Debate Watch

Some of you are discussing politics and one of you (I think Fauzia?) talked about watching the debates...for all interested in the debates, there will be a debate watch here on campus that should be very interesting. Here are the details:

The CCCCD Center for Scholarly & Civic Engagement presents

DEBATE WATCH 2004

BUSH VS. KERRY

Do you know where the candidates stand on the
issues? Are you being heard?

Listen. Learn. Raise Your Voice. Vote Smart.

Presidential Debate #1: September 30, 7:30PM

Presidential Debate #3: October 13, 7:30PM

Spring Creek Campus Conference Center AA135, C+

Voter registration (Sept. 30), a straw poll, debate activities, a post-debate discussion moderated by CCCCD Professor Diana Sage, and media coverage. Refreshments will be served.

Worried about your blogging

Hey guys,

I am starting to worry for the people who haven't blogged yet--this is an assignment that is hard to leave to the last minute, since it involves so many steps. I am so happy to see the people who have posted on my own blog, but I am disappointed to see that many of those same people haven't created their own blog. Please remember, posting on my blog is only part of the assignment! You also need to post three of your own entries on your _own_ blog; also, you need to respond to three different people with one post to each person on their blog. So, far, I have seen only a few people set up their own blogs, and only one person so far that has posted to another person's blog (thanks Deena!). So, this totals 7 blog posts, in all. Of course, I might be a worrywart, and it will all work out by Monday--which I really hope it does because I will be having an evaluation done in one of my classes by my boss early next week, who I have bragged about this blog activity to...so I don't want to seem like a failure. And I might seem like a failure if a lot of people don't complete the assignment and thus have something to talk about on Monday and Tuesday. Also, less selfishly, I want to post to your guys' blogs, since you have said things on my blog I want to individually respond to, which I can't do if you don't set up your blogs!

On a more informal note: I am sick. My 1302 classes might have noticed that I had to cancel my classes today so I could go to the doctor. I figured that if I took one day off to get medicine then I could prevent having to take off more days...so, I have used my _own_ emergency absence this semester. :( Later in the semester, you all will have a sub in November, when I have to take my Ph.D. exams...however, I will let you know more about this later on. Anyway, back to being sick...I am blaming it on you guys! So many of you have come to class or my conferences with the sniffles. :) Really, something is going around...some kind of ick. My mother-in-law was sick last week (who is probably the person I got it from, in reality) and now my husband looks like he caught it from me. Now I am on icky antibiotics, from a secondary throat infection that came out of the cold I caught at the end of last week. The funny thing is that my throat doesn't hurt! It feels like I have an ear-ache. Now, I wish that I had had my tonsils out long ago, since it looks like it is my tonsils that are infected, which is what is giving me the illusion of an ear-ache.

Now, I am going to go eat some chicken noodle soup, feel sorry for myself, and hope that more people create blogs and post to eachother's blogs!

Melissa

Therapy for the Sane

Dear fellow bloggers re: work and school,

I appreciate all the comments you all made about the problems with dealing with work and school. Like I said in class, hearing the myriads of experiences helped me better understand the difficult choices that students have to make. I realize how lucky I was to not have work while I was in school, outside of the workstudy jobs that I had on campus. As Nina pointed out, it is a fallacy to generalize from your own experiences. I do think that some students overestimate the need to work, and perhaps don't prioritize school. I also think that some students work for other reasons than simply money, and don't neccessarily have the foresight to be able to balance their work with their school. Another thing that still worries me about the trend of students who work over twenty hours a week, and go to school, is that there is a lower-standard in terms of what is expected out of school. For instance, the rule of thumb is that each class should require one hour of homework for each credit hour--meaning that ideally you should be spending almost forty hours a week, just on homework, for each class. However, obviously if people are working over twenty hours a week plus going to school, they are not spending that much time doing homework. I, on the otherhand, did have that much homework while I was in college. I wonder if students are perhaps having to do less homework, or simply ending up spending less time on their homework. Either way, it makes me worry about the quality of education that students receive while they go to school, compared to the quality of education that I received.

