Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
2
Almost there. It's weird, leaving a place you've been for a month. I keep looking around and thinking that this is probably the last time I'll be here. I mean, maybe I'll come back to Boone to visit or do something with ASU, but probably not. I remember when I left Arizona, I didn't think much of it. When I left Portland, I was sad; I didn't think I'd ever make it back (Amanda and I went in 2008, though). Leaving Worcester, I was just glad to be getting out of there, but I've been here in Boone long enough to feel a little sad about it.
That being said, I'm out of here at 10:30 sharp tomorrow.
That being said, I'm out of here at 10:30 sharp tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
3
Good day yesterday. Only two more nights to sleep in my Kellogg bed, which looks and feels like it was made from foam rubber and duct tape.
Hunter spoke for the entirety of yesterday's session. The morning was primarily on the idea of I-E-O, which stands for input/environment/output. The idea is that when comparing two schools, one should take into account all three factors. Two schools that both graduate 90% of their nursing students might not be equal if one accepts students with significantly lower GPAs.
The most interesting thing he said in the afternoon was that he's never been able to find any correlation between a person's degree and their success in teaching (as measured by getting students to pass subsequent college level courses). He said one of the best teachers he's ever come across was a math teacher in New Mexico whose only credential was a BA in philosophy.
Today: guest speaker/Michael Collins
9 - 11:30 / Jobs for the future
2 / mtg with advisor
later, packing. :)
Hunter spoke for the entirety of yesterday's session. The morning was primarily on the idea of I-E-O, which stands for input/environment/output. The idea is that when comparing two schools, one should take into account all three factors. Two schools that both graduate 90% of their nursing students might not be equal if one accepts students with significantly lower GPAs.
The most interesting thing he said in the afternoon was that he's never been able to find any correlation between a person's degree and their success in teaching (as measured by getting students to pass subsequent college level courses). He said one of the best teachers he's ever come across was a math teacher in New Mexico whose only credential was a BA in philosophy.
Today: guest speaker/Michael Collins
9 - 11:30 / Jobs for the future
2 / mtg with advisor
later, packing. :)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
4
Yesterday was good. Hunter entered to the theme from Superman, and that sort of set the tone. He had this really nice speech at the beginning where he talked about the opportunity that college represented for people and cautioned everyone not to let anyone ever belittle the students we work with. I never really see him get worked up about anything other than when he recounts stories of it when someone downplayed developmental education or the students working through those course.
The day started with a fairly basic review - the differences between assessment and evaluation (short answer: assessment is what other people do to you, evaluation is what you do for yourself), formative and summative processes, etc. We then moved into identifying the values we bring in to the workplace and talked about "measuring what we value rather than valuing what we can measure."
It was more less a natural progression, which I enjoyed. Figuring out what you value about your work isn't terribly hard after thinking about it. Then it's just a matter of measuring it and sharing it with people. Hunter said the industry standard for developmental courses is figuring out which percentage of your students go on to take a college course and earn a "C" or better. And that eliminates the FGCU problem (as I've called it - students who simply go to Edison for developmental course, never intending to take college credit at Edison) - if we had 100 students take a developmental course, and only 50 of them took a college credit course at Edison, and only 40 passed it, our passing rate would be 80%, not 40%.
Today is:
9-11:45 / Evaluation
1 - 4 / A model for evaluating developmental programs
From what he said yesterday, this is essentially the process of going back to the campus and eyeballing "what works."
The day started with a fairly basic review - the differences between assessment and evaluation (short answer: assessment is what other people do to you, evaluation is what you do for yourself), formative and summative processes, etc. We then moved into identifying the values we bring in to the workplace and talked about "measuring what we value rather than valuing what we can measure."
It was more less a natural progression, which I enjoyed. Figuring out what you value about your work isn't terribly hard after thinking about it. Then it's just a matter of measuring it and sharing it with people. Hunter said the industry standard for developmental courses is figuring out which percentage of your students go on to take a college course and earn a "C" or better. And that eliminates the FGCU problem (as I've called it - students who simply go to Edison for developmental course, never intending to take college credit at Edison) - if we had 100 students take a developmental course, and only 50 of them took a college credit course at Edison, and only 40 passed it, our passing rate would be 80%, not 40%.
Today is:
9-11:45 / Evaluation
1 - 4 / A model for evaluating developmental programs
From what he said yesterday, this is essentially the process of going back to the campus and eyeballing "what works."
Monday, July 19, 2010
5
Last week at Kellogg. It's sort of a weird experience, all this winding down. I can't wait to get home, but I'm going to miss the people here. And the place - Boone is beautiful, and there's plenty of undiscovered country left.
Speaking of: on Friday, Jason, his friend from NY, and I went into Banner Elk, NC in search of Banner Elk Falls. After a bit of meandering, we found it roughly near the TN border. A short hike, and we were on the top end of about a 60' falls. There were some people down below, swimming and sunning in the pool at the bottom. There were jumpers. Someone had set up a series of ropes, so people could shimmy up the side of the cliff (quite an angle; not as hard as it seems) to climb out onto the natural ledges. There was one at about 20', one at about 40', and then the top. We jumped once from the 20', and then wandered down river, not finding much, and returning.
Other than that, the weekend was sedate. Laundry, television on my computer, and random meals (Black Cat, some Mexican place, Mellow Mushroom...)
Today:
9-11:45 / The Evaluation Mystique
1-4 / Purposes of evaluation
Speaking of: on Friday, Jason, his friend from NY, and I went into Banner Elk, NC in search of Banner Elk Falls. After a bit of meandering, we found it roughly near the TN border. A short hike, and we were on the top end of about a 60' falls. There were some people down below, swimming and sunning in the pool at the bottom. There were jumpers. Someone had set up a series of ropes, so people could shimmy up the side of the cliff (quite an angle; not as hard as it seems) to climb out onto the natural ledges. There was one at about 20', one at about 40', and then the top. We jumped once from the 20', and then wandered down river, not finding much, and returning.
Other than that, the weekend was sedate. Laundry, television on my computer, and random meals (Black Cat, some Mexican place, Mellow Mushroom...)
Today:
9-11:45 / The Evaluation Mystique
1-4 / Purposes of evaluation
Friday, July 16, 2010
If I had a hammer
Well, it was indeed a long day yesterday; went well, though.
