I've been a grading demon, and they're all done.
Except.
Gah!
My final exams involve two bluebooks. One is for the open book/open note essay section of the exam, the other for the no book or notes short ID and passages section.
So I have a bluebook for one section from a student, but not for the other section of the exam.
Did the student not do it? It's possible. This student is pretty, well, not always totally on top of academic things.
Or did it fall out of the pile in my sunroom (where I was grading) or car?
So now I have to go home and double check those places before I can turn in grades for the class.
My victory lap around the department can't happen until I know, and then I won't be here. So phooey!
Still, the grading is DONE for the semester!
Let the summer begin! (More on exciting summer plans soon.)
Good luck to all of you still grading. Congratulations to graduating students! Congratulations to my colleagues who are graduating, too! (That's what I call retiring, how about you?)
Now for a short office clean up so that I can find what I want to find for summer stuffs.
Next up:
Summer project #1
Planning class for our intro class and ordering books!
Reading lots!
Next semester, I'll be teaching two new classes and one I haven't taught since 2004. So it might as well be new.
For now, summer begins!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Finals Week Revelation(s)
Our first year writing course has several required components these days. One of them is a self-evaluation that each student writes about his or her progress towards the course goals. These are pretty fun to read (and quick, since they turned them in during the final, and won't get them back unless they ask to at some point).
Naturally, everyone felt that they'd accomplished all the course goals.
I found it really interesting that about a third of them mentioned freewriting, most to say that they hated it and found it valuable at the same time. I totally understand that. I know when I ask them to do it (and I have them do it a lot in classes) they tend not to like it. But it's nice to see a number of them look back and write that it was actually useful. They also tended to acknowledge that they'd never do it on their own. I wonder if even one of them will use it to get started on a writing project at some point in the future? Some also mentioned bubble mapping and other brainstorming practices, and some readings, even.
(I've probably blogged about this before, but when I was in grad school, teaching comp with the army of grad students, one of us down in our cubby filled basement was talking about hir difficulty with writing block. And I asked, because I'm rude enough to ask, if zie had tried freewriting. No, zie said, zie hadn't. So I asked if zie didn't teach freewriting in hir comp class, and yes, of course zie did. But zie had never figured out or become convinced that it might actually be useful to hirself. I became a convert to freewriting within a couple weeks of learning about it, and it helps me write whatever I write, not enough, but it helps!)
Of course, there's always the chance that my students are just kissing up. But if so, they shouldn't mention how much they hate it!
I now have left to grade:
1 set of finals
1 set of finals (partially graded)
3 (I think) late papers
I figure at least five hours of work (including submitting grades).
My dog, I hate late papers to grade. You think you've made it through, and some student hands you yet another thing to grade. I wonder how they'd feel if I said at the last minute, oh, here's another assignment you need to do before you can be done?
They'd hate it.
Of course, the late papers come from a handful of students, and often because someone got ill or something.
***
I have this fleece jacket that I love. It's warmish, and fleecy, and loose enough to go over three or four layers, and it has outside AND inside pockets. It's probably closer to 20 years than to 15 years old. I wear it pretty much all the time, or did, until this fall and winter, the zipper stopped working. So I wore another jacket, which was a bit less warm and didn't have inside pockets (I need inside pockets for my reading glasses, among other things). But I somehow always felt just a little too busy to figure out where to get the zipper replaced.
Until, finals week. It's the time to get stuff taken care of, especially if doing that means avoiding grading.
So I called and checked, and found an alterations place that replaces zippers, and they said I should bring in a zipper, since they might not have the right size/color in stock. So I went to the sewing store and looked pathetic, and the nice saleswoman helped me find the right size/color of zipper. Then I asked her about the best alterations place she could suggest (because she would know, right?) and she and another saleswoman suggested this other place. So I went there.
And when I got there, the alteration woman took a look at my demonstration of what was wrong and said that I just needed a new pull thingy, and withing about five minutes, I had a perfectly working new pull thingy on a perfectly working new zipper!
Now I'm feeling stupid that I waited so long.
