from some groups and not from others. I've ended up with groups of 3 and groups of 7 all getting the same amount of credit. That just didn't seem fair.
So -- I decided a few things might help...
1) Giving an option to write a 10-15 page paper as an alternative. This removes the students who hate group work and thus would be the most trouble.
2) Asking the students to give me names of their preferred group members, so the ones with good habits can work together.
3) Having the students rank all the presentation topics so that I can get a feel for their preferences as to topics.
4) Asking a set of true/false questions designed to get to know them a bit better. They are things like "I am good with PowerPoint" or "I am afraid of public speaking".
5) Waiting until later in the semester to divide them into groups. Many of the ones who are going to withdraw have done so already.
6) Looking at whether or not they've turned in other work before assigning groups. I announced that the folks who haven't turned in either of the assignments so far may not be placed in groups at all. I have no indication as to whether they'll do the group work if they haven't done the individual work.
Hopefully, it will all work out.... of course, I can't know how this will help until the end of the semester, but I think it will lead to less of a hassle than in other semesters -- if not for me, then for my students...
I've learned a couple of good lessons -- among them, not to have drug legalization as a possible topic. Last time I did it, I ended up with all the pot heads in one group. Counter to the stereotype, they fought like cats and complained to me -- even tossing them bags of cheetos didn't work. Predictably, the presentation was a complete flop.
The other problem I've had is that the groups shrink at unpredictable rates. Students drop or disappear from some groups and not from others. I've ended up with groups of 3 and groups of 7 all getting the same amount of credit. That just didn't seem fair.
So -- I decided a few things might help...
1) Giving an option to write a 10-15 page paper as an alternative. This removes the students who hate group work and thus would be the most trouble.
2) Asking the students to give me names of their preferred group members, so the ones with good habits can work together.
3) Having the students rank all the presentation topics so that I can get a feel for their preferences as to topics.
4) Asking a set of true/false questions designed to get to know them a bit better. They are things like "I am good with PowerPoint" or "I am afraid of public speaking".
5) Waiting until later in the semester to divide them into groups. Many of the ones who are going to withdraw have done so already.
6) Looking at whether or not they've turned in other work before assigning groups. I announced that the folks who haven't turned in either of the assignments so far may not be placed in groups at all. I have no indication as to whether they'll do the group work if they haven't done the individual work.
Hopefully, it will all work out.... of course, I can't know how this will help until the end of the semester, but I think it will lead to less of a hassle than in other semesters -- if not for me, then for my students...
Plans for the day...
First of all, thanks to the plagiarist, the logic jerks who took the shared photocopy off of my door and the concerned nephew of the breast cancer person, I've developed a new goal. The goal is pretty simple, don't hate my students. Remember that most of them are good folks trying to get along and some of them are actually trying to learn something. I need to keep that goal in mind today.
My cleaning person is coming today -- YEA! I've done the 'before the cleaning person comes' cleaning and things are all set for her to create a little spot of domestic tranquility and cleanliness.
Since I've actually BEEN the cleaning person, I know it is easier and faster to do if nobody is home.. so, I'll be on the way out as soon as she gets here.
Today I need to do the following:
I should stop by campus for a few minutes to print a copy of my grade book for my ethics classes -- because that will let me do the presentation stuff as well...
Someplace in there I'll eat lunch and then go to the gym. The sweet time at the gym is about 2:00 -- after the "exercise at lunch" folks and before the swimming nazi and his minions get to the pool after work.
If I'm in the pool at 2:00, I can be at the 3:30 philosopher's meeting. After our meeting I'll record all the grading, make the slides that show each group and make sure I'm ready for class tomorrow.
By the time all of that is done, my cleaning person will be finished here and I'll come home to a nice clean apartment.
My cleaning person is coming today -- YEA! I've done the 'before the cleaning person comes' cleaning and things are all set for her to create a little spot of domestic tranquility and cleanliness.
Since I've actually BEEN the cleaning person, I know it is easier and faster to do if nobody is home.. so, I'll be on the way out as soon as she gets here.
Today I need to do the following:
- Grade the last set of ethical theory papers. I really should bring my laptop along, in case I need to google any more suspicous sentences.
- Sort out my ethics classes into presentation groups.
- Go to the gym.
- Meet with the philosophers at 3:30 for some assessment stuff.
I should stop by campus for a few minutes to print a copy of my grade book for my ethics classes -- because that will let me do the presentation stuff as well...
Someplace in there I'll eat lunch and then go to the gym. The sweet time at the gym is about 2:00 -- after the "exercise at lunch" folks and before the swimming nazi and his minions get to the pool after work.
If I'm in the pool at 2:00, I can be at the 3:30 philosopher's meeting. After our meeting I'll record all the grading, make the slides that show each group and make sure I'm ready for class tomorrow.
By the time all of that is done, my cleaning person will be finished here and I'll come home to a nice clean apartment.
"Student" senate... and BNCC
It seems that BNCC has "elected" a new student senate.
The "elections" were open from 11:00 to 1:00 on a Tuesday.
None of the "candidates" posted any campaign posters etc.
The student senate adviser is getting back to me about how many students actually voted. We'll see if he does.Last time it was something like 90 students -- out of a total of over 12,000 bodies eligible to vote.
Last Spring I asked my day and night classes about the election. One student actually voted, most of them didn't know we had a student senate, the vast majority of them weren't available during the time the polls were open.
This is an issue that really, really, really bothers me at my school. Student government has the power to set student activity fees as well as the power to distribute them. They control the budgets of all the clubs and demand that the clubs send members to their meetings. The meetings are on Wednesday afternoons at 2:30... if you don't have someone available at that time, they'll cut your funding. If you wanted to have a club of evening students, it could never get funding because it would be impossible for them to make the meeting.
When the debate club (before we were a team) had a member on the executive council, that wasn't good enough for them -- they wanted another member to attend on our behalf. The adviser pretty much made up his own rule to justify cutting our budget. I'm sure that he's done the same to others.
BNCC Student Senate bothers me like any other sham that gets to distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm guessing that their adviser gets a decent amount of release time. I suppose he needs it because controlling these students the way he does, plus being politically active at the state level takes a lot of his time. I'm sure he wouldn't be satisfied with the $250.00/ semester I had for several semesters when I started, coached and traveled with the debate team...
The "elections" were open from 11:00 to 1:00 on a Tuesday.
None of the "candidates" posted any campaign posters etc.
The student senate adviser is getting back to me about how many students actually voted. We'll see if he does.Last time it was something like 90 students -- out of a total of over 12,000 bodies eligible to vote.
Last Spring I asked my day and night classes about the election. One student actually voted, most of them didn't know we had a student senate, the vast majority of them weren't available during the time the polls were open.
This is an issue that really, really, really bothers me at my school. Student government has the power to set student activity fees as well as the power to distribute them. They control the budgets of all the clubs and demand that the clubs send members to their meetings. The meetings are on Wednesday afternoons at 2:30... if you don't have someone available at that time, they'll cut your funding. If you wanted to have a club of evening students, it could never get funding because it would be impossible for them to make the meeting.
When the debate club (before we were a team) had a member on the executive council, that wasn't good enough for them -- they wanted another member to attend on our behalf. The adviser pretty much made up his own rule to justify cutting our budget. I'm sure that he's done the same to others.
BNCC Student Senate bothers me like any other sham that gets to distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm guessing that their adviser gets a decent amount of release time. I suppose he needs it because controlling these students the way he does, plus being politically active at the state level takes a lot of his time. I'm sure he wouldn't be satisfied with the $250.00/ semester I had for several semesters when I started, coached and traveled with the debate team...
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