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Fantasy » alt.fan.pratchett » [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post
[I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287554] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 07:08
Stacie Hanes  
Okay . . .this is the real me, for any who wonder. Or a big aspect of the
real me....


I got home a little while ago from the first class of the semester. I'm only
teaching, no classes to take anymore. Yesterday I was a little tense,
because I hadn't prepped at all, not really. I still had to do up a
syllabus, and wasn't sure it meant a tweak here and there, or massive
revision. It turned out to be a tweak barely worth the name. But, some
classes don't spark, and it's always a little bit of a worry, before you get
into the room.

But it can't be too bad; I've done it before and really enjoy it. So, I try
to relax.

The building is empty when I get there. For perspective, the class is
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 pm to 9:30 pm. So, I go to my office and then
wander around a little, looking at stuff posted on the walls, and then a few
minutes before, I wait outside the classroom on a bench. I like to observe
before they know who I am. After a few students had arrived, I went in and
sat in a corner front desk and read a novel for a few minutes, without
saying anything. Then at 7, I got up and walked to the front of the room and
started talking.

Went through the usual stuff about getting the book, and told them to read
the first chapter. I'm using "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Research
Methods." It's *very* useful, just great for the class.

On the first night of this particular course, I always talk about finding a
subject you can be fascinated by for two months. So, I start with someone,
and begin asking about their major, and their hobbies, interrupting when I
see some sign of genuine enthusiasm. Then I enage the student in
conversation about the general field of interest, until a vague direction
emerges. Then I move on to the next student, and so on. If something comes
up that seems to call for comment, I might throw it to the class: "and how
could we turn that into a paper?" One guy was a computer science major, so I
asked him whether he was PC or Mac; it turns out that he has a PC, but is
shopping for a Mac--he's in transition. So, I start talking about how I'm a
PC user, but also a digital photography enthusiast, and have heard how much
better Macs are for graphics. And then I turn to another student and say,
"do you see how he could research this?" The student replied, "which is
better, PC or Mac?" I laughed and said, "ahh, that's not an 8-page paper.
That's a cage match. Shelves and shelves of material, plus 'what does
"better" mean'?" Then to the original student, to say "Am I right? Even
about operating systems--people get vicious in support of their favorite."
And now that student is really IN my class, nodding and smiling.

There's a laugh or a joke every few minutes; my classroom style is a lot
like my writing style here--without the innuendo, though. But there's always
something funny, and tonight they laughed in all the right places. I talked
for an hour.

I ran out of steam for lecturing, so I said that me might get up and go to
the library. It's a nice walk across campus, and it's the very first step of
applied research. Someone mentioned she thought it closed at 7 in the
summer, and I said "well, we will find out, yes? We are researchers now."
And off we went. I kept talking as we walked; when the library building came
into view, I told them "there is our first result--the library is still
there. When we get there, we will find out whether it is open or closed."
When we got closer to the doors, I pointed out the lights inside and the
presence of students just outside, and noted that either it was open, or had
just closed. One student remarked that it looked open. "Yes...and that is a
conclusion you've drawn from research."

We went in, and I gathered them into a tight circle and quietly instructed
them to seek out a source in their area of research. We went to the computer
area, and they set to work. One by one, they found journals, books, and
other sources, and cmae to me to be excused. I helped the students who had
minor glitches, approving sources or giving advice about keywords.

Suddenly, an hour has passed, and a couple of students are either talking to
me or still working, but doing well. So I excuse them, look for stragglers,
and deal with the one who came in late and missed most of my lecture. After
about 20 minutes, we've got him all sorted out with a topic and some
confidence. He walks me to my car as we continue to talk about his paper. I
tell him he'll do fine, relax, and go home.

I get into my car and leave campus.

It's amazing--I was completely energized. That always happens. I've spent a
couple of hours in stimulating conversation. I can almost feel an electric
charge on my skin. I want to run through the jungle and roar and leave claw
marks on trees. It seems like people should be able to see a glow, there's
that much energy. It's not like a waltz, it's more like a mosh pit. So much
energy and no where to put it....

But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end of the day
feeling like the work was more fun than a trip to an amusement park. I love
it. I'm bouncing on the balls of my feet and thinking, "they PAY me for
this!"

Oh,, and it WORKS, it SO works.... Last semester, except for one student who
didn't give me a final paper, I don't think I gave out less than an A-. But
the reason was that what we'd all done, as a team, over the course of the
semester, resulted in a big stack of really fine papers. They did good work,
and I feel like I could stand in my Dean's office and defend every one of
those grades. Around midterm, I stopped pretending to care about attendance.
When I got their final drafts, marking took about two hours, because I had
read all of their papers at least half a dozen times, and talked to each
student 1-on-1 every single class session (everyone who attended, anyway).

