November 2003
Sunday 30 November 2003
- Turning Plagiarists In - "...in about 30 percent of the papers, more than one-quarter of the text was copied verbatim" -- in "Educators, Cheating Students Rely on Web: More Schools Use Plagiarism-Tracking Software" by Linda Perlstein Over Thanksgiving break, The Washington Post ran Perlstein's article which discusses turnitin.com -- a web service that our... (08:39 | 0 Trackbacks | 7 Comments)
Saturday 29 November 2003
- Presentation Notes - Dennis Jerz's Literacy Weblog turned me on to a recent essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education -- "The Scholarly Lecture: How to Stand and Deliver" by William Germano -- on delivery style for academic lectures. Although it's mostly about how to deliver a conference paper professionally, it also includes... (08:16 | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments)
Sunday 23 November 2003
- Leave No Teacher Behind - I have come up with my Leave No Teacher Behind Act. In its roughest form, it means forgiving all teachers their federal income tax. -- Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 11/17/03 This is the most brilliant idea I've heard in a long time. Give teachers a financial break as an incentive... (18:25 | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments)
Saturday 22 November 2003
- Against School - "Schooling as we know it, is a powerful expression of the sickness of this society, not a cure for that sickness. While the myth lives, we will never revive the libertarian America most of us prefer in place of the present empire." -- John Taylor Gatto, on The Fourth Purpose... (16:26 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Thursday 20 November 2003
- My Shadow - A journalism student "shadowed" me the other day for a class project. I knew she was writing a feature story for the class, but I didn't realize it would end up online in a mock newspaper. Since it's ostensibly about a "day in the life of a writing teacher" I... (09:09 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Monday 17 November 2003
- Laundering Time - In my research of academic standards, I came across The Society for A Return to Academic Standards -- a fascinating collection of links and articles that seek to "peg the prof" and hold him/her accountable for the lowering standards of student performance among American undergrates. I hope to return to... (20:54 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 14 November 2003
- When Teachers Quit - Don't let that title fool you -- I'm not thinking about quitting at all. I do think all teachers (especially those who are skilled as practitioners in some field, like writing or scuba diving) entertain the fantasy of going back on the job market or tossing in the towel, particularly... (19:57 | 0 Trackbacks | 6 Comments)
Wednesday 12 November 2003
- Make 'em Laugh - USA Today recently reported that a stand up comic/"laughologist" is on the lecture circuit, advocating that teachers make their students laugh as a form of stress relief. It's called "Laughter Therapy." Although this "Patch Adams" approach to learning gives me pause, I agree that humor is very important in the... (00:52 | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments)
Tuesday 11 November 2003
- Composition Theory and Microsoft Word - As I was messing around with my newly installed edition of Microsoft Word 2003, I discovered a link on the MS website to an article that I found very eye-opening: "Teaching Research and Composition with Microsoft Office Word 2003". This downloadable Word document explains how teachers can use the software... (09:48 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Saturday 8 November 2003
- Moving to a new "Office" - As a writer and teacher, I've been living a double life. Well, with my computer, anyway. For the longest time I have used Lotus software -- first Works, then AmiPro, then WordPro -- for my writing and Microsoft Word 97 for my school work. This means I have wasted much... (12:38 | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments)
Wednesday 5 November 2003
- Variation on Collaborative Quizzing (and a moment of reflection) - If it seems like I'm blogging about my quiz techniques all the time, it's because I'm experimenting with approaches and seeing what works. I've already told you about my "Quiz Grader/Note Taker" routine and the time I borrowed David Droppa's "collaborative quiz" routine. Tonight I did a variation on the... (23:22 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)