We had two days of diversity training, and Dr. Tafari said that was probably a good thing because that's about all most people can handle. When he first said that, I wasn't sure I agreed with him, but I think he's on to something. Toward the end of the second day, people weren't really able to discuss things objectively, and most people were simply sharing personal experiences. Not that that's not valuable in and of itself, but that's no long diversity training, that's some sort of process group. I don't think he meant that people can;t handle extended periods of diversity training because they get angry or resentful or hurt or anything; I think maybe he meant that people just can't stay focused on something like this for that long. And he didn't call it diversity training; he called it humanity training, which wasn't nearly as ominous as I had feared.
Humanity training, as he calls it, is really just a way of approaching diversity training from a more individual (external) perspective. We've seen this, to some degree. It's not like a person who immigrated from Haiti is claiming an African-American perspective. And it's not like a white guy from New York City really has the perspective of a white guy who grew up in rural Georgia. His bottom line was that you never really know what someone else's perspective is like unless you ask them, which sounds like pretty good advice.
Todays concludes week 3.
9-11:30 / The critical multicultural imperative
If it's anything like critical theory, I predict a rough 2 1/2 hours, but I'm curious to see where it all goes.
This afternoon, I might head into Banner Elk Falls with Jason and a guy he knew in college (who's flying in this morning). Otherwise, I'm hoping for a fairly sedate weekend. Next week is the big coup de grace - Hunter Boylan's week, I guess they had no choice but to save it for last, but I have to think most of our heads will be elsewhere - we return home a week from today.
We had two days of diversity training, and Dr. Tafari said that was probably a good thing because that's about all most people can handle. When he first said that, I wasn't sure I agreed with him, but I think he's on to something. Toward the end of the second day, people weren't really able to discuss things objectively, and most people were simply sharing personal experiences. Not that that's not valuable in and of itself, but that's no long diversity training, that's some sort of process group. I don't think he meant that people can;t handle extended periods of diversity training because they get angry or resentful or hurt or anything; I think maybe he meant that people just can't stay focused on something like this for that long. And he didn't call it diversity training; he called it humanity training, which wasn't nearly as ominous as I had feared.
Humanity training, as he calls it, is really just a way of approaching diversity training from a more individual (external) perspective. We've seen this, to some degree. It's not like a person who immigrated from Haiti is claiming an African-American perspective. And it's not like a white guy from New York City really has the perspective of a white guy who grew up in rural Georgia. His bottom line was that you never really know what someone else's perspective is like unless you ask them, which sounds like pretty good advice.
Todays concludes week 3.
9-11:30 / The critical multicultural imperative
If it's anything like critical theory, I predict a rough 2 1/2 hours, but I'm curious to see where it all goes.
This afternoon, I might head into Banner Elk Falls with Jason and a guy he knew in college (who's flying in this morning). Otherwise, I'm hoping for a fairly sedate weekend. Next week is the big coup de grace - Hunter Boylan's week, I guess they had no choice but to save it for last, but I have to think most of our heads will be elsewhere - we return home a week from today.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Gratitude walks
Long day today:
9-11:30 / Issues in diversity
1- 4 / Diversity/Validation/Conclusion
5:45 / Group meeting with advisor
This weeks has sort of flown by. The first two weeks were blocks of one person - week one being Ed Morante and week two being Barbara Bonham. This week will wind up having three lecturers, with the third coming Friday.
Of all the things I've learned, I'm leaning toward assessment and placement being the most intriguing, and the most likely intervention to cause positive change with minimal investment. It all makes sense; begin at the beginning.
Next week is the last one; it's the session led by Hunter Boylan.
It's starting to cool down again in Boone. Last night was beautiful, a definite mountain breeze blowing through campus. It was supposed to rain all week, but it's only rained a day so far.
9-11:30 / Issues in diversity
1- 4 / Diversity/Validation/Conclusion
5:45 / Group meeting with advisor
This weeks has sort of flown by. The first two weeks were blocks of one person - week one being Ed Morante and week two being Barbara Bonham. This week will wind up having three lecturers, with the third coming Friday.
Of all the things I've learned, I'm leaning toward assessment and placement being the most intriguing, and the most likely intervention to cause positive change with minimal investment. It all makes sense; begin at the beginning.
Next week is the last one; it's the session led by Hunter Boylan.
It's starting to cool down again in Boone. Last night was beautiful, a definite mountain breeze blowing through campus. It was supposed to rain all week, but it's only rained a day so far.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Rollercoaster
The Issues in Diversity day went incredibly well, mostly due to the presenter, who was top notch. Dr. Nwachi Tafari led the session, and he's onto something new, in my opinion. He's really expanded the definition of diversity and taken it to new and interesting places.
He's taken the notions of identity, and external and internal perspectives, and come up with a way of approaching the topic that I found to be very useful and interesting. He doesn't make any concessions, but he's sort of levelled the playing field, so to speak.
Normally, I think of diversity training as sort of a routine physical - you have to do it, it's good for you, but it's usually of little use. Tafari's presentation was useful.
I can feel Kellogg winding down, and I'm really anxious to get home to my family. I'll miss this place, though, The people up here have taught me quite a bit. We ran an ad hoc group this evening regarding ADA issues. I ran the legal perspective, and a woman named Annabelle ran the clinical perspective. About half the group came to the "really, it's optional" session, and it seemed to go well.
Tomorrow night I have dinner with my practicum advisor, so that'll be nice/weird. He seems like a really good guy, smart, too.
He's taken the notions of identity, and external and internal perspectives, and come up with a way of approaching the topic that I found to be very useful and interesting. He doesn't make any concessions, but he's sort of levelled the playing field, so to speak.
Normally, I think of diversity training as sort of a routine physical - you have to do it, it's good for you, but it's usually of little use. Tafari's presentation was useful.
I can feel Kellogg winding down, and I'm really anxious to get home to my family. I'll miss this place, though, The people up here have taught me quite a bit. We ran an ad hoc group this evening regarding ADA issues. I ran the legal perspective, and a woman named Annabelle ran the clinical perspective. About half the group came to the "really, it's optional" session, and it seemed to go well.
Tomorrow night I have dinner with my practicum advisor, so that'll be nice/weird. He seems like a really good guy, smart, too.
24
Played poker last night with a ten dollar buy-in; lost eight. Today is Issues in Diversity, which is usually interesting, sometimes a train wreck, but always important to talk about. We've sort of been ramping up to this, with some people challenging the preconceived notions of others. Regardless:
9 - 11:30 / Issues in diversity (defining/humanity training/identity)
Humanity training, to me, sounds ominous.
Today's a half day, which means we're out by 11:30. I have plenty of work to do on my prospectus, so I'll probably come back to the down after lunch, take a nap, and then start on the thing. I have about $110 left on my food card here at ASU; I started with $250. That seems about like the right place. IN the beginning, I was burning through the card at a rate of 15 or 20 a day - clearly unsustainable, but as I grew to know the town, I started eating out more and eating in the cafeteria less. I had dinner in the cafeteria last night, and I was sorely disappointed.
