What are you doing? Not grading...

I so need to get my ass to my office and grade some papers. And I'm so not doing it.

It's snowing outside!

Surprise Prize

OK, I saw this at Maggie May's and made a commitment, which I'm honoring here. Sounds cool --


By the end of the calendar year, I will send a tangible, physical gift to each of the first five people to comment here. The catch? Each person must make the same offer on her/his blog.

So, if you (a) want a gift; and (b) have your own blog on which to post this offer, then please, comment away!

Camtastic!

After a chance conversation with a fellow faculty member, I got this great idea to record feedback for my students' writing. Then I found Camtasia, which is a software that allows me to record screen shots as video and to overlay voice recording. So I've been taking my students' memoirs (recently written and handed in), pulling them up on the course wiki (http://www.uwenglishmethods.pbwiki.com/), and then using Camtasia to record video of their writing, along with my comments. I played around with posting them on the wiki, but was not able to get that to work (yet). So for the short term, I'm burning a cd for each student with the video on it. That's what I'll be doing most of the day tomorrow.

Also found this cool video: http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=119. The class apparently used googledocs to collaboratively produce the survey that they used for the video. This is interesting, as I've been talking with another colleague about how to provide ways for students to collaborate both asynchronously and synchronously.

I'm also really interested in what I might learn from the K-12 Online Conference, which is currently underway. Presentations in the Web 2.0 thread start on Monday, and I'll be eagerly accessing those next week, when I'm not teaching, recording my thoughts on memoirs, or in meetings. Sigh. Too much to do, and all of this stuff to do is getting in the way of my technogeeking.

In other news, it was not a good day for university sports as our football team and volleyball team both got beat. Interesting football game, as it was interrupted by lightning and delayed for almost 2 hours. We went home, got warmer jackets and waterproof pants, and came back to the game so we could watch our team get pounded. Bummer.

RBOC: Sunday Afternoon Edition

I haven't blogged in a while, largely because I've been freakishly busy getting ready for a conference, attending a conference, and recovering from the conference. But anyway, here are some things going on in my noggin lately.

• "Old lady." I got a bit of flak from a dear reader (and lord knows, I don't have enough dear readers, so I must respond when the few I have get upset) about the way I referred to myself in a recent post as an "old lady." Granted, I have some gray hairs on my head, but I really don't think of myself as old. Or as a lady, either, but that's another story. Really, C, I was referring to my relative oldness in relation to the very young people in my geology class.
• It snowed a bit last night, and we put the storm windows up today. Which makes me want to cry, cause I'm not ready for winter. At. all.
• I'm thinking of becoming a bit of a philanthropist, though I probably don't have the money to qualify. Back in the 80s, I taught for three years at a secondary school in Uganda. At the time, that school was a mixed gender boarding school; now it is a girls' school. I'm trying to get in touch with the headmaster or headmistress to see if perhaps I can be a conduit for things that they might need. Books, maybe? Writing materials? I am interested in seeing if my student organization would like to work with them... anyway, I'll see how that works out. It's exciting, at the least, to contemplate the possibility of renewing ties with the school.
• Football this weekend was scary. The last three minutes of the game practically gave me a heart attack. We did win, but it was touch-and-go there at the end.
• I have TONS of grading to do, that I haven't yet touched.
• We just bought a bunch of new furniture and it is making our living room much more habitable. Which makes it harder to do the grading I should be doing, in my office/dining room.

Fame and Fortune; At Last They Come Home Where They Belong

In Wednesday's geology lab, we participated in a minerals/rock-identification exercise that was really a review of the previous geology course I took last fall. It was great fun, and a good reminder of why I'm so interested in geology.

So at the end of the lab, my lab partner and I were attempting to identify "unknown rock C," along with about 7 other students. Clustered around the table at the front of the room, we debated what minerals were present in the rock, whether it was more mafic or felsic, intrusive or extrusive, and attempted to locate the rock on a chart that would help us identify it.

"Andesite," I said. "I think it's andesite."

My colleagues gathered around differed, each offering a different hypothesis as to the identity of the unknown. Eventually the TA -- noticing our debate -- came over to walk us through the identification process. After this, she finally pronounced that the rock was . . . andesite.

