brian and i have the worst printer on the face of the earth. it is the least intuitive piece of shiza i've ever had the unpleasant experience of dealing with. this is not good when you have to print over 100 pages of academic drivel every week.
anyone know of a place where i can covertly print for free at uiuc? (yeah, right...)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
things i learned in the last 24 hours
1. It's kinda hard to read Master's-level articles when the people across the street are having an awesome party (especially when your boyfriend is having fun at that party.) I can probably name more songs from their playlist than things I learned from the article I was reading.
2. The girls who live downstairs from us really, REALLY like Britney Spears. Luckily, they don't wake up until noon-ish, so I have a few hours of quiet in the mornings.
3. I love timers. If I give myself half an hour to do internetty things and set an egg timer, I feel suuuuuper guilty about internetting after the timer goes off. Yes! Discipline! I can be a grown-up and get stuff done!
2. The girls who live downstairs from us really, REALLY like Britney Spears. Luckily, they don't wake up until noon-ish, so I have a few hours of quiet in the mornings.
3. I love timers. If I give myself half an hour to do internetty things and set an egg timer, I feel suuuuuper guilty about internetting after the timer goes off. Yes! Discipline! I can be a grown-up and get stuff done!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Against "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month"
Why on earth would anyone think that National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) is a bad thing?
Perhaps this is your first thought. It was mine, as well, as I started reading an article entitled "Resisting "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month': The Rhetoric of Counterpublics and their Cultural Performances" for my writing studies class. Don't worry -- this post won't get into the rhetorical strategies analyzed by the article or the notion of a counterpublic. It's just about cancer.
You probably know what NBCAM does: their motto is "early detection is the best prevention." They get a bunch of people to wear pink and talk about breast cancer without being embarrassed. They encourage women to get mammograms. They talk about the rates of hereditary breast cancer. All this stuff is great!
However, the motives and foundations of NBCAM are pretty shady. NBCAM is sponsored by AstraZeneca -- yeah, that huge (one of the top three in the world) pharmaceutical company. They started screening women for breast cancer back in the late 80s (pre-merger, when the company was just "Zeneca") primarily because early detection is way cheaper for the company's insurance bill. Goal #1 was economic, not humanitarian.
The other issue is the products of AstraZeneca: they sell the world's best selling cancer drug and they're one of the largest producers of pesticides in the US.
Why do the pesticides matter? Because they give us cancer. According to the article, even if we go with the (super-low skeptic's) estimate the 2% of cancers are due to environmental factors, those pesticides are still contributing to the deaths of 10,940 people per year.
Therefore, AstraZeneca is profiting all-around from the cancer cycle: they profit from the cause of cancer, they profit from the detection of cancer, and they profit from the treatment of cancer. DANG.
So yes, although NBCAM has helped breast cancer awareness make great strides, I just can't support it because of its sponsors. This pattern repeats itself all over society today -- the organization that causes the problem has also manufactured the solution. Oh, capitalism...when will we defeat you?
A group in the San Fran Bay Area has risen up against NBCAM, Toxic Links Coalition. (I'm not sure if they exist anymore...couldn't find much on the interwebs.) Their focus is that prevention is better than early detection. Their goal is to expose the icky roots of NBCAM, AstraZeneca, and other corporations that contribute to cancer-causing toxins.
Perhaps this is your first thought. It was mine, as well, as I started reading an article entitled "Resisting "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month': The Rhetoric of Counterpublics and their Cultural Performances" for my writing studies class. Don't worry -- this post won't get into the rhetorical strategies analyzed by the article or the notion of a counterpublic. It's just about cancer.
You probably know what NBCAM does: their motto is "early detection is the best prevention." They get a bunch of people to wear pink and talk about breast cancer without being embarrassed. They encourage women to get mammograms. They talk about the rates of hereditary breast cancer. All this stuff is great!