The place closes at 7, but they really start shutting down at six. So, by the time I got there at 6:10, Fake Moe's had shut down, Fake Subway had a sign up saying they were out of break, and the 'family dining' place had some weird turkey thing they were selling. There was one slice of cheese pizza left, but the guy ahead of me grabbed it and all that was left was pepperoni. That was probably a good thing because I would have eaten the pizza, and it looked really awful. I had a salad and breadsticks. An hour later, I had Taco Bell.
9 - 11:30 / Issues in diversity (defining/humanity training/identity)
Humanity training, to me, sounds ominous.
Today's a half day, which means we're out by 11:30. I have plenty of work to do on my prospectus, so I'll probably come back to the down after lunch, take a nap, and then start on the thing. I have about $110 left on my food card here at ASU; I started with $250. That seems about like the right place. IN the beginning, I was burning through the card at a rate of 15 or 20 a day - clearly unsustainable, but as I grew to know the town, I started eating out more and eating in the cafeteria less. I had dinner in the cafeteria last night, and I was sorely disappointed.
The place closes at 7, but they really start shutting down at six. So, by the time I got there at 6:10, Fake Moe's had shut down, Fake Subway had a sign up saying they were out of break, and the 'family dining' place had some weird turkey thing they were selling. There was one slice of cheese pizza left, but the guy ahead of me grabbed it and all that was left was pepperoni. That was probably a good thing because I would have eaten the pizza, and it looked really awful. I had a salad and breadsticks. An hour later, I had Taco Bell.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Summer dress
Running a little late this morning. Class doesn't start for an hour, but I have some reading I'd like to do before it gets started. Watched Two Million Minutes last night, which compares education in the US, China, and India.
Spoiler alert: It ain't lookin' too good for the US.
Great film, but honestly, it left me with more questions than answers. I think it's fair to say that India and China are doing some things far better than the US, but I'm not so sure we're talking apples and oranges. More later. Today:
9-11:30 / Learning assistance services
1-4 / con't
7 / Optional session on victim mentalities
Spoiler alert: It ain't lookin' too good for the US.
Great film, but honestly, it left me with more questions than answers. I think it's fair to say that India and China are doing some things far better than the US, but I'm not so sure we're talking apples and oranges. More later. Today:
9-11:30 / Learning assistance services
1-4 / con't
7 / Optional session on victim mentalities
Monday, July 12, 2010
Strawberry Hill
Odd day, but alright. It rained most of the day, and everyone was feeling pretty lethargic. Joshua just walked in a second ago and said "what happened to your carpet?" It's getting more wrinkled. I don't know how they're going to fix this one; it looks pretty rough. Still. I persevere.
It started out pretty general, and I wasn't sure I'd get much out of it. Our presenter for today and tomorrow is the incoming president of NADE - Jane Neuburger. She seems pretty on top of things, and as the day progressed, she started giving out pretty practical nuts-and-bolts types of things that I think would work well.
Her big schema was that classroom environment plus excellence in instruction plus academic supports plus affective supports equals student success (which is more of a mouthful than comedy = tragedy + time, but it's still probably a truism of sorts). I think this formula stands to reason, really. I think the problem our institution is having is making sense of the whole. Even if we're all on the same page, the student isn't going to necessarily perceive it that way. For example, to have a professor work with the writing center and career services in order to help a student write a cover letter is a great thing, but not fully effective if the student views all three things as discrete functions. And I think we're sometimes discrete functions, and even when we're not, the students perceive the functions as discrete.
Regardless, she said: innovate, take risks, evaluate using data.
I'm interested to see what tomorrow brings. This is also the diversity week, and everyone is gearing up for the diversity discussion. Discussions on diversity are absolutely necessary and usually pretty painful to sit through. I'm curious to see how this one goes.
Not sure what to have for dinner. I had a waffle for breakfast. It was a big Belgian style waffle with the Appalachian "A" branded on it. Lunch was fake Subway.
It started out pretty general, and I wasn't sure I'd get much out of it. Our presenter for today and tomorrow is the incoming president of NADE - Jane Neuburger. She seems pretty on top of things, and as the day progressed, she started giving out pretty practical nuts-and-bolts types of things that I think would work well.
Her big schema was that classroom environment plus excellence in instruction plus academic supports plus affective supports equals student success (which is more of a mouthful than comedy = tragedy + time, but it's still probably a truism of sorts). I think this formula stands to reason, really. I think the problem our institution is having is making sense of the whole. Even if we're all on the same page, the student isn't going to necessarily perceive it that way. For example, to have a professor work with the writing center and career services in order to help a student write a cover letter is a great thing, but not fully effective if the student views all three things as discrete functions. And I think we're sometimes discrete functions, and even when we're not, the students perceive the functions as discrete.
Regardless, she said: innovate, take risks, evaluate using data.
I'm interested to see what tomorrow brings. This is also the diversity week, and everyone is gearing up for the diversity discussion. Discussions on diversity are absolutely necessary and usually pretty painful to sit through. I'm curious to see how this one goes.
Not sure what to have for dinner. I had a waffle for breakfast. It was a big Belgian style waffle with the Appalachian "A" branded on it. Lunch was fake Subway.
Cabezon
Long weekend and a good one. Last week was really a couple of different topics blended together under the concept of learning environments. Most of it was instructional design, but there were other things tossed in there, like classroom assessment and theories of learning. The people that spend the majority of their time in the classroom seemed to enjoy week two more, and the people (like myself) that spend the majority of their time out of the classroom seemed to enjoy week one more. I thought week one alone was worth the price of admission, honestly.
That's not to say I didn't really enjoy week two, but I do have to admit that I found myself more interested when Barbara was talking more globally and less about specific classroom techniques. I'm going to change a few things based on what I heard, and once I get those synthesized in my head, I'll share them.
The big surprises of the week for me were: Barbara's all for holding the line on cell phone use in class; she ain't havin' it. The only time I ever even saw a hint of frustration cross her face was when someone asked about cell phone policies. And that "they're using it as a learning tool" didn't seem to hold much weight with her. Also - she's very skeptical of electronic learning as it pertains to developmental education. Not against it, but skeptical.
