Teaching -- one more week... by the numbers...

5 hours of presentations (ethical issues---fun for me :) ).
2.5 hours of logic
2.5 hours of extra logic review (will they show up??? Some of them will if they want to pass their final.)
2 debate recruitment meetings
7 debate portfolios to read
1 logic exam to finish
1 ethics exam to finish
1 paper to finish (yes, I'll do it soon!)
2 papers to send to flat state...

On to the fun stuff...
Next week:
1 logic final to give -- about 35 to grade (Monday)
80ish Intro to Philosophy exams to grad (due Monday)
4 syllabi to write for next year (Ethics, honors Ethics, Logic and Debate)
1 teaching circle book to compile..

1 vacation to plan (YEA!! a week in Steamboat to read and relax...).

This summer...
1 dissertation to write (uff da).

Writing -- If I blog it, I'll do it...

I finally finished another version of my Ancient Philosophy area paper.. I will mail it tomorrow ---


Today I will finish a version of my metaphysics/epistemology area paper, on the difference between ASL and English... I will mail it tomorrow.

reall I will.
and I won't be afraid of rejection --- it is the only way I can get feedback from them.

I really wont' be afraid of rejection. I expect both to be rejected. I expect to revise them one more time, doing ANYTHING to them that is necessary to get them passed.

I swear..
wish me luck and look for future whining when they are rejected.

Just because I expect the rejection doesn't mean I'm not going to be irritated....

Muddy...

So sue me, I'm late with Poetry Friday...

The good times come with mud


muddy by shoes in the hall
fun times on the mud flats

mud on my tennis shoes
in the BWCA
behind a beaver dam
with that boy of my 17 year-old crush
I went 'cuz he did
I'm glad I did

mud on my forrest green Jeep
from some back road
to someplace people don't go
which makes it great
Minnesota mud,
Canadian mud

soon to be Colorado mud
I can't wait to get muddy

Teaching -- fiction / book suggestions for ethics?

I'm teaching an honors ethics section next semester... I have a variety of ways to make it an honors section, but hubby and I were talking today, and I think I'd like to use some less traditional texts as supplements..

So -- I'm looking for fiction or easy-read non-fiction that deals with social problems..

I'd also be interested in movies that could inspire good discussions of social problems..

So far, I'm thinking of the following

"Nickle and Dimed" by Barbara Erinrich (sp??) about the plight of the working poor.
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult about medical ethics, use of another person etc...
'Transister Radio" by someone I can't recall -- about transexual issues and problems...
hubby has a few good suggestions for international relations issues...

I'd like something about business ethics (I'm even considering "Office Space") --

Something good about euthanasia, the death penalty, affirmative action, same-sex marriage etc... would be good..

I'd also like to know if you have suggestions as to how to organize the class. I know I read somethng on someone's brilliant blog about a course where the students divided the work up and then presented the ideas and lead discussions...

I'm kind of thinking about dividing my group into four parts -- each with a different topic. Each topic would be covered in a week... maybe with me doing the philosophical stuff the first meeting and the students doing their thing the second meeting... creatively presenting a moral quandry from the book and leading the class in discussions.

Suggestions?? feedback??

Teaching -- response to Rate my Students...

Again, were I good at the link thing there would be one here...

Rate my students is a place where teachers can rant a bit about their students.

One post contained an analysis contained in the Minnesota Daily, which said something to the effect that a teacher who saw their students as lazy and willing to lie for the slightest reasons has some kind of mental illness and should choose another profession.. HUH?? Frankly, if you don't see your students that way -- you've lost what little critical thinking skills that you have gained.

I can't say that ALL of my students are lazy and willing to lie, but a large enough percentage of them have demonstrated their lack of concern for good work (i.e. are lazy..) and I have CAUGHT them in lies up to their eyeballs... if you aren't catching them i it s because YOU aren't looking -- not because they aren't lying to you.

