Images stamped with Creative Commons, on Flickr.

Try more subliminal-message-PPTs when introducing a project.
1000+ words (on one slide)
3+ sources (on another slide)
underline thesis statement (last slide)

?
Speaker says to keep trying it. Okay.
Better than a static slide of bullet points, right?

Images found...

My sister is right. Don't tell her I said that.
Recently, she wrote something (as a prologue to something else). In it, she declared three things she considers rules now that she's worked in various industries:
1) People are stupid.
2) People don't read.
3) People want to be the exception to the rule.
These rules of hers could fall into the three biggest complaints by teachers/professors as well.

I'd add in there something about hypocrisy. Everyone's a hypocrit. Yes, even me.
Example: My ankle is all busted. Much of my family says "Go get it X-rayed" yet in the same breath they'll say, "Oh, when I sprained mine, I was running on it in a week." It's so frustrating. Either I'm an idiot for running on it or a wimp for not, etc.

So, there were these two "experts" on The Today Show this morning... talking to Matt Lauer about how Americans are "getting dumber." I had to chuckle to myself a few times. The woman (a bit older, probably not an iPod user) was proclaiming that when students read online material, they don't connect it to the world around them like they would if they read books. Before I even jump into her claims, I had to wonder, "DO THESE TWO EXPERTS TEACH?" Are they trying to resolve this so-called problem? Now, as for the claims about reading, it seems like this woman has never read a blog. I mean, I use my blogs to CONSTANTLY connect to the world around me. And since I read others' blogs, I do the same. Connect to them. Whether I know them or not. AND, lastly, one CAN NOT force students to read read read. It loses all fun that way. One can only simply place a book in front of them that may spark some interest which will cause the domino effect; they'll want to read more. I read lots of Shakespeare when I was younger; what do I read now? Everything but "him" (yea, I'm one of "those people" who thinks he was probably a she or many, many people. Blasphemous, I know.) because I didn't connect to those plays AT ALL. Now, Catcher in the Rye, yes! Fahrenheit 451. Yes. To Kill a Mockingbird. Yes. 1984. Animal Farm. Haroun the Sea of Stories. Why Men Love Bitches. You Just Don't Understand. Rule of the Bone.

And they just HAD to use the clip of Jess Simpson asking her then-hubby Nick if the tuna in the can was chicken or fish. In her defense, it does say Chicken of the Sea. Talk about confusing labeling. Plus, I bought some actual chicken in a can (yuck-never again), and it smelled like fish... so... yea.

Are we getting "dumber"? It depends. On definitions (listen up 120 students)... what does it mean to be "intelligent"? What does it mean to be "dumb"? It seemed like they were using the fact that, on average, we don't know who Bill Gates is (but we do recognize Harry Potter) or where Iraq is located to claim we are dumb. That's it? That's how we determine one from another? Based on just those items? Perhaps what they should've said was that those with "book smarts" are shrinking in population, but those with "street smarts" are not. What I worry about is the small thing they covered; it's "cool" to be "dumb."

I'm thinking about making a PPT based on this...

“You may not think of yourself as a reader and writer.
But you are doing both in the broadest sense all the time.
You’re reading your world every day; you compose your life.
In the kitchen each A.M., you read the cupboards and refridgerator for breakfast options, cereal to eggs to bagels.
You read the weather and read your closet, choosing your clothes by a complicated writer’s formula: what’s clean, what represents who I want to be today, what’s appropriate for the weather?
You read the newspaper, perhaps, choosing quickly which story engages you and which you don’t need to read further.
You read everyone at school and at work.
You read the signs and ads and marquees on your way home and write your evening plan in your head: go to the mall, stop in to listen to the band at X, or stay home and watch Y on TV.
You steal your daily habits from your family (think about Thanksgiving meals), your friends (there are clothes you borrow, sayings you pick up), your developing age and tastes (as a child you never ate artichokes, but now…)
You steal the right office or school moves by watching others in the same or similar situations.
You see what I mean, I think.”
–Wendy Bishop, “Reading, Stealing, and Writing Like a Writer,” Elements of Alternative Style, 1997.

Every so often, I am wacked upside the head with the fact that students just don't read, or, if they do read, they don't comprehend the material like they should/could. I created a handout for Paper 1 in English 120. It had the basic layout I was looking for with their papers - what to write about in the first batch of paragraphs, what to write about in the second batch, etc. I thought it was a fabulously, helpful little handout. Some of them followed this nice outline; most have not thus far. Why many haven't received automatic As and Bs is beyond me.

I don't even think it's a matter of bashing them over the head with these things. Some are going to read what they are supposed to read, and some will not. Do I continue to lay out everything for them? Apparently, this will only benefit a minority of students who really, probably, don't need things laid out for them. Is it about creating assignments that they'll enjoy and just naturally do well at without a step-by-step procedure? Are those assignments realistic? What's so wrong with having them being able to write a simple argument & defend themselves? Nothing.

