Since that time, it's a mixed bag. Some posts are readable by anyone, some are "Friends Only".
Readers are welcome. If you would like to be added to my "Friends List" (what a poorly named feature!), leave a comment here.
- 20:22 Writing an angry customer service letter. Mom would be so proud. :-) #
- 06:34 Cockermouth is flooded! news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8366360.stm #
- 07:59 @typsie Oh mais, oui. #
- 17:51 Feeling all kinds of grumpy, and rethinking my evening accordingly. :-/ #
- 10:33 My vet is talking to me about medical marijuana for my cat. #boggle #
- 11:38 @Prynne I'm a long-term Mac geek. Lemme know if I can help. #
- 12:15 Lunch at Green Dragon. If you're free, come join me! #
- 16:04 Epic studying paid off. It's entirely possible I aced that Linear Algebra midterm. Boo-yah! #
- 20:57 For our friends in Texas. bit.ly/3oxSPd See also bit.ly/v7Q7Z #
- 18:06 LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Dr. Albert Hofmann in Switzerland. Happy Birthday, LSD! #
- 09:12 @mmmmbobo Ya gotta peel/seed them underwater. #
- 14:03 @Lonnerz My body is saying that too, but in a stupidly happy way. :-) #
- 16:23 Hey, the Made in Oregon / White Stag sign is finally lit! Yay! No red reindeer nose yet, tho. #
- 20:12 Friends, bourbon and an open fire. There's nothing to not like about that. #
- 13:09 I was a fan of Storm Large back when her vagina was only one mile wide. #stormlarge #
- 09:14 I officially own a house! Before I'm completely gray, too. Feels good. :-) #
- 13:55 @Dubberz Yeah, it feels good, especially considering my job-free state. #
- 12:09 @neversun Yeah, I'm also pissed off about Columbia Sportswears' involvement in the recall effort. #samismymayor #
- 15:52 Productive day is productive. And not productive like a cough (for a change). Chores, lunch with friend, homework, more homework, housework. #
- 09:14 @glowbird I know you're all about the amateur boxing, so I had to share this with you. bit.ly/167oQN #
- 13:28 Crazy flooding in downtown PDX. Today's weather is brought to you by the movies "The Deep" and "A River Runs Through It". #pdxtst #
One aspect of that is power. There is already such a charged power dynamic between teachers and students. The teacher has all the knowledge, sets all the rules, measures and judges the students. Add to that the additional authority of age that a teacher (usually) has over a student. It's a wonder more teachers don't get a little heady from the position.
But it's a dynamic I'm largely immune to now. For starters, I'm older than a fair number of these teachers. I've had the luxury of being treated like an adult for a great number of years, and I'm not yielding that simply by walking into a classroom. And I've had the great fortune to work with some extraordinarily smart individuals.The intellectual prowess of a grad student teaching Calculus 1 does not, all by itself, set me aquiver. I'm respectful of the position, and hugely appreciative of someone who is really good at it. But I'm definitely not cowed by it.
Another significance difference involves money. Seemingly all my memories of being in school the first time involve money. I remember calculating if I could delay buying a textbook until the following week, so i would have money to buy food for the weekend. There were a couple of years where I had to alternate going to school a term, then working a term, trying to make ends meet. It is a completely different experience to be able to go to school without issues like that hanging over your head.
The last big change I've noticed involves the internet. When I first went to school, registering for classes involved huge lines in massive ballrooms, endless waiting and incredible frustration. Today, it's all done on-line with barely any effort at all. Requesting transcripts can be done online. Getting a report on your progress towards degree requirements is done online. Heck, I'm amazed I can email my instructors and get answers to challenging homework problems.
This is all a long-winded way of saying that I'm really enjoying the school experience. So far. Let's hope the enthusiasm holds out for a couple of years. :-)
- Music:Old - Paul Simon
- 15:02 @glowbird No costume? I think you're confusing Wonder Woman with Lady Godiva. #
- 20:14 I used a neti pot for the first time. Interesting. Less like waterboarding than I imagined. #
Over the last several classes, the professor has been getting increasingly cranky over the lack of classroom participation. Usually he'll leave a question hanging in the air, and either I'll answer it or there will be an awkward silence for several seconds before someone kinda sorta mumbles something from the back of the room. Increasingly, I've been trying to shut up in the hopes that it will prompt more people to speak up. Mostly, that hasn't helped. And so, the prof is getting worked up about that.
Add to that, the guy just isn't a very good teacher. He knows the material backwards and forwards, but he doesn't have a grasp of how to present the material to someone who might be seeing it for the very first time. If I hadn't seen this all in high school, I can only imagine how lost and confused I would be. For instance, the prof seems to think it's useful to back up a new rule or concept by actually performing the proof for it in front of the entire class. Despite the fact that the proofs can be pretty gnarly, well above the head of 2/3rds of the class, and it's not the sort of things he would hold us responsible for in homework or on a test. It's kind of like trying to teach someone how to drive by showing them how the carburetor is assembled.
So Friday, he's at the whiteboard in the middle of one of these proofs. It's filled the entire whiteboard, half the class is glazed over, and he's still going at it, working on this series of one limit plus another limit plus a third limit. On one of the limits he factors something out of it and asks over his shoulder, "And when we pull that out of the limit, what are we left with?" From across the room, a tentative voice says, "Umm, it's undefined?"
He spins on his heel and with a raised voice says, "What?! No! What's left is the definition of a derivative! C'mon!"
And I snapped.
Right there, in front of the class, I cut him off with a sharp tone.
"Look. Just stop it. That's unnecessary. Take a deep breath."
"Yes, I understand the thing you're pointing at is the definition of a derivative. But her answer wasn't crazy. Yeah, if you just looked at that limit, it looks like it would be undefined. That's a reasonable guess at the answer.
If you want people to participate in this classroom, shouting at them for a wrong answer is a really bad strategy."
"So back off, calm down, and try again."
For a couple of tense seconds, the only sound was the muted traffic outside.
He stammered out an awkward apology, and repeated it at the end of class. I think he knew he had been busted big time. I only hope he thinks about how he got in that state, and how to avoid it in the future.
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:Too Cool For School - Fountains of Wayne
- 07:38 Delighted to have found mp3 of Groucho singing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Who is that chiming in on the la la las? Bing Crosby, of course. #
- 15:10 Finally snapped. Laid the smack down on a prof, in front of entire class. -gulp- Maybe I'm running a fever afterall. #
- 16:29 @fool Have we been hanging around enough that our menses are in sync? :-) #
- 19:33 @typsie Pops, JC and Smoky Joe. #
- 08:46 Facing a CS exam, fortified with a cocktail of DayQuil and four kinds of vitamins. #plague #
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