***
And last week, my OLD laptop died. Fortunately I'd been having problems with it for a while, so I'd pulled pretty much everything important off onto a flash drive and put it elsewhere. So at least I'm not losing anything vital that way. I took it into the shop today, in hopes they can fix it. (I don't use it much for computing, but mostly for watching DVDs and playing an OLD computer game.
***
My bike took me out for a ride yesterday, and it was glorious! I only went on a local bike path (so pretty flat), but it felt just great. But the shifting had felt sloppy (the rear shifting), so now it's in the shop getting a rusty cable replaced. The bike ride totally changed my day for the better. I mean, I was feeling pretty good, and finished giving my final. I debated trying to grade through, take a nap, or go for a ride, and I chose a ride. Then I went home and had the best nap. So I went from feeling pretty good to feeling really, amazingly, wonderfully good. I think that bike's about the best investment I ever made.
***
About seven or eight weeks ago, I decided to try the 100 pushups thing again. I tried it a long time ago, and didn't really do it after a week. So I tried again.
I want to admit right up front that I'm an overweight, middle-aged woman who could barely do 2 knee pushups in the initial test thing. I did "day 1" for a week, and day 2 for just as long. But I progressed. I'm now on "week 4" and have been on the first day of that for a couple days, just barely able to do the day's pushups. But still, that means I've gone from barely being able to do 2 in a row (knees pushups) to being able to do 20 at a time (in the self-test) and now the day's set is 12, 14, 11, 10, 16 (you're supposed to do at least 16, and more if you can, but I can't). And I can do it, if barely, and using the knee push up method. I'll be doing this day at least another day or two.
I still can't do a proper toe push up, though I think I'm getting close. I'm thinking of using a prop about six inches off the ground to see if I can do them that way, and restart the program once I can do a full bunch from the knees. (Or maybe mix? I just know that I want to try to keep going until I can do some actual push ups.)
The program adds push ups faster than my body seems able to, but since I seem to be slowly improving, I'm trying to keep my hopes up.
***
And now it's time to grade. I have until early next week to turn in grades, but I'm hoping to finish by Saturday. There's an exciting thing starting on Monday, so I'll be talking about that, too!
Naturally, everyone felt that they'd accomplished all the course goals.
I found it really interesting that about a third of them mentioned freewriting, most to say that they hated it and found it valuable at the same time. I totally understand that. I know when I ask them to do it (and I have them do it a lot in classes) they tend not to like it. But it's nice to see a number of them look back and write that it was actually useful. They also tended to acknowledge that they'd never do it on their own. I wonder if even one of them will use it to get started on a writing project at some point in the future? Some also mentioned bubble mapping and other brainstorming practices, and some readings, even.
(I've probably blogged about this before, but when I was in grad school, teaching comp with the army of grad students, one of us down in our cubby filled basement was talking about hir difficulty with writing block. And I asked, because I'm rude enough to ask, if zie had tried freewriting. No, zie said, zie hadn't. So I asked if zie didn't teach freewriting in hir comp class, and yes, of course zie did. But zie had never figured out or become convinced that it might actually be useful to hirself. I became a convert to freewriting within a couple weeks of learning about it, and it helps me write whatever I write, not enough, but it helps!)
Of course, there's always the chance that my students are just kissing up. But if so, they shouldn't mention how much they hate it!
I now have left to grade:
1 set of finals
1 set of finals (partially graded)
3 (I think) late papers
I figure at least five hours of work (including submitting grades).
My dog, I hate late papers to grade. You think you've made it through, and some student hands you yet another thing to grade. I wonder how they'd feel if I said at the last minute, oh, here's another assignment you need to do before you can be done?
They'd hate it.
Of course, the late papers come from a handful of students, and often because someone got ill or something.
***
I have this fleece jacket that I love. It's warmish, and fleecy, and loose enough to go over three or four layers, and it has outside AND inside pockets. It's probably closer to 20 years than to 15 years old. I wear it pretty much all the time, or did, until this fall and winter, the zipper stopped working. So I wore another jacket, which was a bit less warm and didn't have inside pockets (I need inside pockets for my reading glasses, among other things). But I somehow always felt just a little too busy to figure out where to get the zipper replaced.
Until, finals week. It's the time to get stuff taken care of, especially if doing that means avoiding grading.