Over the weekend I went ziplining at this place called Hawks Nest Ziplining in Seven Devils, NC. Last week, a bunch of people went hiking, and I didn't, and afterwards I was thinking that I probably just should have gone because everyone had a good time. I decided to sign up for the next thing regardless of what it was, but then it was "ziplining," and I wasn't so sure. I'm pretty afraid of heights. And I figured it's probably only about as dangerous as a roller coaster, so even though I thought I might back out at the last minute, I went anyway, and it was really fun. It was basically ten ziplines across some hills, streams, etc. The longest line was 1,800 feet, and the tallest one was about 150 feet. Most were shorter and lower - probably averaging about fifty or sixty feet off the ground.
I did that on Saturday. On Sunday, just because, I googled "zipline" and "accident." I may have been wrong with my roller coaster comparison. Lots of missing hands.
This is week three; I'm fully over the halfway mark. This week is "academic support services and diversity issue." For today:
9 - 11:30 / Learning assistance services
1-4 / con't
That's not to say I didn't really enjoy week two, but I do have to admit that I found myself more interested when Barbara was talking more globally and less about specific classroom techniques. I'm going to change a few things based on what I heard, and once I get those synthesized in my head, I'll share them.
The big surprises of the week for me were: Barbara's all for holding the line on cell phone use in class; she ain't havin' it. The only time I ever even saw a hint of frustration cross her face was when someone asked about cell phone policies. And that "they're using it as a learning tool" didn't seem to hold much weight with her. Also - she's very skeptical of electronic learning as it pertains to developmental education. Not against it, but skeptical.
Over the weekend I went ziplining at this place called Hawks Nest Ziplining in Seven Devils, NC. Last week, a bunch of people went hiking, and I didn't, and afterwards I was thinking that I probably just should have gone because everyone had a good time. I decided to sign up for the next thing regardless of what it was, but then it was "ziplining," and I wasn't so sure. I'm pretty afraid of heights. And I figured it's probably only about as dangerous as a roller coaster, so even though I thought I might back out at the last minute, I went anyway, and it was really fun. It was basically ten ziplines across some hills, streams, etc. The longest line was 1,800 feet, and the tallest one was about 150 feet. Most were shorter and lower - probably averaging about fifty or sixty feet off the ground.
I did that on Saturday. On Sunday, just because, I googled "zipline" and "accident." I may have been wrong with my roller coaster comparison. Lots of missing hands.
This is week three; I'm fully over the halfway mark. This week is "academic support services and diversity issue." For today:
9 - 11:30 / Learning assistance services
1-4 / con't
Friday, July 9, 2010
Basic space
Short day today. We finish up "designing learning environments in developmental education," and this includes group project presentations. We did our presentation (Donna, Rosemary, Yoshua, and me) on organizational structures/best practices, and it came out alright, I think. I guess I'll have a better sense once I see some other projects presented.
Class ends at 11:30 and at that point we'll be halfway done with the Kellogg Institute. It went by more quickly than I thought it would.
Some of us are going in to Asheville this afternoon to see a minor league baseball game. I'm still undecided on that, but I might go. Tomorrow is ziplining, which I'm leaning toward attending.
Next week is a grab bag of topics, including academic support services and diversity issues.
Class ends at 11:30 and at that point we'll be halfway done with the Kellogg Institute. It went by more quickly than I thought it would.
Some of us are going in to Asheville this afternoon to see a minor league baseball game. I'm still undecided on that, but I might go. Tomorrow is ziplining, which I'm leaning toward attending.
Next week is a grab bag of topics, including academic support services and diversity issues.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Islands
Away for a day; lots going on and a bit hectic.
I went to the Black Cat for dinner last night, against my better judgement. As it turns out, it went just fine. I ordered a burrito, and it was really good. Red beans, rice, tomatillo salsa, black olives, cheese, and sour cream. Went with Michael, Jerry, and Jason; same waitress, much nicer. Everyone has a bad day, I guess.
Today we continued ID and moved more into classroom assessment. The Institute here is really big on non-cognitive or affective assessment, and nearly everyone presenting was united in the notion that we should place students using these means as well. I read an article Hunter and Ed did together on the use of the LASSI, which was nearly identical to the ideas I had regarding the use of that tool with our math and sls courses.
Heat wave here in Boone - the temperature probably hit ninety today, but there was no humidity, so it was tolerable. I think Jason, Michael, and I are going to the Boone Saloon for dinner around 8. Tonight, I have a few odds and ends to catch up with. Barbara's given us a number of projects to work on throughout the week.
I went to the Black Cat for dinner last night, against my better judgement. As it turns out, it went just fine. I ordered a burrito, and it was really good. Red beans, rice, tomatillo salsa, black olives, cheese, and sour cream. Went with Michael, Jerry, and Jason; same waitress, much nicer. Everyone has a bad day, I guess.
Today we continued ID and moved more into classroom assessment. The Institute here is really big on non-cognitive or affective assessment, and nearly everyone presenting was united in the notion that we should place students using these means as well. I read an article Hunter and Ed did together on the use of the LASSI, which was nearly identical to the ideas I had regarding the use of that tool with our math and sls courses.
Heat wave here in Boone - the temperature probably hit ninety today, but there was no humidity, so it was tolerable. I think Jason, Michael, and I are going to the Boone Saloon for dinner around 8. Tonight, I have a few odds and ends to catch up with. Barbara's given us a number of projects to work on throughout the week.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Morning bell
Hard time waking up the past few days. I think I'm used to the place now, so I'm not as anxious to get up and get started. Today is a short day officially:
9 - 11:30 / Non-cognitive assessments
But then:
2 - 4 / Meeting with advisor
4 - 5 / Small group meeting
I completed the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory last night. Apparently, I'm a conceptual learner. It states: "prefers to work with highly organized language-oriented materials; has no preference for either social or independent approaches; instruction involving lectures and reading will create the closest match."
I suppose that sounds about right, but it's pretty vague. Off to breakfast and class... busy afternoon.
9 - 11:30 / Non-cognitive assessments
But then:
2 - 4 / Meeting with advisor
4 - 5 / Small group meeting
I completed the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory last night. Apparently, I'm a conceptual learner. It states: "prefers to work with highly organized language-oriented materials; has no preference for either social or independent approaches; instruction involving lectures and reading will create the closest match."
I suppose that sounds about right, but it's pretty vague. Off to breakfast and class... busy afternoon.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
There there
I just spent about a half hour typing a really long post that blogger just ate, which is really disappointing. Essentially:
Each class should incorporate belonging, fun, freedom, and power. More on that later.
Barbara is concerned with the advent of online learning. She thinks some people see this as a silver bullet, and it's not.
Online learning still has a prominent seat at the table.
Blogger is unreliable.
