Well, Billie isn't here, he's on my ipod -- but, his music makes me work and type faster, so that is a good thing.
Due to a schedule snafu, I'm going to be on campus tomorrow for 6 hours before my first class -- thus, a chance to get stuff graded.
Right now I'm working on my Supreme Emergency paper -- the one I've promised to nearly everyone (my department at BNCC, another department, my dissertation supervisor and about 45 students... really, everyone) by tomorrow... or, at least drafts to some and a final, final, final version by Friday.
The scary bit is that it looks like I'll actually make it.
If I can get grading done tomorrow, I could be without work that is pressing for the weekend --which would be f-ing amazing. Really-- I can't recall that happening in my recent memory.
With that said, I'd better get back to work!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
home for a few days...
This is a short week back in BN state... I got home tonight (Sunday) and leave again on Thursday. Effectively, three full days until I see the hubby again.. not so bad.
The drive home wasn't too bad -- somehow the Corn state grows every f-ing time I have to cross it... but this time my new car sterio with the ipod connector made it easier. Now I'm going to have to make a bunch of 6 hour long playlists to get me across the state... lots of Swear Jar's music, Flogging Molly and other stuff that makes me drive fast....
This weekend I got a haircut. My hairdresser has finally (after 12 or so years cutting my hair) decided to give in to the curl. This is because her own hair is getting more curly as she gets older and she's figured out how nice it is to just put some product in it and go.... I've been a wash-and-go girl for a loooong time, so it is nice that she finally figured out that there are better things to do in life than to mess with hair that can look decent without all the messing.
I also got ALL the laundry done in the homeowner's snazzy washer and dryer. I love their washer, it is one with out a central agitator and a lot of computerized settings. The dryer is also highly computerized with lots of cool features -- maybe my favorite feature is the estimation of how long it will take to complete the cycle. That let me watch more Boston Legal on DVD... as I didn't have to keep checking it to seeif it is done. Our laundry is currently filing four large laundry bags, all folded and waiting for me to put it away--- hmmm... wish there were little laundry elves to do that...
Hubby and I even got to Coldstone, finally -- I'd been saying we should go for weeks... and according to hubby, it is my duty to remember to go. The only thing we didn't get done was the pumpkin carving -- hubby will have to do that and the trick-or-treaters on his own.
I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight (on clean sheets -- ) and do my class prep and some grading in the morning before I go to school. I have some incentive, as I don't have class for Tuesday and Wednesday this week done.... which is very unusual for me. it is just that time of the year --
The drive home wasn't too bad -- somehow the Corn state grows every f-ing time I have to cross it... but this time my new car sterio with the ipod connector made it easier. Now I'm going to have to make a bunch of 6 hour long playlists to get me across the state... lots of Swear Jar's music, Flogging Molly and other stuff that makes me drive fast....
This weekend I got a haircut. My hairdresser has finally (after 12 or so years cutting my hair) decided to give in to the curl. This is because her own hair is getting more curly as she gets older and she's figured out how nice it is to just put some product in it and go.... I've been a wash-and-go girl for a loooong time, so it is nice that she finally figured out that there are better things to do in life than to mess with hair that can look decent without all the messing.
I also got ALL the laundry done in the homeowner's snazzy washer and dryer. I love their washer, it is one with out a central agitator and a lot of computerized settings. The dryer is also highly computerized with lots of cool features -- maybe my favorite feature is the estimation of how long it will take to complete the cycle. That let me watch more Boston Legal on DVD... as I didn't have to keep checking it to seeif it is done. Our laundry is currently filing four large laundry bags, all folded and waiting for me to put it away--- hmmm... wish there were little laundry elves to do that...
Hubby and I even got to Coldstone, finally -- I'd been saying we should go for weeks... and according to hubby, it is my duty to remember to go. The only thing we didn't get done was the pumpkin carving -- hubby will have to do that and the trick-or-treaters on his own.
I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight (on clean sheets -- ) and do my class prep and some grading in the morning before I go to school. I have some incentive, as I don't have class for Tuesday and Wednesday this week done.... which is very unusual for me. it is just that time of the year --
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Extra Credit...
Since Blogger won't let me comment, I'll write my own post about a post at -- Reassigned Time: Extra Credit.
At my large CC the students come in, go to class and go out again-- often very quickly (the parking lot is like a subruban high school, and equally dangerous at class breaks...). They have a very low level of participation in extra-curricular activities. I would fault them for being short-sighted and ignorant, except that I WAS them when I was an undergrad.... I worked too much, took as many credits as I thought I could pass with an A and treated the campus like a high school I didn't want to spend any more time than necessary around... and it was my loss.
