No More Pink Ribbons, Please!: Update

I just wanted to let y'all know, that I spoke with my husband. If I ever get breast cancer, he has been instructed to burn any pink clothing that I possess. Again, I am not dissing breast cancer, I am dissing all the pink crap that haunts my every visit to any store.

No More Pink Ribbons, Please!

Alright, I'll probably get blasted for this, but I don't care. I am sick to death of pink ribbons! Really, I can't take it anymore. I mean, yes, I understand that breast cancer is a nasty disease that kills women. I've lost several family members to cancer, so don't think I haven't been affected by it. And in the 80s one of my mom's friends died of breast cancer, which was basically a death sentence in those days. So I really understand how far we've come. Breast cancer awareness was critical because women were dying of it and it seemed like there was no research being done. But that has changed!

Breast cancer is still bad but it's a lot more treatable nowadays. And everyone knows about it. But it seems to have become some kind of cause celebre, where the whole concept of awareness and research has been replaced with trendy pink items. I can't walk into a fucking store anymore without seeing something in pink that swears it will support breast cancer research if I buy it. Sam's Club has an entire aisle at the front of the store dedicated to "pink" items such as Cheerios. Dyson even makes a fucking pink vacuum cleaner! I've read several articles about how people are burned out on tragedies, like Katrina, etc. and they just can't take anymore of it. That's how I feel about pink ribbons. I can't set foot outside my door without being inundated by pink awareness. ENOUGH ALREADY! I'm Aware!

There's a link on the side of my blog to Hello Kitty Hell. The author is married to a woman obsessed with everything Hello Kitty. His house is covered in all things Kitty. That's how I feel now. I'm in Pink Ribbon Hell.

Unconditional Love

I found this link on a political blog; the guy said it made him tear up (me too). It's a video, but I couldn't get the URL so I'm linking to the blog post. It's a returning soldier being greeted by his dogs. I had a similar experience when I returned from my language class after being away for several months. You just can't beat dogs for unconditional love.

It's a sad day indeed...

...when Paris Hilton makes sense.

See the video for yourself.

Palin Again

What can I say, the woman bugs the shit out of me. Is it just me, or is Palin always in a dress/skirt? Has anyone seen her in pants? I didn't think she was Pentecostal, but now I wonder (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with being Pentecostal). My husband thinks it part of the pageant-queen background. Wear a skirt and show off your legs, etc. Or maybe she truly is just Republican eye-candy.

Oh - here's a neat article about Palin from the London Review of Books.

WTF: Palin

I will try to restrain the invectives leaving my mouth as I get an aneurysm from the vice presidential debate. Sweet fucking lord Palin gets on my nerves. "I'm just a sweet folksy person who's one of you, so you should, like, vote for me, because I'm from a blue collar small town background and I know how you think, you betcha!" Argh!!!! It was bad enough listening to W for the last 8 fucking years. I cannot take any more of this crap. I was reading an article about how many people actually like Palin because she's "one of us." So they'll vote for her because of that. Personally, I don't want Joe down the street running the damn country, I want someone who actually has a fucking clue! Her main qualifications seem to be that she's personable and one of us. All she seems to be doing during the debate is showing that she's a regular Joe, to reinforce that. And, of course, regurgitating talking points. Sarah hon, you're not qualified, you're not a maverick, and just because you say something doesn't make it true. Oh yeah, and your accent gets on my nerves.

The Latest 419 Scam

(Not sure where this originated.)

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfull,
Minister of Treasury Paulson

Rant Update

My husband says that tilapia has gone from about $5.00 for 2 lbs to $3.84 a pound.

WTF: Now I'm pissed!

Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with school, but I'm going to rant anyway. WTF happened to the price of meat!?! I don't mean the price hike from gas, etc. I'm talking about a different kind of problem. Many years ago, in a world before fajitas, skirt steak/flank steak/whatever was really freaking cheap. Then behold - the mighty fajita reached public consciousness and the price went up.

Last week on Good Morning America, they held a segment about how to save money in the kitchen. And they mentioned two of my favorite items: Tilapia and Chuck Roast. I have been eating tilapia since c. 1995, before it hit big. And my husband and I love to cook chuck roasts in our crock pot. Well, within a few days of that GMA segment, prices sky-rocketed. I don't have the exact price for tilapia, but I did note the price of chuck at our local grocery. Chuck used to be $2.29-$2.49 per pound. The new price of chuck? $4.19 per pound. What the fuck.

