FYI - Category Archives:
Misc. links and personal entries.

The National Education Association is celebrating the election of Barack Obama. The American Federation of Teachers is celebrating the election of Barack Obama. My students and many of my colleagues are celebrating the election of Barack Obama.

I cheer along with the crowd. But the confetti is thinning out in the air, and realism is settling back in. Already the pundits on tv news are asking Obama to "show me the money" when it comes to the economy. I hope we will remember how and why education matters even when the accounts run low.

Education Week has an article surveying Obama's challenges on the education front, once he gets in office.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term,” said Mr. Obama at a rally in Chicago’s Grant Park.

But Mr. Obama said in the past month that he considers education an important ingredient for addressing the country’s long-term economic problems. In the Oct. 8 presidential debate, he rated education as a priority on a par with expanding access to health care, reforming entitlement programs, and developing new forms of energy.

Indeed: Education is a health issue, it is an energy issue, it is even a war issue. It is not simply a childhood issue. It seems patently obvious to me that we need to combat ignorance worldwide if we genuinely seek civility, peace, unity and understanding.

Obama's education agenda is pretty clear cut and reasonable. The challenges he faces will mostly be financial, but the pay off will be attitudinal. There will simply be less anti-intellectualism in government than there seems to be now (in my view) and more support for both early development and college learning -- fundamental ways of repaving a foundation for the future. And virtually any reform to No Child Left Behind his administration proposes will likely be applauded by teachers everywhere.

Education.com gives a clear overview of Obama's plans for reforming education at present, but to get a deeper sense of Obama's thinking about education in America, read his July 5, 2007 speech to the NEA, where he discusses something he terms the 'these kids' syndrome and outlines why we need to reform No Child Left Behind. It not only encapsulates his promises (which he may or may not be able to fulfill) but also his accurate perception of the problem in schools.

Nevertheless, as Education Sector points out, Obama wasn't necessarily elected on an public mandate to change the education system and the current economic crisis will still drive his attention. Even so, Education Sector recommends the top 8 Education Ideas for the Next President.

As for the thoughts of college professors on the future, Scott McLemee's latest IHE article, "Turning a Page" surveys teachers by asking them what book they would recommend to the future US president and why. (In comparison, here's W's official reading list...and the unofficial, as well).

Halloween is fast approaching, so horror literature is in the air. If you're teaching it, you might want to look for the "Writer's Talk" series on WCBE (Ohio's NPR station), which will be airing interviews with horror writers Michael Arnzen, Gary Braunbeck, Lucy Snyder, and Lawrence Connolly each Wednesday in October.

The topic is "The Business & Life of Writing Horror" and all of us had a blast together answering questions about this crazy genre of dread and terror, from how to write it, to what it means for today's culture. The Arnzen session airs tonight on WCBE (10/8/08) at 8pm, and I think it turned out really well.

If you miss it, don't worry:  you should be able to hear the podcast online, provided by Doug Dangler and the Ohio Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing. In fact, you can stream a copy of it on your computer right now here:

The full interview will all four horror writers will soon be available on OSU's CSTW website -- which you can also subscribe to on iTunes .

A profile on my writing and teaching career, called "Horror Writer Does his Best Work Having Fun" was just published in the newsletter of the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. Their web site is for members only but they've kindly shared a .pdf file of the feature story that the public can read.

Here's a short excerpt:

Arnzen also credits his success with taking creative risks. “This is another way of saying I don’t mind embarrassing myself,” he said. “Genres rely on conventions and expectations, so many writers err on the side of repeating what’s been done before.” Arnzen said he’s “always thrown caution to the wind and tried to be as weird and experimental as I can. I try not to censor myself too much.” Horror itself can be taken too seriously at times. Arnzen balances this seriousness with humor. “I don’t hold back the humor. To me, a lot of the appeal of horror is its absurdity,” he said. “I find much of what I’ve read or seen in horror quite laughable.”

Anyone who writes instructional books will find the TAA organization a useful hub of information. Their introductory membership rates are reasonable. Check them out.

Want to know where the US presidential candidates stand on education issues? Compare the education web pages of the current top two front runners:

You can also compare ALL the candidates positions on education (and other key issues) across the board at ontheissues.org.

I'm building a new weblog called THE POPULAR UNCANNY. It's a supplement of sorts for my upcoming non-fiction title from Guide Dog Books by the same name.

The book is a critical study of theories of the Uncanny/"das Unheimliche" as they appear in advertising, film, bestsellers, and online. Chapters include examinations of such topics as the icon of the dismembered hand in the history of horror cinema, and a treatment of the advertising world's "Doublemint Twins" as uncanny doppelgangers. (The Popular Uncanny, btw, was originally my doctoral dissertation at the University of Oregon.)

While the entries in the new blog will tend to lean toward the "academic" side and may refer to theories not all readers will be familiar with, my hope is that the blog will keep my research fresh and fun while also giving me a place to muse about the weirdness in pop culture -- in addition to raising awareness about theories of the Uncanny. As a horror writer as well as a scholar of the horror genre, I think the blog will also help me merge these two interests in new ways. The site design and structure is still under construction, but posts have already been released on such things as the "gaze" in The Ring and the uncanny in a new 'singing robot' art exhibit by Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne. Comments and recommendations are always welcome.

Pedablogue, of course, will continue. I'll post news here about the book when its publication is imminent in Spring 2009. For now, I invite you to come on by the new weblog, anytime.