Fast-forward to me as a college teacher. I teach a hard subject and all the majors I've taught have been conversions (i.e. they come in as something else and I persuade them to major in philosophy...). So-- they don't realize that the subject is difficult when they walk in the door. This usually leads to lower than expected grades... Like Dr. Crazy, I don't think they ought to be punished for that in the end -- sometimes it is difficult to understand how much and what kind of work needs to go into preparing for an exam or writing a philosophy paper...
My most recent solution to this continuing problem is to allow students to get extra-credit for going to an extra-curricular activity and writing a 2 page reflection paper about the experience. They may do 2 of these, which together are worth 20% of ONE exam or 10% of one paper... (my points system weights papers much more than exams.. they are worth 5 points each). The catch is that they need to participate on-campus -- in something, really --- anything. It may be going to the play, a campus activity or club meeting... it may be doing set work for drama or attending a debate event. It really doesn't matter what it IS... as long as they are doing something on-campus outside of their regular classes. They are also having to write about it -- which is a chore for most of my students.
I find that this does cut down on the grade-grubbing experience... when I can show them what they missed and they can make-up some of the points, the argument is much shorter. There are rarely instances in which this will give a student a grade they don't deserve... it may pull a student from a very high B to a very low A--- or a very high C to a very low B. Since we don't have pluses or minuses... and those students would be getting a B-plus or C-plus, the impact on them is great -- and I see it as some level of compensation for the straight grade options we have...
At my large CC the students come in, go to class and go out again-- often very quickly (the parking lot is like a subruban high school, and equally dangerous at class breaks...). They have a very low level of participation in extra-curricular activities. I would fault them for being short-sighted and ignorant, except that I WAS them when I was an undergrad.... I worked too much, took as many credits as I thought I could pass with an A and treated the campus like a high school I didn't want to spend any more time than necessary around... and it was my loss.
Fast-forward to me as a college teacher. I teach a hard subject and all the majors I've taught have been conversions (i.e. they come in as something else and I persuade them to major in philosophy...). So-- they don't realize that the subject is difficult when they walk in the door. This usually leads to lower than expected grades... Like Dr. Crazy, I don't think they ought to be punished for that in the end -- sometimes it is difficult to understand how much and what kind of work needs to go into preparing for an exam or writing a philosophy paper...
My most recent solution to this continuing problem is to allow students to get extra-credit for going to an extra-curricular activity and writing a 2 page reflection paper about the experience. They may do 2 of these, which together are worth 20% of ONE exam or 10% of one paper... (my points system weights papers much more than exams.. they are worth 5 points each). The catch is that they need to participate on-campus -- in something, really --- anything. It may be going to the play, a campus activity or club meeting... it may be doing set work for drama or attending a debate event. It really doesn't matter what it IS... as long as they are doing something on-campus outside of their regular classes. They are also having to write about it -- which is a chore for most of my students.
I find that this does cut down on the grade-grubbing experience... when I can show them what they missed and they can make-up some of the points, the argument is much shorter. There are rarely instances in which this will give a student a grade they don't deserve... it may pull a student from a very high B to a very low A--- or a very high C to a very low B. Since we don't have pluses or minuses... and those students would be getting a B-plus or C-plus, the impact on them is great -- and I see it as some level of compensation for the straight grade options we have...
Thursday, October 26, 2006
My gradparents, what a pair...
My grandparents live in a small town, not too far from the interstate between my state and Red State. I drive by their exit often, feeling guilty about not stopping -- but I'm usually with someone, or my Grandparents aren't home (they go to Florida for the winter). This time, I decided to stop and see them and I'm glad I did.
Grandma will be 90 soon. We've already had her birthday celebration, go figure..., Grandpa turned 87 the weekend we celebrated Grandma's birthday. Of course, since my family has very poor communication skills, Grandma was rightly confused about why she got the party and Grandpa didn't, but after the whole thing was explained to her, she relaxed and enjoyed the party.
I love to stop to see my Grandparents, but there are always patterns --
Grandma's last job was as a social worker. She's great at asking questions about what is going on in our lives. She's also fantastic at gently guiding us to do what is right, honest, fair or just plain good. Since she's an 'in-law', she is good at listening to others. I like to think I am more like her than like my grandfather. My mom and sister are/were more like Grandpa....
My grandfather was an environmentalist in the 70s... he piloted and ran a project to reclaim land that had been open-pit mined for coal. The idea was to re-build the lost layers and plant them with grasses that will allow the soil to gain nutrients etc... He also has some very strong views on ethanol and I remember as a kid riding in his uber-fuel efficient Subaru... before it was the car of the soccer mom.
Our conversation drifted between the topics of academia, science and debate. Both of my grandaprents saw the British touring team visit their university before WWII, and it left a lasting impression. It was a pleasant conversation, in that Grandpa didn't bring up how little college professors work... like he usually does.
