Teaching Web 2.0, part 2

(I know it's long, but I hope you'll still read it, especially if you're a writing teacher.)

As I mentioned in this post, I have chosen to analyze user-generated web content in my Advanced Composition class because most students are already personally invested in it and because it raises interesting issues about composition.

I have to keep the discussion of the latter part on the light side because I don't think they're entirely ready to deal with those issues in depth. Part of that is because, despite what the title of the class seems to indicate, this is a sophomore-level course. They are still dealing with a lot of writing issues that are covered in freshman composition, which many students never actually took because there are so many ways to get out of it. What I want them to do, mainly, is to expand their concept of writing to include composition on the web, with its fluidity and temporality and globality and hypertextuality and collaborativality (okay, so that's not a word--I got carried away). I want them to think about what they write online as writing.

The major obstacle to that is a continued attachment to paper. Now, I'm not saying that I don't like paper. Paper is fine. But there are all these new ways to write that don't quite feel as legitimate as paper. The traditional academic paper with its page counts and red pen grade marking. Anything else seems less serious, less academic. They (we, everybody) need to be able to take electronic texts seriously, as they read them and as they compose them. To that end, I'm conducting an almost paper-free class (with the exception of the textbook) to distance them from paper and force them to participate in electronic composition and communication for a grade (and doesn't that somehow make it real and legitimate--when it's for a grade?).

But I'm not doing anything especially revolutionary here. I think that I could have gone much farther, but I'm holding back. I'm still requiring the traditional academic papers that are in the familiar paper format. They are composed, submitted, peer reviewed, and graded entirely electronically--never printed out. But still, the electronic versions of the papers are just an imitation of the printed papers. They have the same visual format, the same page breaks, the same everything, just appearing as an image on the computer screen instead of in their hands. Even that much distance from paper is unsettling for some. In his course evaluation last semester, one student from Technical Writing, a totally web-based class, lamented the loss of the red pen on his graded papers. He felt like the electronic grademarking, which mimics the red pen, was not as effective.

I am keeping the traditional paper format this semester for several reasons. One is that I have an obligation to them to prepare them for academic writing that will be required of them in other classes. Even though they were supposed to learn the conventions of academic writing in freshman comp, I still feel like I would be misleading them if I attempted to change the way they conceive of academic writing when in reality the college papers that are assigned in every class are not much changed. Another reason is that they are comfortable with the traditional format, and they feel more like they understand what is expected of them. If I tried to turn their whole notion of writing upside-down, I think that they would be so distracted, and some of them upset, trying to figure out "what I'm looking for" in their writing projects that I would have to sacrifice a lot of the work that I want to do with them. I'm not sure that they would be better writers at the end of the class, and to make them better writers is my primary goal.

Also, I must admit, the traditional paper format is more comfortable to me because I know how to grade it. I know how to grade it because I have written many and they have been graded and I have modeled my grading on my experiences as a student. (This is the first time I've really connected grading with being a student, but isn't that how we learn how to grade? Certainly no one has ever taught me how to grade a paper.) When I assign innovative projects, I am frequently pleased with the results but also left with the problem of trying to assign grades for which I have no previous reference. I just don't know what to do with them.

So what I'm doing this semester is easing them into electronic, web-based composition for low-stakes assignments but still taking the biggest parts of their grades from traditional papers. I am asking them to analyze electronic communication and write papers about it, which I guess is another way of easing them into the thing. We are using "Web 2.0," or user-generated content, or whatever you want to call it, every day, but our foundation is still paper, even if that paper appears as an image on the screen. I think that I've made the right decisions for the class (actually, I may have gotten in trouble with the department had I done anything too different), but I still feel like I'm doing it half-way, holding back. And the result of that is that I feel like I am trying to sell my students on something and they're not really buying it.

Teaching Web 2.0, part 1

The theme of my Advanced Composition class is not technology or user-generated web, but it is a huge component. The theme is actually "Identity and Community," and under that umbrella, we're looking at the ways in which identity and community are constructed and expressed via electronic communication (I know I've described this before, but I thought a recap was in order). We're using blogs and message boards and the class is almost paperless, so the technology is in use all the time, but we're starting a four-week unit next week in which we'll study specifically web communication and virtual communities. And I'm showing this video.

The concept that underlies Web 2.0 is not exactly new. The internet has been connecting people and allowing people to create their own content for a very long time. What the video points out, though, is that those services that are being called Web 2.0 now have removed the need to understand coding and programming and "how" technology works by making user-friendly, accessible programs that allow people to put whatever they want online without any advanced technological knowledge. Those kinds of programs have also been around for a while, but now they are pervasive. Everybody's doing it. And while the questions of authorship and copyright and even relationships that the video's ending alludes to are also not really new--they were around long before Flickr and MySpace and Blogger--the exponential growth of Web 2.0 has brought those questions to the radar of many more people who don't necessarily identify themselves as artists, authors, or academics.

So what about teaching? I selected this topic for two reasons. It is timely and interesting to students, which hopefully will help them to enjoy the class and encourage them to put more effort into their writing assignments. And it presents intriguing questions about composition. With my theme, we are focused more on the first part. I'm asking students to be self-conscious about their use of user-generated web and to really consider its function and potential in their lives. Based on their blogs, I think that a lot of them do not realize how prominent the internet is in their personal lives, and I suspect that is because it is so commonplace that they find it unremarkable. I asked them to blog about their use of the internet, and several of them immediately stated that they could not live without it. They are plugged in all the time and feel anxious when they are away from it. But many others were reluctant to make such a statement, adamant that they are not "addicted" (a word used frequently among them) to the internet. Their entries almost ran on a pattern--They would insist from the beginning that they don't use the computer that much, mostly just for school. Then they would start to list the things they did online regularly, and the lists became lengthy, even as they continued to insist that they were not that "attached" to it. It went something like this: I don't use the internet much and I just don't understand why people are so attached to it and spend hours on the computer. But I use it all the time to do school work. And to talk to friends and family. And post pictures. And I have to check Facebook every day. But I don't really use it that much.

Issues of composition and authorship are not on their minds (except maybe for the guy who writes music and posts his songs online). Whether they are conscious of it or not, they are invested in the internet as a social tool (and secondarily, I think, as a learning tool). I've been easing them into thinking about it critically, and next week we're hitting it hard as they start writing papers that analyze virtual communities (primary research--yea!). Which brings me to the second big issue--composition. But not today. I don't like long blog posts, and I just wrote one, so now it's time to stop.

The next installment will come soon. And I will respond to the "Academia 2.o" video, which is really about something different.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

This video is much less documentary-ish. I'm going to show it to my class next week.

Academia 2.0

This is a video response to the film "Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us." I will have comments about this later, but for now I will just share it with you because I think this is something that all of who teach have to care about.

URL for video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tvYc9_wZ38

The child encounters religious ritual

(Which doesn't happen too often for a Baptist)

I've talked a bit about religion on the blog, and my dissertation (shall we assume for the moment that I am writing a dissertation) is on religion, but I can't recall how much I've revealed about my own religion. So I'm Baptist (insert stereotypes and assumptions here). My daughter goes to a Baptist church every Sunday, and she goes to a Lutheran preschool during the week. My sister-in-law (who is especially Baptist) was appalled that we were sending her to a Lutheran preschool, but my response was that they are not teaching her Lutheran doctrine at two years old. But this week I found out that they were baptising baby dolls at school (seriously!), and RB said that she is going to baptise her sister when she's born. This is an interesting coincidence because on Sunday we are going to a Methodist church to see a friend's baby baptised. Baptists don't baptise babies. I plan to bring Rebekah into the service at least for the baptism instead of sending her straight to the nursery. I think she will be very interested in the baptism since she has "participated" in one at school.

I don't have any specific thoughts on this right now--I'm sort of trying to work out how to handle it. Some of my questions are, What does RB understand about baptism at this age? What does she think is happening? Will she notice that her sister will not be baptised (at least not as an infant)? Will she ask if she was baptised? Should I explain that some churches baptise babies while others don't? Should I wait until she asks?

Our church does have a nice baby dedication service that will sort of take the place of a baptism service (certainly not the same thing but it might look similar to a young child). Perhaps it will be enough to explain that some churches use water and some do not. But that's not really the truth. And I have a feeling that it is going to be more complicated than that even for RB.

So this post just sets up the problem. Maybe I will have more later when we start working these things out. For now, I am listening to what she has to say. And she does have things to say.

ABD is not really so fun

Studying for prelims was way better.

