If need (or needs) be?
2 days ago
Monday, March 26, 2007
Back to real life - work
New York and 4Cs was amazing in almost every way: intellectually stimulating (I haven't thought so much about ethos in a while), professionally invigorating (met lots of colleagues from around the country), and sensually complex (wind-and-rainy days, best cannoli in Manhattan found on the Lower East Side, MOMA-orama, subway smells!). Now I'm grading my online students' work, trying not to procrastinate too much by feeling nostalgic for the heady environment of NYC.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Thought I might catch up . . .
. . . how silly! Sure, it's spring break, but I've got 4Cs to go to (and a paper to write for it!). Also, I told my office mate that I wanted to see the tabletop in my office - fat chance.
I've not written at all about how the local conference went (relatively well, given all the complications and mixed messages). I've also wanted to write about the task of creating exams, which I tell my students are "opportunities for you to show me what you know." That's true, but it takes skill to design something that will enable them to do this - maybe I'll write more about that later.
Meanwhile, I hope I can post something about 4Cs this week in NYC - I'm looking forward to it!
I've not written at all about how the local conference went (relatively well, given all the complications and mixed messages). I've also wanted to write about the task of creating exams, which I tell my students are "opportunities for you to show me what you know." That's true, but it takes skill to design something that will enable them to do this - maybe I'll write more about that later.
Meanwhile, I hope I can post something about 4Cs this week in NYC - I'm looking forward to it!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Conference Planning
Seems like a small job, really - how hard can it be to set up rooms, tables, food, vendors, technology, volunteers, parking, signs, escorts, publication for a small conference on our campus? I didn't even have to read the session proposals or figure out registration.
Not a small job. A really, really big job. Communication is amazing - amazingly complex. I'm weary. I've talked with at least a dozen people about many details, about hurt feelings, about misunderstood requests. I've emailed at least thirty different messages in the last 24 hours alone, one to the entire college community to clarify some complications.
I've done lots more - too silly to list everything here, but perhaps I will some time just to record the minutia. It's a learning experience, as they say (maybe I should learn to say "no thank you"?).
Not a small job. A really, really big job. Communication is amazing - amazingly complex. I'm weary. I've talked with at least a dozen people about many details, about hurt feelings, about misunderstood requests. I've emailed at least thirty different messages in the last 24 hours alone, one to the entire college community to clarify some complications.
I've done lots more - too silly to list everything here, but perhaps I will some time just to record the minutia. It's a learning experience, as they say (maybe I should learn to say "no thank you"?).