Some witty comments about Thai food; a discourse on the non-vegetable nature of the fish.
Modularization may (MAY) lead to a "tsunami" in which we lose a great number of students.
More later, but man - why, Blogger? Why?
Each class should incorporate belonging, fun, freedom, and power. More on that later.
Barbara is concerned with the advent of online learning. She thinks some people see this as a silver bullet, and it's not.
Online learning still has a prominent seat at the table.
Blogger is unreliable.
Some witty comments about Thai food; a discourse on the non-vegetable nature of the fish.
Modularization may (MAY) lead to a "tsunami" in which we lose a great number of students.
More later, but man - why, Blogger? Why?
Anyone can play guitar
For today:
9-11:30 / Philosophical approaches to teaching and learning
1 - 4 / con't
7 - 8 / Optional mini-session
The mini session for tonight is "digital storytelling." Maybe it's as obvious as it seems, but I'm still going to attend.
The weather is still cool, but I fear we're in for some warmer weather. Tomorrow's a short day, but I meet with my advisor at 2PM.
9-11:30 / Philosophical approaches to teaching and learning
1 - 4 / con't
7 - 8 / Optional mini-session
The mini session for tonight is "digital storytelling." Maybe it's as obvious as it seems, but I'm still going to attend.
The weather is still cool, but I fear we're in for some warmer weather. Tomorrow's a short day, but I meet with my advisor at 2PM.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Fitter happier
Last night, Michael propped his door open and soon after, Pat did the same. Later on, Brian and Frank both did, too. Tonight, I propped my door open, and it's sort of nice. I didn't realize it before, but they separated the men and women on the dorm - same floor, but different ends, so on the guy's end, it's a lot of open doors and music sort of drifting out into the hallways as we tap away on our laptops. Jason just wandered down the hall (the youngest of our group at 33) singing "I just died in your arms tonight" and asking who sang it. Cutting Crew, by the way - Jay Z has some sort of weird remake, but I'm down with the original; call me a traditionalist.
Tonight, Dorothy made a huge pasta meal for everyone - pasta, salad, garlic bread, etc. It was really nice - she pulled me aside and said she made a small saucepan of vegetarian sauce. Her main dish had beef, sausage, probably lamb or something else in it - it was kind of a reverse Noah's Ark, but I thought it was really cool of her to make a vegetarian sauce for me and Rosemary, the other difficult eater (although Rosemary just abstains from pork). The alternate sauce she made was essentially a jarred tomato sauce, but with sauteed mushrooms, peppers, garlic, and onions, and it was really good.
I don't like being away from home one bit, and I'm homesick every morning and night, but there's a silver lining here. It's sort of a monastic pursuit. The first day we were here, Hunter said we we're going to spend a month away from our loved ones, sacrificing time with our families and friends, giving up summer's pay (adjunct work), just to spend time away thinking about what we do at work - our craft. It's a bit of a lofty way of putting it, but in many ways it's true. It's people talking about school, labor, the things we do while we work. I know if I lived close to Kellogg, I'd be home every night, like some in our class are. And even knowing the benefits of staying here in the dorms, I'd still go home. But it's kind of interesting not to have that choice - to be stuck here. It's an experience I never would have chosen, but it's worked out really well.
Tonight, Dorothy made a huge pasta meal for everyone - pasta, salad, garlic bread, etc. It was really nice - she pulled me aside and said she made a small saucepan of vegetarian sauce. Her main dish had beef, sausage, probably lamb or something else in it - it was kind of a reverse Noah's Ark, but I thought it was really cool of her to make a vegetarian sauce for me and Rosemary, the other difficult eater (although Rosemary just abstains from pork). The alternate sauce she made was essentially a jarred tomato sauce, but with sauteed mushrooms, peppers, garlic, and onions, and it was really good.
I don't like being away from home one bit, and I'm homesick every morning and night, but there's a silver lining here. It's sort of a monastic pursuit. The first day we were here, Hunter said we we're going to spend a month away from our loved ones, sacrificing time with our families and friends, giving up summer's pay (adjunct work), just to spend time away thinking about what we do at work - our craft. It's a bit of a lofty way of putting it, but in many ways it's true. It's people talking about school, labor, the things we do while we work. I know if I lived close to Kellogg, I'd be home every night, like some in our class are. And even knowing the benefits of staying here in the dorms, I'd still go home. But it's kind of interesting not to have that choice - to be stuck here. It's an experience I never would have chosen, but it's worked out really well.
How to disappear completely
Long day; sort of the shift I was expecting. Designing learning environments really isn't my thing, but I always seem to benefit the most when I'm going against my own grain. When I walked into class, Dr. Bonham had put up posters of butterflies, had Vivaldi playing, stuffed animals strewn about - not really my comfort zone. She has a softer, lilting sort of voice that's really measured. It's an odd mix of comforting and commanding. I was glad when she shifted from the abstracts to more concrete things like non-cognitive obstacles and other miscellanies our students seem to bring in often. But then we watched a youtube video of the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I sort of got lost again.
This week is essentially on instructional design. The term is applied somewhat loosely, though, so I can view ID as something to be used in an orientation or in a departmental culture. The applications get a lot more interesting when you start to look at it that way, in my opinion. We spent the morning simply going over the basic, the 'giants' in the field, and so on.
For lunch, we went to the Boone Drugstore, which is an actual drugstore downtown. It's also an old fashioned drugstore restaurant type of thing. We went as a small group - Jerry, Michael, Joe, Nan, and myself. I had a gardenburger with Swiss and French fries; it was really good. Michael paid for everyone, with the understanding that everyone would owe him a lunch of equal value. He has this idea that money destroys relationships. Not in the arguing over money sense that most people probably think of when they hear that, but in the sense that if everyone goes Dutch all the time, there's no need to keep going. I guess it's like bringing a covered dish to a new neighbor in an actual glass pan or something that they feel obligated to return. I'm not sure I buy the theory, but I'm going to ask Michael to go out to eat on Wednesday, so it's not like I can say it didn't work.
When we returned we broke into small groups; I'm in the campus climate group. I think we're going to interpret the task liberally. More later; laundry.
This week is essentially on instructional design. The term is applied somewhat loosely, though, so I can view ID as something to be used in an orientation or in a departmental culture. The applications get a lot more interesting when you start to look at it that way, in my opinion. We spent the morning simply going over the basic, the 'giants' in the field, and so on.