I actually don't feel so run down and frustrated right now. I'm not crying today. I'm not exhausted. I'm drinking a large cup of coffee in celebration of a story on the Today show that announced that drinking even large amounts of coffee daily is safe for pregnant women. (Not that I gave up coffee, but I was still glad to see the official annoucement. But Supadiscomama reminds me that I better wean myself off before AB comes along because caffeine and breastfeeding makes for jittery baby.)

What concerns me is that the fantasy to just quit where I am lingers, even in my calm, rational state. The idea of rewriting my dissertation proposal right now (which I am supposed to be doing right now--or more accurately, three months ago) is almost more than I can fathom. I don't feel panicky. I just don't see how it's going to happen. Because I can't conceive of the project in any concrete way. The proposal feels superficial and insubstantial and just boring. I can't even feel angst over the diss right now because I can't envision a successful proposal. If my project were to write an article over any of the primary texts, I would feel supremely confident. And I would actually do it. I actually think that I could jump into a chapter and move along pretty well. But the proposal is a strange genre that carries no meaning for me and will be seen by maybe four people yet is the bane of my existence at the moment. I can't progress until it's done, and I just can't see it getting done.

I totally understand why people get to ABD and quit. And it scares me how appealing that idea is.

P.S. I won't be quitting. My husband has sacrificed too much for my degree. He is actually my motivation right now.

Private P.S. to Supadiscomama: He's being nice again, so I like him now :)

Maybe she's ready for Butler

After reading so much gender theory, watching my daughter develop a concept of gender fascinates me (and often entertains me).

Sunday morning I put her hair up with a bow, and she looked in the mirror and said, "Now I'm a girl." She messed it up and I had to take it out and start over. When I took it out, she said, "I'm not a girl anymore."

I didn't say anything--sometimes I think it's more important to let her work those things out for herself.

in case you haven't seen it yet

You should check out the round of discussion on the challenges of young female faculty, starting with Azpazia. Dr. Crazy has assembled a collection of links, so I'll just piggy back on her.

how do you do it?

One of the most frequent questions I get in person and via Google referrals is probably, how do you raise a child while going to school? (I don't know how punctuation is supposed to work in that sentence--it always bugs me. If anyone has a definitive answer on that, I am open to it.) I don't really believe that raising a child in grad school is any harder than raising a child with any career, but one thing that is usually part of being in grad school is living far from family. I often fantasize about being able to call my mom when I need help with RB or if an emergency comes up, especially when I call and she's taking care of my brother's kids. Wouldn't it be nice? But that's just not possible for me or for most people in this line of work. But I have friends. (Here's where things are going to get a little mushy.)

I've been thinking about what's going to happen when AB is born and remembering how things were when RB was a baby. I couldn't have gotten through it without a few people (you know who you are!) who cared for my baby at various, often random times while I took a full course load and taught a class with a really inconvenient schedule that had me on campus at 9:00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m., not to mention night classes. And for several months there, she was a sickly baby who screamed the whole time I was out of her sight. My situation is much different now, but I don't know what I would have done without them. And I am grateful, too, for a friendship that grew out of my offer to help out a fellow student-mom whom I barely knew at the time because I knew what it was like to need help and not know where that help was going to come from. Now she and her family are very important to me and to my daughter.

I don't have an active social life. I never have "Mommy's night out." I hardly even go out with my husband. I pretty much work and hang out with my kid. But I do know that there are people around who will help me when I need it. And I hope they think of me when they need help. It's crucial to have a network of support. I don't know anybody who could truly do it alone.

This post brought to you by sappy, pregnant, emotional Sarah.

everything is okay; RB makes an observation

Just an update for the kind commenters who expressed support. Dad's okay (reasonably). Mom's okay (resonably). I'm as okay as I ever am. We'll see how next week goes.

RB has brought it to my attention that I talk to myself. A lot. Every day. I never really noticed it, but lately I'll say something, and she'll ask, "What did you say?" Then I realize I'm talking to myself aloud again. Usually she just shrugs it off, but today she asked, "Why do you talk to yourself?" She is starting to figure out that her mother is just a touch crazy. (But she talks to herself, too. Maybe it's genetic. There is a line of crazy women in my family.)

report on meeting

Meeting with advisor went well. I didn't look stupid. I guess I cried on Tuesday for no reason. Not that it was the first time I've cried over my dissertation. Or the last.

I have to totally rewrite my dissertation proposal. I've known that since June but haven't done it. My advisor came very close to setting a deadline for me. I talked to him today about how I would rewrite it, and I do think that it is better in my head than my first proposal. It's just getting it on paper that is the problem. I even made a change that he hoped I would make but didn't tell me because he didn't want to force the change on me. That was good. And he suggested an additional chapter about something that I have not thought about at all. Not at all. That was not as good.

I need to get as excited about my dissertation as I am about teaching.

first day of school

Finally! I met my class today, and I was really excited about starting the semester--like, crazy hyper excited, but I tried to keep cool and not be such a dork in front of my students. Of course, today was just a lot of introductory material, throwing it at them pretty fast so they can decide if they want to bail before the add/drop deadline. I couldn't get a vibe from them, though. They all looked a little stunned. Glazed over. I don't know what to make of it. I don't know if it was me or my syllabus or all the computers or what. Or maybe it was just 9:00 a.m. At any rate, not my typical first day, and I'm anxious to get back on Monday to see if anything has changed. Or if I've lost half my class.

When I was checking roll, one student told me her name was Mary. After class, she came up to me and told me that she prefers to go by Mary Kay. "I didn't tell you that when you asked," she said, "because I didn't expect that you would want to learn my name."

I'm glad she decided that I was interested in learning her name.

Course evaluations

I've gotten some work done and I think I'll survive my meeting tomorrow. We'll see.

For now, I'm concerned about course evaluations. I do take them seriously and value student feedback, but I also try to keep it in perspective and not get myself worked up and paranoid over one disgruntled student. And isn't there always one? Last semester my class was totally online--never met my students in person although I did make myself available for face-to-face conferences. I am concerned about a few responses.

1. Assignments were too detailed and because of that were confusing. (this was an isolated comment but it stood out to me)
I was surprised at this--I would have expected the opposite to be true. In most of my classes I give assignment prompts that are at least a page long with bulleted lists of the essential elements. I do like my students to have some freedom to be creative, but I have generally found that too much freedom causes them to feel anxious (but that's not always bad). This was a Technical Writing class so the assignments did have precise requirements and were spelled out in great detail, more than I would usually give for a comp or lit class. So what do you think? Is there such a thing as too much detail for a tech writing assignment? How about for a more traditional academic essay? By graduate level, of course, most prompts consist of "Write a term paper. Period." Do lower level undergrads need more instructions while upper level need less? Should an online class have more detailed prompts to make up for the lack of classroom discussion of the assignment?

2. Too many assignments for an online class. (Not so isolated--maybe four people said this)
I think this just represents a problem with student attitudes toward online classes. They see it as a way to save time because they are too busy to sit in a classroom. And then when it requires as much work as a regular class, they are unhappily surprised. So this could just be chalked up to whining and ignored. But I think it might be something that has to be addressed in some way very early in the semester so students snap out of the mindset that they can breeze through the class simply because it is online.

3. Instructor seemed "annoyed or unwilling to offer advice."
Ouch. I am always frustrated when I score below perfect on the accessibility questions. I constantly remind and invite students to ask questions, email me, meet with me, etc. I don't know what to do when a student won't take advantage of it and then scores me low on evaluations. But there is another problem here. I seemed annoyed. Honestly, sometimes I was annoyed. My annoyance came when students did not ask questions or contact me when asked to but also when they did not read instructions and asked me questions that were clearly answered in the assignment prompts, or even worse, in bold letters on the announcements. My response to that was often "Read the instructions carefully and then ask me again if you have any more questions." That probably sounded like I was annoyed. I was. But what is the appropriate response? Electronic communication is, of course, notorious for miscommunications based on tone. No facial expression or tone of voice to help out. But there is also the problem that students (well, people in general) do not want to read instructions for themselves (especially, the long detailed ones in this class). This student's comment bothers me because it is really important to me to be available to my students and for them to feel comfortable approaching me. How do I communicate to them the importance of THEIR responsibility to read the course material carefully without sounding like I am annoyed if they ask me questions?

Incidentally, I did get positive comments on the same question. My favorite: “There was not a reasonable time when I could not reach her, unless it was late at night when normal people sleep.”

So there are a lot of questions, some rhetorical but others to which I would like some real answers. Any thoughts on these issues or course evaluations in general?

