October 8, 2012

  • creations.

    Because I feel like I see the same stuff on Pinterest. So why not create my own quote-based images?

     
    I think all of these images came from the Creative Commons area of Flickr...

  • ode to chelsea handler...

      Images found in the Creative Commons area of Flickr & then "messed with" using Pixlr.com.Quotes found via Bing.com & her books.

  • The Dear Abby Prompt.

    Dear "Abby,"

    What should a person do when they are being spoken badly about on Facebook? Thus far, I haven't responded to this person.
    If I weren't me, what advice would I give myself? I think I would tell myself that if that person feels the need to complain about you in a public forum, without having talked to you first, then they don't deserve your respect. You should just let them continue on their crappy track of life because they are passive-aggressive in nature; if you were to confront them, in a private message or face-to-face, they would probably then have more ammunition against you. They could, behind your back, say how bitchy you were or that you were a bully or that you attempted to intimidate he/she into an apology. With some people, you can't win, so let them be and karma will do its work for you. Hold your head high, doll.

October 5, 2012

  • Time Slot.

    It's kind of creepy when the hallways are quiet. My officemate & I noticed that feeling just before our 3pm classes today. It makes one feel like there's been a zombie attack. That we are the last humans left. That all hell broke loose without us. It's weird. That's all I'm saying.

    What's also weird is that while I was semi-disappointed in the attendance/turn-out last night at our Chuck Klosterman reading (3 of us from the NDSU area read bits and pieces of our book, Chuck Klosterman & Philosophy), I had a blast reading ALOUD my stuff. I'm rarely cocky, but man, my chapter is funny. Well, okay, it's funny to me. And I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. In front of my thesis advisor (who also wrote a chapter), I admitted that it was more fun than my Master's Thesis. Which is saying a lot because I liked writing, even if it was 100 pages, about blogging.

    For sure.

    And as my sister & I walked to our cars afterward, she said, "I tried reading your chapter, and it was tough. When you read it aloud, it was so much better. I got it. So when you write a book someday, it should be an audio book." I guess I'm just better LIVE and IN STEREO.

  • ode to chuck klosterman...?

     

  • Body Parts.

    Prompt for today:

    If one of your body parts could talk to you, which one would it be & what would it say?
    My knees.
    My knees would say: "We're sorry that we make noise. And that you get made fun of for it. We were once silent, but then you grew and we had to deal with longer, muscular legs. And then you were in sports, and, no offense, didn't treat us nicely. We know you loved playing tennis, but using us as cushion to hit a ball, wasn't the best idea, was it? We are happy we got you through many, many years of volleyball, four hard years of tennis, and that one exhausting season of cross-country. We're proud of the fact that we are still used for biking and the occasional run; we were impressed with ourselves when we helped you run those 5Ks and a Half Marathon... with all that said, can you start being nice to us? Can you try to make us stronger? We have noticed that you are taking a class in the water lately, and we like that. Please continue to make us feel better, and perhaps we'll be able to quiet the noise we create."

October 3, 2012

  • This is my prayer, I swear...

    The prompt today is for the students to write their own prayer. They can interpret that however they want.

    I told them that when I need some guidance or help, I pray to George Carlin.
    I do. 
    Seriously.
    And because prayers are typically private, I will write mine on a private post.
    And because I just stated that, I won't have my students hand them in, either.
    They'll be asked to fold them up, and put them in their bags or pockets. 
    Yes, it's a hippie-ish prompt experiment, but I don't care.
    I told them I wouldn't judge them.

September 28, 2012

  • Pop. Quiz.

    Well...

    I wanted to make this massive generalization that my students can WRITE, but they struggle with reading & listening. (And I'm not talking about students who aren't at some reading level or who are deaf; I'm talking about students who choose to not take the time to read or students who have horrible selective hearing... I call it, at times, intellectual laziness. It's also linked to why they don't write down anything I say in class. I haven't decided if this is because they know I'll answer questions later or because they've never taken notes?) Anyhow, I gave out a pop quiz today that asked them to read the whole thing before beginning. And, shockingly, I think most of them DID JUST THAT. I am kind of amazed.
    So... when it comes down to a QUIZ, they'll pay attention more to the directions rather than when it's a project and they can just ask me a gazillion questions (that I've answered already or questions that are answered in the packet). I'm not a human Google.

September 27, 2012

September 26, 2012

  • TEN is the magic number... I guess.

    I shall assess ten papers today in Eng120; I did five (5) yesterday after assessing my WL240 P1s (which were amazing).
    I should be able to get them all wrapped up by Friday. Maybe. And tomorrow I'll tackle the Spelling Booklets my students had a WEEK to complete... many are using their penguin pass on the assignment. This saddens me a bit, and frustrates me, because they had A WEEK. During that week, we didn't have class; they had to sign up to chat with me, yes, but that's it. Wow. Well, it's not my problem. I just have to shake my head in their general direction & hope they do better next time.
    I read the Chronicle's newspaper in the library today (yes, I gave them a library day for P2; I wonder how many used it?), and it had some very interesting articles in it. One had a chart showing that some community college grads earn more (in their first year out), in certain disciplines, than those who go to a university... another claimed that "English" is dying, but I think parts said that we're just moving towards a creative OR technical use of it. Classes on literary analysis may die out; one person said, "Let's not write our obituary, but instead look to the future." Cheers to that... another article was a first-hand look at going from grad school to a tenure-track job; a question this guy asked was interesting. He said to himself, after the dissertation was in, "What now?" I think I've answered that for myself, but maybe some struggle to see what can happen after all the grunt work is done = there is more grunt work! 
    I think I have more to say about those articles, but I should probably grade like a fiend for a bit.
    But, coffee first.
    UPDATE: I have 19 left to cover for tomorrow & Friday. Yay. I shall conquer.
    VENI VIDI VICI

    p.s. Issues & Errors I've seen thus far:
    WL240Paper 1 Issues and Errors: 

    ---In-textcitations need page numbers (sample paper didn’t have them because the quoteswere from web sites). AWorks Cited page is needed, too. 
              
    ENG120Paper 1 Issues and Errors:  
    ---Definitions (and statistics) are not in our ownwords typically = they NEED quotation marks. Otherwise, it’s consideredplagiarism. [For P1, the deduction will be lenient (25pts.), but it will bemuch greated for the rest of the papers and projects.]  
    ---Not using the source in the text (-10pts).  
    ---In-text citations should be correct whether theyare color-coded or not. The color-coding is a bonus; you still need to usequotation marks (if info is taken word-for-word) and parenthesis (or an“According to” phrase), etc.   
    ---The instructional guide asked that we not argueabout gender stereotypes.   
    ---The paper’s question (and goal) was about thestereotype that YOU’ve been placed into; please do not argue about stereotypes ingeneral.