It was beautiful--it was like there was no way for them to do bad work,
unless they did nothing at all. It's worked that way for four classes,
now,so I think it might be how learning works. At least for research papers.

I give them a task with almost no direction, and wait to see what mistakes
they make. Then I tell them how to fix the mistakes. It turned out to be a
lot more efficient than trying to cover every possible mistake up front, and
allows them to discover any number of right ways to do things.

I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher, all you
find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.

Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just a-fucking-mazing.

<whew>

I'll probably tidy this up and put it on my blog for my non-afp friends.
Thanks for reading. It's great to be able to share stuff like this.

--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students,
SadoMangoist, AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to
A. Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287587 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 11:09
Torak  
Anastasia wrote:
>
> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher, all you
> find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>
> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just a-fucking-mazing.

So.... you like teaching a bit, then?


Sounds like me and running security at my old school disco (3000 pupils,
plus friends, family and local gang gatecrashers...)
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287598 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 12:14
Graycat  
On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 05:08:21 GMT, "Anastasia"
<house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> jotted down:


>Oh,, and it WORKS, it SO works.... Last semester, except for one student who
>didn't give me a final paper, I don't think I gave out less than an A-. But
>the reason was that what we'd all done, as a team, over the course of the
>semester, resulted in a big stack of really fine papers. They did good work,
>and I feel like I could stand in my Dean's office and defend every one of
>those grades. Around midterm, I stopped pretending to care about attendance.
>When I got their final drafts, marking took about two hours, because I had
>read all of their papers at least half a dozen times, and talked to each
>student 1-on-1 every single class session (everyone who attended, anyway).

I wish we had teachers like that...

We barely get any guidance at all unless we force our
teachers at gunpoint...or that's how it feels anyway. When I
took history I think I had one feed-back session with my
teacher, and he didn't really say anything - they "don't
want to force your direction" so they don't do anything
beyond nod and go "hm, ok, well get on with it". So when you
present your paper, you have no idea if it's any good... And
my bf's teachers are worse...

I'm hoping the law faculty will be better, at least it's
more organized and a bit better funded I think.

Anyway, congratulations on finding your slot, that place
where you belong. Not everyone does.

--
Elin
The Tale of Westala and Villtin
http://tale.cunobaros.com/
The Oswalds DW casting award - Vote Now!
http://www.student.lu.se/~his02ero/Oswald/index.html
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush [message #287601 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 12:33
Orjan Westin  
Anastasia wrote:

<snip>

> But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end of the day
> feeling like the work was more fun than a trip to an amusement park.
> I love it. I'm bouncing on the balls of my feet and thinking, "they
> PAY me for this!"

I sooo envy you, you horrible, horrible person you!

I've been in that kind of situation before, at times, and with any luck
it'll happen again. But it's not very common.

> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher, all
> you find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.

"The teacher moves"?

I have found that I'm a natural teacher. Not as in naturally gifted,
but as in that being a mode of function that's always rather close to
the surface. It's therefore quite easy to set me off in lecture mode.
Some people here will have noticed that...

And I think I'm at least decent doing it, except for overusing the
conversation-space-hugging little interjections of the "well", "um",
"ah" variety. I can hold forth on pretty much any subject, and do so
with both information and humour (which, I'm afraid to say, often
includes very sad puns that only I can see (the one where I compared
using a two-handed spear to a pool cue at the swashbuckling talk at the
last con is a case in point - nobody laughed when I said "but with a
spear you don't have to hit the balls")).

Perhaps people are just polite, but it's generally well received. I
haven't been lynched yet, at least. I'm also rather decent at
explaining things, albeit with a tendency to start at a too basic level.

Teaching is actually something I like doing, and have done in the past
(at all levels from seven year olds to Bachelor level at university),
but...

Teacher jobs are not just about teaching. In Sweden at least (and for
younger kids) you are also supposed to be a stand-in parent. And I have
to say that of all the environments I've worked in, schools have the
most horrible politics and soap operas going.

Orjan
--
The Tale of Westala and Villtin
http://tale.cunobaros.com/
Fiction, Thoughts and Software
http://www.cunobaros.com/
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287605 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 12:54
Lister  
On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 05:08:21 GMT, "Anastasia"
<house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

>Okay . . .this is the real me, for any who wonder. Or a big aspect of the
>real me....
>
>
<big snip>
>
>Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just a-fucking-mazing.
>
><whew>
>
>I'll probably tidy this up and put it on my blog for my non-afp friends.
>Thanks for reading. It's great to be able to share stuff like this.