So I called and checked, and found an alterations place that replaces zippers, and they said I should bring in a zipper, since they might not have the right size/color in stock. So I went to the sewing store and looked pathetic, and the nice saleswoman helped me find the right size/color of zipper. Then I asked her about the best alterations place she could suggest (because she would know, right?) and she and another saleswoman suggested this other place. So I went there.
And when I got there, the alteration woman took a look at my demonstration of what was wrong and said that I just needed a new pull thingy, and withing about five minutes, I had a perfectly working new pull thingy on a perfectly working new zipper!
Now I'm feeling stupid that I waited so long.
***
And last week, my OLD laptop died. Fortunately I'd been having problems with it for a while, so I'd pulled pretty much everything important off onto a flash drive and put it elsewhere. So at least I'm not losing anything vital that way. I took it into the shop today, in hopes they can fix it. (I don't use it much for computing, but mostly for watching DVDs and playing an OLD computer game.
***
My bike took me out for a ride yesterday, and it was glorious! I only went on a local bike path (so pretty flat), but it felt just great. But the shifting had felt sloppy (the rear shifting), so now it's in the shop getting a rusty cable replaced. The bike ride totally changed my day for the better. I mean, I was feeling pretty good, and finished giving my final. I debated trying to grade through, take a nap, or go for a ride, and I chose a ride. Then I went home and had the best nap. So I went from feeling pretty good to feeling really, amazingly, wonderfully good. I think that bike's about the best investment I ever made.
***
About seven or eight weeks ago, I decided to try the 100 pushups thing again. I tried it a long time ago, and didn't really do it after a week. So I tried again.
I want to admit right up front that I'm an overweight, middle-aged woman who could barely do 2 knee pushups in the initial test thing. I did "day 1" for a week, and day 2 for just as long. But I progressed. I'm now on "week 4" and have been on the first day of that for a couple days, just barely able to do the day's pushups. But still, that means I've gone from barely being able to do 2 in a row (knees pushups) to being able to do 20 at a time (in the self-test) and now the day's set is 12, 14, 11, 10, 16 (you're supposed to do at least 16, and more if you can, but I can't). And I can do it, if barely, and using the knee push up method. I'll be doing this day at least another day or two.
I still can't do a proper toe push up, though I think I'm getting close. I'm thinking of using a prop about six inches off the ground to see if I can do them that way, and restart the program once I can do a full bunch from the knees. (Or maybe mix? I just know that I want to try to keep going until I can do some actual push ups.)
The program adds push ups faster than my body seems able to, but since I seem to be slowly improving, I'm trying to keep my hopes up.
***
And now it's time to grade. I have until early next week to turn in grades, but I'm hoping to finish by Saturday. There's an exciting thing starting on Monday, so I'll be talking about that, too!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
MOOCs and Power: Gender and Imperialism
Historiann has a really insightful guest post up today by Susan Amussen and Allyson Poska about MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses). It's well worth your reading if you haven't already.
And here's a helpful contextual piece with a cogent critique suggested by Jonathan Rees of More or Less Bunk (who has blogged about taking a MOOC and blogged critically and well about MOOCs).
(In other news, I need to grade. Of course, if I were teaching a MOOC, I could depend on my students to grade each others' papers and give appropriate and critical responses. I've now handed back the papers with comments to each class, and now just have a couple of late papers and two sets of finals to grade. If I were teaching a MOOC, I could just have them all take a multiple guess exam via computer and the grading would be automatic and already done.)
And here's a helpful contextual piece with a cogent critique suggested by Jonathan Rees of More or Less Bunk (who has blogged about taking a MOOC and blogged critically and well about MOOCs).
(In other news, I need to grade. Of course, if I were teaching a MOOC, I could depend on my students to grade each others' papers and give appropriate and critical responses. I've now handed back the papers with comments to each class, and now just have a couple of late papers and two sets of finals to grade. If I were teaching a MOOC, I could just have them all take a multiple guess exam via computer and the grading would be automatic and already done.)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Need Focus
Some of the academic bloggers I read are now into their summer work, others, like me, are in grading slog. I think some others are still in teaching mode.
I'm not doing well at the grading slog right now. I'm finding it hard to stay focused and get things done as I need to.
