Fall, 2009, MEDP 299.47: One of the Best Feature Writing Classes with Talent in Recent Memory.
But …
Archive for the ‘30-40P’ Category
Thursday, November 12, 2009, Weird: Part I
Friday, November 13th, 2009Spring 2009 Grades – Whoa!
Monday, June 8th, 2009I want to preface this semester wrap-up with an anecdote that I believe provides an insightful, behind-the-scenes look of inner workings and thinking as well as speaks to important matters, such as student learning, undergraduate journalism, Academic Freedom and the kind of baleful malaise that corrupts academic values and principles.
The D:F/M chair informed me a while back that he and the D:F/M Policy & Budget Committee wanted me to take a leave from teaching Basic Reporting, MEDP 292. I was suspected of being the culprit responsible for the drop in enrollment of department majors. There was this concern that a lot of students were flunking my classes (which have high standards and expectations for students, high – I’m being kind – in light of this department’s standards).
The result, if one was to believe the chair and the P&B, was a cosmic resonance so strong that what occurred in my classroom emanated beyond its boundaries and was discouraging students (who didn’t take classes with me, who weren’t even planning to enroll in my courses) from taking the major or were being encouraged to drop it.Â
Whew!
Lame courses, lame instructors were not being considered. Not to mention lame policy decisions.
I refused, of course.
Metropolitan Museum of Art – May 24, 2009
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009While my department dillydallies over its future, I’m exploring new ways to teach. That means a lot of field testing. The latest: Visiting the MET Sunday, May 24. Armed with a Panasonic Luminix DMC-LX3 point-n’-shoot. For now, I want to keep things simple: Pictures of MET visitors taking pictures.
Going to the MET was a friend’s idea.
Writing
Saturday, May 9th, 2009Hi. Just a reminder that you are scheduled to attend a Focus Group for W-course instructors on Thursday, May 7th, from 4-6 p.m. in room 409B in the Thomas Hunter Building. You will receive a stipend of $75.54 (two hours on a Non-teaching Adjunct line) for participating. Notes will be taken, but all comments will be kept anonymous.
The Writing Across the Curriculum Program appreciates your help in exploring the issues involved in teaching Significant Writing courses. We hope to use what we learn at these sessions to better serve Hunter’s faculty, and we hope the sessions are useful to you in preparing to teach future W-designated courses.
See you tomorrow,
Dennis Paoli
Co-coordinator,
Writing across the Curriculum Program
So, I went. And I participated. And I didn’t do what I had said in an email to the co-coordinator about what I was thinking about doing at the focus group: Outing my colleagues whom I feel undermine students’ writing efforts, especially those colleagues who don’t make rewriting an essential part of their Significant Writing classes.
Let’s get real. Writing is about rewriting. Don’t teach rewriting? Then it ain’t writing they’re teaching.
So, I sent the following to Dennis Paoli after I completed the focus group:
A 30-40P Episode Ever There Was One
Friday, May 8th, 2009I came across this student-instructor correspondence [provided later in this post] while searching for other material on my hard drive. The Student-In-Question was an excellent writer as well as considerably bright. He was in his late 20s or early 30s.
In my class, he also was functionally indolent.
I plan to use this anecdote and others for my tome about The Four Barnacles of the Apocalypse.
Protected: A Whole Lot of Flashing Going On
Thursday, April 30th, 2009“So, what do students say about this New York Times story?”
Thursday, March 19th, 2009So, I posted on Hunter-L last night. And am waiting on responses.
Date: Wed 18 Mar 22:04:39 EDT 2009
From: Gregg Morris <gmorris@hunter.cuny.edu>
Subject: So, what do students say about this New York Times story?
To: HUNTER-L <HUNTER-L@HUNTER.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>I’m working on this project, code name for now, “The 4 Barnacles of the Apocalypse†(which may be amended to “The 4 Barnacles for the Apocalypse) – AKA T4BA – and I wonder what students think about the following from the NYT: “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputesâ€
“Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes†– New York Times
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009So, what do students think about this? The question to be posed sometime March 18 on Hunter-L, the College’s main listserv for general info and communication for the Hunter community, this being this New York Times article. The Big Question to be put to the students: Should I reconsider my default grade, B?
The Fifth Circle of Hell: Resistance Is Futile
Sunday, October 18th, 2009Prescient signs: The smack, smack, smacking of students smacking the wall.
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Tags: journalism education, the undergraduate experience, undergraduate education
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