Academic time

I think about this topic all the time, so I was pleased to read PhDing's great post "The Circadian Rhythms of Academic Life" found on his new blog Doctorating (he is also cold and stuck at home--I wonder if he is close to me). I highly recommend you check it out, especially if you're feeling all cabin-fever-y like I am.

P.S. I get what you're trying to do with the name, but I always read it as Ph--Ding! It makes me smile.

P.P.S. This post is brought to you by the Backyardigans (with a short spurt of real work to follow, courtesy of Dora the Explorer).

Outlook not good

Weather is worse instead of better. It's another snow day, which is pretty much another lost work day. RB has not been taking naps because she's not doing enough to get tired. First day of school is postponed, and I was so looking forward to it in my dorky "I love school" way. Outlook is not good for the meeting on Friday. Yesterday I cried about it, but I'm pregnant and sometimes that just happens. Sigh.

A step in the right direction?

I just had an email exchange with my advisor, in which I had an easy opportunity to take an out from meeting with him until February. But I said I want to meet Friday. I am not ready for a meeting, but this will force me to put together some coherent ideas and articulate a real direction, even if there's nothing in writing. Otherwise I would allow myself to put it off and delay progress yet again. I have a knack for doing real work that is not the work I need to do. So I can justify, for example, throwing myself into teaching this week and spending more hours than are actually necessary while letting the dissertation fall by the wayside again. But I'm not letting myself justify it. I have committed to a meeting in three days and will have something to say at that meeting (even as I am still stuck at home with no child care because of the "ice storm" that I have yet to see). Or I will sit there and say, "uhhh....."

Edited to add: The ice finally got to me...brrrr.....

Carnival of GRADual Progress

As many of us sit home waiting out the ice because schools (and preschools) are closed, we can catch up with our fellow grad bloggers at the Sixth Carnival of GRADual Progress.

Stay warm, and for those with children cooped up in the house all day, try to stay sane, too.

Baby face

This is on the other blog but deserves a cross-posting.

Face at 27 weeks.

milestone blogging: teaching, diss, anonymity

I just realized my last post was number 200. Milestone. I'm trying to make some decisions about the blog.

This is an uncharacteristically long post, so in good technical writing style, I'll give you some headings so you can skip the stuff you don't want to read.

Blog slump:
I am in a blog slump and have been posting a lot more often to my family blog, which is all about pregnancy updates and pictures of RB. I have thought about ditching this blog because lately it's boring. But I'm going to chalk it up to the break and expect it to get better next week. I get all jumpy and anxious during breaks. I enjoy a little time off, but once I rest a bit, I want my routine back. Summer drives me crazy. I am so ready for classes to start because I really really love teaching and I also love to blog about teaching.

Teaching:
One decision I'm trying to make now is how specific to get about my class. I am requiring my students to blog this semester, which means that some will assume that I blog, and one of them will likely find my blog. So do I keep things vague so they can't find me? Or do I just write as though they are all reading it anyway? I prefer to blog more specifically about teaching because I feel like those posts are more substantial, interesting, and useful. But I will have to seriously consider the ramifications of students reading my blog (which I have blogged about before).

Diss:
Another decision I am considering is how specific to get about my dissertation. I have blogged about dissertation process but not much on content. I wonder how useful it might be to me to blog content a bit. It might really help. There is the possibility of a separate dissertation blog, but that doesn't really appeal to me. I also understand that my readers are less interested in my specific project than in broader issues that are more relevant to them. Of course there is also the danger of putting too much of my work out there for others to pillage. Whatever direction it takes, I will do more diss blogging this semester than last semester. Because I will do more diss. I must. I have to stop taking on other projects and get focused. But there is this article that I want to revise and submit for publication. I need to work on that, right?

Anonymity:
I guess this isn't really a decision to be made, but I am just not that interested in anonymity (or as I frequently and more accurately call it, semi-anonymity) anymore. I keep posting RB's real name without thinking. Of course, I've grown so fond of her abbreviation that I've started using it in emails and other shorthand away from the blog. My last name is hidden somewhere on the blog, too, so some people may have run across it. If you Google my very common real name, you won't find me. But if you run across this blog and you know me at all, you'll figure me out quickly. I have written about some very personal experiences, but I'm not a secretive or extremely private person--I have talked about all the stuff I've blogged in the hallways at school--including pregnancy and miscarriage, which I think are the most personal topics I've addressed here. I also don't rant about my friends and coworkers here because several people I know IRL read this blog and I don't think it's appropriate. What it comes down to is that I'm bored with trying to veil my identity in any way. I'm not sure that it's so important to be anonymous. Maybe I've just gotten so comfortable with blogging that it feels normal, not like some secret vice. Plus I also think it's really valuable personally and academically and I want to talk about that with people. And I can't do that if I'm trying to pretend like I don't blog.

new additions to the blog roll

We can expect to see some insightful commentary on academia, literature, parenting, and a dose of religion on Literacy-chic's new blog Words, Words.

And I have lately been following Canape's story on Don't Take the Repeats as she copes with a recent miscarriage. As the due date of my second pregnancy passed this Christmas, I've been reflecting on my own experience. Canape's words are honest and often painful but also beautiful. Sometimes what helps the most is connecting with someone who really understands how you feel.

the tomboy and the princess

My mother has decided that RB will be my "tomboy" while AB (who is still in utero) will be my "princess." I don't know how she has come to these conclusions or why there necessarily has to be the dichotomy of tomboy and princess, but there it is.

Ahh...the routine

Finally I can get back to something of a routine. RB is back in school and I am back at work (at home but at work). I actually went to the library yesterday and picked up an armload of books that I plan to plow through this week. One of them is titled All Out of Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality, and it has essays by Dorothy Allison, Sue Monk Kidd, and Barbara Kingsolver, among others. I think I'll start there. I am completely impressed by Allison and moreso by Kingsolver, but the jury is still out on Kidd. I haven't decided what I think of her yet or if she warrants a place in my dissertation. I may purchase this book for myself. You see, I have $1000 with which to purchase research materials and I have left it just sitting there since August. Why? I don't know--I just can't seem to get my act together. It seems like the promise of a pile of shiny new books would motivate me to get something done, but no.

So this week, it is on to the library books, and next week hopefully I'll take care of whatever it is I need to do to buy my new books. I also need to build my class in Moodle (our online course management program) and get that ready for next Wednesday, first day of class. Semester has started. Get off your butt, Sarah.

P.S. I had another quick ultrasound yesterday and saw Little Bit's face. She looks like a baby :) I also bought one of these because apparently after the first baby, the belly gets harder to support on its own. My hips hurt a lot, and the doc says this might help. But she also said there's nothing I can really do about it. It's okay. I resigned myself to just feeling bad throughout the whole pregnancy. I remember enjoying my first pregnancy, but maybe I'm just imagining that.

Braxton Hicks...ugh

Can I complain for a minute? I started having BH contractions at about 20 weeks. Much earlier than my first pregnancy (this one has been more difficult in pretty much every way). They really hurt. I've given birth and felt the "real thing," so I'm under no delusions that this feels like labor. But these contractions hurt and I have them every day and it pretty much sucks. That's all.

Some people (not I) went to MLA

I have never gone to MLA, but I still feel anxiety when it rolls around, knowing my time will come soon (next year? maybe). I usually look forward to conferences, but this one scares the hell out of me, mostly because it is so closely tied to job hunting. So I've been reading a few posts about others' trips.

Everyone should read Dr. Crazy's post about networking. Seriously. Go read it.

Laura and Lillian also reflect on their MLA experiences, addressing some of the anxiety attached to this particular conference. And before MLA Lillian posted her thoughts on conferences in general.

And speaking of job hunt and paralyzing anxiety, Leslie posts about "what happens when your calling no longer calls you."

Recording session

In an effort to do something that resembles work, I tried out the free audio editor I downloaded to make podcasts for my online class. Not to be excluded, Rebekah jumped in my lap, and she had a recording session. If you read my family blog, you've gotten the extended version, but here's a bit for you all. She sang several songs, but the big laugh is my favorite.

holidaze

Finally back home from visiting the family. Everything went well. No conflicts. RB was (mostly) angelic. Now we have PILES of toys in the living room. Next purchase: toy box.

I have a lot of work to do before school starts and before my next meeting with my advisor. I am embarrased by the lack of progress I have made on the dissertation front. It's not that I haven't been working--it's that I haven't been working on that. And it has to change. But I can't work yet because RB's preschool is closed until Thursday. That means a few more days to try to get the house back in some kind of manageable order. I don't know how people work with kids at home. I can't do it. I can steal a little time during the afternoon nap, but by the time she goes to bed for the night, six-month-pregnant Sarah is pretty much worthless.