Writing is required because it makes you think, or at least gets you to write down what you are thinking so you can REALLY figure out what you think about your thoughts. Students like to complain about taking English, but, essentially, they are complaining about having to organize their thoughts. On paper/screen. They are complaining about having to think which shouldn't surprise me. Many don't have original thoughts... and if they do, they are hiding them.

Am I stereotyping? Yes. Am I right about them? A little bit. Am I searching for an answer? Always.

I want to have accomplished the idea
of having added to my intelligence this summer
instead of just my sleep schedule. Or running schedule.
It's grand to be healthy,
but mental health & intelligence are important to me as well.
Extremely valuable since I see many who don't appreciate
a smart mind.

Women need to be high maintenance on that part of their bodies more than their fingernails.

I don't know why I was in such a rush to grow up.
I couldn't wait to be out of high school, and, really, I had it made back then.
I ate a Snickers bar a day and didn't gain a pound; I played tennis on a daily basis or volleyball or ran cross-country and my knees didn't hurt and I never had a stupid heel spur. I had enough friends, but I had my time to myself to read, read, read (and it wasn't research-based reading). I got called by friends to do stuff on the weekends like just hang out at someone's house or go for a bike ride or sit on the sidewalk by the church across the street and contemplate all sorts of things until I got hollered at to get home for bedtime. When it came to the point where I talked to a boy on the phone for hours, I actually enjoyed myself during the conversation instead of wondering if I should end the conversation so as to seem aloof and I rarely walked away from the conversation analyzing the heck out of it. I had a cool, small bedroom with flamingos painted on the wall.
I was too naive to know what was in store for me, and I think that's why "they" say, "Ignorance is bliss."
I thought I wanted to know all about everything - experience the world. But with more knowledge comes more doubt.

I even recall writing a letter to my future self (something I just had my 110 students do), and I don't know where it is now, but I remember saying that at the age of 23 (what I turned when it was 2000) I still wanted to be playing tennis. I wanted my hair to be blond and longer. I wanted to be happy with a guy - in a good relationship. What I had pictured as the "good life" makes some sense to me now. Feel good about my body, get into the sports and hobbies I have always loved (reading and tennis), and have love in my life.

My daily routine consists of getting up and watching Channel 11 with Mick & Andrea as well as The Today Show. Perhaps, I am becoming more negative due to watching the news that early. Like, the news this morning frustrates me - the Speaker of the House wants a bigger jet and I am thinking, if she were male it would be no big deal. Then there's this Snickers commercial that was played during the Super Bowl that has people in a tizzy. I should wake up and just have Enya playing in the background; I'd probably have a better start to my days.

And if the weather would stop freezing my nostril hairs, I think I'd be happier in the morning as well.

I love surprises. I should clarify - GOOD surprises.

After talking to Wade yesterday, I realized that I want to add into my syllabus for next spring (English 110 and maybe English 120) the possibility of a Minute Paper that follows the Major Papers. I'll hand back Papers 1-3, and only circle "mistakes." Students then have to write up a short, one-pager (single-spaced) identifying why I circled what I did. Was it a run-on? Comma splice? A misspelling? This way, I don't write as much, they have to learn what those sentence problems are, and they use the paper more after it's written (instead of chucking it after viewing the grade). I think we also talked about paperless writing conferences... which would be something to try. He mentioned adding more reflection in his classroom, and I think that's a great idea. Asking students to write extensively and read critically is great and all, but if we can get them to go beyond - ask themselves why they wrote how they did, or how they came to the conclusion they did with the reading... How = Process. This adds a whole other level of critical thinking... Bloom would be proud.

And I adore this HUGE new monitor. I am done squinting at my laptop! "Excellent."

Today, I collect a paper (P3), hand back a paper (P2), and ask students what they think they should read in this type of class. Might as well get student insight to the composition program.

[Think of OK Go's "Do What You Want" as the theme song.] There's something a bit calming about spending a weekend alone. I need some quiet now and then. I finished reading one book and continued with another (recreational ones based in psychology/sociolinguistics), I ventured to the cities to do some real shopping (found some new running shoes), and I watched Vikings football yesterday while reading the Fargo Forum. (Bison beat UC-Davis!)

This week could end up being a calm one... or it could end up chaotic. I have writing conferences with my English 110 students, English 105 students will finish up their Survey Reports, I am sure a few advisees will want to meet with me, and then Thursday afternoon, I take off for Mankato to present a collaborative essay on blogging.

Oh... and Election Day is tomorrow; I had better figure out where to go - I don't think I have ever voted in Wahpeton before.

p.s. A little sidenote to the first paragraph - NDSU offers a Gender & Communication course during the summer (well, they did last summer anyhow) that I may want to consider. I'd also like to take a drawing class too.