For lunch, we went to the Boone Drugstore, which is an actual drugstore downtown. It's also an old fashioned drugstore restaurant type of thing. We went as a small group - Jerry, Michael, Joe, Nan, and myself. I had a gardenburger with Swiss and French fries; it was really good. Michael paid for everyone, with the understanding that everyone would owe him a lunch of equal value. He has this idea that money destroys relationships. Not in the arguing over money sense that most people probably think of when they hear that, but in the sense that if everyone goes Dutch all the time, there's no need to keep going. I guess it's like bringing a covered dish to a new neighbor in an actual glass pan or something that they feel obligated to return. I'm not sure I buy the theory, but I'm going to ask Michael to go out to eat on Wednesday, so it's not like I can say it didn't work.
When we returned we broke into small groups; I'm in the campus climate group. I think we're going to interpret the task liberally. More later; laundry.
Song for Myla Goldberg
Nice this morning, slept with the air conditioner off and listened to North Carolinians shoots off fireworks well into the fifth (see what I did there?). Today:
9-11:30 / Overview of week two (Barbara Bonham)
1 - 4 / Intro to group project on teaching and learning
Last week, we all had to choose a special interest group. The options were: administration, math, reading, and writing. Since "things I like on TV" wasn't an option, I went with "administration." The writing teachers here aren't just writing teachers. One guy is "rhetoric," another is a folklorist, and there's several other variations. I really just like the nouns and verbs part. Don't get me wrong - I like writing, and I like to teach writing, but I prefer to talk about grammar, and I couldn't see myself sitting through too many discussions on the tao of the protagonist or the role of the trickster. At least not in a professional setting.
9-11:30 / Overview of week two (Barbara Bonham)
1 - 4 / Intro to group project on teaching and learning
Last week, we all had to choose a special interest group. The options were: administration, math, reading, and writing. Since "things I like on TV" wasn't an option, I went with "administration." The writing teachers here aren't just writing teachers. One guy is "rhetoric," another is a folklorist, and there's several other variations. I really just like the nouns and verbs part. Don't get me wrong - I like writing, and I like to teach writing, but I prefer to talk about grammar, and I couldn't see myself sitting through too many discussions on the tao of the protagonist or the role of the trickster. At least not in a professional setting.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
O Valencia!
Lazy, aimless sort of day in Boone, North Carolina. The big news? Last night, my brother Matthew asked his girlfriend Kassidy to marry him, and she said "yes." Amanda set them up a few years back, and it really worked out well for both of them. Kassidy is a very welcome addition to the family, and I'm really happy for them both.
I finally went to the Black Cat Restaurant downtown, all ready for awesomeness, but was sorely disappointed. I took the scenic route across campus, listening to Radiohead along the way (highlight - when the shuffle played "anyone can play guitar" as the very first song). When got to the restaurant, I asked the girl at the counter if I could sit anywhere I like. She said, "yes," so I took a table in the corner and read emails while I waited. And waited. At that time, I noticed that people were ordering at the counter, which would have been helpful information five minutes earlier.
I sat there for another minute, so it looked like I might have known what I was doing, and then went up to the counter. I asked if I could eat at the bar, and she said yes, and I said "I'll have the nachos." I was going to get a burrito, but by then, I just wanted something quick. She asked what I wanted on them, and I said "chees -" and then she did this thing where her chin went one way and her eyes went in the other direction, and she said "they all come with that," and I said "whatever - cheese, red beans (they were vegetarian - I checked) olives (just black olives, not actually kalamata), red peppers, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, and guacamole." And then I looked at the beer list, and it said "Dos Equis" under the bottled beer section (not drafts - that part's important), and I asked if they had Dos Equis Amber, and she said "yes, but it's in a bottle." And I'm thinking: now is when you're going to get helpful? And I wondered if it was actually amber (in the brown bottle, not that other kind in the green bottle) I paid, the food came, it was mediocre, and that was that. It was Dos Equis Amber, too.
To say the food was mediocre is a bit off - it tasted sort of like Moe's nachos, which I don't care for even though Moe's food is awesome. So, maybe their burritos are good - who knows. Probably not ever me because I don't feel like going back. I mean, maybe I will - Thursday night is live music, but still. Food - two stars; service - no stars.
Tomorrow we start classroom design. I have to say, this looks to be my least favorite part of the seminar, but we'll see. My mind's teflon, but open. Maybe we can incorporate the ideas into orientation?
Anyway, I'm still reading White Noise - I can see why parts of it are called an academic satire. XM's Area channel has this year's Electric Daisy Carnival streaming - I think I'm getting the feed from Puerto Rico.
I finally went to the Black Cat Restaurant downtown, all ready for awesomeness, but was sorely disappointed. I took the scenic route across campus, listening to Radiohead along the way (highlight - when the shuffle played "anyone can play guitar" as the very first song). When got to the restaurant, I asked the girl at the counter if I could sit anywhere I like. She said, "yes," so I took a table in the corner and read emails while I waited. And waited. At that time, I noticed that people were ordering at the counter, which would have been helpful information five minutes earlier.
I sat there for another minute, so it looked like I might have known what I was doing, and then went up to the counter. I asked if I could eat at the bar, and she said yes, and I said "I'll have the nachos." I was going to get a burrito, but by then, I just wanted something quick. She asked what I wanted on them, and I said "chees -" and then she did this thing where her chin went one way and her eyes went in the other direction, and she said "they all come with that," and I said "whatever - cheese, red beans (they were vegetarian - I checked) olives (just black olives, not actually kalamata), red peppers, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, and guacamole." And then I looked at the beer list, and it said "Dos Equis" under the bottled beer section (not drafts - that part's important), and I asked if they had Dos Equis Amber, and she said "yes, but it's in a bottle." And I'm thinking: now is when you're going to get helpful? And I wondered if it was actually amber (in the brown bottle, not that other kind in the green bottle) I paid, the food came, it was mediocre, and that was that. It was Dos Equis Amber, too.
To say the food was mediocre is a bit off - it tasted sort of like Moe's nachos, which I don't care for even though Moe's food is awesome. So, maybe their burritos are good - who knows. Probably not ever me because I don't feel like going back. I mean, maybe I will - Thursday night is live music, but still. Food - two stars; service - no stars.
Tomorrow we start classroom design. I have to say, this looks to be my least favorite part of the seminar, but we'll see. My mind's teflon, but open. Maybe we can incorporate the ideas into orientation?
Anyway, I'm still reading White Noise - I can see why parts of it are called an academic satire. XM's Area channel has this year's Electric Daisy Carnival streaming - I think I'm getting the feed from Puerto Rico.