However, the motives and foundations of NBCAM are pretty shady. NBCAM is sponsored by AstraZeneca -- yeah, that huge (one of the top three in the world) pharmaceutical company. They started screening women for breast cancer back in the late 80s (pre-merger, when the company was just "Zeneca") primarily because early detection is way cheaper for the company's insurance bill. Goal #1 was economic, not humanitarian.
The other issue is the products of AstraZeneca: they sell the world's best selling cancer drug and they're one of the largest producers of pesticides in the US.
Why do the pesticides matter? Because they give us cancer. According to the article, even if we go with the (super-low skeptic's) estimate the 2% of cancers are due to environmental factors, those pesticides are still contributing to the deaths of 10,940 people per year.
Therefore, AstraZeneca is profiting all-around from the cancer cycle: they profit from the cause of cancer, they profit from the detection of cancer, and they profit from the treatment of cancer. DANG.
So yes, although NBCAM has helped breast cancer awareness make great strides, I just can't support it because of its sponsors. This pattern repeats itself all over society today -- the organization that causes the problem has also manufactured the solution. Oh, capitalism...when will we defeat you?
A group in the San Fran Bay Area has risen up against NBCAM, Toxic Links Coalition. (I'm not sure if they exist anymore...couldn't find much on the interwebs.) Their focus is that prevention is better than early detection. Their goal is to expose the icky roots of NBCAM, AstraZeneca, and other corporations that contribute to cancer-causing toxins.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
evaluation of educational programs class
DANG! This one seems awesome. It has a good mix of Master's and Ph D students, and the coteaching professors have a nice balance. One has an evaluation background and the other has a curriculum background -- hopefully the curriculum prof will keep it grounded in practical application. But they both seem awesome, and the class has a good vibe -- very informal, yet very focused on the course content. The back-and-forth between the professors is complementary -- I would love to coteach someday with someone and pull it off like they do.
And we practiced by evaluating chocolate chip cookies! The way to win students over is definitely delicious food that pertains to the content :)
Notable moments from the class:
And we practiced by evaluating chocolate chip cookies! The way to win students over is definitely delicious food that pertains to the content :)
Notable moments from the class:
- It seems like several people have had experience with scripted curriculum. I always knew that these existed and was horrified by them, but I was disgusted anew today. If it came down between not having a teaching gig at all and working at a school with a scripted curriculum, I would probably rather be unemployed.
- I'm interested in evaluating higher education programs for preservice teachers, as I would eventually like to teach undergrad preservice teachers. At the same time, I dislike the notion of merit pay or judging teachers solely on their students' performance. I didn't realize (until this class) that evaluating higher ed programs for preservice teachers could possibly be doing just that -- judging the teacher on the student's performance. Hmm. I will have to think critically and carefully about what goes in to the preservice teacher program evaluations, and the purpose of them -- would my evaluation lead to improving the programs? Would it simply judge them? Would it unfairly judge the professors?
- This last part can't be explored in one post, or even in one lifetime: What is the purpose of schooling? (similar to the ideas I began exploring in my "what is a graduate education?" post, but this is the historical perspective)
- Initially (and still in many institutions today), it was the "Old Humanist" perspective. Education is in place to teach traditional academics. This probably falls in line most closely with the banking method of teaching -- you are an empty mind who has come to me, the all-knowing teacher, to be filled with knowledge.
- Then it moved to the social efficiency model, which had economic connections. You should be educated so that you can best perform your job. The professors didn't mention when this idea was popular, but I'm betting that it was around the time cars were invented and Ford's assembly-line model became popularized. You are educated just enough to be economically valuable, and (I'm hypothesizing), you are taught how to be a good member of society: how to shut up, sit down, and not think independently.
- Next was the developmentalist, "child centered" focus. I didn't quite catch this -- I think it means to educate the student according to their level of development.
- And the social Meliorist/social reconstructionist view: schools should be focused on the betterment of society. Apparently this was popular until the 1930s, and then was viewed as socialist and quickly became very unpopular.
