November 2009

A (painful) laugh from Overheard on Campus:

Student 1: “That really pissed me off, that stuff.”
Student 2: “Why, man?”
Student 1: “Because when you’re old, you’re like, old! This middle aged crap is stupid.”
Student 2: “Dude, what are you talkin’ about?”
Student 1: “Chaucer, man! She said he’s not an “old” English guy! That is so totally bogus!”
Student 2: “Nobody says ‘bogus,’ dude.”

a happy file is a folder or box where you deposit records of happy events, thank you notes that touch you, and other tokens of your successes. On the days you can’t face the world, you pull out the happy file and review the contents. You’ll feel better. I have a work one and a home one. Sappy notes from kids, a special note from hubby, etc. They provide a real boost in the dark days that we all face now and then. They can also help validate your self worth when it takes a beating.

I used to have one of these and then … I forgot to update it and now I have no idea where it is.

I could have really taken advantage of it this semester. Perhaps I should reinstitute it.

from the Chronicle’s fora.

I have been getting LOTS of papers in.

40 15-page research papers came in last Monday. These are taking me about 45 minutes to an hour apiece to grade. I am half done.

10 3-page research papers came in today. These are taking about 15 minutes each.

30 8-page research papers came in Thursday. I have no idea how long these will take. I haven’t started them.

20 8-page research papers will come in tomorrow.

Guess what I am going to be doing over the Thanksgiving holidays?

Picture from employers-rx.com.

Too bad I don’t remember these things before the evaluations are due… Maybe I’ll make a note to myself to check back here from time to time.

These great (and funny) ideas are from the Chronicle’s forums.

On eval forms, students will parrot back anything you tell them during the semester.

One semester I apologized profusely when I didn’t get assignments back to the students particularly quickly. That semester, the comments were all about “she should get our papers back to us more quickly.”

The following semester, I was similarly slow, but stressed how concerned I was about giving each paper individual attention. That semester, the comments were all about “she gives each paper individual attention.”

One semester, I had to work under the constraints of a hideous department grading scale, under which anything under 95% was an A-. I covered my butt with the students by telling them that this grading scale was a departmental thing, and I would do things differently, but… The comments that semester were all about “the departmental grading scale is wack.”

The semester after that, I stressed to the students that for this particular course, a more stringent grading scale was imperative since these were real-world skills they were learning–and the real world was far more unforgiving than any professor could ever hope to be. The comments that semester were all about “thank you for preparing us for real-world standards.”

Want good evaluations? Tell them what you want them to write. Not the day of, of course, but throughout the semester. They’re listening, at least to that part.

And it doesn’t hurt (not just for evals–just in general) to mention at the end of any particularly successful class meeting that you appreciated their preparation and willingness to engage. “Good thinking today! Thanks.”

and

Yes, this is true. They’ll write pretty much whatever you tell them as long as you can make them think it’s their own idea – I think it’s related to the way they ask you about whether everything they do is “what you want”. I tell them how happy I am to be there, and how I’m looking forward to spending the semester with them, and they say things like, “mad_doctor is so passionate about teaching” and “it’s great to have a professor who cares about his students”. I also make a point of telling them how I’m impressed by how much they have learned by comparison to other classes, so they know how to answer the “How much did you learn?” question on the eval. I actually really do grade papers quickly, so I don’t have to make anything up, but I’m sure to tell them how hard I worked to provide timely feedback for them, and they respond with, “mad_doctor is one of the hardest working professors in the college”.

I solved the missing paper/take home exam problem years ago. When the students turn in their papers/exams, I have them sign in on a folder as they place them into it. Then we all know who turned in their papers/exams since there is or is not a signature. This also helps me keep track of whose work is missing.

I like this idea, which came from the Chronicle forums.

I will have to think about whether or not I should institute it.

I will be presenting at MLA on intergenerational teaching and learning. As MLA has offered the chance to annotate our presentations in the online version of the conference schedule, I thought I would put up some posts that relate to my topic.

A discussion of the various generations is an interesting place to start. I was always a bit perturbed to be included in the Boomer generation, since both my parents are also boomers. However, having read the list of values, I think I probably am closer to the Boomers than to this list’s evaluation of me as a Generation X.

What might those values mean in our classrooms? How can we take advantage of them?

A different article has a different take on the Millenials, called Nexters. (It also calls the Boomers “self-centered, work-driven.” I do not think that is a fair description of my parents at all. Perhaps their generation, but not my parents.)

A survey of 27,000 12- to 19-year-olds revealed characteristics of the Nexter generation, including that they are

* self-reliant–they take responsibility for their own success independent of others;

* family-oriented–they rely on family as a sanctuary against the difficulties of life;

* brand-conscious–they place high value on brand name identification (eg, clothing);

* consumerist–Nexters shop, but they will not buy things that don’t meet their needs and are skeptical of slick marketing promotions;

* mobile–Nexters promise to be the most mobile generation ever and already travel on the Internet;

* addicted to the media–it is not uncommon for Nexters to do homework, listen to a compact disc, watch television, and communicate online at the same time;

* fun-seeking–still mostly kids, they do not become bored because they have many options; and

* hopeful–they are not pessimistic or cynical but optimistic, and they expect to be happy adults. (4)

This generation looks up to, respects, and admires their parents. They feel close family relationships are a key to happiness. They want to work hard to do a good job, and they think saving money is cool. They believe that learning is a lifelong priority, investigate everything, and question the assumptions that have created the corporate culture. (4)

This article has an interesting explanation of why I don’t feel a part of the Boomers or the next generation.

Trailing Boomers
Born: 1954-1964 ~ Age: 54-44

The term describes younger boomers who don’t fully identify with the older group experience.

Estimated 53 million
Less traditional gender roles
Emphasis on college education
Early adapters and innovators of technology
(e.g., Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Case)
This group is in between their “idealist” elders and “reactive” successors.

In between the idealism of the boomers and cynicism of Generation-X
Generally moderate
Pragmatic
Swing voters
Dubbed as “Generation Jones”, this group grew up during Watergate, the oil crisis, inflation and recession. Their presidents were Carter & Reagan, not JFK & LBJ. They were too young to attend Woodstock, but not fully consumed by the materialism and cynicism of the ’80s. Growing up between two extremes, they tend to be more practical and moderate.

You will notice that this concentrated more on me than on my students. I told you I was a navel gazer. But I also think that understanding ourselves is essential to understanding others.

Professors Claim Copyright Over Lectures says that Harvard profs want notes taken only for a student’s use.

Right on the Left Coast says they are taking it too far.

Some chapters [in Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw--And Other Adventures] are master pieces in the art of the essay. I particularly liked “Something Borrowed,” a moving examination of the elusive line between artistic influence and plagiarism, and “Dangerous Minds,” a suspenseful tale of criminal profiling that shows how self-anointed experts can delude their clients and themselves with elastic predictions.

So says Steven Pinker in his New York Times review of the book.

According to an article in the Boston Globe,

[L]iteracy seems clearly connected with economic development, and mass literacy is a Protestant invention, says Robert D. Woodberry, a sociologist at University of Texas at Austin. He has mapped how missionaries spread literacy, technology, and civic institutions, and finds that those correlate strongly with economic growth.

Interesting idea.