California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade
Long day yesterday, The afternoon went as planned; I did laundry and read, watched a movie on Netflix instant (Factotum - eh, Barfly was far better), and grabbed a bite to eat. I went to the Mellow Mushroom, which I now realize is a chain. There's one in Valdosta, but it's in an odd location and always crowded, so I've never gone. This one is about a five minute walk from the dorms. I had planned on eating there, but when I arrive, it was pretty crowded, and there wasn't an obvious table for one, so I ordered a pizza to go. I got a regular cheese pizza, but with kalamata olives and pesto on top. The receipt was really interesting: the cashier's name was listed as "ghost" (no caps), my name was listed as "joesph" (which is far more common than you might think), and the pizza was listed as "cheese", followed by "actually kalamata" and "pesto swirl." After typing this, I guess it's not that interesting, but "actually kalamata?" What does that mean? The pizza was really, really good.
The thing at Hunter and Barbara's house was later in the afternoon, and it went really well. There home is tucked away, up a hill about five minutes north or west of town. Beautiful, but not ostentatious, home - nice view of Grandfather mountain. Lots of hills, greenery, fireflies, and apple trees. The food was good, conversation interesting, and Hunter went down the hill himself to put on a pretty good fireworks show. Everyone left around 9:30 or so; Frank, Yoshua, and Jason and I went to a bar called Tavern Inn for a couple of drinks before getting back to the dorm around midnight. I woke up at 8 this morning, but stayed in and out of sleep until 10:30. I have Brian Eno's Bloom app for my phone, and it can really make the transitions between awake and asleep pleasant.
The thing at Hunter and Barbara's house was later in the afternoon, and it went really well. There home is tucked away, up a hill about five minutes north or west of town. Beautiful, but not ostentatious, home - nice view of Grandfather mountain. Lots of hills, greenery, fireflies, and apple trees. The food was good, conversation interesting, and Hunter went down the hill himself to put on a pretty good fireworks show. Everyone left around 9:30 or so; Frank, Yoshua, and Jason and I went to a bar called Tavern Inn for a couple of drinks before getting back to the dorm around midnight. I woke up at 8 this morning, but stayed in and out of sleep until 10:30. I have Brian Eno's Bloom app for my phone, and it can really make the transitions between awake and asleep pleasant.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The sporting life
Woke up at 7 and drifted in and out of sleep 'til 10. Today: laundry, lunch, a walk, maybe some reading and then the dinner at Hunter and Barbara's house. I bought DeLillo's White Noise yesterday, so I might get started on that. I've been meaning to read this ever since I read his Falling Man, and this seems like the perfect setting to finally get to it.
Friday, July 2, 2010
The soldiering life
Week one is over and done, and it was a pretty good one. For breakfast: fake Burger King; for lunch: fake Subway; for dinner: Joe's Italian Kitchen, a real, off-campus Italian place - I had baked ziti; Ed bought the table drinks and desserts.
Putting things into perspective, this first week was essentially about placement. It was about assessment and placement, but no one should labor under the impression that assessment meant anything other than initial placement assessment. I thought the presenter was fantastic and the material worthwhile and interesting. The morning consisted of a recap, a post-test, a Q&A, and preview of next week.
A couple interesting things from today: it'd be interesting to ID all the faculty teaching developmental classes and the first college level class (i.e. 9002, 9013, 9024, and 1033 -or- 9010, 9020, 1101, etc.) and 4-6 weeks into the class, give them a roster of their class and have them go student by student saying "this student should have been placed in a level above/this student is placed correctly/this student should have been placed in a level below." Nothing affective - behavior/attendance/etc. - just performance/proficiency. You'd have to suss them out, separating newly entered students from students who have advanced through the levels, but you could probably learn quite a bit from both groups.
Every semester I've taught, there's always two or three students that really should have been placed in comp I and one or two that really should have been put in 9010. This isn't a huge deal - from what I can tell, a test that correctly placed 27/30 student is a pretty good test. Still, the actual number is probably greater. It'd be nice to see if we could get to a point where all professors say that at least 85% (maybe 80) of their class is appropriately placed. Maybe they'd already say that.
I know that when I talk to the math faculty, there seems to be a great deal of fluidity with the material and the student's abilities. Every semester, there are students that go through 9002 and successfully jump into and pass 9024. I hear often that 9013 students are probably ready for 1033. I don't know if that's true. I think the reason I'm thinking about the math side of it so much is because I have such a limited intuitive knowledge of math - I'm not jaundiced by assuming things.
The weather has been perfect all day. Dinner was good. The group is hiking at 7AM tomorrow; I plan on sleeping in. Tomorrow night, there's a bbq and fireworks at Hunter and Barbara's house. Yesterday, they asked if there were any vegetarians. I guess I'm the only one, but there's going to be something for me, too, which is a thoughtful touch.
Putting things into perspective, this first week was essentially about placement. It was about assessment and placement, but no one should labor under the impression that assessment meant anything other than initial placement assessment. I thought the presenter was fantastic and the material worthwhile and interesting. The morning consisted of a recap, a post-test, a Q&A, and preview of next week.
A couple interesting things from today: it'd be interesting to ID all the faculty teaching developmental classes and the first college level class (i.e. 9002, 9013, 9024, and 1033 -or- 9010, 9020, 1101, etc.) and 4-6 weeks into the class, give them a roster of their class and have them go student by student saying "this student should have been placed in a level above/this student is placed correctly/this student should have been placed in a level below." Nothing affective - behavior/attendance/etc. - just performance/proficiency. You'd have to suss them out, separating newly entered students from students who have advanced through the levels, but you could probably learn quite a bit from both groups.
Every semester I've taught, there's always two or three students that really should have been placed in comp I and one or two that really should have been put in 9010. This isn't a huge deal - from what I can tell, a test that correctly placed 27/30 student is a pretty good test. Still, the actual number is probably greater. It'd be nice to see if we could get to a point where all professors say that at least 85% (maybe 80) of their class is appropriately placed. Maybe they'd already say that.
I know that when I talk to the math faculty, there seems to be a great deal of fluidity with the material and the student's abilities. Every semester, there are students that go through 9002 and successfully jump into and pass 9024. I hear often that 9013 students are probably ready for 1033. I don't know if that's true. I think the reason I'm thinking about the math side of it so much is because I have such a limited intuitive knowledge of math - I'm not jaundiced by assuming things.
The weather has been perfect all day. Dinner was good. The group is hiking at 7AM tomorrow; I plan on sleeping in. Tomorrow night, there's a bbq and fireworks at Hunter and Barbara's house. Yesterday, they asked if there were any vegetarians. I guess I'm the only one, but there's going to be something for me, too, which is a thoughtful touch.