One of the students (a member of the university marching band, I believe; probably all of 19 or 20 years old) said to me, "Next week, will you be my lab partner?"

YEAH! Score one for the old lady of the class!

Dear Geology Major . . .

who sits in front of me in my geology class:

Your swiveling classroom seat is not an easy chair or a lounge chair or your living room sofa. You are sitting in class, not in front of the TV. The professor's lecture may be boring, but I bet if you really try, you can drum up a bit of enthusiasm for understanding how the systems that make up our atmosphere work. When you slide your butt down in your chair, stretch your long legs out in front of you, and reach back with your arms as if you are participating in some crafty new-age yoga pose, your hands end up about two inches in front of my nose. I could casually reach over with my pencil and poke you in the top of the head. In other words, you are seriously invading my personal space.

I have refrained from doing so thus far, out of kindness to your kind in general (i.e. young, silly undergraduates) and because I enjoy watching the professor get astonished at your overall stretchiness and flexibility in the middle of a classroom lecture. But my patience is nearing an end. If you feel a poke on the top of your prematurely balding head, or if the backwards-pointing brim of your baseball cap gets knocked down any further than it already is, you'll know it's me.

Signed,

Old Lady Who Sits Behind You In Class

You Never Call, You Never Write

I'm trying not to complain, but since I had to miss class on Monday (because I was doing some professional development work for a school district) I emailed my professor on Friday, asking for Monday's homework so I could get started on the homework on Tuesday. Here it is, Tuesday night, and still no response.

Guess I'll pick it up in class on Wednesday.

Homework

In this semester's attempt to achieve science nerd queen-ness, I'm taking a 2000 level geology class that takes a systems approach, involves some chemistry, and really pushes on my (somewhat rusty) quantitative skills.

It's that last part that is the reason why each week's homework (handed out on Monday; due on Friday) TAKES ME ALL WEEK TO FINISH SUCCESSFULLY. Last week's assignment involved the quadratic equation. Now I do remember learning the quadratic equation back many, many years ago. But really, in my life as an English/adolescent literacy type, there's not a whole lot of call for it. So this week, as in every previous week, the homework (initially) stumped me. I got help from all and sundry, including Footslogger, my math teacher friends, the class TA, and a math professor. Eventually I did finish it, though I'm pretty sure there are mistakes in it.

We also had a test on Friday, and I'm pretty sure I did ok. As always, the content of the course is interesting, and the math points up the weaknesses in my background. Oh, and how long it has been since I took algebra (24 years, to be pointed).

On a completely unrelated topic -- but one that is on my mind this weekend -- I heard a rumor (oh, how I hope this one isn't true) this weekend about a former student caught in some reprehensible behavior with a high school student. Makes. Me. Sick. I know this behavior is not a reflection on me or my teaching, but it makes me feel that I failed this student somehow. It is a sobering reminder that my students -- future teachers -- have huge responsibilities to their students and to the parents of those students. Which makes my responsibility that much more serious.

Oh, the drama.

Just a short note to say that I'm freaking out because I have no idea how to do my homework assignment for my geology class. It involves half-life and requires manipulation of an equation.

Can you say 23 years since I took algebra?

I'm going to try to email my lab instructor to get some help. Or maybe my husband can help me. Otherwise, I'm lost.

Education? Computers?

OK, I saw the career thing flying around at Dr. Crazy and Profgrrrrl, and decided to go and do it myself.

So here are my top 10 careers, according to Career Cruising:


1.Professor

2.Foreign Language Instructor

3.ESL Teacher

4.Music Teacher / Instructor

5.Computer Support Person

6.Computer Programmer

7.Computer Trainer

8.Elementary School Teacher

9.High School Teacher

10.Multimedia Developer

I find it quite interesting that ALL of the top 10 involve either education (which I've been doing for lo these 23 years) or computers (which I'm a freakin' geek about).

If you want to go and try, the username is nycareers and the pw is landmark.

Summit video

Here's a short video of the final summit of Katahdin, the successful end of my pursuit to complete the Appalachian Trail. Narrated by Footslogger, of course.