The other post took a shot at group presentations and "active learning" techniques..

Granted, I'm not one who is willing to have students do a bunch of dumb-ass "active" assignemnts and say they've learned philosophy... but I do think that group presentations, when constructed properly, place the responsibility for learning ON the learner. This is especially true when they have to do the research and decide on the general theme of the presentation themselves.

Of course you have slackers and kind of crappy presentations -- that is why you need to be a bit more involved with the development of the project --

This post says that class should be canceled for things like individual writing conferences... ummm-- nice idea, but do you have any idea how much class I'd have to plan to cancel for 50 students to each have a 10 minute writing conference? I can do 7 per 75 minute class period?? The answer is nearly 8 class meetings -- a whole month of class.

I usually enjoy Rate my Students... if you haven't read it, go do so --

Teaching -- yea for repeat students

So -- I'm sitting in what the girlfriend of the Russian described as my, "hip and modern" office (huh ?? the furniture is just like everyone else's) counseling a logic student on the brink of tears (got a D+++++++ now, scared of the final) when I see a flash of THEM in the doorway waiting for the crying girl to be done... I know then that my day will get better.

THEY are a couple -- they are also two of my favorite students. They come to my office and the topic of conversation goes from "is this the logic book you'll use," to "you and hubby are so cute in this picture" to "my mom is crazy, but she got a new kidney" to "I want to be a marine-biologist or work at the zoo (her)" -- he wants to be a philosophy prof... at a CC (scary, he wants to be ME... yikes..). We are already talking job-market and how to position yourself with a grad department... wow.

They will be in my MW classes -- both classes, both students... I'm pretty sure I can handle the madness from 2:30-5:15 on MW... I did it on Wednesday nights last fall.

This is a couple I really like. She's out-going, a bit brassy and really has an amazing sense of humor AND a passion to do what she thinks is right. He's more quiet, a slightly better student and prone to say very reflective things... and he loves her to death. She knows she's got a good thing in him and, although she teases him -- she loves him just as much. They are the kind of students I came to a CC to teach -- non-traditional students with a passion for learning.

During our conversation we decided that going to school wasn't just a vocational thing -- sure, you need a job, but going to college isn't all about that -- they are the first students in a long time who actually brought that concept up with me... I didn't have to introduce them to the idea. They appreciate their college experiences. They don't always get their homework done, their papers and exams aren't perfect and they don't always have the right answers in class ---- and that is what makes them so much fun.. .because they love school in spite of not always getting a pat on the back and an "I'm smart today" sticker...

THEY are really into animal welfare. They have quite a few foster-dogs and were heavily involved in the care and long-term placement of Katrina dogs. I didn't have a chance to ask them about that...

Next fall is going to be a riot -- they'll challenge me just like I NEED to be challenged. Now, I can't wait to start their classes -- too bad I have to do the others... maybe I'll get lucky there too??

Personal -- hubby the curler...

You know that weird winter Olympic sport that "nobody watches"... where they slide a big round thing down the ice and a couple of people run in front of it rubbing the ice so that the big round thing gets closer to the target...

In BNCC, we call it "curling" -- kind of like Sweedish/Canadia/BNState bowling... and hubby is in TWO curling leagues --

One meets on Sunday late-afternoons at a normal ice rink -- not very comfortable... I probably won't go back to watch.

The other meets in an actual curling club. It is a building built for curling. You walk in and there are 6-8 lanes, with benches etc... at the end. There are permanent scoreboards etc...

There is a VERY comfortable place to watch the action... great leather couches etc -- there are locker rooms and a BAR upstairs. This is my kind of spectator sport --i.e. one that keeps me from having to go to grading jail (I got all of the current crop of shor assignments done, my students will be shocked!).

If the bar's grill was open and I could get internet, I'd never leave...why should I?

I suppose they'd think it was a bit strange that I was there and hubby wasn't on the ice -- perhaps I could be the first curling cheerleader? hmmmmm