Comment

Comment by Jim Werbaneth on September 8, 2008 at 11:09am

One of the bigger technological changes from my school daze is the emergence of "smart" classroom technology. I'm typing this on a classroom computer, and it's connected to a touchscreen whiteboard, and a projector. I'm getting addicted to using web pages in my classroom, and drawing on the virtual whiteboard. There's a regular one right next to it, using dry erase markers, and I avoid that like a pig roast at the bin Laden house. The smart board is a gimmick at its worst, but it's still a gimmick that I like.

On the other hand, the web access is great. I was able to look up web sites this morning in my Major Issues in Modern US History Class and introduce them to the students right away. Similarly, I could go into Amazon and recommend books, along with the checking out the price.

Tomorrow I teach Introduction to Political Science, using chalk. I'm old enough to remember how to use it, and spoiled enough not to like it.

Comment by Jim Werbaneth on August 17, 2008 at 11:26am

Jon,
I'm sorry about your recent experience. In a way it doesn't shock me; a dental school professor told me stories about students expecting the best grades for mediocrity. With that in mind, I'll keep the dentist I have now, instead of some clown with a sense of entitlement.

I have a line in my syllabi about how college is tough, because it's supposed to be tough. It's a place where adults choose to go for additional education, not a warehouse for the children to be kept on a compulsory basis. Whether anyone pays attention or not remains to be seen.

Also, I want to make it clear to them that a good grade, or even passing, isn't a right, but something to be earned. There are no social passes or grade inflation in my classroom.

But we can all do interesting things and even have fun.

Comment by Jon Compton on August 17, 2008 at 9:04am

Hmm. Let's see, I'm now starting my fifth career, so maybe I've finally "arrived!"

Having spent the last five years in grad school I have to admit I have little desire to teach. The last two years I taught the lab portion of the defense modeling course at Claremont Graduate School. Granted, the course is the most difficult of the required coursework in IR, but I found it to be the best and most challenging course I've taken in the program. Yet my students in the labs spent so much time complaining about how much work it was and how difficult it was, that I couldn't help but feel disgusted. To my mind, when you're at the PhD level in a highly regarded private school, you expect the work to be difficult. But here were classrooms full of students that wanted everything handed to them on a silver platter. But even worse, I was shocked by what some of these students, at the PhD level, mind you, did not know. I once spent an hour in my office with a student explaining the concept of what a variable was.

I'm sure you'll have better experiences that I Jim, and I wish you the best. As for myself, I simply don't have the patience for it. Perhaps after I retire.

Comment by Jim Werbaneth on August 15, 2008 at 7:16pm

Darin,
There are a lot of times I wish I'd gone to law school instead of getting that MA, but it's balanced against the ex-lawyers I've known who went into everything from IT to sculpture. I like The Far Seas too, and I'm glad that Martin landed on his feet, as it were.

It's funny, when I was in prep school thirty-odd years ago, they used to tell us that by the time we retired, we should expect to change careers at least five times. Not jobs, but careers. I mentioned that last year to a good friend (and ex-boss) now on his third career, and he said that he tells his high school student that it's more like seven or eight changes.

Comment by Darin Leviloff on August 15, 2008 at 6:45pm

Congrats. Enjoying what you do is a real perk. A good friend of mine, Martin Andersen (designer of "Far Seas" from S&T) was a lawyer (like me) for years, got a PhD in History, but had a difficult time getting into academia because of geographic inflexibility. A couple of years ago he got a tenure track position at a University where he lives and he dropped his bar license and is loving it (and gaming on the weekends). School even sound similar to yours (Dominican in San Rafael, Ca.) Hopefully, you can achieve a similar path.

I'm sticking with law, but I get to teach religious school to 4th graders on Sundays.