Good to know you're feeling great today Stacie. Tell me, where was
the post where you changed your name to Anastasia?
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush [message #287654 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 17:34
Daibhid Ceannaideach  
The time: 14 Jun 2006. The place: alt.fan.pratchett. The
speaker: "Orjan Westin" <nospam [at] cunobaros.com>

> Anastasia wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end
>> of the day feeling like the work was more fun than a trip
>> to an amusement park. I love it. I'm bouncing on the balls
>> of my feet and thinking, "they PAY me for this!"
>
> I sooo envy you, you horrible, horrible person you!
>
> I've been in that kind of situation before, at times, and
> with any luck it'll happen again. But it's not very
> common.

I have it a *bit* with my current work experience. Except that
I'm not getting paid for it.

(And I'm probably unique in having this reaction to swiping
books under a bar-code reader and putting them on shelves...)

> I have found that I'm a natural teacher. Not as in
> naturally gifted, but as in that being a mode of function
> that's always rather close to the surface. It's therefore
> quite easy to set me off in lecture mode. Some people here
> will have noticed that...
>
> And I think I'm at least decent doing it, except for
> overusing the conversation-space-hugging little
> interjections of the "well", "um", "ah" variety. I can
> hold forth on pretty much any subject, and do so with both
> information and humour (which, I'm afraid to say, often
> includes very sad puns that only I can see (the one where I
> compared using a two-handed spear to a pool cue at the
> swashbuckling talk at the last con is a case in point -
> nobody laughed when I said "but with a spear you don't have
> to hit the balls")).

IIRC (it was two years ago) I found it funny, but didn't
actually LOL. Sorry.

> Perhaps people are just polite, but it's generally well
> received. I haven't been lynched yet, at least. I'm also
> rather decent at explaining things, albeit with a tendency
> to start at a too basic level.

I've been complimented on my ability to explain things too,
although I usually start a level too high.

--
Dave
Official Absentee of EU Skiffeysoc
http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/societies/sesoc
Suggs against sexism. It's Madness gone
politically correct.
Jon Holmes, The Now Show 26/5/06
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287694 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 19:24
Rocky Frisco  
Anastasia wrote:

> But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end of the day
> feeling like the work was more fun than a trip to an amusement park. I love
> it. I'm bouncing on the balls of my feet and thinking, "they PAY me for
> this!"

I often leave work feeling much better than I did when I arrived, but
then, I'm a blues and rock pianist and they buy me drinks. ;)

-Rocky
--
O'Toole's Corollary: Murphy was an optimist.
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287699 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 19:45
exquisite witch peach  
Lister wrote:

> On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 05:08:21 GMT, "Anastasia"
> <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

>>I'll probably tidy this up and put it on my blog for my non-afp friends.
>>Thanks for reading. It's great to be able to share stuff like this.
>
>
>
> Good to know you're feeling great today Stacie. Tell me, where was
> the post where you changed your name to Anastasia?


A) see? Points in my favor. Even Lister, who missed the big
discussion, notes that it's Stacie. There is no hiding the stacieness
of you.

B) Stacie is at work but has asked me to note to all that she cleaned
up and revised the essay and has indeed posted it on her blog.

http://www.esmeraldus.blogspot.com/

if you want to know and don't already.
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287715 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 20:17
steelcat  
In article <9RMjg.12796$921.4344 [at] newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
"Anastasia" <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

>I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher, all you
>find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>
>Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just a-fucking-mazing.

Lucky you. I'm less enamoured with teaching. Of course it doesn't help
that:

1) mine is an undergraduate compulsory class - so many of the students
don't want to be there and just work to get a minimum pass,

2) a lecturer is in charge of the class - I'm classed as tutor [*] even
though I have the little sods, sorry, darlings in the labs for 10 times as
long as the lecturer has them, and I have to lecture them on how to turn
the theory of the lectures into practice, which is supposed to be the point
of the whole class,

3) the lecturer in charge changes every year - it's given to the newest
member of the lecturing staff to break them in with something they don't
have to spend a lot of time on,

4) each lecturer changes the class contents to suit themselves, so that the
class title is increasingly misnomeric,

5) I've just been parachuted into the second semester follow-up class to
which all of the above also applies, only more so, since that has
metamorphosed into a preparation class for the next year's honours research
classes even though,
a) most of the students aren't down to do honours so it's largely a waste
of their time, and
b) the class was changed 3 years ago to use a software package which is
woefully inadequate for the kind of research work the honours students have
to do, just because the lecturer of the moment didn't know how to use the
more useful package.