*****Warning -- the usual dissertation / Grandpa tirade to follow... it will probably be the content of the rest of the post, so you can stop reading if you'd like...
Also, as usual, Grandpa trotted out the bound copy of uber-cousin-in-law's dissertation. I'm not sure why he does that every time I see him. I know the dude wrote one.
I also know the dude had the advantage of being married to someone with a trust fund and whose mother-in-law bought them a house to live in while he was in grad school.... so Dude didn't have to work or take student loans to supplement his income... heck, with rent paid by MIL and equity to buy a place when they moved on, Dude is an under achiever...
Dude also had access to scholarships and other kinds of research opportunities that I could not access. I really, really, really don't want to go into all of that with Grandpa, but I'm afraid I might do that next time I see the bloody thing come out of the bedroom.
Hell, with all of that support, the dude's dissertation should have resolved one of the world's great mysteries, attained world peace or at least produced a catbox that would clean itself.... or cats that don't crap. Instead it is an obscure work about something that doesn't matter...
On the other hand, my ethics of warfare topic actually applies to the real world. it isn't about some dead king somebody who is both dead and obscure -- it is about a topic that has immediate impliations on the lives of many.... so there.
Grandma will be 90 soon. We've already had her birthday celebration, go figure..., Grandpa turned 87 the weekend we celebrated Grandma's birthday. Of course, since my family has very poor communication skills, Grandma was rightly confused about why she got the party and Grandpa didn't, but after the whole thing was explained to her, she relaxed and enjoyed the party.
I love to stop to see my Grandparents, but there are always patterns --
Grandma's last job was as a social worker. She's great at asking questions about what is going on in our lives. She's also fantastic at gently guiding us to do what is right, honest, fair or just plain good. Since she's an 'in-law', she is good at listening to others. I like to think I am more like her than like my grandfather. My mom and sister are/were more like Grandpa....
My grandfather was an environmentalist in the 70s... he piloted and ran a project to reclaim land that had been open-pit mined for coal. The idea was to re-build the lost layers and plant them with grasses that will allow the soil to gain nutrients etc... He also has some very strong views on ethanol and I remember as a kid riding in his uber-fuel efficient Subaru... before it was the car of the soccer mom.
Our conversation drifted between the topics of academia, science and debate. Both of my grandaprents saw the British touring team visit their university before WWII, and it left a lasting impression. It was a pleasant conversation, in that Grandpa didn't bring up how little college professors work... like he usually does.
*****Warning -- the usual dissertation / Grandpa tirade to follow... it will probably be the content of the rest of the post, so you can stop reading if you'd like...
Also, as usual, Grandpa trotted out the bound copy of uber-cousin-in-law's dissertation. I'm not sure why he does that every time I see him. I know the dude wrote one.
I also know the dude had the advantage of being married to someone with a trust fund and whose mother-in-law bought them a house to live in while he was in grad school.... so Dude didn't have to work or take student loans to supplement his income... heck, with rent paid by MIL and equity to buy a place when they moved on, Dude is an under achiever...
Dude also had access to scholarships and other kinds of research opportunities that I could not access. I really, really, really don't want to go into all of that with Grandpa, but I'm afraid I might do that next time I see the bloody thing come out of the bedroom.
Hell, with all of that support, the dude's dissertation should have resolved one of the world's great mysteries, attained world peace or at least produced a catbox that would clean itself.... or cats that don't crap. Instead it is an obscure work about something that doesn't matter...
On the other hand, my ethics of warfare topic actually applies to the real world. it isn't about some dead king somebody who is both dead and obscure -- it is about a topic that has immediate impliations on the lives of many.... so there.
Laundry road trip...
So -- hubby has a washing machine and I have 5 bags of laundry to do... 5 big bags.
it costs me $2.50 per machine load to finish a load... but my fuel efficient car can get me to Red State for about the same price as washing all of those things in the lanudry room.... and I get to see hubby.
So, I decided to surprise him. I never lied about what I was doing this weekend. I just packed the laundry into the car and took off. I called him from the Corn state to make sure he'd be home and couldn't resist telling him. 2.5 hours later I made it.
-- now that I I'll do the laundry and work on papers this weekend... with hubby.
it costs me $2.50 per machine load to finish a load... but my fuel efficient car can get me to Red State for about the same price as washing all of those things in the lanudry room.... and I get to see hubby.
So, I decided to surprise him. I never lied about what I was doing this weekend. I just packed the laundry into the car and took off. I called him from the Corn state to make sure he'd be home and couldn't resist telling him. 2.5 hours later I made it.
-- now that I I'll do the laundry and work on papers this weekend... with hubby.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Lonesome for my office...
This time of the debate season, I start to miss working in my office. I miss having some time to chat with my pals on the hallway. I miss the casual conversations in the copy room and the goofy atmosphere on Friday afternoons.
