Today the faucet in the rest room went insane. Recently we were given a new faucet with an electronic eye, so all we need to do is hold our hands under the spout, and water rushes forth over them. We’ve still been allowed temperature adjustment, but we no longer need to turn on the faucet. Unfortunately, sometimes the faucet’s eye refuses to acknowledge our existence, and we wait with our hands under the spout, soaped but dry. And sometimes the faucet responds to information of its own processing, turning on and off in rapid succession while we are across the room, in the toilet stall, coaxing paper towels from the grumpy holder.
In the scheme of the universe, one faucet is not significant. Maslow said that our base needs must be fulfilled before we can concentrate on self-actualization. Though most of us are caught in our base needs before we can progress to things like artistic creativity, some of us have the genius to transcend levels in his hierarchy. I remember the video of the Olympic runner, running up lengths of stairways that ended in rubble, turning through the maze of buildings, training the streets of his war-wrecked city, as bombs exploded nearby.
After a semi-successful encounter with the paper towel dispenser, I closed the door on the insane faucet and went back to my office, to snitch to Operations about it.
“We’re getting a multi-video system in 202,” my office mate said hopefully, as I put down the phone.
“I’d rather have working restrooms,” I countered.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Mole Day
October 23
John was printing out Mole Day jokes on the printer when I stood there, waiting for the much more prosaic printout of Tony's grades for Tony's coach. When he saw me noticing the cute mole on one of his pages, John said, "Don't you know what Mole Day is?"In my English ignorance, I admitted I did not. John smiled. “6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power is the basic unit of weight in chemistry: a mole. All over the world, chemists celebrate Mole Day.”He warmed the instructor office with his smile. “This morning at 6:02, I went to the top of the Washington bridge, stopped my car, got out, drank a Moulson beer, facing east, got back in the car, and got out of there before the cops arrived. I keep inviting my students, but so far nobody’s joined me.”
“You’re probably better off not telling your students who are in the police science program,” I advised.
He turned, to head off class with his sheaf of Mole Day jokes.
Taking potential opportunity, I asked, "Can you explain particle physics to me?"He looked puzzled."Particles. Waves and particles," I said, making wave motions with the hand that was not holding Tony’s grade information. "I need it for a character in a story I am writing."
"I would take a lot more than one beer for me to explain that," he answered.
I think he realizes that explaining deep physics to English teachers is not the stuff of which successful science conversations are made. But it was very interesting, learning about Mole Day.
Note: Any identifying information has been changed in ensure John’s continued successful celebration of Mole Day.
John was printing out Mole Day jokes on the printer when I stood there, waiting for the much more prosaic printout of Tony's grades for Tony's coach. When he saw me noticing the cute mole on one of his pages, John said, "Don't you know what Mole Day is?"In my English ignorance, I admitted I did not. John smiled. “6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power is the basic unit of weight in chemistry: a mole. All over the world, chemists celebrate Mole Day.”He warmed the instructor office with his smile. “This morning at 6:02, I went to the top of the Washington bridge, stopped my car, got out, drank a Moulson beer, facing east, got back in the car, and got out of there before the cops arrived. I keep inviting my students, but so far nobody’s joined me.”
“You’re probably better off not telling your students who are in the police science program,” I advised.
He turned, to head off class with his sheaf of Mole Day jokes.
Taking potential opportunity, I asked, "Can you explain particle physics to me?"He looked puzzled."Particles. Waves and particles," I said, making wave motions with the hand that was not holding Tony’s grade information. "I need it for a character in a story I am writing."
"I would take a lot more than one beer for me to explain that," he answered.
I think he realizes that explaining deep physics to English teachers is not the stuff of which successful science conversations are made. But it was very interesting, learning about Mole Day.
Note: Any identifying information has been changed in ensure John’s continued successful celebration of Mole Day.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
You're setting my teeth on edge: Cliches
While we smile politely in response to clichéd communication, what’s in our mind?
Several phrases that take the place of “He Died” – he passed away, he has passed, he met his Almighty – the ones that gloss over what really happens when someone dies. I do happen to like, “He’s not coming down for breakfast today….” ~ courtesy Julie
For crying out loud
[Please cry softly so we can continue today’s grammar lesson.]
Several phrases that take the place of “He Died” – he passed away, he has passed, he met his Almighty – the ones that gloss over what really happens when someone dies. I do happen to like, “He’s not coming down for breakfast today….” ~ courtesy Julie
For crying out loud
[Please cry softly so we can continue today’s grammar lesson.]
