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okay, let's see.
MOST importantly, first off, vibes to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ceolnamara. i was incommunicado and couldn't send happy good vibes for her 'procedure,' so now i'm sending vibes for swift and sure recovery and good results.
Wrestlemania party SUNDAY!!! 6:30 PM AT MY HOUSE!! If you didn't get a private invite, it's cos i didn't think you were a wrestling fan. you don't have to be, (my friend J is coming, and she's not), but you can be entertained by the TRUE wrestling geeks (that would by my husband and his friend S) who can recite history better than i can refer to star trek canon...be afraid, be very afraid!
so let me know if you're interested, and i'll send you the specifics.
and thank the gods, daylight savings time starts. now (once the initial whining ends) we can get on to SPRING!!!)
last quarter wrap-up.
the good: my INST 180 class (Cultural anthropology) did FANTASTIC presentations on global social problems and their solutions to them. i was MAJORLY impressed with all of them. and their papers, were amazing also. I usually figure about 80% of the "i learned so much from this project and it was fun and i really am going to follow up on this" is bullshit-to-get-an-A, but even that 20% was astounding.
[side note: i had one jewish student who learned the other side of the israel-palestine conflict, and in his statement of what he personally can do, decided he would try to educate the people at his synagogue as to these issues. all i could say to him is "good luck, but i suspect you'll find they know...they just don't care :)"]
all in all they gave me hope for the future, that they could really embrace some fairly tough issues and come up with some really interesting and innovative solutions. For example, bacterial menigitis in...i'm blanking on the country, but their solution (in addition to the obvious medical ones) was to teach them to build more houses to alleviate density within houses, but still close enough to each other to preserve the extended family structure. they decided to plant bamboo to use for housing b/c it was inexpensive and grew quickly (and when very young, could also be used for food). amazing.
the bad popular culture. it was fun but i continually struggle with trying to make it less about watching TV and movies in class and more about sociologically analyzing them. the students want to watch movies and tv. it's a 100 level class, but it needs to be moved up, as some of the theories are pretty difficult. STILL, though, they did a great job...they didn't grasp everything, but many of them grasped more than they thought, for which i gave them many kudos and encouragement.
(i'd actually prefer to just kill the class entirely, but the debutante throws a fit whenever we mention it, and tries to then pawn it off on her friend who adjuncts occassionally. that makes me insecure, so i usually back off.)
the ugly criminology. i take some of the responsibility as i tried something new lecture-wise, that i don't think worked :/ i get to blame the school for some, as i missed out on TWO days of class because of stupid Tuesday-is-a-Monday (b/c we had two Monday holidays) and then also a mandatory convocation for MLK,Jr. day...so we were rushed. however, the bulk, i think, still rests with the students as even WITH the exam questions given beforehand (i give them 7 and then choose 3) they really fell short. they're supposed to give COMPLETE answers, but many of them left parts of questions out or just mentioned something and didn't explain it, even though the instructions said "explain this as if you are talking to someone who doesn't know what you are talking about." ditto on papers. terrible.
seamus_mcnasty's next appoitnment is 4/4, and i can't go. continued vibes that 'andy the mass' is still just a huge cyst and will require monitoring, or be easily removable will be greatly appreciated.
over the break i cut down my caffeine intake TREMENDOUSLY, and i'm not happy about it. i don't care what anyone says, decaf coffee sucks ass, even if it's decaf hazelnut cappuccino with whipped cream and whole milk.
so, on to this quarter. i'm teaching intro soc, which went well today. i'm using new books, so we'll see :) and juvenile delinquency, which only has 6 students in it (maybe 7, i think one was going to try to add), which will necessitate a change in dynamic. lecture works well for 50...it sucks for 6, so we'll maybe decide how we want to proceed today. they're all seniors, so maybe we can make it more a seminar where they give ideas on how to run things. i would love that. i also have a student doing an independent study on gay teenagers, so we'll see how that goes.
things i need to do in the next two weeks.
1. establish a timeline for my promotion application. i'm eligible for 'ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR'. woot! so i have to put together a committee, a portfolio, etc. it's not due for a while, but i know how i am :)
2. call various doctors: eyes, heart, uterus to be specific :)
3. minutes from 3CG meeting (HEY GROVIES...FREAKIN' VOTE!!! WOULD YA?)
4. other miscellaneous 3CG stuff (site bookings, e-mail reference summerlands)
5. RE ESTABLISHING FREAKING DAILY DEVOTIONALS! 19 out of 20 weeks of my meditation requirement, and i lose steam. great. i also need to finish articles for Oak Leaves and for Crane Chatter
6. pre-reg for trillium, summerlands, trothmoot, wellspring...oy.
probably a host of other things. best get to them, i s'pose :)
MOST importantly, first off, vibes to
ceolnamara. i was incommunicado and couldn't send happy good vibes for her 'procedure,' so now i'm sending vibes for swift and sure recovery and good results.Wrestlemania party SUNDAY!!! 6:30 PM AT MY HOUSE!! If you didn't get a private invite, it's cos i didn't think you were a wrestling fan. you don't have to be, (my friend J is coming, and she's not), but you can be entertained by the TRUE wrestling geeks (that would by my husband and his friend S) who can recite history better than i can refer to star trek canon...be afraid, be very afraid!