As of last Friday, I had 63 papers and projects of various lengths to grade. Of those, 31 had to be graded by today. The rest need to be graded by tomorrow morning. I now have 15, I think. The ones for today are all done.
There's a point with any sort of paper that I'm just tired of reading them. If they were all superb papers, I would still be tired of pushing through them, trying to grade and respond in some useful way.
It may seem to people who aren't grading that it shouldn't be that hard. How hard is it, after all, to read a couple of hundred pages of a book, even a scholarly book?
If I don't have to prepare to teach it, I can cruise through a fiction text pretty quickly. I suppose if I didn't have to think about how I was going to use it or take notes, I could cruise through scholarly texts reasonably quickly, too. But it seems that I'm pretty much always thinking about how I can use them in classes or research, taking notes, trying to synthesize and put things together, and that slows me down a good bit. It also means I can't just read when I'm tired because I won't retain enough.
Grading reading is more short term for me. I have to be able to retain what I'm reading long enough to write a helpful comment, but not longer. On the other hand, I also have to figure out how to formulate a helpful comment. If something's brilliant, that's not too hard. You talk about the best points and how good they are, maybe make a specific suggestion to help make something better. For lousy stuff, it's harder.
You know how in pedagogy classes folks are always talking about leading with a positive comment? Sometimes it's really difficult to say anything positive, especially if the writer hasn't really done the assignment or turned in something that gets anywhere near the assignment.
For middling papers, experience has taught me that if I give something a B and lead with a really positive statement, I have to be pretty careful to balance it with at least one specific suggestion for improvement. Otherwise, I'll inevitably get a student coming up to me wanting to know where s/he "lost points." I hate the "lost points" discussion. You didn't lose points. You didn't earn the points in the first place to have them to lose.
Break is over. I have a final to give in an hour, and should be able to grade three or four essays in that time. So I need to try to get a couple more graded before that, and then my evening will be manageable.
Please send focus.
I'm not doing well at the grading slog right now. I'm finding it hard to stay focused and get things done as I need to.
As of last Friday, I had 63 papers and projects of various lengths to grade. Of those, 31 had to be graded by today. The rest need to be graded by tomorrow morning. I now have 15, I think. The ones for today are all done.
There's a point with any sort of paper that I'm just tired of reading them. If they were all superb papers, I would still be tired of pushing through them, trying to grade and respond in some useful way.
It may seem to people who aren't grading that it shouldn't be that hard. How hard is it, after all, to read a couple of hundred pages of a book, even a scholarly book?
If I don't have to prepare to teach it, I can cruise through a fiction text pretty quickly. I suppose if I didn't have to think about how I was going to use it or take notes, I could cruise through scholarly texts reasonably quickly, too. But it seems that I'm pretty much always thinking about how I can use them in classes or research, taking notes, trying to synthesize and put things together, and that slows me down a good bit. It also means I can't just read when I'm tired because I won't retain enough.
Grading reading is more short term for me. I have to be able to retain what I'm reading long enough to write a helpful comment, but not longer. On the other hand, I also have to figure out how to formulate a helpful comment. If something's brilliant, that's not too hard. You talk about the best points and how good they are, maybe make a specific suggestion to help make something better. For lousy stuff, it's harder.
You know how in pedagogy classes folks are always talking about leading with a positive comment? Sometimes it's really difficult to say anything positive, especially if the writer hasn't really done the assignment or turned in something that gets anywhere near the assignment.
For middling papers, experience has taught me that if I give something a B and lead with a really positive statement, I have to be pretty careful to balance it with at least one specific suggestion for improvement. Otherwise, I'll inevitably get a student coming up to me wanting to know where s/he "lost points." I hate the "lost points" discussion. You didn't lose points. You didn't earn the points in the first place to have them to lose.
Break is over. I have a final to give in an hour, and should be able to grade three or four essays in that time. So I need to try to get a couple more graded before that, and then my evening will be manageable.
Please send focus.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Lacunae
We discussed Chaucer's retraction yesterday, and it got me thinking about the Book of the Lion it mentions, but which modern scholars, at least, don't know. I wonder if it's a version of Ywain, the Knight of the Lion? Or something?