Mistakes
Mistakes remind us how we have grown.
I used to make mistakes when I added up a column of numbers. Now, I can do addition just fine because the calculator does it for me. Now, there’s an accountant who is willing to wrestle with the 1040. The answer we give indicates where we are and how far we have moved past our struggles with 583 + 67 + 320 + 4299.
Mistakes act as literary semaphores.
When the characters in “McIntosh Willie” mistake “Eye, eye” for “Aye, aye” we’re reminded of the boys’ guilt and the bottlecaps that were placed over the corpse of vagrant Willie’s eyes.
Othello is a catalog of hasty and mistaken conclusions engineered by malefic intent, leading to a tragic conclusion.
When the writer incorporates a mistake into the plot or dialog, we need to realize it’s a mistake and ask what that deliberate mistake does for the story. But we can’t recognize a mistake if we haven’t been paying attention to the plotline or our grammar.
Mistakes confuse communication.
"I need to go down this isle." reads the line in the essay.
The one in the Caribbean or the one in the South Pacific? Since the thermometer is hugging zero and there’s snow predicted, let me grab my bathing suit and join you. If English teachers had $5 for every aisle/isle/I’ll mistake, they’d be wintering in the tropics. If they had that $5 for every misuse of their/there/they’re, they would have no need to buy lottery tickets.
I know what you know what I know, what I have concluded.
Do I? Even if we’ve been friends for years, will my life experiences really reveal to me the processes of your mind based on your life experiences?
This detour is more damaging than changing the supermarket for palm fronds. If I know what you are thinking before you have even told me, I may tangle us up in a moral, political, or chemical debate because I know what’s in your mind. Scary.
Mistakes alert us.
It’s too easy to pass judgment on others, but when we see others refusing to learn by their mistakes, we might want to – not judge – but step aside. Consider our own involvement. Be alerted.
Instead of an automatic $5 for the there/their/they’re mistake, I could copyright a stamp clarifying the homophones, market it at conventions, and still have a winter Florida home. From whenever we first made the distinction, our students have had multiple opportunities to learn which “there” fits the situation. If they’re confused, that’s one thing. If they refuse to devote the brainpower to doing so, they’re telling us where their interests and values lie.
“My bad” is a contemporary cliché, a deliberate grammatical mistake, and possibly an indication that someone doesn’t want to take responsibility. Better to laugh it off instead.
Sure, we all hate being called on our gaffes and foibles, but regularly turning the mistake into a joke might be a warning sign: Is this person attempting to build a belief in her own invincibility; use the “poor me” technique; looking for a scapegoat?
What’s wrong with saying, “I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.” Nobody’s perfect. Maybe we need to worry about the people who can always find someone or something else to blame.
Mistakes are a “slow down” sign.
When the practice exercises and follow-up writings demonstrate that my class still can’t tell time or identify irony, I need to remember that they might not be developmentally ready to learn how to tell time, can’t distinguish gentler irony from the sledge hammer of sarcasm. Maybe I didn’t plan and teach the skill carefully enough. Maybe the students were more interested in the snow falling outside the classroom windows, anticipating recess when they could throw forbidden snowballs. Check feedback. Check Piaget and Gardner and Maslow. Reality check.
Mistakes keep us humble and remind us of our interconnectedness and human condition.
Most of us have winced when we looked in the mirror that hangs in our bathroom or is represented in our best friends’ eyes. We wince at what we’ve done, said, or thought. We messed up. Welcome to being human.
Sometimes we need to wince a few times before we internalize the lesson. But eventually one “next time” we’re tested, we remember what we saw in the mirror. Why? We decide we don’t want to hurt our friend’s feelings or betray our own principles. We change, not for our ego, but for our connectedness.
“We built it,” I say, “but there’s a lot of mistakes.” I’m showing her a project, yet telling my companion that I’m not bragging.
“We believe that there is nothing perfect,” she answers. “If I am beading a design, and it’s done exactly right, I will set one bead just a tiny bit out of where it is supposed to be. Nothing is perfect except the Creator.” I like her answer better than mine. We all need to accept that learning involves mistakes. The skills we have today, have grown from the mistakes and clumsy attempts we made in our learning.
Mistakes belong in our world. It’s what we do with them that tells our students, our friends, and ourselves who we are. If we could do everything perfectly the first time, we wouldn’t call it learning.