Lecture Writing

I subbed for a professor last week. It was a topic I know but hadn't written a lecture on before. I had really forgotten how long it takes to write up a lecture, especially if you add PowerPoint to it. I think the lecture went okay. It was a smaller class than I'm used to, and in a smaller classroom too. There will be a test question from my lecture, so hopefully most of the class was actually there. Most of the students seemed to pay attention, and a few asked questions, but I did notice the usual sleeper in the back. A friend of mine mentioned that he'd kind of gone off on his class last semester when a lot of people weren't paying attention. He rather loudly explained how many hours it takes to prepare each lecture and how the least they could do is pay attention.

I don't think most students realize how much time it takes to prepare for a class. Especially as a teaching assistant, I work my ass off. I'm taking classes and teaching classes and it's a lot of work. I agree with my friend that at least the students could pay attention. In an interesting side note, I read an AAUP article that mentioned a study showing that there was higher student attrition when freshmen classes were taught by part-time adjuncts professors. But it was "normal" when full-time professors OR graduate students taught the class.

I'm Back!

And ready to begin my rantings. As you may remember, I'm not teaching this semester, but I am taking my comprehensive exams. Don't worry, I have enough friends teaching that I'll have some good stories for y'all.

School's Out For Summer!!!!!

I'll be in and out this summer. I'm not teaching but I am taking an intensive language course overseas, so I may not be blogging again till late August. It depends upon how much time I have. I seem to have at least one or two readers ;) so I'd suggest subscribing to the RSS feed instead of checking back all the time.

The Semester is Over!!!

I gave my last exams and inputted grades and I am through! It feels wonderful! This semester had it's own drama, of course. I finally decided to give a graduating senior a D, instead of an F, in exchange for an extra credit paper. Generally, I don't have trouble flunking people who have an F in my class, even if they will lose a scholarship. But actual graduation? She was close, so I made an exception. I did have a new e-mail this time though - the "I'm a single mother can't I get a higher grade." That was new for me.

Now that it's over, I am going to take a week off and read some non-school books before I start studying for comps. Yes - I'm taking comps in the fall and I'm already freaking out! I can't study all summer because I have a summer program that I'll be at for 2 months. I'm not teaching in the fall, so most of my posts then will be about comps and research. Wish me luck!!!

Yes, It's That Time of the Semester

Time to start worrying about your grade! I have several students coming in next week to discuss their grades. Which is generally obvious, as I post all their grades in Blackboard so they know exactly what they're getting. At least these students are being a little more proactive about it. It never fails that as soon as the final exam is over, and usually after I've given the final grades, someone e-mails me: "I know I made D's on all the tests, but I really need a C or I'll lose my ____ scholarship."

When I first started teaching I used to harp on grades and remind the students that if they weren't doing well they could come to me for help, remind them of drop dates, etc. And most of the time they didn't listen to me. So this semester I took a different tack. Just like I'm not taking attendance, I decided to treat the students like adults. The last day to drop is on my syllabus calendar, my syllabus quiz had a statement for them to sign about not whining when they get the grade they've earned (but in nicer language), etc. They are adults and they need to learn how to act like it. If I coddle them too much, they're in for a shock when they get to an upper level class. And I finally realized that no matter how much I may want to help my students, they have to be willing to help themselves first.

Grade Update

I did give my second test recently. And grades went down! Grades usually go down a bit on the second test (not sure if it's because the first was too easy?) and the average was about 72%. The study guide for this test was just a long list of terms. If you remember, for the first test I changed the study guide into a better format. Grades usually go back up for the final, and it's study guide has always been in a better format (broken down by topic, vocabulary, and people). I'll keep you posted.

Hot Library Smut

A friend sent this to me several years ago, and I felt it would be a perfect addition to an edumacational blog: Hot Library Smut! It's got pictures of beautiful libraries from around the world.

Damn Fire Alarms

There has been a rash of fire alarms going off this year. One of them went off while I was teaching, and I had to let the class go. I mean, I'm pretty sure it wasn't for real, but you can't keep a class in on that basis. Another went off during office hours. And another went off while one of my friends was teaching. I've never seen it this bad: 3 fire alarms in about a 2-week period. And most people give exams around this time, which is probably why the alarms got pulled in the first place. I guess they don't realize that pulling an alarm without a reason is actually a crime. I'm not sure how big a crime, but I'm fairly certain it is a crime. I guess that's better than when I got my undergraduate degree. That was pre-9/11, and during exam week it was fairly common to get bomb threats called in. I always thought that was exceptionally stupid - even in those days they could trace phone calls. And that is a crime.