No Need for Prerequisites

The course I'm taking this semester is a 2000-level geology course, which apparently takes an earth systems, geochemical approach to geology. The first day of class, the professor emphasized the prerequisites, including a 1000-level geology course with a lab and a chemistry course.

After class, a student came up to the professor and explained that he didn't have the 1000-level geology course prerequisite.

"But," he said, "I should be ok. My grandfather is a geologist."

Yeah, that should work.

Retreat

Yesterday's college retreat (or as I like to say "retreat" cause it's not really a retreat unless I'm doing meditation or getting a facial) was actually the best we've had in recent years. The focus was on diversity and the presenters made the experience interactive, informative, and interesting. Lunch was good, the company of my colleagues was fun, and I even had the (somewhat scary) experience of roleplaying a conversation about diversity with a colleague in front of EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COLLEGE.

Don't know why I volunteered for that one, but I was SO happy when it was over.

Oh, Hail!

Along with our typical 2:00 rainstorm came a nice bit of hail, as seen on our deck:

Advice for New Teachers

If you're a new teacher, I hope you'll read the post by Ms. Cornelius offering advice for new teachers on classroom management, supplies, presentation, and keeping healthy. FANTASTIC STUFF! Read the comments, too, because there are some great ideas there as well.

2000-Miler

It's official. As of August 17th, I have hiked all 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

I've been working on becoming a 2000-miler for the last 6 years. Here's how that endeavor has played out:

2001: This is the year in which I hiked the majority of the trail -- about 1,700 miles. I began March 17th and hiked to Damascus, Virginia. It was during the last few days of that section that I injured the muscle in my rear which forced me to come off the trail for a month and a half. I got back on in Waynesboro, Virginia and hiked to South Egremont, Connecticut, then skipped up to Hanover, New Hampshire and hiked to Gorham, New Hampshire. Then I skipped up to Monson, Maine and hiked the 100-mile wilderness and summitted Katahdin. Good chunks of trail that I completed, but still missing a few bits here and there.

2003: Footslogger's thru-hike. I hiked with him most of the section in Virginia (between Damascus and Waynesboro.

2004: I hiked the 20 miles into Damascus, from the road where I stood, crippled, and got a ride from a kind friend into town in 2001.

2005: I finished up the Virginia section and hiked from South Egremont, Connecticut to Hanover, New Hampshire with my friend, colleague, and hiking buddy, Red.

2006: Gorham, New Hampshire to Rangeley, Maine (by far, the hardest 100 miles I have ever hiked).

2007: Rangeley, Maine to Monson, Maine. This is the bit I just finished, having returned home last night after a 20-hour travel day! After we finished this 105-mile section, we took a day off (much deserved, by the way) and then got ourselves to Mt. Katahdin for a final summit. As usual, the beauty and grandeur of that mountain completely amaze me.

As I am now a 2000-miler, I've been giving some thoughts to lessons that I've learned from the trail over the last 6 years. Here are a few ideas, for starters:

1. No matter whether I hike 10 miles or 25 miles on any particular day, I always end the day exhausted. I believe it's because I don't take enough breaks. Or maybe that I know I should be exhausted, so I make myself that way?

2. The only certain diet plan I've ever been successful with is a thru-hike. In 2001, I lost 40 pounds in 6 months; unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep off that weight.

3. There comes with a thru-hike a sense of confidence. If I can hike this amazingly difficult trail, I can do just about anything. That has helped with lots of other things that don't necessarily come easily in life.

4. Anywhere is in walking distance, if you have the time.

5. Long-distance hikers are both amazingly wonderful and wonderfully annoying. There are characters; there are thieves; there are gearheads; but mostly there's this wonderful community of people who are all aiming for the same thing, and looking out for each other along the way.

6. I should buy stock in the company that makes Snickers bars.

7. The human body is an amazing machine. Just two days ago I was sitting at the base of Mt. Katahdin, looking at the top, and thinking, "I got my body all the way up there and back again. How did I do that?" My body is strong and capable. That's a good thing.

8. Singing helps me hike when I'm exhausted and my feet are feeling battered and bruised. It's probably a good idea for me to sing more.

9. Uphill is much better than downhill. Or even flat, if you can believe it. I like the feeling of getting my breathing in a rhythm, pushing myself up a hill, and making it to the top. Going downhill punishes my knees; hiking on flat hurts my feet.