I used to make mistakes when I added up a column of numbers. Now, I can do addition just fine because the calculator does it for me. Now, there’s an accountant who is willing to wrestle with the 1040. The answer we give indicates where we are and how far we have moved past our struggles with 583 + 67 + 320 + 4299.
Mistakes act as literary semaphores.
When the characters in “McIntosh Willie” mistake “Eye, eye” for “Aye, aye” we’re reminded of the boys’ guilt and the bottlecaps that were placed over the corpse of vagrant Willie’s eyes.
Othello is a catalog of hasty and mistaken conclusions engineered by malefic intent, leading to a tragic conclusion.
When the writer incorporates a mistake into the plot or dialog, we need to realize it’s a mistake and ask what that deliberate mistake does for the story. But we can’t recognize a mistake if we haven’t been paying attention to the plotline or our grammar.
Mistakes confuse communication.
"I need to go down this isle." reads the line in the essay.
The one in the Caribbean or the one in the South Pacific? Since the thermometer is hugging zero and there’s snow predicted, let me grab my bathing suit and join you. If English teachers had $5 for every aisle/isle/I’ll mistake, they’d be wintering in the tropics. If they had that $5 for every misuse of their/there/they’re, they would have no need to buy lottery tickets.
I know what you know what I know, what I have concluded.
Do I? Even if we’ve been friends for years, will my life experiences really reveal to me the processes of your mind based on your life experiences?
This detour is more damaging than changing the supermarket for palm fronds. If I know what you are thinking before you have even told me, I may tangle us up in a moral, political, or chemical debate because I know what’s in your mind. Scary.
Mistakes alert us.
It’s too easy to pass judgment on others, but when we see others refusing to learn by their mistakes, we might want to – not judge – but step aside. Consider our own involvement. Be alerted.
Instead of an automatic $5 for the there/their/they’re mistake, I could copyright a stamp clarifying the homophones, market it at conventions, and still have a winter Florida home. From whenever we first made the distinction, our students have had multiple opportunities to learn which “there” fits the situation. If they’re confused, that’s one thing. If they refuse to devote the brainpower to doing so, they’re telling us where their interests and values lie.
“My bad” is a contemporary cliché, a deliberate grammatical mistake, and possibly an indication that someone doesn’t want to take responsibility. Better to laugh it off instead.
Sure, we all hate being called on our gaffes and foibles, but regularly turning the mistake into a joke might be a warning sign: Is this person attempting to build a belief in her own invincibility; use the “poor me” technique; looking for a scapegoat?
What’s wrong with saying, “I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.” Nobody’s perfect. Maybe we need to worry about the people who can always find someone or something else to blame.
Mistakes are a “slow down” sign.
When the practice exercises and follow-up writings demonstrate that my class still can’t tell time or identify irony, I need to remember that they might not be developmentally ready to learn how to tell time, can’t distinguish gentler irony from the sledge hammer of sarcasm. Maybe I didn’t plan and teach the skill carefully enough. Maybe the students were more interested in the snow falling outside the classroom windows, anticipating recess when they could throw forbidden snowballs. Check feedback. Check Piaget and Gardner and Maslow. Reality check.
Mistakes keep us humble and remind us of our interconnectedness and human condition.
Most of us have winced when we looked in the mirror that hangs in our bathroom or is represented in our best friends’ eyes. We wince at what we’ve done, said, or thought. We messed up. Welcome to being human.
Sometimes we need to wince a few times before we internalize the lesson. But eventually one “next time” we’re tested, we remember what we saw in the mirror. Why? We decide we don’t want to hurt our friend’s feelings or betray our own principles. We change, not for our ego, but for our connectedness.
“We built it,” I say, “but there’s a lot of mistakes.” I’m showing her a project, yet telling my companion that I’m not bragging.
“We believe that there is nothing perfect,” she answers. “If I am beading a design, and it’s done exactly right, I will set one bead just a tiny bit out of where it is supposed to be. Nothing is perfect except the Creator.” I like her answer better than mine. We all need to accept that learning involves mistakes. The skills we have today, have grown from the mistakes and clumsy attempts we made in our learning.
Mistakes belong in our world. It’s what we do with them that tells our students, our friends, and ourselves who we are. If we could do everything perfectly the first time, we wouldn’t call it learning.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Teaching Thoughts
Fighting plagiarism is guerilla warfare: no matter how developed your policies and your radar, there’s always a freeessaysonline counteroffensive lurking in the shrubbery.
