PEDABLOGUE - December 2004 Archives

December 2004

Susan Sontag Dies - As though an aftershock of that horrifying tsunami that hit Asia yesterday, another great thinker has died today: Susan Sontag. Her work on photography, illness, and camp deserve to be remembered. Particularly "Illness as Metaphor" -- a book that really helped me to think allegorically about what I do from... (23:16 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)

Reforming Academic Rank - In "Simplifying the Academic Hierarchy," John Jeffries Martin argues that the "associate professor" title should be abolished. Building on Max Weber's Marxist thinking about the bureaucracy in the American university system, Martin proposes that the best way to reform the rank system of the professoriate is to hold a probationary... (04:09 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)

Looking for Good Teaching - Here's a good resource: an adapted version of �Looking for Good Teaching: A Guide to Peer Observation,� by B. B. Helling (1976). It is a surprisingly lengthy checklist for teaching observations that focuses on the "good" elements of the teacher's performance, in the name of specific and positive criticism, rather... (00:57 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)

Test Anxiety and the A Student - The topic of exam stress comes up at the end of every semester, but a recent post on Dan Mitchell's "Teachnology" blog points to a new twist on this old topic: how test anxiety impacts good students. An interesting article in the "health" section of today's NY Times -- "Why... (17:41 | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments)

Quotable Quotes on Education - This evening I jazzed up the site a bit by adding a small handful of pithy quotes to the ever-present sidebar of various pages in the archives. In my hunt for pith, I came across many more aphorisms than I could ever hope to use on Pedablogue, so I thought... (02:10 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)

Language Maps - The MLA Language Map is a cool color-coded and "zoomable" census map that unveils the linguistic and cultural composition of the United States. The level of detail is remarkable, and I bet any foreign language teacher would have a field day with this search engine. I was able to learn,... (18:09 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)

Measuring the Credit Hour - Sometimes the simplest concepts are the most problematic. Take, for example, the notion of the "credit hour." It seems like a self-evident term: one earns a college "credit" for an "hour" of academic work. But quantifying work is a very complicated affair and one "hour" of work is often a... (19:13 | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments)
wiki fixi? - Due primarily to winning the Bram Stoker Award this year, a biographical wikipedia entry has been started on my horror writing. I feel I shouldn't tamper with it (since I'm obviously biased), but would some kind wiki-friendly soul reading this message consider editing it to reflect my scholarly personae, too?... (17:23 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)

Left Behind - This collage appears in Eye Contact, the literary magazine I advise at Seton Hill University where I teach. The theme for this particular issue of the magazine was "truth." I clipped words and phrases out of Weekly World News to create this piece. When I began, I thought I'd... (19:42 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)
Abstinence in Sex Education - I try not to bring politics into Pedablogue, but I also try to keep my eye on current policies and trends in K-12 education, so I can have a sense of what is shaping the minds and beliefs of students who will be coming into my college classroom in the... (14:35 | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments)

Who's the Boss? Paying to Work - Just read "Grading System Gets an F" -- a campus newspaper article by a student at my alma mater, University of Oregon -- which is getting some great buzz and commentary at Jerz' weblog right now. In the article, Ailee Slater complains: the University system makes absolutely no sense. Students... (10:53 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)
Teaching is Truth Mediated by Personality - "Teaching is truth mediated by personality." -- Phyllis Brooks In related news: I've added an "About" page to Pedablogue.... (03:15 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)

A Sense of Self as Audience - My freshman composition class just wrapped up a three-day series of speeches, where students present and share their research to the rest of the class in a relatively formal address, before a videocamera. After they're done, they have to field questions from the class. Later they will write reflections based... (00:17 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)

overhauling the look - I'm experimenting with new layouts and designs to Pedablogue, so if things look strange or don't work, consider this space under construction. I still need to organize a blogroll of links. I think I've finally got the archives organized in a decent fashion. Any comments on the new design?... (19:12 | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments)

Military Recruitment in the NCLBA - Maintaining this blog has helped me keep abreast of issues in High School education that I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Usually I'm interested in literacy issues and preparedness of freshman that come into my classes. But sometimes I learn about policies and trends that surprise me. For example, did... (12:30 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)