And then I got to thinking about other famous unknown texts. There's Cardenio and Love's Labours Found.
How about it? What other famous unknown texts are there?
And then, of course, that brings us to the unfinished projects, like Spenser's last 6 books of The Faerie Queene. I'm not sure I really regret that Spenser didn't finish the project (or the projected next 12 books, either).
I'm not sure if The Canterbury Tales is finished or not. I'd love a few more tales. But I'm not sure that a whole trip's back worth of tales wouldn't be just too overwhelming.
So, finished or unfinished? Other unfinised projects?
And then I got to thinking about other famous unknown texts. There's Cardenio and Love's Labours Found.
How about it? What other famous unknown texts are there?
And then, of course, that brings us to the unfinished projects, like Spenser's last 6 books of The Faerie Queene. I'm not sure I really regret that Spenser didn't finish the project (or the projected next 12 books, either).
I'm not sure if The Canterbury Tales is finished or not. I'd love a few more tales. But I'm not sure that a whole trip's back worth of tales wouldn't be just too overwhelming.
So, finished or unfinished? Other unfinised projects?
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Moving On
A colleague I like and respect a good deal is moving on to a better position. It's not, perhaps, an ideal position, but it's a good move for my colleague.
I hope zie loves the new position and that the new employer treats hir like the gem zie is.
It's difficult, isn't it, seeing a great colleague move somewhere that's better for them. I mean, I had my fingers crossed that this colleague would get a great job offer, was wishing for the very best for hir. And yet at the same time, I'm sad to be losing the close proximity and collegiality.
I'm not in any of the decision making loops, but I sure wish those who were had seen fit to make a competing offer. Alas, apparently not.
I'm both elated for my colleague and bummed for me.
I hope zie loves the new position and that the new employer treats hir like the gem zie is.
It's difficult, isn't it, seeing a great colleague move somewhere that's better for them. I mean, I had my fingers crossed that this colleague would get a great job offer, was wishing for the very best for hir. And yet at the same time, I'm sad to be losing the close proximity and collegiality.
I'm not in any of the decision making loops, but I sure wish those who were had seen fit to make a competing offer. Alas, apparently not.
I'm both elated for my colleague and bummed for me.
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Bartleby
I'm at that point in the semester when my preferred response to pretty much every thing would be "I prefer not."
Bardiac, you need to be at this really important meeting to discuss stuff for a committee you won't be on next year. "I prefer not."
Bardiac, there's a special student event you need to go to. "I prefer not."
And so on.
It's not that I don't go to my share of "special student events." I do. Last week, I spent maybe four hours at special student stuffs. They were good hours, but they were hours when I wasn't prepping or grading or doing committee work or doing other work, none of which doesn't also need to get done.
All of these special student things are important to the students involved. I know that. But they also sometimes feel like I'm watching the clubhouse of mutual congratulations. This goes doubly for a certain faculty person who will not stop talking or trying to run things despite being retired.
I noticed yesterday that I had a headlight out, so I went to the car mechanic to get it replaced. He opened it up, pulled the bulb, and off he went. A moment later he came back to tell me that they'd replaced a bulb in another car that didn't quite need replacing, and they didn't actually have a new bulb, but they'd put the used bulb in mine, and didn't charge me. But he also noticed that the dye he'd put in the air conditioning system had indeed leaked, so that would need work at some point if I want to run the a/c. And worst of all, he pointed out some areas where the insulation looked like mice had been at it, which isn't that horrible, except that if mice are after your car's insulation, they may also be heading for the wiring, and repairing wiring gets VERY expensive. So he suggested I put a couple of moth balls in the compartment, and that might drive the mice away.
I stopped at the hardware store and bought a box of moth balls, and put five on each side of the compartment, closed the hood, and went in, closing the garage door. And within a little while, the whole area began to smell of moth balls. Bleargh. So I went back, took all but four of the moth balls out, put the moth ball box in a plastic bag, and closed the hood again, this time leaving the garage door open. I left it open til fairly late, but you could still smell the moth balls in the garage pretty well in the morning. I hope the mice run away.
