tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post8672564080989987692..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: I Yelled.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-37534233940814282122016-02-08T22:58:12.812-05:002016-02-08T22:58:12.812-05:00Cassandra reminded me of part II of the pep talk I...Cassandra reminded me of part II of the pep talk I apparently gave in that taciturn 3rd section. <br /><br />"This isn't about skipping straight to the endpoint -- it's about the journey and getting better at figuring out where we are along the way. Being right is no use if you just keep it to yourself. Be bold! Be wrong! Be boldly wrong! The worst that happens is we have some fun Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-74966452349325399102016-02-08T18:08:17.261-05:002016-02-08T18:08:17.261-05:00My favorite Swift-related discussion began talking...My favorite Swift-related discussion began talking about Gulliver's Travels and ended with me arguing with a British foreign exchange student about the origin of common law. It was created to appease Anglo-Saxon peasants. Just saying.Conan the Grammarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05958152840132897163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-91882817606536021462016-02-08T17:25:51.678-05:002016-02-08T17:25:51.678-05:00It is possible that one might have been known, one...It is possible that one might have been known, oneself, to bust out laughing, like, you know, super loud, when folks say stuff like that in class. . . . On the other hand, your fellow student did know that Swift wasn't an MP. Gotta be worth something.Ego in Arcadianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-13093322986497350252016-02-08T08:45:09.701-05:002016-02-08T08:45:09.701-05:00P.S.And it's she, not he. This drives me nuts ...<i>P.S.And it's she, not he. This drives me nuts (and it even happens occasionally -- though only very occasionally -- when I teach a women's literature class. </i><br /><br />On the bright side, Percy Shelley and James Joyce regularly get sex changes in the opposite direction! (Because apparently, some part of "we refer to writers by their last name, and last names have nothing to Fretful Porpentinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165078003123517013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-33783705349512017052016-02-07T16:13:53.965-05:002016-02-07T16:13:53.965-05:00I, too, think Porpentine's theory is pretty pl...I, too, think Porpentine's theory is pretty plausible. And, for that reason, sometimes yelling works. But it doesn't work very long, nor will it work often (or equally well for professors of varying genders, races, etc. -- I suspect that many women and many black men, to name two groups, would have to think carefully about how such a choice might be perceived not only by students, but Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-70961315100864991352016-02-07T14:36:11.648-05:002016-02-07T14:36:11.648-05:00When we read A Modest Proposal for our school'...When we read A Modest Proposal for our school's "Class that everyone had to take because it makes you a better person" class there was a very well-read, intelligent young lady who sat next to me in class. Our professor asked us "Do you guys think he was serious?"<br /><br />Everyone chuckled and shook their heads.<br /><br />"What made you think this was satire?"Conan the Grammarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05958152840132897163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-11122748799533144952016-02-07T14:31:08.418-05:002016-02-07T14:31:08.418-05:00Thanks, PC.Thanks, PC.Southern Bubba, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12050992903794385204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-6162640101064526742016-02-07T13:16:31.005-05:002016-02-07T13:16:31.005-05:00I changed a couple details for anonymity and out o...I changed a couple details for anonymity and out of paranoia, but it happened pretty much as included, including the word "fuck." I actually think Fretful Porpentine has a point below: fear of me overcame their fear of talking. But I'm not going to make this a part of my usual pedagogy. I felt awful afterwards. Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-44417499813861018242016-02-07T13:14:47.887-05:002016-02-07T13:14:47.887-05:00Sorry. 'Twas I.
I keep forgetting to sign p...Sorry. 'Twas I. <br />I keep forgetting to sign posts. Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-16932430381716600642016-02-07T13:11:29.247-05:002016-02-07T13:11:29.247-05:00Kind of wondering who wrote the original post.Kind of <a href="http://collegemisery.blogspot.com/2012/06/rules-of-misery.html" rel="nofollow">wondering</a> who wrote the original post.<br />Southern Bubba, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12050992903794385204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59938029265756604182016-02-07T12:39:52.726-05:002016-02-07T12:39:52.726-05:00Wow. Last week the homework was to read A Modest ...Wow. Last week the homework was to read A Modest Hamster Proposal, which suggests that hamsters should sell their litters for other hamsters to eat. "OK, so what is modest about this proposal?" Silence. (Do they not understand the word modest? Maybe! I'd better rephrase.) "OK, so what is being proposed here?'' Silence. "What is he suggesting? It's Ego in Arcadianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-22866264292814716372016-02-07T10:48:07.764-05:002016-02-07T10:48:07.764-05:00My theory is that most students actually CAN think...My theory is that most students actually CAN think, and a surprising number of them DO, it's just that they are afraid to share the results of their thinking. Because they don't want to stand out from the crowd, or because they think intellectual engagement is uncool, or because they don't want to risk being wrong, or because they've never raised their hand in class before and Fretful Porpentinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165078003123517013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-46950315827550673832016-02-07T09:02:33.500-05:002016-02-07T09:02:33.500-05:00Something like this happened to me the other day. ...Something like this happened to me the other day. Except first I facepalmed, briefly contemplated any number of horrid things I might do to a sofabed with a chainsaw, and then tried something I'd never done before. In a very measured tone, I said:<br /><br />"OK, it's the last period of the day. You're tired, I'm tired -- probably not as much as you because you didn't Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-54832557006164032102016-02-07T05:09:27.199-05:002016-02-07T05:09:27.199-05:00It worked because most other faculty would have gi...It worked because most other faculty would have given up when students didn't respond. The students know, perhaps unconsciously, that if they just sit on their hands for a while, the opportunity to perform this difficult act of thinking will pass. Good for you not to let that happen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-41544700882567538742016-02-07T01:46:37.041-05:002016-02-07T01:46:37.041-05:00Don't overdo it, though. Yelling when it's...Don't overdo it, though. Yelling when it's absolutely essential and justified, such as here, will work. Making a regular habit of it will just dull their senses, which have been dulled astonishingly already by chronic overstimulation, mainly electronic. I've taken students from my astronomy classes out to a dark sky and often they simply cannot even see the shimmering Milky Way, even Froderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-76077858616126393172016-02-07T01:37:05.960-05:002016-02-07T01:37:05.960-05:00You do not suck as a teacher. Some of the most tho...You do not suck as a teacher. Some of the most thorough "deep learning" I ever did in my life was when I was serving in the U.S. Navy and being screamed at simultaneously from multiple directions from people who meant it, in deadly earnest. It goes 180 degrees counter to what the education school will tell you, but we see what their ideas do to our students every day. Froderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-57687411795054236792016-02-07T01:35:52.211-05:002016-02-07T01:35:52.211-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Froderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71242721433056677152016-02-06T22:32:05.982-05:002016-02-06T22:32:05.982-05:00Ouch. I've gone there too. It was in my substi...Ouch. I've gone there too. It was in my substitute teaching days so it's been a while, but I still get that knot in the pit of my stomach thinking about it.<br /><br />That said, the response of your class was ... interesting. Perhaps they didn't actually believe that you expected something of them and the shock kicked them into gear.dmckeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18052641757203089416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-80121162440188041352016-02-06T21:25:13.997-05:002016-02-06T21:25:13.997-05:00I believed every bit of this up until the moment t...I believed every bit of this up until the moment the students started to discuss things. That's my class every day, including the swearing.<br /><br />But after that it's just silence interspersed with the tapping on phones and my shuffling of shit into the briefcase to go home.<br /><br />HectorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com