I think this is increased this year, what with me being out of town so much and leaving on Thursdays.
In November I'll be home over Thanksgiving weekend, but that is probably the extent of it... I'll be in Red State twice and in the Cheese state with the debaters another weekend. This means that I leave my office about 11:00 AM, pack and go away...
The casualty in all of this are those nice comfotaing casual relationships... the small talk hubby dislikes, I find I miss. In normal offices it would be watercooler talk. I had a decent amount of that today, for a change -- I had some time to chat with Wise Woman, a little with Dog Dad, Debate Coach and Roomie...
I also had news, via another friend, of Dog Mom's new job -- she loves her new place and school and can't wait until her hubby can join her... although I miss her, I'm happy she is well.
I think this is increased this year, what with me being out of town so much and leaving on Thursdays.
In November I'll be home over Thanksgiving weekend, but that is probably the extent of it... I'll be in Red State twice and in the Cheese state with the debaters another weekend. This means that I leave my office about 11:00 AM, pack and go away...
The casualty in all of this are those nice comfotaing casual relationships... the small talk hubby dislikes, I find I miss. In normal offices it would be watercooler talk. I had a decent amount of that today, for a change -- I had some time to chat with Wise Woman, a little with Dog Dad, Debate Coach and Roomie...
I also had news, via another friend, of Dog Mom's new job -- she loves her new place and school and can't wait until her hubby can join her... although I miss her, I'm happy she is well.
Productive day at the library...
Tuesday afternoons are my block of time to work on things I need to get deeply into. This works out very well and I love the fact that I'll be doing it next semester as well.
Yesterday I went across town to the library with a coffee shop (gotta love that!!). I took one of my papers and made the committment to myself that I would have a full version of the paper before I left for home -- and I actually did it. It took me until closing time, but I have a full version of a paper defending exemptions to non-combatant immunity in supreme emergency situations. The scary part is that I think it is really good.
It feels to me that this paper is a huge leap forward in my writing. I started this paper from scratch in early August when my ever-so-wise dissertation supervisor gave me several pages of detailed feedback on what I thought was going to be a good paper. In essence, he told me that I'd done a good job of the research, but the writing was uneven and needed a lot of work. He also told me that the paper wasn't focused and didn't make a cohesive argument. And he was right -- very right. It was 30ish pages of rambling and not really an argument.... so, I started over.
This time I followed his version of advise I give to my own students. Pick a topic that is a problem in the world. Discuss how other people have decided the problem ought to be resolved, tell me what is wrong with their solution and then tell me why your proposed meta-solution would help to solve this individual problem. That is what I did.
Now -- the interesting bit is that while I was at the library, I got an e-mail from the Red state job people. They said that their position announcemnts weren't complete and that there is a second position open down there, for which I am a much better candidate. This makes a difference in the writing sample I'm going to give them -- the supreme emergencies paper shows them that I am a much better fit for them than what I'd planned on using.... aargh. Now I'm going to have to polish this paper rather quickly to get it in.... I suppose there is nothing like the pressure of a time committment to get me going, huh??
Sadly, my students will have to wait for their papers a bit longer.... I suppose they'll survive.
Yesterday I went across town to the library with a coffee shop (gotta love that!!). I took one of my papers and made the committment to myself that I would have a full version of the paper before I left for home -- and I actually did it. It took me until closing time, but I have a full version of a paper defending exemptions to non-combatant immunity in supreme emergency situations. The scary part is that I think it is really good.
It feels to me that this paper is a huge leap forward in my writing. I started this paper from scratch in early August when my ever-so-wise dissertation supervisor gave me several pages of detailed feedback on what I thought was going to be a good paper. In essence, he told me that I'd done a good job of the research, but the writing was uneven and needed a lot of work. He also told me that the paper wasn't focused and didn't make a cohesive argument. And he was right -- very right. It was 30ish pages of rambling and not really an argument.... so, I started over.
This time I followed his version of advise I give to my own students. Pick a topic that is a problem in the world. Discuss how other people have decided the problem ought to be resolved, tell me what is wrong with their solution and then tell me why your proposed meta-solution would help to solve this individual problem. That is what I did.
Now -- the interesting bit is that while I was at the library, I got an e-mail from the Red state job people. They said that their position announcemnts weren't complete and that there is a second position open down there, for which I am a much better candidate. This makes a difference in the writing sample I'm going to give them -- the supreme emergencies paper shows them that I am a much better fit for them than what I'd planned on using.... aargh. Now I'm going to have to polish this paper rather quickly to get it in.... I suppose there is nothing like the pressure of a time committment to get me going, huh??
Sadly, my students will have to wait for their papers a bit longer.... I suppose they'll survive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)