Some curmudgeonly comments this Wednesday
I do not give to Komen, nor will I. Some people in the media say that its donations went down because pro-choicers were angry with its flipflopping about the Planned Parenthood funding. No, they have that wrong. The pro-lifers have seen the light and pulled out funding. I am one of them. I could go on a screed here that the whole ribbon campaign has gotten out of hand. There is lots of documentation on that, and how corporations are using it to make money. So be it. They just won't get any of mine.
I am about sick (to use my husband's expression) of evangelical narcissism. Evangelicals really think that God loves the world but He loves them most. That God will alter the whole world order to fix their problems. That their little problems equal world hunger. That Jesus would have died for them if they were the only person in the world (maybe He would have, but the issue is, we AREN'T the only person in the world.) Perhaps this is why young people are drawn to social cause Christianity; I don't blame them, although it has its limits, too.
I, like most college faculty, think there is too much weight given to student evaluations. It's an easy way for administrators to cull us out; what really should be done is an holistic approach, with more in-class observations, with teachers documenting and reflecting on their classroom practices, etc. That takes too much time, I guess. Student evaluations are easy and cheap. I am not saying they have no value. I believe the research says they do, if the right questions are asked and they are weighted correctly. I have done some good things in my classes to improve my eval scores, and I also have been a nicer and more approachable person to improve them. A teacher who gets lower than the norm scores consistently does need remediation or should think about another profession; because of my commitment to faculty development, I would like to see true remediation of classroom performance so that better learning AND better evals can happen. But the current practices at my institution are disturbing and frustrating.
I got an email from a well known teaching and learning source (no name here) with ideas for the first day. One of them was to get the students to talk about "the worst teacher I had" and "the best teacher I had." I think that's counterproductive. I get into the content the first day. In my speech class, I get my students to reflect in groups on the value of the course for them, rather than me telling them. In Humanities, I show them a Sister Wendy video that serves as an overview of the course. I want my students to know I am serious and we are hitting the ground running. I front load the class--more work early, less later, when they are stressed by other classes.
I cringe every day with what new nonsense will come out of the White House.
I am about sick (to use my husband's expression) of evangelical narcissism. Evangelicals really think that God loves the world but He loves them most. That God will alter the whole world order to fix their problems. That their little problems equal world hunger. That Jesus would have died for them if they were the only person in the world (maybe He would have, but the issue is, we AREN'T the only person in the world.) Perhaps this is why young people are drawn to social cause Christianity; I don't blame them, although it has its limits, too.
I, like most college faculty, think there is too much weight given to student evaluations. It's an easy way for administrators to cull us out; what really should be done is an holistic approach, with more in-class observations, with teachers documenting and reflecting on their classroom practices, etc. That takes too much time, I guess. Student evaluations are easy and cheap. I am not saying they have no value. I believe the research says they do, if the right questions are asked and they are weighted correctly. I have done some good things in my classes to improve my eval scores, and I also have been a nicer and more approachable person to improve them. A teacher who gets lower than the norm scores consistently does need remediation or should think about another profession; because of my commitment to faculty development, I would like to see true remediation of classroom performance so that better learning AND better evals can happen. But the current practices at my institution are disturbing and frustrating.
I got an email from a well known teaching and learning source (no name here) with ideas for the first day. One of them was to get the students to talk about "the worst teacher I had" and "the best teacher I had." I think that's counterproductive. I get into the content the first day. In my speech class, I get my students to reflect in groups on the value of the course for them, rather than me telling them. In Humanities, I show them a Sister Wendy video that serves as an overview of the course. I want my students to know I am serious and we are hitting the ground running. I front load the class--more work early, less later, when they are stressed by other classes.
I cringe every day with what new nonsense will come out of the White House.
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