I feel that, today, many of the professional development resources I've encountered push for the social efficiency model, and I never really thought much about their motives. (I would consider my teaching style somewhere between the social efficiency and social Meliorist models.) All of the PD that pushes for "21st century skills" is all about the social efficiency: how will these students need to behave in the workplace, and how can we best prepare them for it? Teamwork, collaboration, technology skills, ability to adapt to new technologies, creativity, ingenuity -- these are all highly praised by the "21st century skills" PD people. And it's making me realize that I've never attended a corporate professional development workshop on how to create a classroom of students who will help the world become a better place.
Luckily, the school that I taught at WAS focused on the importance of the social Meliorist model (although we never use those terms), and we had a few PD sessions done by external and internal people on how our curricula can improve society. Go us!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
a grad class as i imagined it
After the early afternoon class horror show, I was reeeeally hoping that my last class of the day would be at the appropriate level for me. And, YAY! It was! It's a course on the Trends and Issues in Elementary Language Arts/Literacies. There's a nice mix of doctoral and Master's students (well, just a few Master's kids, but a few is better than none!) and many of them are currently teaching.
THAT is how I hoped and imagined grad school would be: current teachers, doc researchers, and ex-teachers (like myself) sitting around and discussing issues related to education. We read some stuff prior to class and spent some class time relating the points in the readings to our experiences. We talked about actual examples of things that go on in classrooms, struggles we had, successes we found, and so on. Okay, cool -- this is the stuff that (as it progresses) has the potential to concretely make me in to a better teacher. Sweet!
A friend posted this link on facebook. Some of it seems right on, and some of it is questionable. But now it's time to do the dishes.
Thing to study and comment on later: http://www.mastersdegree.net/grade-inflation/
Another thing to think about later: Leaving murdered bugs on the bathroom floor: does it REALLY deter more bugs from coming inside?
THAT is how I hoped and imagined grad school would be: current teachers, doc researchers, and ex-teachers (like myself) sitting around and discussing issues related to education. We read some stuff prior to class and spent some class time relating the points in the readings to our experiences. We talked about actual examples of things that go on in classrooms, struggles we had, successes we found, and so on. Okay, cool -- this is the stuff that (as it progresses) has the potential to concretely make me in to a better teacher. Sweet!
A friend posted this link on facebook. Some of it seems right on, and some of it is questionable. But now it's time to do the dishes.
Thing to study and comment on later: http://www.mastersdegree.net/grade-inflation/
Another thing to think about later: Leaving murdered bugs on the bathroom floor: does it REALLY deter more bugs from coming inside?
a master's kid in a ph.d world
As soon as I got back from this class, I went straight for the nutella. I desperately needed comfort food.
It wasn't a class I had registered for. After not loving that Soc class yesterday, I decided I wanted to keep my options open. I looked for more classes and found this cross-listed writing studies/curriculum and instruction course. The class was full, but I emailed the prof and she was gracious enough to say sure! come to class! oh, btw, everyone else will have read this book that I told them about a week ago. And it's not in the bookstore. But no biggie!
However, it was a biggie. A big biggie. Everyone else in the class (with the exception of 1 person, maybe) was a doctoral student, and they almost all had experience with doing research. I felt so incredibly lost. I have not had a tenth of the academic experiences that these people have, and it would have significantly impacted my performance in the class. Needless to say, I will not be going back.
As I was riding my bike home, I thought about why this class was so different than the two I've gone to and will continue attending. A big part of it is the expectation that I'm already doing a certain type of work, and this class will be a continuation, not a beginning. The nutella is helping me remember that I'm not dumb, I'm just a first year Master's student. And that is a significantly different place to be at than a fourth year doc student.
It also makes me wonder about the non-academic experiences that these people may have had (or not had). In my program (I can't really call it a cohort), I am one of 4 students who is not seeking a Master's + certification. That means (most likely), that there are only 4 people who have taught before (if that; I've spoken with two of the others: one hasn't done any teaching, and the other taught for 6 months.) I'm in an odd place. In some classes and in some ways, I feel like my teaching experience puts me at a major advantage; in other classes, my noobie-ness is terribly apparent.