I think I need to clean the garage and make sure that anything that could be food for mice is gone, and that anything that could be nesting material is also gone. (The food, well, I did put some dead marigolds in there over the winter, so I moved them out. Now I have to get rid of hiding places, too.)
It's always something. Though I would prefer not.
Bardiac, you need to be at this really important meeting to discuss stuff for a committee you won't be on next year. "I prefer not."
Bardiac, there's a special student event you need to go to. "I prefer not."
And so on.
It's not that I don't go to my share of "special student events." I do. Last week, I spent maybe four hours at special student stuffs. They were good hours, but they were hours when I wasn't prepping or grading or doing committee work or doing other work, none of which doesn't also need to get done.
All of these special student things are important to the students involved. I know that. But they also sometimes feel like I'm watching the clubhouse of mutual congratulations. This goes doubly for a certain faculty person who will not stop talking or trying to run things despite being retired.
I noticed yesterday that I had a headlight out, so I went to the car mechanic to get it replaced. He opened it up, pulled the bulb, and off he went. A moment later he came back to tell me that they'd replaced a bulb in another car that didn't quite need replacing, and they didn't actually have a new bulb, but they'd put the used bulb in mine, and didn't charge me. But he also noticed that the dye he'd put in the air conditioning system had indeed leaked, so that would need work at some point if I want to run the a/c. And worst of all, he pointed out some areas where the insulation looked like mice had been at it, which isn't that horrible, except that if mice are after your car's insulation, they may also be heading for the wiring, and repairing wiring gets VERY expensive. So he suggested I put a couple of moth balls in the compartment, and that might drive the mice away.
I stopped at the hardware store and bought a box of moth balls, and put five on each side of the compartment, closed the hood, and went in, closing the garage door. And within a little while, the whole area began to smell of moth balls. Bleargh. So I went back, took all but four of the moth balls out, put the moth ball box in a plastic bag, and closed the hood again, this time leaving the garage door open. I left it open til fairly late, but you could still smell the moth balls in the garage pretty well in the morning. I hope the mice run away.
I think I need to clean the garage and make sure that anything that could be food for mice is gone, and that anything that could be nesting material is also gone. (The food, well, I did put some dead marigolds in there over the winter, so I moved them out. Now I have to get rid of hiding places, too.)
It's always something. Though I would prefer not.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Automatic F
For anyone who uses the word "bard" when they're not writing about really early texts. Double F for anyone who uses the words "immortal" and "bard" in the same sentence.
For misuse of "irony."
What are the things that make you want to write the old one legged A?
For misuse of "irony."
What are the things that make you want to write the old one legged A?
Monday, May 06, 2013
Text o' the Day
I drew this in class today. What was I teaching?
This post brought to you by the word "sweat."
Lesson from the Humanities
Literature provides myriad examples of people and cultures at war or in fights, often to the death. It's pretty clear from most of these examples that people are capable of great hatred, cruelty, and violence. In literature, those are pretty common and, for want of a better word, acceptable. We don't think less of epic characters for thoroughly killing their enemies.
That changes the moment the enemy is dead, however. At that point, we see a split.
There are characters in literature who, once the enemy is dead, stop and allow whatever funerary rites are culturally appropriate, either doing these rites themselves, or allowing the dead characters family or people to perform them. Consider, for example, Hal in 1 Henry IV, treating Hotspur's dead body with respect. It's one sign that Hal has what it takes to be a real king (in an age of violence). Compare that to the ways people on stage react to the reported mutilation of the bodies of the English by the Welsh women at the beginning of the play. Think then of how vile Falstaff becomes in the moment when he mutilates Hotspur's body by wounding him in the thigh.
Or think of the beginning of "The Knight's Tale," when the mourning widows stop Theseus mid-march and ask him to make Creon allow them to bury their dead properly. Theseus immediately goes to war and defeats Creon.
These examples are from earlier English lit, of course, but world lit is full of examples: one of the basic lessons from the humanities is that you treat the dead, even of your greatest enemy, with care and respect.
So when I read about the resistance to burying the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, I think about how little we (as a culture) have learned one of the basic lessons of the humanities. (Here's a link to the Washington Post article. In contrast, the funeral director who's taking care of the body, and his uncle who washed and wrapped the body, these people have somehow learned that lesson.