So now I'm going to put away the clothes from our suitcases (the husband, of course, is back at work) while watching the Ace of Cakes marathon on Food Network.

P.S. I haven't been on a date with my husband since our anniversary in July.

lactation room

My university just established a lactation room in my building. It's certainly not convenient for everyone in the (very very large) university, but it's a start. And not a bad place to start--the English department has been producing babies at an astounding rate lately.

Person of the Year; Thank you very much :)

Time magazine's decision to name me--and you, who are participating with me in the user-generated web universe--Person of the Year was like a big ol' Christmas present just for me. This is SOOOO what I'm teaching next semester. It raises so many questions of composition, authorship, audience, identity, and community--very exciting for advanced comp. I am on a teaching high already and I'm just writing the syllabus. After a disappointing semester with technical writing (well, not so much disappointing as just plain boring), I am looking forward to a new course with an exciting topic and a new batch of students. And perhaps I will write a dissertation, too.

Bart Simpson Makes Fun Of Grad Students

Enjoy!

For those who like a carnival

Cotton candy and funnel cake are currently being served at The Carnival of GRADual Progress.

grading participation

My head is already in next semester, and I wanted to throw a question out to the blog world: How do you grade participation?

I am torn about whether to include participation as part of a course grade. Including it in the grade communicates to the students that their preparation for and participation in class activities (which will include class meetings and an online component in my case) is essential, but it also ends up being difficult to quantify. How do you make a participation grade more than simply an attendence grade? And how do you keep it from inflating grades?

400 words=awesome writing assignment

I have found a new writing assignment for advanced composition next semester, thanks to a Newsweek story about a literary magazine called 400 Words. The magazine publishes autobiographical nonfiction pieces with a 400-word limit. The theme of my course is Identity and Community, and what better way to wrap up the semester than with this exercise in clear, concise writing? And they will have the option then to submit it for publication. And ending the semester with such a short assignment means less grading stress--especially important since I will have a newborn by then. That's right--teaching next semester and giving birth in April. Can I do it? I sort of have to. I have it all planned out--hopefully Little Bit will respect the schedule.

Dear Students,

Semester is over. Grades are turned in. No, you cannot do extra credit. Yes, that is your final grade. I realize that it is of the utmost importance that you get an A. I am sorry that life as you know it will end when your grade is posted. But it is a little late in the game to do anything about it. Ship has sailed. Fat lady has sung. Insert your cliche of choice. I know you hate me, and I am comfortable with that.

Sincerely,
Your Teacher

overcoming writer's block and new experiences in literary criticism

I got over the writing hump, and things are now progressing. I moved past this last block in the way I often do--by starting in the middle. I am very comfortable with close reading. It is really just fun. I love it, and I think I'm good at it. So I skipped the sort of set-up that has to happen to introduce my argument and methods, jumped right into the stories, and I've filled up lots of pages quickly. I'm not finished with that stage yet, but as I have written it I feel like I have a better grasp on what I need to write in my introductory pages. So, good.

I've also had an interesting experience while writing this essay. I don't think I've ever written two essays on the same text before. There aren't a lot of opportunities for that in grad school because most of your papers have to be on a course topic. I think this is also the first time that I have produced a whole piece independent of a class. It's kind of exciting. I described this project a bit in my previous post--it's on a text that I've written about before and it's making an argument that is close to but not the same as the argument I made in a previous paper. I kind of thought that I would be able to draw large pieces from my previous essay, but that is not happening. This may sound a little simple-minded and unsophisticated, but I am really excited by the fact that I am analyzing the same stories, I have not changed my mind about what the stories mean, yet I am writing two completely separate readings. They are totally complementary and work together in interesting ways, and of course, I've read essays that work together like that before, but I've never written them. It's fun. And it's nice to have fun while working.

Another clear benefit to this, even though it's not saving me time now, is that my other essay will remain something very different from this one, so I can hopefully get both of them published without worrying about one looking like a revised version of the other. I really think that first one deserves to be published, and I'd like to send it out soon. This one is turning out to be quite good, I think, but I am not as confident. I have a fear that my essay will be cut from the collection in the end, and all of this will be for naught. But maybe I could find a home for it somewhere else if that happens. We'll see.

And now I must work. I don't want to push my luck and piss off the editor by not getting my submission in on time.

words not coming

I finished my paper last week with a grand sprint to the end, and I was pleased with it. But I still have an essay for a collection due December 15, and I can't seem to get it done. It's not so much writer's block as a complete disinterest in the task. I have already written an essay that is very close to this topic, but it does not fit the topic of the collection. So I proposed a new essay that does fit in with the collection but does not require more extensive research. The paper has to be different because I am making a completely separate argument--it's not just a revision of the other paper. And I like this argument--I think it's smart and interesting and right, and my advisor does, too. As does the editor of the collection, apparently. So why is it that I don't want to write the essay? I think what is missing here is the excitement of delving so deeply into the text and discovering things there and developing my interpretation--I feel like I've already done all that. I know exactly what I'm going to say and exactly what evidence I'm going to use because I have spent a great deal of time with this text working on the other paper and this argument is sort of adjacent to that one. It seems like I should be able to spit out this essay in record time. I'm just not into it right now. And I'm not sure how I'm going to force myself over this hump.

nuts and bolts

I made the switch to Blogger Beta, but I'm still a bit nervous about what kinds of kinks it might have. Please let me know if this has screwed up your feed subscriptions or anything. I like the labels, and I am tempted now to go back and tag all of my posts and get rid of the tag cloud I've got down there.

New Mama on the block

Welcome to our bloggy world, AcadeMama.

fathering

Supadiscomama has a nice post on fatherhood, which has inspired yet another post on work-family conflict. I certainly do not disagree with Supadiscomama. Yes, I think that we need to change our assumption that mothers are better at parenting than fathers in order to get away from the expectation that women are the primary caregivers. Something revolutionary needs to happen in the realm of men's work before this can be possible.

My friends can attest to an equitable division of home labor in their families, but they are lucky women, indeed. Such is not the case in my home, and it is not because my husband and I ascribe to old ideals about gendered work. It is because the world around us still holds those ideals. Men, including fathers, are expected to perform as ideal workers more than women. There is much less tolerance for men taking paternity leave or going home early to be with family or taking off work to care for sick children. My husband has one of those jobs that depends on my availability to do most of the work at home, including child care. He's not a high-powered executive chasing the almighty dollar. He's a restaurant manager. At all income levels, those jobs are the norm, not the exception.

Here is where choice rhetoric comes in--he has chosen that career and he could choose one that is more family friendly. But, of course, it's not nearly so simple to drop everything and start over in a new career with no experience. And he has paid a "daddy tax" by acting out of that ideal worker norm. When he chose to relocate so I could go to school, he lost a promotion and all his seniority, which means he has been in the same position for years and has lost some long-term income potential. And it will happen again after I graduate and ask him, once again, to quit his job in favor of mine.

My husband wants to care for our child, and I have left her alone with him while I have gone to conferences (but admittedly, I am nervous when I do). He is a good father, and he is involved with our child's life. And he cleans the house and does the dishes from time to time (someone has to--I am not a good housekeeper). But I am the one in charge of managing our home, making sure all the bills are paid and the clothes are washed and the groceries are bought. And I am RB's primary caregiver. It's not the way we would choose it to be if it were really our choice. It's the way that his job demands his time and mine allows for much more flexibility.

academics with children

Bitch, Ph.D. recently responded to a reader’s question about the feasibility of getting a Ph.D. while raising three children—LOTS of discussion there. Academom and Geeky Mom have also responded on their own blogs.

To add my two cents, of course it’s hard to get a graduate degree and raise children. It’s hard to have any career and raise children. Some people will succeed as if they don’t even have children while others will not finish their degrees. That happens among people who don’t have children, too. I do think that in some places women can be taken less seriously if they have children, but I have not experienced that in my department.

The problem is not just with academia but with the general expectation in most careers that employees will be ideal workers who can devote almost unlimited time to their jobs without interference from family responsibilities (read Joan Williams’s Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to do About It). If you’re a mother who performs as an ideal worker, then you must be neglecting your children. If your family responsibilities interfere with your work because you have to take off when kids are sick or you can’t work after five because you have to be home, then you are not committed to your career and you don’t deserve rewards like promotions or fellowships. Some of these considerations come into play in grad school, with course work and deadlines, others come up in the job search (who has time to publish when you’re doing all you can to meet your degree requirements?), but I think it is even more intensified on the tenure track (but I can’t personally attest to this yet).

