I love the snow...

I saw the first flakes of our first big snowstorm for the year.

The forecast on the radio is for 6-10 inches of snow.

I'm going to join the cats in bed for a while.

They have the right idea.....

Weekend forcast...

Outside: cold today -- and sunny -- tomorrow, warmer and 2-7 inches of snow.

Inside: Chili is already in the pot, cats are being cuddly and the apartment is relatively clean.

I wonder if I could spend the whole weekend inside our apartment complex?

I have groceries.
The internet, cable TV and TIVO are plenty of entertainment.
I have of work to do -- some grading, a course review, and a conference paper to start.
I want to exercise, but we have an exercise room in this building -- so I don't have to go to the gym.... besides, getting out of the warmish pool and going outside to get in my cold car sounds terrible.

I'll have to go to the other building to pay rent, but that is inside the building.

hmmmmm

Sounds like a nearly perfect weekend -- if Hubby were here, it would be perfect. We'll have to plan a 'stay in for the weekend challenge' over break.


ps... the chili is almost vegetarian... 1 pound of meat in a large pot with lots of different kinds of canned beans, corn, peas, carrots and lots and lots of tomatoes. Add to that fresh onion and celery -- and the normal chili spices and simmer. For the hubby weekend version, I'll have to find something else to simmer, as he HATES chili, especially chili with anything resembling bean in it (yea, we all know he's odd, but I love him!!).

Teaching schools and interviews...

Since they asked so nicely....

I'll weigh in on my experience on hiring committees at teaching schools...

First, you'll probably be doing a teaching demonstration.

The topic choice here is key -- make sure you ask who you'll be teaching to and how long you'll have -- and adjust your material accordingly. At my CC, the committee is usually made up of a couple of members of the discipline, maybe one or two other faculty members and a couple of administrators. The key is to take the teaching demonstration as a way to demonstrate your ability to teach to bright and attentive freshmen -- who haven't done the reading. Being engaging and interactive is good, but make sure you remain in control and within your time limit -- while not going above the heads of the non-philosophers.

In terms of questions asked - I can be pretty general, but even at my CC the questions change a bit from year to year.

General areas:

• Your vision for 'normal' philosophy courses and your methods for teaching logic. Here you'll want to explain the kinds of exercises you'll do to keep students engaged. You'll also want to explain your assessment methods for those courses.
  
• Your methods for adjusting to different preparation levels in the classroom. Here is where you'll have to explain how you'll deal with the kid who can't read and the kid who had to come home from Princeton sitting next to one another in your freshman Ethics course.
  
• Your most challenging teaching situation and your most rewarding experience. Here is where you tell the story about little Jimmy who was sure he couldn't do logic -- who had talked himself out of being able to pass the class and who finally ended up passing the class.
• Your use of technology in teaching. If you've used or TAd for classes using technology, make the most of it.
• Your experience with diversity in the classroom. You should discuss both your experiences with populations that are ethnically diverse, but also you should discuss diversity in terms of age. It is quite possible that your teaching college will have students from 16-80, in your classroom.
  
• How you would deal with a few students who are doing badly in the class -- and how you would deal with a significant portion of the class that is doing badly. The key with the student is to offer more help and to understand what resources are available to help students who need more assistance. With the class who is doing badly, discuss how you'd do some review to reinforce some important concepts AND to do classroom assessment techniques like asking about the 'muddiest point' etc.
  
• Your professional development. Here is where you'll want to talk about the teaching seminars you're attending via your grad university, how you are a member of APT etc... This is not where you give details about conference papers, publications etc -- unless there is a research element to your position. Then you make it about 50/50.
  

You should do some digging before your interview.... especially to find the following information:

• The normal class size is for your discipline. Make sure you have answers as to how you are going to adjust your teaching to either large or small classes.
  
• The array of classes taught in your discipline. Make sure you have at least an outline of a syllabus for each of them in your head, if not on paper.
  
• Where your students go when they are done at your potential school... this will let you show you you can connect to the students and help them to get where the school thinks they are going.

You should also do some basic on-line research into teaching jargon and trends... A few you should look for:

• "Active learning" -- which is a very vague term, but means that you don't do 100% lecture, but rather you have means of helping your students get and stay engaged.
• "learning styles" -- the idea that some people are visual learners, others are logical etc... if you can figure out what kind of learner you are, you can explain how you'll vary your teaching methods to help the other kinds of groups.
  
• "Assessment" -- another very vague term, but something that seems to be coming to higher ed. Think about a project you could use to figure out if your students are increasing their critical thinking skills -- a pre/post test on logical fallacies or something... anything that could be standardized and assessed.
  

I hope that helps -- if I've missed something, feel free to leave a question in the comments and I'll do more :).

I'm teaching the wrong course....

Dealing with administrivia.. in doing so, a conversation was had about a course I'm teaching.

The people who DON'T teach this course also seem not to know much about it, or philosophy in general.

It was their decision that Ethics isn't "writing intensive" -- btw, according to their lack of definition about this, neither are comp courses -- and thus doesn't need an English prereq...

Which means, I've wasted a whole weekend reading a shit-ton of crappy drafts for a course in which writing is NOT important.

It seems that I'm teaching the wrong course.

Funny conversation with Hubby

Background... Hubby loves to taunt me by calling the high-capacity drainage ditch in his neighborhood a "Lake". I, being a good resident of BN state know Lakes... we have a whole bunch of them.... and that puddle, my friends, is NOT a lake.

Today Hubby called me on the way past the pond, noting that "the geese have filled the lake".

I told him that he couldn't call it a "lake" anymore, or I'd revoke his BN state citizenship.

He objected, but I replied telling him that, as a BN state native, I have special powers.... I can kick the backside of anybody from Corn state, I can end sentences with a preposition, and I can eat lutefisk... and revoke BN state citizenship...

Just wait, sooner or later there will be a new character on Heroes... a BN state native.

...another one bites the dust...

The logic quizzes weren't pretty today.

I think they got a bit lazy and forgot that they actually need to DO their homework and ask questions, even if it is the annual 'dead-bird-and-football' holiday, followed by the 'celebration of consumerism' holiday.

I have to give credit where credit is due -- one of my biggest airhead-boys pulled it out and got a good grade. Other students did well -- but, the ones who have had attitudes, loafed or missed class aren't going to be happy with me on Thursday.

oh well -- the fact of the matter is that I've passed this class. Besides, I take the quiz questions from their homework AND post the answers on my door. There is really no excuse for not getting a good f-ing grade...

grrr...

at least I'm done critiquing ethics drafts. There are some small favors in my universe.

Another reason to hate monopoly air...

Of course I'm a member of Monopoly Air's frequent flyer program.

They just sent me an e-mail promising $65.00 fares...

except, when I look for a fare between here and Red State, it is $500.00.

Makes me feel a lot better about driving.