On the plus side, I'll have a chance to get to know the students better now
I have them for two classes which should help, and I'm waiting to hear
whether I'll get permission to rewrite the course book for the coming year
which would let me personalize my teaching style a bit.

Still, if you - or any other academics - have any tips about how to enjoy
the teaching a bit more, I'm all ears... eyes... whatever.

[*] And although I'm a tutor, I'm not on the academic pay scale, which
means that I don't get any of the nice big payrise that UK lecturers have
just got themselves by means of a strike. Spare 50p for a cuppa, guv?

Cat.
--
Jazz-Loving Soul Mate and Tolerable Frog to CCA
"The patient was cynical and his pupils were dilapidated."
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287741 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 21:34
Blake  
Anastasia wrote:

<snip>
> It's amazing--I was completely energized. That always happens. I've spent a
> couple of hours in stimulating conversation. I can almost feel an electric
> charge on my skin. I want to run through the jungle and roar and leave claw
> marks on trees. It seems like people should be able to see a glow, there's
> that much energy. It's not like a waltz, it's more like a mosh pit. So much
> energy and no where to put it....
>
> But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end of the day
> feeling like the work was more fun than a trip to an amusement park. I love
> it. I'm bouncing on the balls of my feet and thinking, "they PAY me for
> this!"
>
<snip>
> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher, all you
> find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>
> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just a-fucking-mazing.
>
> <whew>
A) Cool! congrats.
B) I'm still looking for a career that makes me feel like that. And
pays the bills. I don't mind what I do now, it's like play some times,
but it doesn't "turn my crank".
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287759 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 22:38
Stacie Hanes  
The Stainless Steel Cat wrote:
> In article <9RMjg.12796$921.4344 [at] newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
> "Anastasia" <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher,
>> all you find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>>
>> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just
>> a-fucking-mazing.
>
> Lucky you. I'm less enamoured with teaching. Of course it doesn't
> help that:
>
> 1) mine is an undergraduate compulsory class - so many of the
> students don't want to be there and just work to get a minimum pass,

So is mine. It is the second in the required writing series. I sometimes
also teach the first in the series.

> On the plus side, I'll have a chance to get to know the students
> better now I have them for two classes which should help, and I'm
> waiting to hear whether I'll get permission to rewrite the course
> book for the coming year which would let me personalize my teaching
> style a bit.

That will help tremendously.

> Still, if you - or any other academics - have any tips about how to
> enjoy the teaching a bit more, I'm all ears... eyes... whatever.

Well, it's sort of . . . I let go of my plan and just gave individuals what
they needed on any given day. IF we didn't need to cover it, I didn't cover
it. Maximum flexibility, minimal structure. Livlier, more interesting, and
ultimately about a Brazilian[1] times more useful.


[1] Peachy told me a funny joke....

--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287760 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 22:39
Stacie Hanes  
Blake wrote:
> Anastasia wrote:
<snip>
>> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just
>> a-fucking-mazing. <whew>
> A) Cool! congrats.
> B) I'm still looking for a career that makes me feel like that. And pays
> the bills. I don't mind what I do now, it's like play
> some times, but it doesn't "turn my crank".

At the moment this does NOT pay the bills, it sort of waves at them.
However, it is supposed to eventually pay bills.

--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush [message #287761 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 22:41
Stacie Hanes  
Daibhid Ceanaideach wrote:
> The time: 14 Jun 2006. The place: alt.fan.pratchett. The
> speaker: "Orjan Westin" <nospam [at] cunobaros.com>

>> I'm also
>> rather decent at explaining things, albeit with a tendency
>> to start at a too basic level.
>
> I've been complimented on my ability to explain things too,
> although I usually start a level too high.

And the reason I do it for a living is because I start by asking :"what do
you already know?"

;-)
--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287767 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 22:44
Torak  
Rocky Frisco wrote:
> Anastasia wrote:
>
>> But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end of the day
>> feeling like the work was more fun than a trip to an amusement park. I
>> love it. I'm bouncing on the balls of my feet and thinking, "they PAY
>> me for this!"
>
> I often leave work feeling much better than I did when I arrived, but
> then, I'm a blues and rock pianist and they buy me drinks. ;)

Speaking as a jazz and funk drummer, amen to that. :-D













#
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush [message #287781 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 23:15
Stacie Hanes  
Orjan Westin wrote:
> Anastasia wrote:
>
> <snip>

>> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher,
>> all you find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>
> "The teacher moves"?