I think that I have done well raising one child while in grad school—we’ll soon see how I do with two. It is doable. But I expect that my responsibilities as a mother will effect my career in the long-term. I am on a race to finish my dissertation before my funding runs out, hopefully publishing something along the way. But I’m certain that I will take a year longer than I would have without kids. And when I look for a job, I am not hoping to end up at a major research university, especially if that means moving multiple times to get there. I don’t want to the intense pressure of two books for tenure because I don’t want to put in the hours for it. I want to be with my family and I want to be happy when I’m with them, not worried about my job. That is my choice, you say? Well, maybe, but what kind of choice is that? My career OR my kids? I have adapted my notion of success in this career to something that allows me to teach and do my work and have plenty of time for my family. I don’t believe I can find this ideal at an elite university, so I do not aspire to work at an elite university. I know that you can probably name me some people who have done it all, but I don’t see that in my life. So I intend to accept the glass-mommy-ceiling, but that doesn’t mean I’m always happy about it.

For more on the effect of motherhood on academic careers, see Mary Ann Mason’s Do Babies Matter? project.

More on evangelicals and politics

Harrogate has accepted my invitation and responded to my post about the Christian Coalition. And I have responded on his blog. Go see it if you're interested in this topic.

Teaching carnival

Here.

Shopping

I just marked 13 people off my Christmas shopping list. I heart Amazon.com.

So what does Focus on the Family say about work-family conflict?

I gave a teaser of my paper earlier this week, and some people have expressed interest. Of course, I won't post my paper here, but I have selected the most representative statement from the FOF website about work-family conflict (which is, apparently, only a woman's problem).

I'm too tired tonight to offer commentary. Let me know what you think.

Potential writing crisis (pretty much) averted

So my paper I was writing for my women's studies class? Due next Tuesday, right? Wrong! Due tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.! I discovered this in class today because I'm a flake who does not look at her syllabus. Which, by the way, says in big capital letters: LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

Fortunately, I have fairly good work habits, so I had already done a good chunk of the paper. I also like to plan my papers to death before I write, so I had done a ton of reading and note taking and outlining. So I managed to write ten pages between 12:30 and 7:00 today and to edit my works cited page. My husband helped me out by picking up RB from daycare and taking her on a little excursion to give me a couple more hours to work before they were home (no way can I work with her around, even if my husband is home to help). So things are all better now. I just have to write a conclusion, then do some minor editing and proofreading tomorrow. And I even get to go to bed at a decent hour.

You know, it's nice to be a student in a real class sometimes. Makes me a little more sympathetic to my students.

Supadiscomama!

Supadiscomama is trying to be sneaky and start a blog without telling anyone. But I see you!

have a laugh

I like to read Indexed, and this post made me giggle today.

But before I get started, here's something on the Christian Coalition

Yesterday I heard this NPR story about the head of the Christian Coalition stepping down because he wanted to expand the agenda to include poverty and the environment. I don't want to turn this into a political or a religious blog, so I've been avoiding some of these issues here. But this deserves a link, and if it ends up on another blog, say The Rhetorical Situation, I might engage in some discussion as I have before (but I certainly don't intend to make Harrogate feel obligated to respond).

So, anyway, I've been talking about the movements of politically active evangelicals away from the stereotypical "religious right" for a long time, asserting that the beliefs of all evangelicals are not necessarily reflected by James Dobson and certainly not by Pat Robertson (granted many do agree with them but the consensus is not as uniform as it sometimes appears). This dissonance has been in my mind for a long time and when I first started expressing it aloud, meeting understandably skeptical responses from friends, it seemed to me to exist as a kind of silent majority. Now they are not silent, and mainstream media outlets like Newsweek and NPR are picking up on the stories.

I am certianly not denying that many evagelicals strongly believe in the principles of the religious right as it has been narrowly defined in the past. But many have other priorities and cannot be lumped in with those who have created the stereotypes we have today. And now those people are becoming politically active and visible. Many people are faithful evangelicals earnestly trying to do "what Jesus would do," and they believe that Jesus is leading them in different directions than the Christian political leaders have been leading them.

Edited to add: The paper I am writing is a discourse analysis of Focus on the Family's advice to mothers, specifically on work-family conflict. So this post is right along with academics and motherhood. So I'm not as off-topic as I originally thought (certainly more on-topic than posting a picture of my pecan pie). Now off to write.

Writing all day long

That's what I'm doing. No good blogging this week. Sorry.

The Speed of Meme (not following directions)

I'm sure I'm overthinking this whole meme experiment, but here's my response. I don't post memes. I don't know if I've ever posted a meme on this blog. I like to read them sometimes and I may post one in the future if it appeals to me, but so far I just don't do it. So I don't know if I should be counted in this whole thing.

But I do link to things I find interesting, and I find this interesting, especially since they're going to talk about it at MLA. So here's a link to the Speed of Meme experiment. I'm not following the directions for tracking the meme, but I am responding in the way I typically respond to things I read on other blogs--a link and a nod (look, I made a pun)--and Scott can do with it what he will.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mmmm...
I think we'll start with this.

another blogger on "balance"

In this week's spirit of lazy posting, here's a link to Mom and Much More's "On Balancing." She expresses what I know many working mothers feel.

The issue of work-family conflict has been at the front of my mind for several weeks now, and I have a post simmering. I haven't gotten to it because I don't want it to be totally abstract and I am a bit too emotional when it becomes about me. I tried to talk to my husband about it this week and ended up in tears. That is not to say that I am unhappy in my life--I think that I have figured out how to make being a student and being a mother mesh pretty well, which was not the case in my daughter's first year. But there are long term concerns because my responsibilities will change dramatically once I am on a tenure track (or struggling as an adjunct, whatever my fate may be). Things will change then, and I will pay a mommy tax in the long run.

Delurk!

Since day care is closed tomorrow, deadlines are approaching, and I'm still throwing up several times a week, I'm taking the easy way out for blogging this week. According to Profgrrrrl, whom I just added to my Google Reader, it is Thanksgiving Delurking Week! My numbers have been creeping up there, so I know there are some new people around.

If you've never commented before, now's the time! Make yourself heard! Here or anywhere--it is always a pleasant surprise when I get comments on posts from way back.

and now for some whining about pregnancy

Obviously, it is often difficult to be a graduate student with a child. Especially in my situation because my husband has one of those jobs that he couldn't do without someone at home providing the "family work"--cleaning (but I am, admittedly, a bad housekeeper), cooking, child care, paying bills, balancing the checkbook, etc.

But, you know, it's also pretty hard to be a pregnant graduate student, too. This goes for any career, I'm sure, but people don't really talk about how hard it is to work while you're pregnant (and it varies tremendously from one woman to another). I experienced this with my first pregnancy, too--during the first three months I could hardly do anything because I was so sick and tired, which meant that I was much less productive and my worked piled up so I had a lot to catch up on when I felt better.

This one is harder because the sick and tired is persistently lingering on. I am almost 20 weeks pregnant and I am still throwing up. I thought maybe it was over this week but I started this morning heaving into the toilet. And now I have to work. And I have let things pile up so I have to work well and work efficiently. Ick. I keep waiting for the easy phase to start. I remember an easy phase before, but it is nowhere in sight right now.

My Two Blogs; or, Where does venting belong?

As I put together my class for next semester, which includes a substantial blogging assignment, I have been obsessing again over blogs and audience. (See these two early posts) Also, I have two blogs now, so there have been a couple of times when I have asked myself which blog should I post to. And then Je m'amuse commented on this post that not telling anyone about her blog leaves her "safe to vent." I've also seen the word "vent" come up in comments on the various posts discussing Dr. Crazy's current predicament.

I am very conscious of my audience--I feel like I know pretty well who is reading my blog but I also know that any number of people connected to me IRL could find my blog through the grapevine. I do want to be sure that nothing I say here will get me into trouble or, as I have discussed before, violate the trust of my students. I don't really vent much here, but of course, I have my moments, like the recent vent about my father-in-law's comments about my job. I posted that here because (1) it is directly relevant to my blog "topic" and to the majority of my readers, who have experienced similar problems with family, and (2) no one who is connected in any way to my in-laws has my blog address. There's no chance that he will read this. I have read other bloggers discussing problems with family, friends, and colleagues--not unusual by any stretch-- and, as Anastasia experienced during her committee ordeal, people like to read about other people's problems. If that weren't the case, this whole blog thing wouldn't be so popular. But things become sticky when the people you are venting about are the ones reading your blog.