Ah well. Someday I'll be at that doc level. Many, many years from now.
It wasn't a class I had registered for. After not loving that Soc class yesterday, I decided I wanted to keep my options open. I looked for more classes and found this cross-listed writing studies/curriculum and instruction course. The class was full, but I emailed the prof and she was gracious enough to say sure! come to class! oh, btw, everyone else will have read this book that I told them about a week ago. And it's not in the bookstore. But no biggie!
However, it was a biggie. A big biggie. Everyone else in the class (with the exception of 1 person, maybe) was a doctoral student, and they almost all had experience with doing research. I felt so incredibly lost. I have not had a tenth of the academic experiences that these people have, and it would have significantly impacted my performance in the class. Needless to say, I will not be going back.
As I was riding my bike home, I thought about why this class was so different than the two I've gone to and will continue attending. A big part of it is the expectation that I'm already doing a certain type of work, and this class will be a continuation, not a beginning. The nutella is helping me remember that I'm not dumb, I'm just a first year Master's student. And that is a significantly different place to be at than a fourth year doc student.
It also makes me wonder about the non-academic experiences that these people may have had (or not had). In my program (I can't really call it a cohort), I am one of 4 students who is not seeking a Master's + certification. That means (most likely), that there are only 4 people who have taught before (if that; I've spoken with two of the others: one hasn't done any teaching, and the other taught for 6 months.) I'm in an odd place. In some classes and in some ways, I feel like my teaching experience puts me at a major advantage; in other classes, my noobie-ness is terribly apparent.
Ah well. Someday I'll be at that doc level. Many, many years from now.
citations
A teacher mentioned his preferred citation style in class the other day (University of Chicago), and he commented that the various citation styles influence the style of the piece of writing and the thought process of the author. I have absolutely zero idea what this means. I know that MLA and APA exist; I now know that University of Chicago style exists; and I am pretty sure that when I was in undergrad, I just used a mish-mash of styles or 'my own' citation style. So, although this is not very interesting to me (at all), I should definitely learn what these different styles are and how they affect the writing.
(Why can't we just throw down our own ideas and call it a day? Who cares about being cited, getting credited for the ideas? This is what irks me about higher education -- it's more about competition than collaboration. Someone should do a study to find out whether competition or collaboration results in higher student achievement.)
(Why can't we just throw down our own ideas and call it a day? Who cares about being cited, getting credited for the ideas? This is what irks me about higher education -- it's more about competition than collaboration. Someone should do a study to find out whether competition or collaboration results in higher student achievement.)
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
what is a graduate education?
This is a topic I want to explore more in-depth when I have time (I'm currently scrambling to do readings that the professor assigned before the first day of class). After attending two more "syllabus day" classes, I started to consider what the graduate college wants out of me, and what I want out of it.
What I want:
What I want:
- to become a better teacher. This includes studying a little bit of theory (but ONLY when discussing it in the context of actual experiences) and a lot of practical stuff. I want strategies. I want examples of successful assessments. I want to study and poke holes in grading systems. I want to think about all the crap I did wrong when I was teaching and to figure out how I'm going to do it better when I go back to teaching in a few years.
- to prepare myself for my Ph.D. Although this is probably a few years (or many years) away, I have a lot of questions to ask. I want to eventually teach pre-service teachers at the college level, and I think that a lot of universities do a shit job of this. I want to figure out how to do it right.
- One of the classes I went to today (EPSY 400) allows grad students who are taking it for 4 credit hours to do a research project proposal on any topic that relates to learning. I was a bit hesitant about staying in the class (I loathe syllabus days), but this totally open ended project has me hooked. I've got a dozen ideas already, but I'll probably end up studying preservice teacher programs -- as in, what kind of program produces better teachers: theory-based or practical-based? (That definitely needs rewording. I don't remember how to write academically yet.)