All over campus, sometimes. :-)

> I have found that I'm a natural teacher. Not as in naturally
> gifted, but as in that being a mode of function that's always
> rather close to the surface. It's therefore quite easy to set me
> off in lecture mode. Some people here will have noticed that...


Just ask Peachy about that . . . we spend a lot of time on MSN, and she's
met me in person. My "teacher mode" is very easy to trigger.

--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287809 ] Mi, 14 Juni 2006 23:39
Rocky Frisco  
Anastasia wrote:

> Well, it's sort of . . . I let go of my plan and just gave individuals what
> they needed on any given day. IF we didn't need to cover it, I didn't cover
> it. Maximum flexibility, minimal structure. Livlier, more interesting, and
> ultimately about a Brazilian[1] times more useful.
>
>
> [1] Peachy told me a funny joke..

If it has our moron in chief in it, I've heard it too.

-Rocky
--
O'Toole's Corollary: Murphy was an optimist.
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287877 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 03:20
Count Louis  
Anastasia wrote:

<snip>

> It's amazing--I was completely energized. That always happens. I've spent a
> couple of hours in stimulating conversation. I can almost feel an electric
> charge on my skin. I want to run through the jungle and roar and leave claw
> marks on trees. It seems like people should be able to see a glow, there's
> that much energy. It's not like a waltz, it's more like a mosh pit. So much
> energy and no where to put it....
>
> But it's incredible to go to your job and leave at the end of the day
> feeling like the work was more fun than a trip to an amusement park. I love
> it. I'm bouncing on the balls of my feet and thinking, "they PAY me for
> this!"

Wow... sounds like you're really into what you do! There's nothing
worse than a passionless teacher... Even one that knows the coursework
forwards, backwards, sideways and quaquaversally. I'm doing my Bachelor
of Education (started this year), and even though I've only done a
couple of weeks of work experience, I can understand exactly what you
mean. It's the teacher's job to inspire kids (as they are in my case...
I've got grade five and sixes - primary kids) to learn, but more often
they end up inspiring me more than I would have thought possible.
There's a huge rush at the end of the day, thinking that you were
involved in their lives, and helped them to be better at something...
and you learn from them as well.

For the musicians, it's like playing a really awesome gig with so much
energy it sent you bouncing off the walls and singing all the way home.
I do both, and the rush is pretty much the same. I guess it's the same
as anything you love.

> Oh,, and it WORKS, it SO works.... Last semester, except for one student who
> didn't give me a final paper, I don't think I gave out less than an A-. But
> the reason was that what we'd all done, as a team, over the course of the
> semester, resulted in a big stack of really fine papers. They did good work,
> and I feel like I could stand in my Dean's office and defend every one of
> those grades.

*bookmarks Stacie's teaching style for further reference...*

> It was beautiful--it was like there was no way for them to do bad work,
> unless they did nothing at all. It's worked that way for four classes,
> now,so I think it might be how learning works. At least for research papers.

OH! THE HOLY GRAIL OF TEACHING - HOW LEARNING WORKS!

Yessssss! Forget attending lectures, I know how this course ends, lol.

> I give them a task with almost no direction, and wait to see what mistakes
> they make. Then I tell them how to fix the mistakes. It turned out to be a
> lot more efficient than trying to cover every possible mistake up front, and
> allows them to discover any number of right ways to do things.

This is what our lecturers do to us... the whole vague task thing.
Except there's 150 of us, and none of the lecturers really feel like
giving us any tips on fixing our mistakes. They call it 'productive
confusion'... forcing us to find our own way to research/report/present
our work... most of us just call it 'confusion'.

> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher, all you
> find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.

Natural teachers are awesome. And you can always tell when someone is
born a teacher, and when they're not... it's that spark that the
natural ones have that makes the difference... those who did Dip/B.
Ed's because it was all they could think of to do just don't have it...
and they tend not to make effective teachers. It's the sort of job you
REALLY have to love to be any good at it.

> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just a-fucking-mazing.

Glad you feel that way! One day... I hope to be as good a teacher as
you seem to be. ^__^

~ Louis
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287880 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 03:59
Stacie Hanes  
Count Louis wrote:
> Anastasia wrote:
> <snip>

>> I give them a task with almost no direction, and wait to see what
>> mistakes they make. Then I tell them how to fix the mistakes. It
>> turned out to be a lot more efficient than trying to cover every
>> possible mistake up front, and allows them to discover any number
>> of right ways to do things.
>
> This is what our lecturers do to us... the whole vague task thing.
> Except there's 150 of us, and none of the lecturers really feel like
> giving us any tips on fixing our mistakes. They call it 'productive
> confusion'... forcing us to find our own way to
> research/report/present our work... most of us just call it
> 'confusion'.
>

I learned a new buzzword! Yay!