When I posted my vent today about my difficult pregnancy, I chose this blog because I know that a lot of my readers have kids or are considering having kids and might have an interest--moms like to talk about mom stuff. And it fits the "motherhood and academia" theme. I did not post it on my other blog, which is all about our family, including pregnancy updates, because of the audience I have chosen for that blog. Those readers are family members and friends, and the tone is decidedly warm and fuzzy. "Being pregnant kind of sucks sometimes" is not warm and fuzzy, and I prefer, when I feel better, to post something along the lines of "Look how cute RB's pigtails are."

This post was much more coherent in my head--my point is that we bloggers must be conscious of our audience all the time, especially if venting is a component of the blog (and I do not deny the cathartic benefits of venting). If we're venting about a student, that clearly has the potential for professional problems. If we're venting about people in our personal lives, that has the potential for hurt feelings and damaged relationships--sort of like walking up on someone gossiping about you behind your back. And it is not nice to out a blogger who clearly wishes to remain anonymous. I am a little irritated on Dr. Crazy's behalf. (But I am not too concerned with being anonymous, so if you know me I don't mind if you tell people about my blog--it's just the whole Google thing I'd like to avoid.)

As for venting on my blogs, I will judiciously vent a little here, I won't vent much at all on the other one, and most of my venting will be on the phone or in the office with my friends. Unless I decide I need a vent-safe blog. And I won't be telling you about it if I do.

church sign

There is Baptist church in my university town with a huge, ever-changing sign on a busy street. I have always appreciated a well-thought church sign--sort of a "sentence sermon" I've heard it called. But the sentences on this sign puzzle me, and my husband and I have decided we should start collecting them to share with friends (The Rhetorical Situation crew should make a point to drive by it every so often). A few weeks ago, it read,

"The letter I is always in the middle of anxiety."
I have come up with several interpretations, but this is one I still fail to get.

This week, it reads,
"Faith is like driving in the fog."
Wow. So faith is extremely hazardous and should be avoided if at all possible.

I think that someone should call the church sign guy and give him some feedback. He needs help.

Teaching carnival

Teaching carnival #16 is here.

my online students are being very quiet

Update on ethical dilemmas: I have decided that I will continue to blog about my class but I will avoid references to specific students. That talk will have to stay in the office. (Which is somehow not so bad?) I am still struggling with the Turnitin issue.

For the first time, my students are working on a project with an extended working period--about a month--and it's wrapping up this week. This whole time they have been very quiet. they have small weekly assignments, and they are logging on and doing those, but only two have actually asked questions about the assignment they are working on now. I post announcements frequently, urging them to keep in touch with me, but it has been to no avail. I am sure that some students have felt disconnected from me because of the online format, but this is the first time that I have really felt disconnected from them. I have no idea what is going on.

I can't help but feel like this means they are doing pretty much nothing and will try to throw together their reports in the next two days. We'll see.

Masters before doctorate?

This week a Googler posed the question, "Should I work on a master's if I'm going to get a doctorate degree?" I know that most of my readers are past the point at which the answer might be helpful, but I'll offer my opinion for the benefit of future Googlers.

There are a few disadvantages to getting the master's first--mostly it just takes longer, and master's students do not typically get the same level of support that doctoral students get. Based on conversations with friends who have gotten a master's and remained at the same institution for the doctorate, some feelings of burn-out are likely--it is a long time to be in one place, and you have to jump through the hoops for one degree, just to start over on a new one.

Having said that, I think that in many cases it is a good idea to get the master's degree first. In the final year of my undergraduate program, I started the process of applying into doctoral programs and did not complete my applications. I took the GRE general and subject tests, got recommendations, polished writing samples, etc., but the process of applying made me realize that I was not ready for that step. A doctoral program is a huge, long-term commitment to an institution and to yourself, and I was not prepared to take that step yet. I decided to apply to the master's program at my undergrad university--I knew I could do it in two years and, of course, it did not carry the anxiety of relocating (my personal life was also in upheaval, which contributed to that decision).

After a year of graduate work, I started my doctoral applications again. Better writing sample. Better personal statement. Better test scores. And I actually had an idea about how to choose a school. Because I got my Master's degree first, my doctoral applications were better, my scholarship was more mature, and I was better prepared to commit to a doctoral program for the long haul. I still had a lot of anxiety starting at a new school and I certainly dealt with imposter syndrome (alas, it lingers on), but I benefited tremendously from taking that middle step. And I got a degree out of it.

We're having a girl!

Little Bit is a girl, and her name is Annabelle (middle name pending). She is due April 12. Happy happy joy joy.

Since RB has a code-name, then I guess Annabelle should be AB. But I still like to call her Little Bit. I think it's a Southern thing.

ethics of blogging about students, second installment

Okay, I scrolled over my posts for the semester and deleted two which referred to my recent plagiarism case. I have always been careful about the way I blog about students, but this is the incident that made me think very hard about this issue. I do not believe that the posts I deleted say anything that could be harmful to me or the student--in fact they revealed very little info about the case and were two of the shortest posts I have ever written. Just a couple of sentences each. But plagiarism is such a serious and touchy issue that I don't think there is a good way to blog about a case even in the vaguest terms.

So here's another post I want to question. In it I refer to general problems with my class, but I also mention a specific student (not by name, of course) who had not purchased a textbook. Is it okay to refer to one particular student in a blog?

I do believe that the way I discussed my class has been ethical, and I don't think it is anything that could get me into trouble (except that the fact that I have a blog at all is enough in some people's opinion to label me a trouble-maker or a slacker who spends too much time frivolously playing online instead of doing real work--but that's another issue and there's been plenty talk about that already). The problems of an online class are important to discuss and this electronic forum is the perfect medium for it. I believe that blogging about general class issues is useful and ethical, but I still have questions about any reference to a particular student, even when it is vague and anonymous.

Edited to add: I am not so concerned with the question of "Could I get fired for this?" although that is one way to look at it. I am really concerned about whether it is ethical behavior and if it might be some violation of students' trust.

election reaction and a plea to readers

My predictions were correct (but they weren't exactly long shots). The governor was elected with 40% of the vote. Which means 60% of the voters still wish he would go away. Pathetic. I don't blame Kinky because I think Carole Strayhorn took more votes from Perry than Kinky took from Bell. Bell would have had a chance if he'd had more money earlier on.

And the two local Congressional races I was watching were won by Democrats--two of the few Democrats who won in this state. They are both conservative Democrats endorsed by the NRA. But we're in Bush country. That is to be expected.

I was pretty cynical yesterday, not expecting to take much comfort in the results even if they did turn out the way I hoped. But today I am heartened by the overall shift in power. Perhaps optimism will follow.

That is enough for politics. I wish more people would respond to this. So far the only replies are from me and two people who do not blog about teaching at all (but I do appreciate their comments and their perspectives). Come on, guys. Where are the teacher-bloggers?

Election Day predictions

I am not trying to spark a huge debate. I don't like ugly political blog fighting and I try to avoid it. But we're finally at the end of this especially miserable campaign period, so now I'll say something. We have a terrible governor and everyone knows it. And today he will be re-elected. Kinky stands not a chance and I regret my initial support of him because he will put the nail in the Democrat's coffin. We are dooming ourselves. More predictions: Chet Edwards (Democrat-ish) will defeat Van Taylor but I don't really feel that much better about it. And on the upside, Tom Delay is gone, and no way can Shelly Sekula-Gibbs pull off a write-in win (this might be a situation in which she regrets the hyphen). Nick Lampson will have sweet revenge after losing his job to Tom Delay's butchery of congressional districts.

For those who use the Google homepage

May I suggest the "How-to of the Day" by WikiHow? So far it is my favorite module, and it makes me smile every day.

in which the semi-anonymous academic blogger ponders a question of ethics

I’ve asked my technical writing students to discuss ethics issues this semester, including issues of blogging in the workplace, and I thought that I might take a stab at a question that has been on my mind.

Is it ethical to discuss students on blogs?

I have written posts about my students and have read many posts about others’ students, with varying degrees of specificity. But is this okay? There are so many variables to this question—I will try to squeeze them into one blog post and hopefully people will read it even though it’s long. Let me start with what I am calling semi-anonymity and how that factors in.

I am not truly anonymous. Sarah is my real name (but don’t you know twenty other people named Sarah?). I do not post my location or institution, and if you Google me, you will not find this blog. If you came across this blog accidentally, however, I have posted enough information that someone who knows me well, or even someone who is currently taking my class, might figure out that this sounds awfully familiar. This seems like a stretch, but it has happened to me—I found a professor’s blog accidentally. I didn’t know it was him until I saw his photograph—I don’t post my picture on this blog. But I have given my URL to friends and to two former students, and it has gotten around through the grapevine that I’m a blogger, and a few professors have asked me about it (with mixed reactions—one person said, “My opinion of you has totally changed.”—vague comment, but I doubt it was good). I don’t really hide it. I imagine that many bloggers have similar circumstances.