July! July!
Slept with the window open last night and woke up pleasantly cold. This weekend will be unusual; about 1/3, maybe more, of the participants are from North Carolina, and they all plan on going home for the weekend. I would do that too - can't blame them, but the tenor of this place will definitely change. It'll be a good time to catch up on reading, laundry, maybe looking around town.
I'm off the breakfast, hungrier than usual. It was probably last night's cool air. Should be a short day; I believe we end at lunch. Sometimes they have optional things afterwards, and I've gone to all of them so far. I'm not much of a joiner, per se, but I think you kinda have to take a place like this "as is," and just go along with it the way they designed it.
I'm off the breakfast, hungrier than usual. It was probably last night's cool air. Should be a short day; I believe we end at lunch. Sometimes they have optional things afterwards, and I've gone to all of them so far. I'm not much of a joiner, per se, but I think you kinda have to take a place like this "as is," and just go along with it the way they designed it.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Date to church
Lost at Trivial Pursuit - series tied 2-2. Great time, though. One question asked which anniversary gift was traditionally leather, and I got it because Amanda and I have (generally) done the traditional anniversary gifts. On our third anniversary, she got me a belt and I got her a purse from the Coach store in Key West, FL. I'm wearing the belt now.
Tomorrow is:
9 - 11:30 / Assessment and placement, conclusion
And that ends week #1. I can't say enough about the first week's presenter, Ed Morante. Whip smart, a class act, funny, and very approachable. All in all, a good week.
Tomorrow is:
9 - 11:30 / Assessment and placement, conclusion
And that ends week #1. I can't say enough about the first week's presenter, Ed Morante. Whip smart, a class act, funny, and very approachable. All in all, a good week.
I will dare
Changed my mind about the shorts, changing into khakis before walking out the door. Good thing, too - only three people wore shorts today. Dockers are like urban camouflage.
Brief lecture in the morning, ACT Compass and Accuplacer in the afternoon (no PERT). Some gray areas were filled in. Basically, the current literature suggests that we should look at several factors when placing students. Here they are, in order of declining importance:
1. Placement test
2. Other tests (ACT, SAT, in-house exams, etc.)
3. High school background (which school, GPA, class rank, etc.)
4. Age/maturity
5. Student opinion
6. Re-testing, additional testing
So, maybe we test some students and some are clearly 9013 and others are clearly 9024, but there's a small group in the middle that could be either. So you look at their high school stuff, you take into account their age, their own opinions, etc. And then some stay in 13 and others jump to 24. And if it involves judgement calls, then so be it. Maybe some of them say they don't even want to jump; they want to stay in 13. Maybe the ones who jump are the ones willing to commit to additional supports.
The afternoon was interesting. Fake Moe's for lunch, by the way. I took the math tests via Accuplacer, and it was an interesting experience. She told us to first just try something easy, so I took the arithmetic test, and then you could purposefully get things right and wrong to see how the test would react. It's certainly responsive. I got the feeling, though, that I could guess my way through a decent chunk of it simply based on some limited knowledge. The Compass was different - I took the sentence skills test, and tried to do well. The test itself was really long - I was done with the Accuplacer tests in no time, but the Compass took me about a half hour. I score 100% (99) on each subsection, but only score a 97 in spelling. I'm still not sure which word I spelled wrong - toward the end, I was just tired, and all the words started looking weird.
The weather's still nice, but I hear we have some heat coming. I may go to the library to start some research, grab a bite, and hit trivial Pursuit at 7:30.
Brief lecture in the morning, ACT Compass and Accuplacer in the afternoon (no PERT). Some gray areas were filled in. Basically, the current literature suggests that we should look at several factors when placing students. Here they are, in order of declining importance:
1. Placement test
2. Other tests (ACT, SAT, in-house exams, etc.)
3. High school background (which school, GPA, class rank, etc.)
4. Age/maturity
5. Student opinion
6. Re-testing, additional testing
So, maybe we test some students and some are clearly 9013 and others are clearly 9024, but there's a small group in the middle that could be either. So you look at their high school stuff, you take into account their age, their own opinions, etc. And then some stay in 13 and others jump to 24. And if it involves judgement calls, then so be it. Maybe some of them say they don't even want to jump; they want to stay in 13. Maybe the ones who jump are the ones willing to commit to additional supports.
The afternoon was interesting. Fake Moe's for lunch, by the way. I took the math tests via Accuplacer, and it was an interesting experience. She told us to first just try something easy, so I took the arithmetic test, and then you could purposefully get things right and wrong to see how the test would react. It's certainly responsive. I got the feeling, though, that I could guess my way through a decent chunk of it simply based on some limited knowledge. The Compass was different - I took the sentence skills test, and tried to do well. The test itself was really long - I was done with the Accuplacer tests in no time, but the Compass took me about a half hour. I score 100% (99) on each subsection, but only score a 97 in spelling. I'm still not sure which word I spelled wrong - toward the end, I was just tired, and all the words started looking weird.
The weather's still nice, but I hear we have some heat coming. I may go to the library to start some research, grab a bite, and hit trivial Pursuit at 7:30.
Can't hardly wait
Accuplacer today. After thinking about it, I'm really more anxious over the English/reading sections because I should ace those. The math - I don't think I'll do horribly, but I don't have great expectations either.
Also: shorts today. I've worn khakis or jeans every day until now. On the first day, two or three people wore shorts. On the second day, about ten. Yesterday, nearly half the class wore shorts. We've reached a tipping point, and I'm in.
It's sort of sad to see this week begin to close. I'm hoping today covers a lot of ground and addresses more closely the "gray areas" we've been discussing. I've thought for a while that if we wanted to make a big impact fairly quickly, assessment would be as good a place as any to start. There aren't many natural opportunities to do this, but maybe a pilot?
Next week we cover learning environments, which is a little out of my comfort zone. It sounds a little fluffy to me, but I know there's a lot of science to it.
Also: shorts today. I've worn khakis or jeans every day until now. On the first day, two or three people wore shorts. On the second day, about ten. Yesterday, nearly half the class wore shorts. We've reached a tipping point, and I'm in.
It's sort of sad to see this week begin to close. I'm hoping today covers a lot of ground and addresses more closely the "gray areas" we've been discussing. I've thought for a while that if we wanted to make a big impact fairly quickly, assessment would be as good a place as any to start. There aren't many natural opportunities to do this, but maybe a pilot?
Next week we cover learning environments, which is a little out of my comfort zone. It sounds a little fluffy to me, but I know there's a lot of science to it.
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