NaBloPoMo '08 #16: On the Downhill Side

Woohoo! Only half a month left until NaBloPoMo is officially over. Until that time, you can expect daily posts full of nothing.

Today was another low-key day for us. After our traditional Sunday-morning coffee shop visit, we raked some leaves, made some turkey chili, finished the laundry, and watched a movie. I worked a bit on writing an evaluation report, but nothing significant.

Now we're drinking some red wine and "chillaxin" as Slogger would say.

NaBloPoMo '08 #15:

Today was a pretty low-key day for us. I think I stayed in my pjs until about 3,and then we drove over to the animal shelter to visit the dogs and cats, but not to bring any home yet. There were a couple of beautiful border collie mixes, but there's also a mother with a litter of tiny pups -- Slogger is thinking about adopting one of the pups once they are old enough. Breed? Rottweiler. They're big and powerful, but if we bring one up from a puppy, we can work some Dog Whisperer magic on it. The puppies should be old enough after Christmas, so I'll keep you all informed on any dog stuff...

After we got back home, I cleaned out the refrigerator. Yes, that's the kind of fun stuff I like to do on a Saturday night. But then we went to the last home volleyball game, which we won!

NaBloPoMo '08 #14: B Minus Student

This morning I woke up late, skipped a meeting, but didn't skip class. I thought about . Oh, yes, I considered skipping my algebra class, but the good girl in me didn't let go and I went on to my class, though I was about 10 minutes class. When I arrived, the instructor was already handing back the exam. Since said exam was only last night, I can imagine him staying up really late to get it graded.

When I got mine back, I was disappointed to find that I received a B minus. It's odd, really, because on my first exam, I thought I made a B only to find out that I had actually received an A. Then on this second exam, I thought that I had an A only to find out that I received a B. Truthfully, as the instructor went over the exam, I should have had some points taken off, but I chose to keep quiet about that. Several students in my class (freshmen, I think) were quite annoyed with choices made by the graders about partial credit. My take is that partial credit is a bonus, so you should keep your mouth shut about it. Not to mention the points that could have been taken off of my exam and weren't. Was that because I'm a professor? I'm not sure -- I'm chalking it up to a late night and possible inebration.

NaBloPoMo '08 #13: Algebra Exam and Other News

In about 30 minutes here, I'll be taking my second algebra exam. Just a bit nervous, but not too worried.

I did email my students this morning to tell them that we would not be working with the article, but instead I would give them some time to work on this big massive project from hell that is due at the end of the semester. However, being the slackers they are, most of them didn't take advantage of the time I gave them in class.

Then I got to have a conversation with the student who sits in my class with her angry face on all the time. Huh. Says she's not actually angry. Really? Then why do you look like you're going to pinch someone's head off, as my southern friends like to say?

Hmm?

NaBloPoMo '08 #12: Holy Crap, What a Day

Non-stop working is going to continue long into the night. Plus I'm feeling might sorry for both me AND my students after re-reading the chapter we'll be discussing tomorrow. What a piece of shit. Why the hell did I think it would be a good idea to read it?

I'm thinking of emailing them all and telling them we'll have a work session on the big assignment for the semester, and not to mess with the reading.

NaBloPoMo '08 #10: Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is Slogger's mom's 92nd birthday. She is an amazing trooper. We called her this morning to wish her a happy birthday and she told us all about her plans for the day, what her guide dog was up to (a white poodle named Marilyn), etc. She is a tiny woman, about 4'10", but she has a will of steel.

Then I went to work. Sigh.

Once I got home, I started on the rum and Coke. And remembered I needed to blog today. Nuff said. Now I'm watching a bit of TV (The Mentalist) and planning to study, eventually for my algebra exam on Thursday.

NaBloPoMo '08 #10: Script

In one of my courses, students write a variety of pieces throughout the semester, including keeping a writer's notebook that they must write in three times a week. The course focuses on writing pedagogy, and I use this set of assignments to model writing workshop, with the hope that having been involved in a writing workshop as a student will encourage them to use it in their own classrooms when they are teachers.

We've done a memoir, a set of poems, and now they are working on developing a third piece (their choice) that should spring from their writer's notebooks. I'm writing with them, and I've decided that my third piece will be a script... and the setting is my classroom. I'm going to take some of the quirky little things that my students do and push them to the nth degree, make them much wackier.

What do you think? Will this offend my students? And do I care?

NaBloPoMo '08 #9:

Today I'll be taking my cranky self into the dining room so that I can ...
* grade
* grade, and
* grade.

Perhaps I'll also make a big vat of chicken broth to freeze. Since Slogger's heart attack, I've gotten in the habit of making batches of healthier versions of food, like spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, bread, etc. I'll use the broth that I make to whip up some lovely chicken and dumplings for supper. We've got snow and wintery mix forecast for tomorrow, so some warming comfort food is in order.

NaBloPoMo '08#8: Napping, Babies, Football, and other Saturday Events

So our house guests came with their babies, we had an enjoyable lunch while watching our High Plains University football team win (!) a game against a massively huge juggernaut of a team, currently down on their luck.