Credo
After semesters of trying to explain why “plagiarism is wrong” to my students, I pondered the subject and wrote the following explanation to share with them:
----
About plagiarism…
We live in a point-and-click world. With a few clicks of the mouse, it’s possible to find almost any information and to move it easily into our own “My Documents.” While access to information keeps us up to date on current events and allows us ease in research, keep in mind that one of the primary goals of education is encouraging people to think for themselves.
Some of our goals can be stated as:
The reasons plagiarism is unacceptable can be argued as:
The student should be encountering skilled writers.
A student who reads online study guides and summaries reads the words of another student, not the literature.
The students should be working through the text of high level (literary) writers.
The student who searches for answers written by others is reading mid to low level writing, not literature.
The student should be exchanging his own ideas and practicing discussion.
The student who posts something captured online has learned to search by topic, capture the first or second essay he finds. He is not practicing debate or discussion.
The student should be writing his own ideas and conclusions.
Cutting and pasting text may develop skills in searching by topic or mouse dexterity, but not in thinking.
Plagiarism is when you use of any of these (or variations of) that have been produced by someone else and submit as your own words:
Sentence or phrase, paragraph, or complete paper
Idea
Conclusion
Drawing
Thesis statement
Before you submit material:
Spend your time reading and thinking about what you have read.
Use Safe Submit (or other plagiarism checks available through other sources). If your response is rated above 40% correlation, it is likely to be considered plagiarism.
Papers, and discussion responses are checked for plagiarism. If your work results in an online/in book match or a very close similarity, you will receive a 0 for that assignment.
----
Some of them read the advice. Most of them follow it. Some of them ignore it and continue to submit copied material. Maybe I should set out the rules about plagiarism through an iPod format using music lyrics (aka poetry).
----
About plagiarism…
We live in a point-and-click world. With a few clicks of the mouse, it’s possible to find almost any information and to move it easily into our own “My Documents.” While access to information keeps us up to date on current events and allows us ease in research, keep in mind that one of the primary goals of education is encouraging people to think for themselves.
Some of our goals can be stated as:
The reasons plagiarism is unacceptable can be argued as:
The student should be encountering skilled writers.
A student who reads online study guides and summaries reads the words of another student, not the literature.
The students should be working through the text of high level (literary) writers.
The student who searches for answers written by others is reading mid to low level writing, not literature.
The student should be exchanging his own ideas and practicing discussion.
The student who posts something captured online has learned to search by topic, capture the first or second essay he finds. He is not practicing debate or discussion.
The student should be writing his own ideas and conclusions.
Cutting and pasting text may develop skills in searching by topic or mouse dexterity, but not in thinking.
Plagiarism is when you use of any of these (or variations of) that have been produced by someone else and submit as your own words:
Sentence or phrase, paragraph, or complete paper
Idea
Conclusion
Drawing
Thesis statement
Before you submit material:
Spend your time reading and thinking about what you have read.
Use Safe Submit (or other plagiarism checks available through other sources). If your response is rated above 40% correlation, it is likely to be considered plagiarism.
Papers, and discussion responses are checked for plagiarism. If your work results in an online/in book match or a very close similarity, you will receive a 0 for that assignment.
----
Some of them read the advice. Most of them follow it. Some of them ignore it and continue to submit copied material. Maybe I should set out the rules about plagiarism through an iPod format using music lyrics (aka poetry).
Saturday, October 4, 2008
How old is this character?
We’re discussing Elizabeth Tallent’s story “No One’s a Mystery”: love/lust/marriage/adultery are the topic of the week, and the readings reflect how various writers and poets (Barrett Browning, Shakespeare, Marvel, Singer, Chopin, Chekov) chose to focus on our basic topic of Love. “How old is Jack,” I ask, “the one who’s been dating the 18 year old girl for 2 years?”
“Too old.” “Eeeeuw.” “That’s creepy.”
“What’s creepy?”
“Well, an old guy and a young…a teenager…” the student shudders. “And they weren’t just dating.”
“Are your mom and dad the same age?”
“They were, but my stepdad’s six years younger than my mom.”
There’s a chorus of reaction to her comment.
According to the class, it’s okay to date someone within a 2-year age span, but anything more is too much. “It’s okay when you get old,” one of them offers. “You know: past say…35 or so.” She considers. “Forty. That’s old enough. Then you can date someone who’s even 15 years older.”
“I’m 20,” another answers. “My boyfriend’s 32. Guys my own age are just too immature.”
“That’s twelve years,” I comment, not mentioning Charles and Diana as a comparison. “So maybe it works? Sometimes? How do we determine when it might and when it won’t – and – taking this discussion back to the story, why do you think it does not work in ‘No One’s a Mystery’?”