What does grad school want out of me? Thus far, it seems to vary depending on the class...
- Writing Studies wants me to be creative, to explore metawriting, and to learn about writing in the context of a buncha sweet topics (social protest, veganism advertising, feminist rhetoric). It wants me to learn about what I want to learn about (in the context of texts).
- Psychology of Learning in Education wants me to know who's who in the land of educational psychologists. It wants me to fight about Piaget and Vygotsky's theories. It wants me to fall in love with the Japanese school system. And the best part, as I mentioned above, it wants me to explore my own ideas in relation to learning.
- In case you couldn't tell, I seriously can't wait to get started on that proposal. I think it will be hugely helpful since I want to write a dissertation next year.
- Okay, so to recap: thus far, the coolest parts of grad school are where I get to learn about stuff I'm personally interested in and do projects on them. Basically, stuff I always wanted to do when I was teaching, but didn't have the time or support for.
- Sociology of Education: hmm. I think this class wants me to be a sociologist first and an educator second. It wants me to write summaries, which, as a teacher, I kind of cringe at (great for a starter, but c'mon, let me do some critical thinking!) I think....that this class wants me to drop it. Ah well, that's why I signed up for 2 extra classes anyway.
first day
School related: had one class yesterday, Writing Studies, with a prof I had in undergrad. I decided to take a class with him because he was awesome at inspiring creativity, and I want to study that for when I teach again. He's really open about the syllabus, very flexible, and makes students feel good about having their own, off-the-beaten-path ideas.
When I had him, 6 or 7 years ago, it was the first class he'd ever taught, and I learned so much about how to be a first year teacher from him. (Of course, I forgot it all and didn't do anything like him during my first year.) He revised the syllabus with us when we were bored or stuck, he listened very carefully to all of our suggestions, and he really made us feel like we owned the class. We definitely enjoyed his class, and that ownership/happiness lead to a lot of creative projects.
It seems like this class will work pretty much just like the other class I had with him - yay!
Not school related: Paid tuition. Holy shiza. I feel like a grownup. Made a budget. I've had budgets before, but I never actually needed to stick to them, haha. I'm going to try to keep my monthly spending below $840 -- including rent, groceries, utilities, going out to eat, phone bill, everything. I might have to adjust that, but it's the goal.
I've been working out pretty much, almost every day -- running, swimming at the ARC outdoor pool, and playing racquetball (my arm is sooooo soooooooore). I can see how it would be VERY easy to be VERY sedentary as a grad student -- sleep late (my earliest class is 1pm), read, class, sleep.
Also, it's easy to spend all morning doing non-school stuff -- wedding planning, laying around, budgeting, whatever. I'm going to have to keep track of my time once the reading gets more intense.
When I had him, 6 or 7 years ago, it was the first class he'd ever taught, and I learned so much about how to be a first year teacher from him. (Of course, I forgot it all and didn't do anything like him during my first year.) He revised the syllabus with us when we were bored or stuck, he listened very carefully to all of our suggestions, and he really made us feel like we owned the class. We definitely enjoyed his class, and that ownership/happiness lead to a lot of creative projects.
It seems like this class will work pretty much just like the other class I had with him - yay!
Not school related: Paid tuition. Holy shiza. I feel like a grownup. Made a budget. I've had budgets before, but I never actually needed to stick to them, haha. I'm going to try to keep my monthly spending below $840 -- including rent, groceries, utilities, going out to eat, phone bill, everything. I might have to adjust that, but it's the goal.
I've been working out pretty much, almost every day -- running, swimming at the ARC outdoor pool, and playing racquetball (my arm is sooooo soooooooore). I can see how it would be VERY easy to be VERY sedentary as a grad student -- sleep late (my earliest class is 1pm), read, class, sleep.
Also, it's easy to spend all morning doing non-school stuff -- wedding planning, laying around, budgeting, whatever. I'm going to have to keep track of my time once the reading gets more intense.
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