That was great.

Their baby was the cutest, with fat little cheeks that I chose not to squeeze because I was afraid of the spreading of the lung crud still living within me.

And now that Slogger is napping and I have caught up with my blogging, and the house is quiet, I too will go and nap. Looking forward to it.

NaBloPoMo '08 #7:

Yes, it's finally Saturday. I found out this week that a couple of papers that I co-authored were accepted at a massive conference for next spring. That makes me both happy and sad. Happy because I do like going to conferences, especially with friends. Sad because now I have to work on those papers, which I'm not particularly excited about. I do like the papers; it's just hard to imagine working on anything on a Saturday morning.

Today we're having a few friends over for lunch, which means we're undertaking a massive house clean-up. I guess it's good to invite people over about once a month in order to thoroughly clean our house.

NaBloPoMo '08 #6: Dammit

I forgot to blog yesterday, so there go my NaBloPoMo creds. But I'm going to blog twice today!

In other news, I forced myself to finish the online certification program for human subjects research that High Plains University has begun requiring. That was one of my research goals for this week, so I'm almost there.

I'll be spending the rest of the day as follows:
*department research meeting this morning (where I will NOT owe $5, because I was so diligent yesterday {patting self on back})
*math class from 9-10, along with a quiz
*analyzing the rest of the focus group interview transcript
*working with red on survey data for our statewide evaluation

A full day! I hope to get a bowl of soup in there somewhere . . . .

NaBloPoMo '08 #5: Winter is Here

I just took this picture out my office window, during a lull in the snowstorm now hitting High Plains City. Unfortunately, I rode my bike to work this morning, so it looks like a chilly ride home.

Anyway, I'm off to put on my down coat (thank goodness I wore that!) and ride home. I'll be warmed inside knowing that FINALLY the guy I voted for got elected! Yippee!

NaBloPoMo '08 #4: Election-Day Tidbits

I'm LOVING this country right now.

* A colleague came to school dressed in red, white, and blue, complete with shiny red Danskos.

* Slogger left the house this morning at 6:45, worried that the lines at our polling place would be so long that he wouldn't be able to vote AND get to work on time. By 7:10, he was back home for another cup of coffee.

* After my afternoon class, a large group of students walked out the door planning their carpool to the voting booths.

* Near the student union, a group of students were asking people if they had voted, handing out "I Voted" stickers, and offering rides to the polls. As I walked by, one woman saw the signs and flags all over the car they were using, and said "Oh, can I get a ride?"

* This morning a colleague of mine told me that she was wearing blue panties in an attempt to sway the voters toward Obama.

NaBloPoMo '08 #3: Voting and Other Errands

When I woke up this morning, I spent a good bit of time debating with myself. Should I ride my bike to work? Should I drive/take the bus? Should I walk? This was a complicated decision, because of the still-existing chest congestion, needing to vote and get a flu shot today, and also needing to carry back to work the tons of grading that I took home on Friday (only half of it finished), not to mention the framed teaching award that Slogger put together for me this weekend (THANKS, HON!).

I decided to ride my bike, leave the frame at home until tomorrow, and vote at 11 after I got out of class. Voting was a bit of a mess, actually, with tons of people crammed into a little space and lines snaking around everywhere. Luckily, I was already registered to vote, so I got the short line, waited a few minutes for them to prepare my ballot, and then voted. Once that was finished, I decided I needed some soup as a reward for my good behavior, so I rode my bike downtown (three blocks!) to get some lunch. I did grade a few papers during my solitary lunch, but still not anywhere near enough.

Since I was downtown, I decided to go ahead and get my flu shot. IT HURT. But it's all for a good cause, I guess, since I'm in a category required to get the shot. Then I rode my bike back to the office, and now I'm back to the grading . . .

More tomorrow! (Hey, I didn't promise the posts would be scintillating, just that there would be one of them each day in November.)

NaBloPoMo '08 #2: Football (yes) and some musings about teaching

So yesterday, in spite of my good intentions, I ended up watching several football games. Our (which we won, finally!), our rivals (which they lost, yeah!), and my home doc university's (which we lost, boo). Two happies and one sad. I also did lots of grading, but not enough.

This morning, Slogger and I walked slowly downtown for our weekly ritual of coffee and bagels. Slowly, I say, because his ankle is still sore from falling off a bike a couple of weeks ago (and subsequent coumadin-inspired bleeding/bruising) and because I have little energy as a result of some chest congestion. (Though I should add that the chest congestion is responding well to the Mucinex my doctor suggested. Maybe that is also making me sleepy? Not sure. Anyhoo....)

As we were slowly walking I was thinking about this semester's classes, and the algebra class I am currently taking. I was wishing with part of my self that my courses could be more concrete than they are, that I could just give tests and feel certain that my students are getting everything I want them to get (before they go out and foist their lack of knowledge on the unsuspecting students in high school around the state!).