It's not just ancient history that teaches this lesson, either. US people get rightly mad when our dead are dragged behind trucks or mutilated, too.
I wonder when we in the US became so out of touch with basic humanity?
That changes the moment the enemy is dead, however. At that point, we see a split.
There are characters in literature who, once the enemy is dead, stop and allow whatever funerary rites are culturally appropriate, either doing these rites themselves, or allowing the dead characters family or people to perform them. Consider, for example, Hal in 1 Henry IV, treating Hotspur's dead body with respect. It's one sign that Hal has what it takes to be a real king (in an age of violence). Compare that to the ways people on stage react to the reported mutilation of the bodies of the English by the Welsh women at the beginning of the play. Think then of how vile Falstaff becomes in the moment when he mutilates Hotspur's body by wounding him in the thigh.
Or think of the beginning of "The Knight's Tale," when the mourning widows stop Theseus mid-march and ask him to make Creon allow them to bury their dead properly. Theseus immediately goes to war and defeats Creon.
These examples are from earlier English lit, of course, but world lit is full of examples: one of the basic lessons from the humanities is that you treat the dead, even of your greatest enemy, with care and respect.
So when I read about the resistance to burying the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, I think about how little we (as a culture) have learned one of the basic lessons of the humanities. (Here's a link to the Washington Post article. In contrast, the funeral director who's taking care of the body, and his uncle who washed and wrapped the body, these people have somehow learned that lesson.
It's not just ancient history that teaches this lesson, either. US people get rightly mad when our dead are dragged behind trucks or mutilated, too.
I wonder when we in the US became so out of touch with basic humanity?
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Special Adjuncts?
Ariel Kaminer has an article in the New York Times, "The Last Refuge from Scandal? Professorships," about high profile political and military men (at least I think they're all men) who get hired as adjuncts to teach one class (a year? a semester?) for some colleges.
I knew some famous folks got hired to teach classes, but I guess I thought they'd be making a whole lot more money than this article suggests. It says, for example,
I was interested in how students found the teaching. Here's what one student had to say about Spitzer:
I think it's telling that he didn't have a clue about how to run a class. It's one thing to talk or lead a discussion about something you know well (and I'm guessing all these folks know their old business well, even if they made stupid mistakes to cause whatever scandal). It's amusing that he invited them to call him on his cellphone. I'm guessing he's not doing a 200 person lecture, eh? Or teaching four classes at a time.
The schools inviting these folks to teach make sense; they're mostly in or near New York or some other big city, which is where these folks are likely to be living anyway. (Yeah, it would be fun to see the Compass Point State in the Upper Midwest convince one of them to come as an adjuct.)
David Petraeus will be teaching in both New York and LA. I'm guessing that his adjuct salary wouldn't even cover the semester's airfare in economy, and I'm guessing he doesn't fly economy. Special arrangements?
I'm sure students are pretty excited to be taught by famous instructors. And I'm willing to bet in some cases they're getting a really great experience. I'm not sure that's always the case, though, and I wonder how the grades these instructors assign compare with grades in similar classes at these schools? I'm guessing even without terminal degrees (and some of them certainly seem to have terminal degrees), their experience makes them qualified to teach within their specific areas.
It would be weird beyond belief to be in a faculty meeting with someone like that, though, wouldn't it? I mean, we have a few sleeze cases, but they aren't sleeze cases whose sleeze has been publicized widely.
I knew some famous folks got hired to teach classes, but I guess I thought they'd be making a whole lot more money than this article suggests. It says, for example,
for Mr. Spitzer’s weekly seminar, which he taught from fall 2009 to spring 2012, he was paid slightly less than $5,000 a semester, which he donated to the school after other professors said it was on the high side of what adjuncts earn. Mr. Spitzer, who said he sought to make his students “both enjoy and learn how to think about questions at several different levels,” described the experience as a “huge joy, every week.”That's high for an adjunct, certainly, but a drop in the bucket compared to what he's used to earning or earns if he takes a high level law firm job, no?