What do you think?

Melissa

Increasing Trend: Students who work

I have noticed a trend in my students, something I did not encounter at UTA or during my own college experience: Students who work 30-40 hours a week, usually in jobs that pay no more than eight dollars an hour. I think I find this amazing, first of all, because it is an experience I do not share...in college, I did work summer jobs and had a work-study job, but my living expenses were part of my tuition. Now, my tuition at Scripps, where I went, was over 27K a year. My parents did not contribute anything at the time to my college expenses, and so I received a lot of scholarships and a number of school loans to cover my tuition and living expenses. Cell-phones weren't common, and the main expense I had to pay for was my car, which I paid no more than $150 dollars a month for, insurance and payments. So, I could easily work 20 hours a week at five dollars an hour, and have extra spending money. Also, I never missed class because of my work schedule...I missed classes because I was sick, lazy, or didn't do the homework, and suffered the consequences for it. But, I am discovering the common trend of students working real jobs (albeit, many have low-paying, unskilled jobs) while they go to college, supposedly to pay for living expenses (although many students do live at home), cell-phones (I don't even have a cellphone!), cars (cheap used cars seem to be anthema to many college students--and don't even mention public transportation!), money to eat out, etc. The idea of students waiting to have a job _after_ college seems to be unknown, for the most part, for many community college students. What is even more amazing is that Collin County is a community college in a very upper-middle class area, where you would think the students would be able to depend on their parents to help them out through college! However, this seems not to be the case. What I wish students who choose to work would realize is that:

1) It is really discouraging to professors to hear from their students that work schedules dictates school schedules, and so many students cut class for work purposes and often see their work as more important than school. Professors will not make allowances because you work so many hours, and are too tired to study, or don't have enough time!

2) Financial aid, including federal work study jobs that pay as much as "real jobs," is available to pay for or offset the expenses of going to school.

3) Sacrifice is possible...you don't have to have the life-style you grew accustomed to while in high school...there are reasons that ramen noodles are so inexpensive!

4) If you work hard in college, actually get a degree, and perhaps postpone material things while in college, your earning potential will be much more in the long-run.

5) Insurance might be available through your parent's plans if you are a full-time student AND there are school insurances available that are low-cost.

6) If you work many hours a week, you miss out on the cultural and social activities that are available while you are in college.

7) It is hard to study and get good grades when you work a full-time job; if you study hard and get good grades, this increases your possibility of getting a scholarship when you transfer, and saves money in the long run!

I wonder if students know all the above when they decide to work so many hours? Do parents encourage their children to work while in college? Does anybody discuss with you your options before you enroll in college?

Obviously, there are students who have to work--those who are raising families, or going back to school later in life; however, I see too many students funding expenses, such as cars and cell-phones, that could be post-poned and aren't as neccessary as students think.

What do you think?

Melissa

Another English professor's blog at Collin County...

You might want to check out the blog of a colleague of mine. He is also using the blog in his classroom...

rhetorblog.blogspot.com

Freetime...what do you do with it?

Hi, all,

This is my first semester teaching that I actually have free time, which is amazing, because I am teaching more classes than I ever have had to! I might have mentioned this before in class, but this is my first semester teaching at Collin County after teaching at UT Arlington for almost five years. I was also working on my Ph.D. there, and with my own classes I was taking and teaching, helping to take care of my three year old step-son, very little money (this is the first job I will be making more than 1300 dollars a month!), getting married, buying a house and then moving, and being pregnant and then losing my daughter to SIDS, this is the first time I have the money, time or energy to do fun things! Now, my husband and I are secure in our marriage and starting to feel happy again after months of grieving, our step-son is able to play by himself (sort of) when he visits us, and we can afford to splurge _a little bit_, even though we still have to be careful because we are still catching up on various bills. So, this means I am open to suggestions of fun things to do. We live in downtown Dallas and I take the train to work, so we have been doing things around that area or that can be gotten to by the train. For instance, we are looking forward to the State Fair, and I have been watching tons of movies (just recently saw two good movies: Monsoon Wedding and Beautiful Mind), and reading some good books (most recently "Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold and Margaret Mead's biography). But, I am open to suggestions for fun things to do. Of course, I know that you guys might have less time for fun things now that you are in college, but maybe I can do the fun things you don't have time for, and report about them to you guys. :)

Keep writing,
Melissa

Any comments on this???