Because there is deceit involved, they answer. Because there’s a lack of respect. Because Jack’s closing comment to the narrator, “If you want to know the truth,” intimates as much her reluctance to confront the facts and their expectations spiraling in two directions, as Jack’s past in which he unwillingly learned the truth.
This discussion happens in the classroom, but it’s similar to the consideration that’s part of every story, poem, play. I'm writing a story, and the character in my story is going to be kidnapped. I’ve given the character black hair and blue eyes, an unusual enough combination that other people in the story might notice the character as she crosses the street with her kidnapper. I’ve avoided unusual hair color (red, striped, a coronet of braids) that might pique a lot of interest. I don’t want the kidnapper caught too early in the story, and I want my readers to empathize with an everyday appearance in the kidnapped character. How old is the character? The story is going to develop differently and impact my readers differently if the kidnapped person is 6 or 26, male or female.
How do we explore the gaps of age, background, friendship, and understanding in the relationships we form? Life. Literature. Jack and that narrator confront us with more than a diary, and their fictional future is determined only to a degree by their ages. We’re analyzing fiction and considering perspectives about our own lives and futures. We’re finding our own truth.
“Too old.” “Eeeeuw.” “That’s creepy.”
“What’s creepy?”
“Well, an old guy and a young…a teenager…” the student shudders. “And they weren’t just dating.”
“Are your mom and dad the same age?”
“They were, but my stepdad’s six years younger than my mom.”
There’s a chorus of reaction to her comment.
According to the class, it’s okay to date someone within a 2-year age span, but anything more is too much. “It’s okay when you get old,” one of them offers. “You know: past say…35 or so.” She considers. “Forty. That’s old enough. Then you can date someone who’s even 15 years older.”
“I’m 20,” another answers. “My boyfriend’s 32. Guys my own age are just too immature.”
“That’s twelve years,” I comment, not mentioning Charles and Diana as a comparison. “So maybe it works? Sometimes? How do we determine when it might and when it won’t – and – taking this discussion back to the story, why do you think it does not work in ‘No One’s a Mystery’?”
Because there is deceit involved, they answer. Because there’s a lack of respect. Because Jack’s closing comment to the narrator, “If you want to know the truth,” intimates as much her reluctance to confront the facts and their expectations spiraling in two directions, as Jack’s past in which he unwillingly learned the truth.
This discussion happens in the classroom, but it’s similar to the consideration that’s part of every story, poem, play. I'm writing a story, and the character in my story is going to be kidnapped. I’ve given the character black hair and blue eyes, an unusual enough combination that other people in the story might notice the character as she crosses the street with her kidnapper. I’ve avoided unusual hair color (red, striped, a coronet of braids) that might pique a lot of interest. I don’t want the kidnapper caught too early in the story, and I want my readers to empathize with an everyday appearance in the kidnapped character. How old is the character? The story is going to develop differently and impact my readers differently if the kidnapped person is 6 or 26, male or female.
How do we explore the gaps of age, background, friendship, and understanding in the relationships we form? Life. Literature. Jack and that narrator confront us with more than a diary, and their fictional future is determined only to a degree by their ages. We’re analyzing fiction and considering perspectives about our own lives and futures. We’re finding our own truth.
You're setting my teeth on edge: Cliches
While we smile politely in response to clichéd communication, what’s in our mind?
Let me give you my honest opinion.
[And before this you were lying to me?]
Quite frankly
[Half frankly? Give me half a frank and half a burger – to go.]
Literally
He literally ate the entire pizza.
No kidding... so it's not an allusion to the Crimean War? It's actually about pizza? ~ courtesy Greg
Drop dead date
[Students who wish to submit late papers need to do so from their graves.]
Does it bite? (referring to a dog)
[Only people like you.
All dogs bite, given enough provocation.
Do you really think I’d bring a known biter to a public venue?]
Let me give you my honest opinion.
[And before this you were lying to me?]
Quite frankly
[Half frankly? Give me half a frank and half a burger – to go.]
Literally
He literally ate the entire pizza.
No kidding... so it's not an allusion to the Crimean War? It's actually about pizza? ~ courtesy Greg
Drop dead date
[Students who wish to submit late papers need to do so from their graves.]
Does it bite? (referring to a dog)
[Only people like you.
All dogs bite, given enough provocation.
Do you really think I’d bring a known biter to a public venue?]
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