Dropping Attendance!

Yes, it is dropping! I'm starting to average about 30 students in my first section and 35 in my 2nd section. I won't be giving out any more bonus points, though, unless attendance gets *really* low. The second test is in a few weeks, and we'll see how that goes.

Dropping Attendance?

I actually gave out bonus points the day after my test. I had about 17 students in one class and 30 in the other. I guess there's no point showing up the first period after a test, right? The kids are also getting bad about skipping if the weather is the least bit bad. We'll see how the grades go for the next test if they're missing a lot of class. Of course, we're also being decimated by the flu, which doesn't help things.

Who Knew?

Well color me astonished. I gave my first test the other day. Usually the average runs about 72-75% This time it was 82%! I was astounded. There are only 2 things that have changed. First of all, I'm not taking attendance. Secondly, I changed my study guide. My old study guide was just a list of terms/topics, etc. This time I sorted them into topics, vocabulary, and people. I'm not sure what happened, but it sure is interesting.

Don't Go to School with the Flu!

I recently received the following e-mail (this may out me, but it's too good to pass up):

One-quarter of the patients we are seeing at the Health Center have the flu. In addition, students are calling in for triage nurse advice with flu symptoms and are staying at home to recover. In order to stem the tide, faculty and instructors are asked to please adjust your class requirements for increased absenteeism over the next few weeks to assure that students with the flu do not attend class and continue the spread of the flu. We are seeing students who are diagnosed with the flu who are still going to class to meet a class requirement that the instructor will not change. For your own health and the health of the community at large, please consider an adjustment to assure that students with infectious disease do not attend class.

I'm not making this up, that's an actual e-mail. The flu is decimating campus, but apparently there are a bunch of students who are going to class sick because they don't want to lose attendance points. Frankly, I'm shocked they're doing it. Since the e-mail, a number of professors have made announcements about it. This will help keep the sick people at home, but it does create another problem - if you want to get out of class for a while, just say you had the flu. Who's going to know?

Still a Good Turnout

Well, it's the fourth week of the semester, and attendance has dropped. I'm averaging around 40-45 people in each of my classes (out of a total of 60 registered). That's not bad at all! And I will remind you that this is without taking roll every day. I'm still not sure why they're all coming to class, but I'll take it!

Snow Days

I have to admit, I love Snow Days just as much as the students. Unfortunately, there are those days that are borderline and confusing. Days that shouldn't be Snow Days, but half the class doesn't show up because it's drizzly and cold. And days when the university should cancel class, but doesn't, and you end up with a handful of people in class. It really messes up the flow of the course. Especially if you're covering something important and almost no one is there. Do you cancel at that point - when people have gone out of their way to make it to class? Or do you give the important lecture and hope the absent students get the notes from someone? In the future, I think I'm going to cancel class ahead of time, even if the university doesn't. Most of the professors did cancel for today.

WTF: "McDiplomas?"

No, I'm not making this up. There are some new programs in Great Britain, that would let McDonalds (and some others) give employees credit towards a high school diploma if they complete certain on-the-job training courses. Now, in general, I am all for on-the-job training and helping out people who dropped out of high school and now want to get a diploma or GED. But I do worry that the standards may not be as high as a regular high school. If the standards are lower, are we going to get borderline kids dropping out and getting a job at Mickey D's to finish high school?

One of the other companies is a rail company and the article mentions they want to give more advanced training and degrees, like a vocational or university degree. I actually don't have as much of a problem with a vocational degree. I mean, you can go to vocational school to learn to weld and this would be the same thing: learning to do railway type jobs while you're working. That makes sense as long as an educational board oversees the standards. It even makes sense for an airlines.

Maybe my problem is that I have a hard time seeing fast food as an option that someone would intentionally choose as a career. I have known quite a few fast food managers, but other than that, most people seem to be either working in fast food while they go to school, or are stuck in fast food because they don't have any other job skills. And it doesn't seem as if fast food skills would transfer as well - except for running a cash register. Does anyone have any other opinions?

Lots of Students

I've been busy and haven't updated for a while. School's been in session for two weeks now and so far I'm having a very high attendance rate. See First Day of School for my normal attendance statistics. This is kind of freaking me out, since usually the attendance has dropped by now. I'm wondering if it's because I'm NOT taking attendance. If there's some kind of reverse psychology at work, so that when I take attendance they intentionally skip. We'll see what happens after the first test.

What the F?