--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287881 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 04:11
Count Louis  
Anastasia wrote:
> Count Louis wrote:
> > Anastasia wrote:
> > <snip>
>
> >> I give them a task with almost no direction, and wait to see what
> >> mistakes they make. Then I tell them how to fix the mistakes. It
> >> turned out to be a lot more efficient than trying to cover every
> >> possible mistake up front, and allows them to discover any number
> >> of right ways to do things.
> >
> > This is what our lecturers do to us... the whole vague task thing.
> > Except there's 150 of us, and none of the lecturers really feel like
> > giving us any tips on fixing our mistakes. They call it 'productive
> > confusion'... forcing us to find our own way to
> > research/report/present our work... most of us just call it
> > 'confusion'.
> >
>
> I learned a new buzzword! Yay!
>

So long as you use that knowledge for good, and not evil...

~ C.L.
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287884 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 04:16
Stacie Hanes  
Count Louis wrote:
> Anastasia wrote:
>> Count Louis wrote:

>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> This is what our lecturers do to us... the whole vague task thing.
>>> Except there's 150 of us, and none of the lecturers really feel
>>> like giving us any tips on fixing our mistakes. They call it
>>> 'productive confusion'... forcing us to find our own way to
>>> research/report/present our work... most of us just call it
>>> 'confusion'.
>>>
>>
>> I learned a new buzzword! Yay!
>>
>
> So long as you use that knowledge for good, and not evil...

I'll . . . try.

If you're into teaching, I often put stuff on my blog that would be out of
place here. Teaching and academic stuff of various kinds.

Also pictures! :-D

esmeraldus.blogspot.com

--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287907 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 07:09
steelcat  
In article <7t_jg.5771$lf4.2216 [at] newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
"Anastasia" <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

>The Stainless Steel Cat wrote:
>> In article <9RMjg.12796$921.4344 [at] newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
>> "Anastasia" <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher,
>>> all you find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>>>
>>> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just
>>> a-fucking-mazing.
>>
>> Lucky you. I'm less enamoured with teaching. Of course it doesn't
>> help that:
>>
>> 1) mine is an undergraduate compulsory class - so many of the
>> students don't want to be there and just work to get a minimum pass,
>
>So is mine. It is the second in the required writing series. I sometimes
>also teach the first in the series.

And you can still inspire a positive reaction from them all?

[Digs seldom-worn Panama out out wardrobe]
[Puts Panama on]
[Doffs Panama]

You're my hero. One day I hope to be like you.

Well, not blonde... and with perhaps not quite so much leather... but with
the teaching, definitely.

Cat. ;o)
--
Jazz-Loving Soul Mate and Tolerable Frog to CCA
"This is what I do darlin'... this is what I do."
Malcolm Reynolds - Serenity
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287921 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 09:26
Blake  
Anastasia wrote:

> Blake wrote:
>
>>Anastasia wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>>Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just
>>>a-fucking-mazing. <whew>
>>
>>A) Cool! congrats.
>>B) I'm still looking for a career that makes me feel like that. And pays
>>the bills. I don't mind what I do now, it's like play
>>some times, but it doesn't "turn my crank".
>
>
> At the moment this does NOT pay the bills, it sort of waves at them.
> However, it is supposed to eventually pay bills.
>
My first wife had a book. The title was: 'Do What You Love, The Money
Will Follow' or something very much like that. I think it might be a
good read.

If you're loving what you do, keep doing it as long as you can. I've
begun planning to retire into a 'dream career'. I'm not sure I'll wait
until I'm 'retirement age'.
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287948 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 11:33
geminii  
On 14 Jun 2006 18:20:07 -0700, "Count Louis" <count.louis [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

>Wow... sounds like you're really into what you do! There's nothing
>worse than a passionless teacher... Even one that knows the coursework
>forwards, backwards, sideways and quaquaversally.

Yup. I can remember only two of my highschool teachers, because of the
passion they brought to the subject. My English Lit teacher, who fizzed in
the kind of half-crackers way Robin Williams tried to capture in Dead
Poets Society, and my math teacher, a quiet little Asian lady who was
inspiring and implacable all at once, and who took the time to explain to
me why my little math party tricks worked.


>It's the sort of job you REALLY have to love to be any good at it.

Given the salaries of most teachers, I'd have to agree.