[See also: "Uncanny Teaching"]

I'm humbled to be featured in the June issue of Pittsburgh Professional Magazine, and they've kindly given me permission to post a .pdf of the article on my horror website. To check it out, visit:

"Ghoulish Goals: Seton Hill writing professor keeps collecting awards for his horror fiction"
by Kathleen Ganster (photos by Jim Judkis).

If (and only if!) you enjoy weird twisted horror stories, then you might want to drop by the new incarnation of my horrror writing blog, The Goreletter.

I received a message recently from a teacher who hadn't received her order from Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and wondered if I knew how to help.

I did a quick search and discovered that ECI -- Educational Communications, Inc. -- ceased all operations in 2007! This came as a surprise to me. I'm not sure if another company has already stepped into their place, but the post on their main page, honoring.com, reports:

Educational Communications, Inc. has ceased all operations, including discontinuation of its publications for Who's Who Among American High School Students, Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and The National Dean's List.

Please note - All students who have already been named as previous scholarships winners through The Educational Communications Scholarships Foundation will remain eligible to collect their funds at anytime during their pursuit of higher education.

If you have any questions about the status of any order, you can call 877-843-9946.

A post I made back in 2005 about this 'who's who' recognition has to my great surprise continued to be one of the most popular entries on Pedablogue. I think that recognition for students -- like The Nat'l Dean's List -- can potentialy be a strong motivator for some students, but my position on these awards for professional instructors hasn't changed since I first mulled over the significance of this award. Perhaps many agree.

I haven't learned yet why the company has ceased operations (it's been in business since the late 1960s), but I did a little research to see if I could find out more. I discovered that ECI is currently listed as part of the American Achievement Corporation, which also has subsidiaries that sell class rings, make yearbooks, and more. This Austin based company might be contacted if you're a teacher or student trying to hunt down the status of your order or award.

And...scene!

I'm back. Have been returned to campus after sabbatical, actually, for about six months so far -- I just haven't been blogging, and I apologize, but I've been rather busy. I will likely talk more about sabbatical and such later on. But for now, here's something fun that I found: professor's responding to ratemyprofessor.com comments on video for MTVu.

I found this immensely entertaining for some reason, and spent hours watching profs react, respond and vent about the open-to-the-public online teacher evaluation service. It gives a lot of insight into how teachers see themselves, their profession, and (some of) their students.

Here's an example, from a science fiction writer/professor I admire, Paul Levinson:

I actually like the responses and comments I've received on RatemyProfessor.com -- and on the myspace.com equivalent -- and while I don't actually thing RateMyProf is the best avenue for student feedback, it opens up to us another way of understanding our students, whether via their praise or their protest.

[Is it just me, or are students not using this service as much as they used to? Maybe I've just been away too long....]

POSTSCRIPT: Browsing around, I discovered that ratemyprofessors.com has become a little more proactive about allowing professorial rebuttals across the board. I decided to join up and register, despite my better judgment, simply because I support this move on their part... I don't think I have any rebuttals to file with them, but there you have it.

I am going on sabbatical for the full 2006-7 academic year, in order to secure time to develop my next novel.

While I intend to keep researching and reflecting on teaching during that time, I've decided to put Pedablogue on hiatus until August 2007, when I return to full-time teaching. If I write about teaching before then, I will likely do it for traditional publication, and if anything appears in print I will alert you through a comment appended to this post.

If you're a regular viewer of this site, or if you want to be alerted when it relaunches (because, believe me, you will forget), please enter your e-mail address in the "subscribe" box on your right. This will add you to an announcement list, which will automatically send you a message whenever a new post is made to Pedablogue. Alternately, you could simply add the site as an RSS feed to your aggregrator, if you have one (if not, I recommend FeedDemon).

I want to thank everyone for visiting, reading, and referencing Pedablogue since 2003. I don't consider this page a dead site by any means -- I've simply "gone fishing" at the Isle of Sabbitcus for a year -- and I look forward to returning to this place to exchange ideas. Since I'll be focusing mostly on creative writing for the year to come, I will continue to post regularly to my other blog dedicated to horror writing, The Goreletter. If you like offbeat humor or bizarre horror, please subscribe!

It's been a great year for me: my second novel was published, tenure was approved, my classes were wonderful experiences, sabbatical was awarded, and I've got a poetry book presently on the final ballot for the the Bram Stoker Award (decided in June). I've also learned a LOT about teaching by maintaining this site and reading pedagogy and edublogs across the net. I will still be out there, reading along with you. As a final post, I will simply share some good links about sabbatical (which is often misconstrued as simply a "paid vacation")....

• "And on the Seventh Year..." by Mark Shainblum is an excellent explanation of what taking a sabbatical really means.
  
• My colleague at Seton Hill University, Lee Tobin-McClain, has written a fantastic series of "first person advice" columns for the Chronicle of Higher Education on the sabbatical experience.
  
• The Teaching and Learning Center at Truman State University offers a good compilation of Tips for Writing a Sabbatical Proposal
  
• Inside Higher Ed's running column on What They Don't Teach You in Graduate School by David E. Drew and Paul Gray is chock full of hard-knocks advice that you could probably use, generally; they offer a few tips on taking sabbatical, as well.
  
• Sabbitcal Overview Basics at Hays Recruitment
  

Keep teaching well. No matter how hard it might seem, or how little you feel you're accomplishing, remember that it always matters. -- Mike Arnzen

The Christmas issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an excellent, front-page feature story on educational blogging, called "Freedom of Speech Redefined by Blogs". Featured prominently is our college's New Media Journalism program, led by my colleague, Dennis Jerz. It's really a great -- and quite accurate -- piece.