This little jewel popped up at me recently. Apparently a small town in Iowa has come up with this idea that giving kids a zero for not turning in their homework is a bad thing. If an A is 90-100%, etc. etc., then an F should be 50-60%. Right now this is just a suggestion, but it is something with which I completely disagree. One of the quotes from the article is this:

"If you get a zero on three assignments, for instance, maybe in the first two weeks, and you do all right in the rest, those three zeros still could mean you're not going to pass." "The message that comes across is, 'You don't have to do the work (anymore) because I've already given you a zero.'"

I would counter with: But if you give them a 50% for NOT turning things in, you're teaching them that they don't have to do the homework. How will this affect them in the long run? Does this mean if I don't feel like going to work tomorrow I still get half my pay for the day? Also, as an edumacator, I tend to take the long view of assignments. If someone does badly on one of my exams but improves on all the rest, then I'll take that into account when I calculate the final grade.

Personally, I like the policy mentioned in this article. It's referred to as "Do your work." If the kids don't make at least a 70 on the assignment (or if they don't turn it in) then they have to come in before or after school to do it again. Supposedly it's really cut down on their failure rate.

First Day of School

Overall, went pretty well. One of my classes is in a normal-sized classroom, the other is about a third that size. It's got 60 desks in the classroom, and 60 students, and the desks are crammed in like you wouldn't believe. They give me this classroom every other semester which really sucks. But space is at a premium, let alone a freaking Smartroom, and as a teaching assistant I'm a spud. Spuds don't get top choice. Last semester I got a Smartroom for the first time EVER and it was like a dream.....ahhh..... Anyway, today went well. I'm not taking attendance this semester (one of my main changes) because I feel like I shouldn't have to be the kids' mother. This should cut my class size down to about half, if not a third. Yep, you heard me. About half the students won't show up because I'm not taking attendance and they don't want to be there. I'm teaching a required freshmen class that a lot of people hate. And of course the earlier the class time the fewer attendees.

Example: Average attendance out of a class of 60 students
7:30 20
8:30 25-30
9:30 30-35
10:30 40-50

That's based on my actual experience teaching at those times, and it's not just me. Fellow TAs have said about the same. And that was when I TOOK attendance. So this whole no attendance-taking policy could get interesting. I decided to do it because I'm tired of looking out and seeing people sitting there asleep, or reading a book, or trying to chat to their friend, because the only reason they are there is for the attendance bonus points. I'll keep you updated as to how this goes.

Syllabus Woes Part Deux

Well, I got the damn syllabus updated and ready for the kiddies. It's sad when you have to specifically state that "if you make bad grades on the tests you will get a bad grade in the class." I can't tell you how many e-mails I get at the end of each semester whining for a better grade. "I know I made D's on all the exams, but I'll lose my scholarship if I don't get a C..." And they honestly expect you to give them the C. It drives me nuts. I'll say it again - damn millenials. [Note: it figures - I try to avoid Wikipedia on general principles so the encyclopedia I link to quotes them.]

Power to the People!

This is off-topic, well, maybe not, considering the perils to Academic Freedom. I found this over on I Miss fafblog, Spot! It's kinda catchy.

Damn Helicopter Parents

Luckily, I haven't had to deal with this too much. The BBC has an interesting article, including the 5 different types of helicopter parents. The worst I've gotten so far is an e-mail from a parent. But I am really expecting it to pick up. Not to sound like an old fogey, but in my day, we didn't want our parents around 'interfering' with our life. Nowadays, it seems like the kids never grow up! The parents keep doing things so the kids don't have to. So when they get to my freshmen college course, they're young and don't know what it means to try and be an adult. I'm not saying my generation succeeded at being an adult ;) but at least we wanted to try it out.

Syllabus Woes

School starts soon, so I'm in the process of updating my syllabus. It annoys the crap out of me that I have to put things in it like: don't read a newspaper in class. Or: don't listen to your iPod in class. Every semester it's a challenge to maintain control. There's the kid who's text-messaging, the one with the headphones in one ear, the one studying for an exam in a different class, the one coming in 15 minutes late, the one talking to her friends, the one reading a book (I guess that's a good thing!). I always start off strict, but by the end of the semester I could care less. Me and the kids are both ready for it to be over. When I'm trying to actually teach them something, it's a pain to stop everyday and say "take off the headphones," "stop texting," "stop whispering," "stop reading e-mail," "stop reading the paper," "stop doing WHATEVER." I'm not their freaking mother. By this point they should know better. I'm thinking of backing off some of my rules this semester and seeing what happens. If they listen to music during class everyday they shouldn't be surprised if they make an "F."