Well, the truth is, I could give tests. And perhaps I will. I used to give a take-home midterm examination, and I liked the way it helped students to study enough to make the information I gave them concrete, in a much more solid way than asking them to apply the information to a huge project, as I also do every semester. Or perhaps what I mean is that I have more certainty, from looking at the test results, that my students are thinking about the concepts I want them to think about outside of class.

That's probably the bottom line for me -- I want them to engage: in class, out of class, after they graduate.

So, next fall, I might give a mid-term and final. How will that change what I'm asking for in class? We'll see.

NaBloPoMo '08 #1: No-Football Saturday

Normally, I like college football. Not as much as basketball, mind you, but it's ok. Slogger and I have season tickets to the football games, and normally I would go. But today? Today is a day for grading and cooking and laundry. I've got the crockpot chicken already slowly cooking, the second load is in the washer, and that brings me to my third event of the day:

Grading.

Today, I am planning to work through 14 sets of poetry that my students handed in last Tuesday. I know I should have graded more between then and now, but what can I say? I just didn't get to it. It's actually a fairly simple procedure, and more one of responding than of grading. I just read through their three poems, check to see that they have sufficient peer feedback and multiple drafts, read their reflection letters, and assign a letter grade. Then I record verbal feedback on strengths and possible revisions they might want to make, post them on the website, and go on to the next. I've been doing this audio feedback thing for a while now, and I have to say that I'm pleased with it. At least some of my students like it -- the ones who don't haven't been too loud. I believe that I can be clearer with my feedback, and it seems that my students get more clarity on what they need to work on as well. I wish I could do this with reviewing for journals!

And then I've also got some sets of smaller assignments to grade -- reading responses and the like -- which I will probably do while watching a football game on television.

Good news on the basketball front, because the women's season begins next Tuesday. And really, women's basketball is SOOOO much more fun to watch than men's. I've always liked women's basketball better, since I started teaching high school in California and was the 30-second clock keeper for our women's team. I think that women's teams tend to do team play more than individual, and that's the kind of sport I like to watch.

With the first game being election night, I wonder if they will announce election results at the game? Or ignore it alltogether?

Na.Blo.Po.Mo

Who knew it would come around so fast? Today is only October 31st, but I'm getting in some practice for tomorrow's big jumping-off.

Yes, this is a post.

Flip! and other stuff

Because I am involved in a "use-cool-technology-while-teaching" group here at High Plains U, I was given a Flip Video today (part of the enticement for being a member of the group). It's the coolest, and pretty soon I'll be posting video I've taken with it. Probably of my cats.

Why the cats, you may ask? Well, because I'm not feeling so well lately, so I'm not getting out of the house or office much. I'm in the beginning stages of yet another round of bronchitis, which makes me the opposite of happy and healthy. As of yet, I'm only in the out-of-breath, tight-chest, occasional coughing phase, but I'm looking forward to the all-out, I'd-rather-be-dead, I-really-can't-breathe phase. Fun times! Oh, and did I mention it's advising week?

Certain of my students continue to annoy. Perhaps I will videotape their pissy expressions (with! my new Flip!) and send them video to let them know how they look in class. It's a start.

Enjoying The Freshmen

This morning it was my turn to guest-lecture in our department's 1000-level course, for incoming students in the variety of majors that make up the department. The course is a "topics" course and also serves to meet the university studies description of an Intellectual Community course.

The faculty member who teaches this course on a regular basis has an oddly arranged load, and he consistently asks for other department members to guest-lecture while he is away at conferences. So, that's ok, I don't mind doing it. I always take some aspect of my specialty in the department and has things out, usually with a powerpoint slide of some kind, discussion questions, group work, etc. The common theme I've seen across semesters with this course is the huge difficulty in getting students to have a conversation, to talk, to engage themselves with the content. Perhaps this is unavoidable and understandable, since I'm only a guest-lecturer and these students are (mostly) not in my major.

However. This semester I didn't have much time to prepare, so I just wrote a few notes and headed off to class. No powerpoint, no group work, no fanciness at all. In the hallway outside the room, I took a deep breath, murmured "I am the pack leader," walked into class, and took over. I introduced myself. I asked the students to do a quick-write on two questions, and then we talked about their answers for the remainder of class.

And boy did they talk! It was amazing. Every single student in the class said something. There was one girl in the back who was addictively texting during the whole class, but I could tell she was listening, so I let it go. There was another kid on the right with his feet up on the table, but I decided to interpret that as his casual nature rather than an attempt to be offensive.

I let them out of class five minutes early (in order to walk back across campus in time for my advising appointments) feeling absolutely positive about the class. Cool! I AM the pack leader!

Speaking of pack leaders, here are my current obsessions:
* The Dog Whisperer
* The Dog Whisperer
* The Dog Whispere
* Twilight
* The Dog Whisperer

That is all. Notice the absence of Harry Potter -- I've managed to stop obsessively rereading the series by reading one of the Dog Whisperer books and then moving on to Twilight.

I Respect This Guy