I was interested in how students found the teaching. Here's what one student had to say about Spitzer:
One of his students, Melissa Lynch, said he was one of her best teachers and he encouraged the class to call him on his cellphone if they had questions about readings. When it came to the mechanics of running a class, however, “he didn’t really seem to know what he was doing.” The class required one writing assignment, “but he didn’t know if it should be 2 pages or 30 pages,” she said, adding, “He kept asking us, ‘What do other professors do?’ ”
I think it's telling that he didn't have a clue about how to run a class. It's one thing to talk or lead a discussion about something you know well (and I'm guessing all these folks know their old business well, even if they made stupid mistakes to cause whatever scandal). It's amusing that he invited them to call him on his cellphone. I'm guessing he's not doing a 200 person lecture, eh? Or teaching four classes at a time.
The schools inviting these folks to teach make sense; they're mostly in or near New York or some other big city, which is where these folks are likely to be living anyway. (Yeah, it would be fun to see the Compass Point State in the Upper Midwest convince one of them to come as an adjuct.)
David Petraeus will be teaching in both New York and LA. I'm guessing that his adjuct salary wouldn't even cover the semester's airfare in economy, and I'm guessing he doesn't fly economy. Special arrangements?
I'm sure students are pretty excited to be taught by famous instructors. And I'm willing to bet in some cases they're getting a really great experience. I'm not sure that's always the case, though, and I wonder how the grades these instructors assign compare with grades in similar classes at these schools? I'm guessing even without terminal degrees (and some of them certainly seem to have terminal degrees), their experience makes them qualified to teach within their specific areas.
It would be weird beyond belief to be in a faculty meeting with someone like that, though, wouldn't it? I mean, we have a few sleeze cases, but they aren't sleeze cases whose sleeze has been publicized widely.
Suddenly, Green
This last snow has melted quickly, and the revealed grass and such is suddenly much greener than before.
I'm told (well, one hears on the local news and such) that when the snow first melts in early spring, the ground is really frozen and so doesn't absorb much of the water, so it runs off. But once the ground is mostly unfrozen, then new precipitation gets absorbed much more. So maybe the ground is all getting a nice, slow, thorough watering?
I've had my first Red-breasted Grosbeaks (two males) at the feeders, and the regulars continue, though it looks like the Juncoes are mostly gone, and I haven't seen the Tufted Titmouse around, either. (They may find other preferred food in the area, or migrate elsewhere for breeding?) The Orioles are really going at the oranges. That usually changes once more native fruits become available, it seems. Or they leave my neighborhood for actual breeding.
I'm thinking of planting an apple tree. One of my neighbors has a couple planted (across the street and on the back side of his house). Another neighbor is thinking of putting one in, too (a bit nearer).
The question is, how close is close enough for pollination with another tree?
Perhaps the title should have been "Suddenly, Pink"? The second stage of the Giro is today! The first stage was a sprint stage, which means it's mostly exciting for the last few minutes. Today is a team time trial, which means it's really not all that exciting to watch. (I'm sure it's pretty cool if you're there, since anywhere you are, you'd get to see teams woosh through every few minutes for a long while.)
I'm told (well, one hears on the local news and such) that when the snow first melts in early spring, the ground is really frozen and so doesn't absorb much of the water, so it runs off. But once the ground is mostly unfrozen, then new precipitation gets absorbed much more. So maybe the ground is all getting a nice, slow, thorough watering?
I've had my first Red-breasted Grosbeaks (two males) at the feeders, and the regulars continue, though it looks like the Juncoes are mostly gone, and I haven't seen the Tufted Titmouse around, either. (They may find other preferred food in the area, or migrate elsewhere for breeding?) The Orioles are really going at the oranges. That usually changes once more native fruits become available, it seems. Or they leave my neighborhood for actual breeding.
I'm thinking of planting an apple tree. One of my neighbors has a couple planted (across the street and on the back side of his house). Another neighbor is thinking of putting one in, too (a bit nearer).
The question is, how close is close enough for pollination with another tree?
Perhaps the title should have been "Suddenly, Pink"? The second stage of the Giro is today! The first stage was a sprint stage, which means it's mostly exciting for the last few minutes. Today is a team time trial, which means it's really not all that exciting to watch. (I'm sure it's pretty cool if you're there, since anywhere you are, you'd get to see teams woosh through every few minutes for a long while.)
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