The point is, while I am not readily Google-able, any discussion of my students could potentially be linked directly back to me, depending on who is reading it.

But I talk about my students in person with my coworkers all the time. This blog has been valuable to me as a way to discuss teaching issues with other teachers, and I find conversation among teachers in the halls or in our offices important ways to learn and improve. One might argue that it is not ethical to discuss students at all, but I think that we gain so much through these conversations that makes us better teachers. So is posting about students on a blog different from talking about them in person (assuming, of course, that names are never used)?

Okay, long enough for now. Any thoughts?

Teaching Carnival

Here is the Teaching Carnival.

I described feeling proud when I am linked on BlogHer. I also feel warm and fuzzy when I am in the Teaching Carnival. It's like I'm eating at the cool kids' table :) (Or what I imagine eating at the cool kids' table might feel like...)

this is my career. this is my work. really.

This is not what I meant to write about this week, but something came up. My feelings are hurt.

I talked on the phone with my father-in-law last night, who is really a nice, well-meaning man, but somehow he hurts my feelings every time I talk on the phone with him. Last night he asked me if I had a regular job yet since all I am doing is writing a dissertation. He thinks I should work an 8-5, I guess (which I do, really, but, you know, it's different somehow). This is the same man who told me before my daughter was born that he thought mothers should not work outside the home until their children are in school, which I took as a direct criticism of my mothering (because it was). When I was in my master's program he also told me that I should get another job in addition to school. This summer when I told him about the class I was teaching, he said, "I'm glad you're finally at the stage that you can teach." I've been teaching for five years. I told him last night that I am teaching now, and he seemed surprised again. Then he asked if it was all day long, 8-3. I guess he was thinking grade school. I told him that, no, I teach one class and work on my research and writing the rest of the time. He said he couldn't imagine why someone would take two or three years to write a book (that's how I have explained the dissertation to them). I told him that most people take that long and that I don't do only that. I also have my teaching, and I am trying to publish some articles before I graduate. (And raise one, and soon two kids, for crying out loud) Oh, he said, so you might be making some money before you graduate, then. I explained to him that you don't really make money in academic publishing, that it is a requirement of your job. Well, that doesn't make much sense, he said. His wife, my mother-in-law, is a teacher's aid and she makes the same amount of money that I make (which is pitiful and unfair to her and others who have that job but beside the point right now). If the legitimacy of my work is measured in income, which it seems to be to him, then why is my work less legitimate than hers? Or maybe it is not legitimate because it is school, not "real" work. They still have the idea that my career has not yet begun, not that I am currently working within my career. This is my career. And my job. And I do get paid. A little. Or maybe I'm just too old to be in school. I should be done by now.

Whatever it is, I feel like my work is completely devalued. When I went to the conference last weekend, it happened to be in the city where my brother-in-law lives, so we all planned a get-together after I presented my paper. Several of my in-laws came, and we had a nice weekend. No one asked me about my conference. Not one time. The only question they ever ask me is when I will be done. I usually let things like this roll off my back, but last night when he told me I should get a job, it hurt me badly.

Some more talk on plagiarism

Here's a nice group of blog links on plagiarism from Leslie Madsen Brooks's BlogHer blog. I haven't had time to look through them all, and I also have to think very hard about how much I will talk about my particular case. But I will have something to say on the topic later in the week.

I really just linked to it because it mentions me, and for some reason it makes me very proud when I am linked on BlogHer. Makes me feel like a "real" blogger. :)

And also because I think that Leslie's blogs are great and I make a point to look her up every time I surf over to BlogHer. You should all check her out.

What is the point of this assignment?

Last week my students completed an assignment that asked them to critique a peer review program we have used this semester. There are a lot of ideas about the purposes and benefits of the peer reviews, and there are benefits that I see that they don't necessarily pick up on. I think that this happens frequently--students complete assignments without really understanding, much less believing in, the purpose of the assignment. They don't know what they are supposed to be learning; they just go through the motions and do what they're told.

This has me thinking--I know that students can learn a lot without being told what they are "supposed to" learn and even without consciously realizing what they have gained along the way. But I wonder if there is a pedagogical benefit to spelling it out for them. What would happen if I gave them not just instructions for completing an assignment but also listed for them the learning objectives of the assignment. What I would like them, ideally, to get out of the whole thing. Why I think that this particular assignment is useful for our purposes.

As I plan my class for next semester I have been thinking critically about the assignments I want and why I think each one is useful. Why should I assign a research paper? Just because that's what we have always done? Or is there something specific that makes that the best assignment for accomplishing particular educational goals. As I'm thinking about these questions, I have begun to wonder if I should keep the reasons for my decisions to myself or if my students might benefit if I share some of my thought processes with them.

This means some work and writing on my part to prepare, and I realize that many students will not read what I hand them. But the good ones will. The ones who really want to become better writers will. And those are the ones I want to teach.

The Media

Can we please stop using the phrase “the media”? It has no meaning. The media is liberal. The media is conservative. The media is to blame for ____________.

“The media” has become a kind of monolithic force exercising power over us, its helpless victims. That is evident in the now standard singular form it takes in our speech (media used to be plural, remember? One medium, many media.).

We can’t begin to address any of the problems we perceive in the media until we break out of this tendency to conceptualize it as some great singular force with power of its own. Various pieces of information published via multiple forms of media are produced and consumed by individual people with public and private agendas and complex influences. It is about as useful to talk about “the media” as it is to tackle to problems of “today’s society.”

frustrated with students

While some of my students are doing well, several are doing what they perceive as the minimum to get by. I say it is their perception because I disgree--their work has not met the minimum requirements, and I have not given them credit. Here's the kicker--instead of just sucking it up and taking their grade because they know they are slacking, they are arguing with me. Ordinarily I would suspect a miscommunication on my part--perhaps I had not been clear in the assignment--but I have double checked my instructions and I have stated explicitly and repeatedly what is expected of them. So why are they insisting that they should get credit for doing nothing? They are mad at me, but I am being clear and consistent in my grading.

Once again, this is a downside to the online class. My week has been full of dealing with the people who do not want to get their work done but want to argue with me about why they should get credit for it. Meanwhile I don't get to really interact with the students who are doing well because the slackers have me tied up. And they are not very nice.

I also had a complaint recently from a student who insisted that the peer review apparatus we are using is unfair because the students in the class (as he generalizes his feelings to include his classmates) do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a good technical document. He revealed the next day that he does not have a textbook. Perhaps the two problems are related?

Today being a teacher is not fun.

this is why I include my middle name on just about everything

Perhaps I will have something of substance to offer by the end of the week. For now, here is something fun I picked up from Anastasia.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 396 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

That's first and last name. Both very common. And for those who knew me before I succumbed to the archaic patriarchal ritual of changing my name when I married, here is how many of me there used to be.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 1,074 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Go ahead, Google me. It's probably not me.

and a teaching carnival

Here's Teaching Carnival #14.

grad carnival

The Carnival of GRADual Progress is up here.

Halloween update (and an RB funny)

In case any of you were holding your breath for the resolution of that conflict, we have a Halloween costume. My husband took RB to the store last night to get her a new toothbrush and she came back wearing a bright orange T-shirt with a Jack-o-lantern face. Instant costume. Zero effort.

BTW, the reason they had to get a new toothbrush was that I had somehow lost hers. I tore the house apart looking for it and after two days decided that I would just have to get a new one. She picked out her own Care Bears toothbrush. When she got home she took it out of the bag, showed it off proudly, and then went immediately to the entertainment center, opened the drawer, and there among the DVDs was her old toothbrush, exactly where she had left it (and where Mommy never thought to look). She held them both up and shouted, "Now I have all of them!" Sneaky.

positive birth experience CAN happen in a hospital

I just read Anne Drapkin Lyerly's "Shame, Gender, Birth" (Hypatia 21:3 (2006): 101-18), and it is the best piece on feminist childbirth I have ever read. I definitely think that feminists need to take on issues of childbirth and that frequently the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth has caused anxiety, physical and emotional pain, and even trauma in some women. But I am not comfortable with most of the articles I've read proposing solutions to these problems because they all seem to want to reject technology and take birth totally out of the hospital. That's fine for some women, but not for everyone. I feel a sense of security in a hospital setting, and I would feel frightened and anxious giving birth in any other place. So clearly it is not a good solution for me. As Lyerly points out, the emotional life of each women needs to be taken into account to help make her birth experience positive. And she says that technology is not all bad--finally! The real key is the sensitive use of technology--sensitive to the desires and emotions of the birthing woman. And that all comes down to the support around her.