-SteveD
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287959 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 12:36
Count Louis  
geminii [at] tpg.com.au wrote:
> On 14 Jun 2006 18:20:07 -0700, "Count Louis" <count.louis [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Wow... sounds like you're really into what you do! There's nothing
> >worse than a passionless teacher... Even one that knows the coursework
> >forwards, backwards, sideways and quaquaversally.
>
> Yup. I can remember only two of my highschool teachers, because of the
> passion they brought to the subject. My English Lit teacher, who fizzed in
> the kind of half-crackers way Robin Williams tried to capture in Dead
> Poets Society, and my math teacher, a quiet little Asian lady who was
> inspiring and implacable all at once, and who took the time to explain to
> me why my little math party tricks worked.
>
>
> >It's the sort of job you REALLY have to love to be any good at it.
>
> Given the salaries of most teachers, I'd have to agree.
>

Sad but true.

It has recently occurred to me just what a horrible thing the English
language is to learn. How anyone manages to learn to read and write is
absolutely amazing, and every teacher in an English speaking country
(and those that do it as second languages) deserves a medal just for
that!
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287960 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 12:38
Graycat  
On 15 Jun 2006 03:36:18 -0700, "Count Louis"
<count.louis [at] gmail.com> jotted down:


>It has recently occurred to me just what a horrible thing the English
>language is to learn. How anyone manages to learn to read and write is
>absolutely amazing, and every teacher in an English speaking country
>(and those that do it as second languages) deserves a medal just for
>that!

Dunno about that. I always found English very easy to learn,
not like French for example. I'm not going to pretend I know
all the rules and whatnot, but then, I don't need to.

--
Elin
The Tale of Westala and Villtin
http://tale.cunobaros.com/
The Oswalds DW casting award - Vote Now!
http://www.student.lu.se/~his02ero/Oswald/index.html
Re: [I] WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #287998 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 16:13
Stacie Hanes  
The Stainless Steel Cat wrote:
> In article <7t_jg.5771$lf4.2216 [at] newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
> "Anastasia" <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> The Stainless Steel Cat wrote:
>>> In article
>>> <9RMjg.12796$921.4344 [at] newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
>>> "Anastasia" <house_damodred [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I just love teaching. If you scratch the surface of this teacher,
>>>> all you find underneath is teacher. It's turtles all the way.
>>>>
>>>> Right now I feel like I could do anything. It's just
>>>> a-fucking-mazing.
>>>
>>> Lucky you. I'm less enamoured with teaching. Of course it doesn't
>>> help that:
>>>
>>> 1) mine is an undergraduate compulsory class - so many of the
>>> students don't want to be there and just work to get a minimum
>>> pass,
>>
>> So is mine. It is the second in the required writing series. I
>> sometimes also teach the first in the series.
>
> And you can still inspire a positive reaction from them all?
>

Not all, but I'm very popular. When I teach Comp One, there's always a
waiting list to get into Comp Two if I'm teaching it.



--
4th swordswoman of the afpocalypse, AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons,
Bondage-happy predator, Speaker-To-Students, SadoMangoist,
AFPMistress to peachy, 8'FED's AFPDeliciousSnack, AFPFiance to A.
Nevill , Graycat's Guttersnipe
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #288054 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 20:11
Daibhid Ceannaideach  
> On 14 Jun 2006 18:20:07 -0700, "Count Louis"
> <count.louis [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Wow... sounds like you're really into what you do! There's
>>nothing worse than a passionless teacher... Even one that
>>knows the coursework forwards, backwards, sideways and
>>quaquaversally.
>
> Yup. I can remember only two of my highschool teachers,
> because of the passion they brought to the subject. My
> English Lit teacher, who fizzed in the kind of
> half-crackers way Robin Williams tried to capture in Dead
> Poets Society, and my math teacher, a quiet little Asian
> lady who was inspiring and implacable all at once, and who
> took the time to explain to me why my little math party
> tricks worked.

The teacher I remember best from when I was at ordinary
secondary school was the Technical Drawing teacher. It was the
only subject I wasn't any good at that I actually enjoyed
*anyway*.

--
Dave
Official Absentee of EU Skiffeysoc
http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/societies/sesoc
Suggs against sexism. It's Madness gone
politically correct.
Jon Holmes, The Now Show 26/5/06
Re: WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #288073 ] Do, 15 Juni 2006 20:51
CeltiKaos  
On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 01:59:29 +0000, Anastasia wrote:

> I learned a new buzzword! Yay!