10. Whining about pain, exhaustion, dehydration, hunger, etc., only makes whatever I'm suffering from feel worse. A metaphor for life, I think.

Obviously, this man is my soulmate...

Just read a recap of a speech by Jim Cummins at the state NCTE conference in California. I so wish I had been there to hear him speak! Because just reading it, I gave him a standing ovation.

Some of the things I've been saying for years are in his speech. Just one example is the unconscionable amount of instructional time being lost to testing. This is something I have personal experience with, as student teachers under my supervision, every spring, spend literally weeks overseeing students taking tests. And that's just the time being spent on TAKING the tests, not the time spent by teachers (who are, yes indeed, afraid of losing their jobs if their students don't perform well) on preparing students to take the tests. I'm still waiting for the huge uprising of parents against the amount of time and the stress involved in these tests. Ridiculous. Parents, you should sue!

And then also there's the preposterous idea that the tests students are taking actually represent what they are capable of. We have those data, sure, but what other data might we also be collecting to help us understand how our students are doing?

And don't get me started on notions of "highly qualified" teachers that take into account ONLY the content the teachers have and not their actual ability to develop a classroom community, organize and carry out instruction, interact with other humans, etc.

Anyway, if you have a minute, go and read the overview of Jim Cummins' talk. That is an enlightened man.

Writing Project notes

The weekend beginning Friday, July 13th (and no, there was no bad luck associated with it) began this summer's invitational with the Wyoming Writing Project. I'm one of 12 "fellows" and -- along with several staff members -- we spent the initial weekend at the lovely Elk Mountain Hotel. The fellows are mostly teachers, with me (teacher educator), a school librarian, and a couple of principals. All education folks, anyway. We spent all day last Wednesday through Friday writing, brainstorming, and taking a field trip to Rock Springs. Why Rock Spring? you may be asking.

The culminating project of this year's Wyoming Writing Project will be writing, producing, and performing a play based on the massacre of @30 Chinese miners in Rock Springs in September of 1885. So we had a little tour of Rock Springs, so that we could more clearly envision the events and the places of the massacre.

If you'd like a little more information, here's a Wikipedia entry to get you started.

We also had to develop an essential question . . . I decided to focus on this one: "How does knowledge work?" which will allow me to do some personal and professional research related to knowledge transfer between differing types of settings.

I have a feeling that, over the course of the project (still 2 more weeks to run) we'll all get to know each other really well. I'm happy that so far no one has emerged as a complete wack job, and everyone is getting along fairly well. Perhaps we are still in a honeymoon phase . . .

I am most excited about being pushed to write. I don't take enough time to write for myself; instead, I'm constantly doing professional forms of writing, which are fulfilling, certainly, but lack a certain intimacy that I would like to have in my writing. So far I've done a scad of journaling, written a few poems, and begun reading on high-road and low-road transfer. I think that this experience will also be helpful in terms of my classes next fall; I'm hoping that I can transfer some of the community-building experiences and build teaching patterns for transfer into my classes.

Finals Week

Well, sort of. I have basically this week to finish my syllabi for fall courses, write and prepare materials to send to outside reviewers, and write my program report for accreditation. Why so much in just one week? Well, because starting Friday I'll be a "fellow" in the Wyoming Writing Project and when that finishes we'll be heading out east to hike about 100 miles on the AT in Maine. When we come back from that (much slimmer, I hope!), I'll have 4 days before the meetings and other crap begin that signal the onset of the fall semester.

So, I'll be working my ass off this week -- no slacking!

Day Hike

Yesterday's day hike down French Creek Canyon in the Snowy Range was delightful! The trail begins on the ridge of a steep canyon (the French Creek Canyon, don't ya know) and then follows that ridge down into a beautiful meadow. Going out is mostly downhill, which means that going back is mostly uphill. It was a great hike, a good workout, with lots of beautiful sights.

The trail follows French Creek down its canyon, which means our hike was accompanied by the sounds of rushing water and opportunities to soak our feet. . .

. . . and now that I'm a nerdy geology buff, I noticed some interesting rock formations that I still know nothing about. One day, however, I will understand these . . .