Monday, September 20th, 2004Put Away Your Hankies...a message from Michael Moore
9/20/04
Dear Friends,
Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"
Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded. They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.
They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.
Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"
No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.
Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.
My friends, it is time for a reality check.
1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.
2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.
3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).
4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.
So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."
Yes...Yes...Yesssss....He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...
WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?
Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?
Yours,
Michael Moorewww.michaelmoore.commmflint@aol.com

Personal vs. Academic Writing

Today, I had a good time in class trying to get my students to understand the differences (and similarities) between personal vs. academic writing. I got excellent feedback from my MW class on what they learned, which made me feel good that they feel like they actually learned something. Some comments that I got included, "Today's class made me feel better about writing academically for the reason that personal writing and academic writing actually mix well together as long as you use certain boundaries;" "I think after today's discussion, some of my opinions on the two styles of writing have changed. It seems to me that personal and academic writing actually compliment each other;" and "I learned today that I am on the right track trying to apply my personal writing to a more structured environment." I got many more comments that let me know that my students were understanding what I was trying to communicate. Some comments, however, made me wonder if I was even in the same room as my students!

Communication, especially through writing, is very important to me, so I feel passionate about helping others to communicate well. I think that students don't always realize that many academics feel passionate about their discipline, and want to have students be passionate, as well. So many students, especially at the community college level, seem to resist learning, perhaps because they feel burnt out on school or because they go to college with motivations other than learning. This is not something I entirely understand because I was very excited when I went to college to learn new ideas and understand how the world works better. The ideal class would be full of passionate life-long learners, which might only be possible in teaching graduate school--something that I am not qualified to do, as of yet. However, sometimes I feel like if I can help my students to want to be passionate life-long learners, perhaps I have done something right!

The avocation of teaching is an emotional rollarcoaster--sometimes there are days where you feel like you are actually making a difference in people's lives. Other times, you wonder if anything you are saying or doing is working at all. I also feel torn because writing is such a passion of mine, and sometimes teaching writing leaves no time or energy for writing--the dilemma of all academics who actually desire to publish, experiement, contribute to knowledge or express themselves.

Welcome to my 1301 and 1302 classes

Blogs are a strange writing experience.

You don't know who will possibly read your blog and, like writing anything, you never know how (or if) anyone will respond.

But--blogs also allow you to communicate with yourself and others. Some say that behind a computer, you have the freedom to say--or write--anything. Of course, you are writing your blog and your responses to the blog in the context of a writing class, and not simply for your own enjoyment. This might make you less candid. Of course, this might not be such a bad thing--do we want to write personal information that we wouldn't tell our closest loved ones in an English class? (Btw--this is a subject debated in my field, so if you want to weigh in on what you think, go ahead.)

Part of the difficulty of having so many students (over 120 total) is not being able to get to know my students individually as much as I would like. The side effect of this is that my students don't neccessarily know who I am (of course, some students don't really care.) This blog should help mediate these difficulties.

Another benefit of this blog is that students sometimes like to know the writing style of the professor. I know that when I was a student, I was always curious about what my professors wrote and what they were interested in. This blog can also help with this sort of curiousity.

Another possible benefit is that sometimes I have reactions and experiences to certain class sessions that students might be interested in knowing about or responding to. For instance, I might have a cranky day and students might not realize this. Or, I might think an assignment went really well, or badly, and students might have an entirely different reaction.

Another good thing that can come out of a dialogue with students outside of class is that it allows some students to voice their opinions or views in a "safe" environment. Some students don't ever feel comfortable talking in class at all or very much. One thing I have noticed is that sometimes the most insightful writers are the quietest. Blogging can be a great place for these sorts of students to let their "voice" be heard.

And 1301 and 1302 are writing classes--so have fun; go write.

me