I had a highly medicated birth--pitocin to induce contractions because my water was leaking, then Stadol for the pain (I actually didn't like that and will choose not to use it again), and then (hooray!) the epidural. And episiotomy. Lots of medical intervention. And it was actually a pretty great experience because the people around me were sensitive to my needs and desires and cared for me in the way that I personally needed. My nurse was fantastic--very nurturing and reassuring. They allowed my parents to come into the labor room so that in the long waiting period, I was relaxed and happy with my family around me. Then I could choose who got to stay and who had to leave when I started pushing. I am also very appreciative of my anesthesiologist--she gave me an epidural that ensured that I felt no pain but that I did feel all of the contractions and even the baby moving down and out. At all times I felt like I had control of the situation and that my caregivers respected me. And because the epidural was applied with what I consider a great deal of sensitivity, I never felt a distance from the experience of birth that might come with total numbness. I always knew what was going on. I strongly believe that this is the key to a positive birth experience--not more or less technology, not in or out of hospital, but caregivers who earnestly listen to the birthing woman and try to provide the care that makes her comfortable, secure, and happy.

A link for you

This is a couple of weeks old, but very good. Everyone should read it:
Leslie Madsen Brooks, "Disciplining the Breast, Disciplining the Woman: A Meditation in Six Parts"

I don't want to do Halloween

I'm so unmotivated in general right now, and that extends to Halloween. I'd really like it to just pass by unnoticed, and RB is young enough that I could get away with that. But my husband was appalled by that suggestion, so I guess we're doing Halloween. So now I need a low-effort, low-cost costume for a small person.

How about a T-shirt that says, "I'm a feminist. We look like everybody else."

blogs in composition class

After pondering blogs vs. message boards, I have begun to think of things differently. Originally I was thinking of which medium would be better for student responses and engaging with other students, but I'm thinking that a blogs aren't really that useful for that purpose. When students are required to read and respond to a other students' posts, the responses are typically superficial and don't accomplish what I wish they would.

So what do I want out of a blog? Here are a couple of old posts on audience and blogging that I wrote when I first started this blog. I was excited about my developing sense of audience and how that shaped what my blog became. I want my students to experience that, and I also think that frequent "low stakes" writing is really useful to me and to my students to help us feel like writing is a habit and even fun and not a scary, anxiety-inducing reach for perfection that we cannot achieve--I think that most students feel this anxiety to some degree, and for many it is paralyzing. This is the value I see in a blog--a vehicle by which to work out ideas through writing (or as the dreaded freshman comp books call it, "prewriting"), to write habitually, to gain a new understanding of audience. And that end cannot be reached through forced interaction.

I had a great talk recently with a fellow teacher who is using blogs in a way that I think is really useful. She is teaching an Advanced Composition class and giving blog assignments that are not direct responses to readings but rather related questions that can be taken out of the context of this class and might be of interest to a blog reader who is not in the class. An example of one of her questions is, "What are you doing here?" Here, meaning online, on the web, in the electronic world of communication. So students can answer this question is many different ways and readers can stumble onto the blogs and read interesting posts that are not limited to a specific reading or specific course. The students have an opportunity, while meeting certain criteria, to create blogs that are interesting to them and might interest others--in other words, real blogs and that do more than just go through the motions. She has also asked them to link to other blogs in a couple of posts, which has started getting them some response because, as we know, any diligent blogger knows about every link.

And students are not required to read or respond to the blogs of other students. Which leaves a place for message boards, although I'm not convinced they work so well. We'll get to that in another installment.

While this will not work for all classes in all subjects, I think this is a great way to use blogs in a composition class, and I'm going to do this next semester.

I feel wretched

Okay, so I did ask for some morning sickness early on to ease my fears. I got plenty. And now I should be done. And I'm still vomiting. Not fun.

I have a pile of work to do right now, and it is so hard to get work done when I feel so so bad. This is the hard part about being pregnant in graduate school--that first few months when you're so sick and so sleepy and people want you to read books and write papers and teach people things.

I have slacked off a bit in the beginning of the semester, just getting by, really, which means that I now have to be seriously on top of things for the next two months. I have a conference at the end of the month--long paper must be converted to short paper--and I have an essay due December 1 for a collection--and I keep having fears that my paper is going to be booted out in the end. I don't know why I think that--maybe because I haven't written a paper yet! And I am writing a paper for my politics of motherhood class, which should contribute significantly to my dissertation, so I'm just going to count that paper as working on my dissertation, thank you very much. And I'm applying for a fellowship, so that's a lot of work, too. My plate is full.

thoughts on the blog and a note to readers

I've been thinking a lot about blogging and its personal, professional, and pedagogical potential. This blog has a tendency toward the personal (obviously) but is not exactly a confessional (though, of course, it gets that way, too). I conceive of it as having a particular subject matter (widely defined) and do not stray much from it. I write about teaching, academic work, academic culture, and parenting. So there's a lot in my life that's not up here ever.

Lately a few people I know IRL have "confessed" that they read my blog. I just want to say that if you know me and read this, it's okay, I don't think it's wierd, I don't think it's prying. After all, I publish this stuff. And, really, it makes me happy when someone says they read my blog. And even happier when I get comments. I don't think of this as a personal journal. I think of it as communicating. So I want readers. Readers make me happy :)

My husband watched me commenting on other blogs recently and said "You're such a blogger." I'm not sure what connotations were attached to that, but it made me smile.

Googlers

I just checked the tracker and found a plethora of interesting Google searches that led to me. Here are my favorites:

o'connor "violent bear" satan
I am not smart enough to get a ph d
being a pregnant PhD student
happy and joyful reaction to pregnancy
no one wants to talk about miscarriage
funny female characters
The Little Mermaid - Female Competition
hobbies to do when bored or hungry

I need to check that thing more often. Those were just from the past two days!

what I like about Turnitin.com

I'm not going to weigh in on the controversy over intellectual property. But I will say that I have used Turnitin for several semesters and I like it, and not really for plagiarism detection. Here's how I use it.

Plagiarism deterrent: I think that Turnitin works better as a plagiarism deterrent than a detector. There are a lot of ways to cheat and most of them cannot be detected by Turnitin. (But I'm not going to tell you what they are, you mischievous Googler. You'll have to figure out how to cheat for yourself!) But I do think that students are deterred from participating in the very easy cut-and-paste kind of cheating that Turnitin can detect because they are pretty sure that they'll get caught. So that's not bad.

Teaching proper attribution: I think that a lot of the problems with student writing is not that they want to cheat but that they don't know how to use sources properly, especially electronic sources that can be cut and pasted so easily. I think that some students really don't get that it's cheating. (I know, that's a lot of benefit of the doubt there, but I tend to extend that benefit until I see evidence that it is undeserved. I like to think that people are trying to do good.) So allowing student to see their reports on Turnitin points them to poor paraphrasing and insufficient attribution, so they can then revise and resubmit. Great teaching moment. (Of course, some argue that it actually teaches them how to be better cheaters.)

Gradebook: It has a nice gradebook function that allows students to check their grades on their own and keeps a running tally so I don't have to do complicated math that I don't understand. Honestly, I don't know what grade a student is getting half-way through the semester. I can just do the formulas at the end. Plus, it annoys me when they ask. It also keeps attendence. But if you're using it, you should download a backup frequently.

Peer Review: The peer review function is pretty good. It can be anonymous or not, and the instructor has the option of choosing from a library of questions or of writing her own questions. You can set a word count requirement for responses. You can require a combination of short and long responses and numerical ratings. Lots of options. And students can leave marks one the paper to point out specific areas for comment or correction. Good stuff, overall.

Grademarking: Nice. I expected not to like it, but in the end was quite pleased. I wrote about it here.

Electronic paper submission: One simple aspect of it is the easy and secure method of electronic paper submission. Email can be so iffy. Inbox is flooded with trash, messages can get deleted or bounced, or you can just miss one altogether because students have not mastered the skill of the subject heading. This is a nice, central place to collect papers, and you can easily download them ALL in one step onto your hard drive for a backup instead of one paper at a time in email.

I've been thinking about all the different technologies I've used and am using now in class, and I'm going to write a series of posts about how I've used them in the past and how they might be useful in the future.

teaching carnival

Here's Teaching Carnival 13.

Note to Oxymoron: there's a lot of talk about Turnitin.