so let me know if you're interested, and i'll send you the specifics.
and thank the gods, daylight savings time starts. now (once the initial whining ends) we can get on to SPRING!!!)
last quarter wrap-up.
the good: my INST 180 class (Cultural anthropology) did FANTASTIC presentations on global social problems and their solutions to them. i was MAJORLY impressed with all of them. and their papers, were amazing also. I usually figure about 80% of the "i learned so much from this project and it was fun and i really am going to follow up on this" is bullshit-to-get-an-A, but even that 20% was astounding.
[side note: i had one jewish student who learned the other side of the israel-palestine conflict, and in his statement of what he personally can do, decided he would try to educate the people at his synagogue as to these issues. all i could say to him is "good luck, but i suspect you'll find they know...they just don't care :)"]
all in all they gave me hope for the future, that they could really embrace some fairly tough issues and come up with some really interesting and innovative solutions. For example, bacterial menigitis in...i'm blanking on the country, but their solution (in addition to the obvious medical ones) was to teach them to build more houses to alleviate density within houses, but still close enough to each other to preserve the extended family structure. they decided to plant bamboo to use for housing b/c it was inexpensive and grew quickly (and when very young, could also be used for food). amazing.
the bad popular culture. it was fun but i continually struggle with trying to make it less about watching TV and movies in class and more about sociologically analyzing them. the students want to watch movies and tv. it's a 100 level class, but it needs to be moved up, as some of the theories are pretty difficult. STILL, though, they did a great job...they didn't grasp everything, but many of them grasped more than they thought, for which i gave them many kudos and encouragement.
(i'd actually prefer to just kill the class entirely, but the debutante throws a fit whenever we mention it, and tries to then pawn it off on her friend who adjuncts occassionally. that makes me insecure, so i usually back off.)
the ugly criminology. i take some of the responsibility as i tried something new lecture-wise, that i don't think worked :/ i get to blame the school for some, as i missed out on TWO days of class because of stupid Tuesday-is-a-Monday (b/c we had two Monday holidays) and then also a mandatory convocation for MLK,Jr. day...so we were rushed. however, the bulk, i think, still rests with the students as even WITH the exam questions given beforehand (i give them 7 and then choose 3) they really fell short. they're supposed to give COMPLETE answers, but many of them left parts of questions out or just mentioned something and didn't explain it, even though the instructions said "explain this as if you are talking to someone who doesn't know what you are talking about." ditto on papers. terrible.
seamus_mcnasty's next appoitnment is 4/4, and i can't go. continued vibes that 'andy the mass' is still just a huge cyst and will require monitoring, or be easily removable will be greatly appreciated.over the break i cut down my caffeine intake TREMENDOUSLY, and i'm not happy about it. i don't care what anyone says, decaf coffee sucks ass, even if it's decaf hazelnut cappuccino with whipped cream and whole milk.
so, on to this quarter. i'm teaching intro soc, which went well today. i'm using new books, so we'll see :) and juvenile delinquency, which only has 6 students in it (maybe 7, i think one was going to try to add), which will necessitate a change in dynamic. lecture works well for 50...it sucks for 6, so we'll maybe decide how we want to proceed today. they're all seniors, so maybe we can make it more a seminar where they give ideas on how to run things. i would love that. i also have a student doing an independent study on gay teenagers, so we'll see how that goes.
things i need to do in the next two weeks.
1. establish a timeline for my promotion application. i'm eligible for 'ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR'. woot! so i have to put together a committee, a portfolio, etc. it's not due for a while, but i know how i am :)
2. call various doctors: eyes, heart, uterus to be specific :)
3. minutes from 3CG meeting (HEY GROVIES...FREAKIN' VOTE!!! WOULD YA?)
4. other miscellaneous 3CG stuff (site bookings, e-mail reference summerlands)
5. RE ESTABLISHING FREAKING DAILY DEVOTIONALS! 19 out of 20 weeks of my meditation requirement, and i lose steam. great. i also need to finish articles for Oak Leaves and for Crane Chatter
6. pre-reg for trillium, summerlands, trothmoot, wellspring...oy.
probably a host of other things. best get to them, i s'pose :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:28 pm (UTC)From:Wait, what? You have to put together your own committee?? That's just weird. At the uni I work at, the committee is put together by the Chair, and the timeline is pre-set by the college. I thought everyone did it that way.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:29 pm (UTC)From:first thing on the list is to actually READ stuff :)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 07:52 pm (UTC)From:Heh. Have I told you before about the "Intro to Cinema" class that I graded papers for? Same basic deal - 100 level class, GUR credit (general undergrad requirement) for English, watch movies... Got a lot of videots who would walk out on the last 5 minutes of the 'lab' section (i.e. the actual movie watching) to get a head start on getting to their next class, which didn't work really well when the prof screened "Brazil"....