I referred to my job (callcentre senior tech support) as "active boredom",
mainly since my job title was changed to "Senior Tech" resulting in a
deluge of calls from people complaining about credit card bills they
hadn't bothered to check for months, then demanding a refund for a service
we *had* provided, but they hadn't bothered using:

Me: We provided email, internet connection, webspace, and usenet services
for you. Also Technical Support available 7 days a week. Asking for as
refund is akin to telling the RAC you want your subscription back because
you haven't broken down this year.[1]
Cmr: I want my money back
Me: *mic muted* Which bit of 'no' don't you understand?

After 6.5 years in the job I left due to stress. 16500 customers in 6.5
years is liable to do that to you.

Kind regards,

Julian

[1] Paraphrased depending on how arrogant the customer was.
Re: [I] English was WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #288631 ] Sa, 17 Juni 2006 02:24
raltbos  
"Count Louis" <count.louis [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> Sad but true.
>
> It has recently occurred to me just what a horrible thing the English
> language is to learn. How anyone manages to learn to read and write is
> absolutely amazing, and every teacher in an English speaking country
> (and those that do it as second languages) deserves a medal just for
> that!

On the contrary, I found the English language the easiest foreign
language to learn. This is in part due to the large amount of
interesting practice material, but also because English is, despite
proud claims of its native speakers, _not_ the hardest language in the
world.
English' weakness, its unordered grammar, is also its strength. German,
for example, has a much more strict grammar, with many more
requirements. This means that it is almost always clear what is correct
German in a certain situation - but it also means that you have to get
it right. English is much less fixed, giving the speaker a great deal
less structure to hold onto, but also correspondingly more leeway to
play fast and loose with the sentence and still be grammatical.

Richard
Re: [I] English was WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #288676 ] Sa, 17 Juni 2006 07:16
David Sewell  
On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 01:24:26 +0000, Richard Bos wrote:

> On the contrary, I found the English language the easiest foreign
> language to learn. This is in part due to the large amount of
> interesting practice material, but also because English is, despite
> proud claims of its native speakers, _not_ the hardest language in the
> world.

Of course another reason why you found English the easiest foreign
language to learn would be that your native language is Dutch (correct me
if I'm wrong). There's pretty solid evidence that the closer two
languages are in fundamental linguistic type, the easier it is for a
speaker of one to learn the other. Nicholas Ostler has a recent book
called "Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World" in which he
argues that linguistic kinship plays a much more important role than most
people think in the spread of languages (for example, why Latin spread
over an area whose inhabitants spoke Indo-European languages, but did not
significantly penetrate the Near East, despite Roman politica/military
conquest; or why Arabic easily replaced other Semitic languages but didn't
displace Farsi and related languages in Persia even after it became
Muslim).

All I know is that the one time I visited the Netherlands, for a
conference, I didn't want to be an ignorant tourist, so I spent a month
trying to learn some Dutch using tapes and books, and actually assimilated
enough that I managed a few basic exchanges and even a longish
conversation to ask directions. No way I could have done the same in China
or Korea, say.

(More recently I tried the same thing before another business trip to
Sweden and had a harder time, but Swedish is a more distant cousin
of English. [And yes, I did actually run into one person in Sweden
who didn't speak any English, so the bit I had was useful.])

DS
--
David Sewell, University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA USA
Re: [I] English was WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #288802 ] Sa, 17 Juni 2006 21:14
raltbos  
David Sewell <dsewell [at] virginia.edu> wrote:

> On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 01:24:26 +0000, Richard Bos wrote:
>
> > On the contrary, I found the English language the easiest foreign
> > language to learn. This is in part due to the large amount of
> > interesting practice material, but also because English is, despite
> > proud claims of its native speakers, _not_ the hardest language in the
> > world.
>
> Of course another reason why you found English the easiest foreign
> language to learn would be that your native language is Dutch (correct me
> if I'm wrong). There's pretty solid evidence that the closer two
> languages are in fundamental linguistic type, the easier it is for a
> speaker of one to learn the other.

Of course. But I still found English easier than German.

Richard
Re: [I] English was WOW, what a total rush---very long post [message #289206 ] So, 18 Juni 2006 22:11
Hendrik Schober  
Richard Bos <raltbos [at] xs4all.nl> wrote:
> David Sewell <dsewell [at] virginia.edu> wrote:
> [...]
> > Of course another reason why you found English the easiest foreign
> > language to learn would be that your native language is Dutch (correct me
> > if I'm wrong). There's pretty solid evidence that the closer two
> > languages are in fundamental linguistic type, the easier it is for a
> > speaker of one to learn the other.
>
> Of course. But I still found English easier than German.

So did I. :o>

Schobi

--
SpamTrap [at] gmx.de is never read
I'm Schobi at suespammers dot org

"The sarcasm is mightier than the sword."
Eric Jarvis
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