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Distinguished Lecturer, Composition/FYWriting * Provost Faculty Fellow * Teacher/Learner/Writer/Maker. Ungrader & AI Refuser Cleveland Baseball Fan, cradle to grave.
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Commencing year 27 teaching first-year writing @ UToledo. #GoRockets #Utoledo
When I talk to students about gathering sources, reading the existing literature, and learning about their topic area, I am careful to not refer to this as " doing research." It is reading.
Agreed. So many people outside the classroom told me to " do the research" on vaccines and masks. I told them I prefer to read the studies conducted by researchers. This made me realize I needed to change my vocabulary with students.(1)
I read this for the first time last summer and it us now one of my favorite books! I bought a collection of Shirley Jackson short works and also read Hangsaman, which I recommend!Recommend! She is brilliant.
Not a cat, but a dog who knows the routine and has started insisting it be followed when she is ready for bed....
Note that she has zero complaints about the depiction of the massacre of all puppies.
These are the very pitas we get down here in Toledo. I drive 8 miles to get them!
MISTS! Mists of ignorance!
Speaking of Greene, McCullough includes this gem quotation from Greene' writings: "I lament the want of a liberal education. I feel the lists of ignorance to surround me."
My grandfather died if tuberculosis in 1963...in the TB hospital....set up to isolate all the TB patients from everyone else.
I have been thinking about this, too, mostly to detach feedback from the Blackboard gradebook. A colleague uses email folders--one for each class, and 3 for each assignment (not read/read/returned). Students email drafts and she moves them through the folders. Sounds dreadful, but I may try it.
I took care of my mom with Parkinson's for 7 years. I was desperately looking for facility w/ a Medicaid bed when Covid hit. I worked remotely for 2 years and ran myself ragged until it wasn't safe for her or me. She passed in Nov., but I can't imagine moving her back in fully bedridden.
"Writers have been using me long before the advent of AI. I am the punctuation equivalent of a cardigan—beloved by MFA grads, used by editors when it’s actually cold, and worn year-round by screenwriters. I am not new here."
Outdoor office temp: 85-degrees. Major road construction one street over. Roofers are executing a tear-off next door, and I wouldn't be surprised if they start shingling before 2 pm. No matter. This is my favorite place to write. #Writingsky, #academicsky,
You are not alone. "Right two times to 33, back past 33 to 5, right to 15."
Not to mention that the money is running out....
To comply with a state law banning diverse, equitable and inclusive programming and initiatives on campuses, my alma material and employer renamed its nearly 50-year-old womens center....
Well, yes...but we didn't learn this in school. We learned that the Shah was a good guy and the Ayatolah Kohmeni was a bad guy who was holding innocent civillians hostage because we were just helping out.
I was a school-age kid in the 70s, and remember the repercussions, but didn't fully understand WHY until I read "All the Shah's Men" about 10 years ago. We destroyed what seems like a good man (Mossadegh) and a democracy, so US/British oil could profit.
I do understand! You will get better with practice...you might go to your university writing center, or ask a friend to read your drafts and tell you what you are missing!
You do not need a machine to validate your position. You are a thinking, feeling human with ideas and defenses. I get it; you were looking for things you may have missed, but humans miss things..it's ok! New ideas come through the act of writing. If you outsource to an LLM, no new ideas rise!
And the AI comments are all generalities and platitudes! He values empty speech over human interaction?
I am TRYING to "not work." Its hard.
My contract ended May 9. No pay until 8/29. I have written a panel proposal, and am cowriting a chapter, organizing a writing camp, participating in a work-related book club. Just finished a poster for a conference next week. Getting a jump on fall plans. Does that answer the question?
Mske a mess! Sit down and just purge your thoughts about your topic. At least 15 minutes. It works for me every time! Watch this to understand why it works: youtu.be/qKVnBFbSxp0?...
On the plus side, these parents are doing their part to thwart the GOP plan to birth more heathens. (Side note: my dad took us to many AAA and some ML games. He gave us each a scorecard and stubby pencil and made us keep score. No chance to toss a tennis ball.We were lucky to get a bathroom break! )
I read James last summer, then reread TAoHF for the 5th time with a new perspective. I am reading four books right now, but.....I may just reread again and join in!
I was expecting humor...and this was so much better!
I am hearing a loop of Barbara Streisand's The Way We Were. "Memmmmmmmmreeeeeees...."
Thank you. I just commented. My husband has leukemia. I have to protect him from exposure and remain healthy as a caregiver. Before my mom passed, I had to protect her, too...with a teenager and college student in the house. I know there are many others dealing with similar situations.
I witnessed years of my mother in law's dementia,my father in law's Alzheimers, and was my mom's caregiver for 10 years, the last 4 with Lewis Body dementia. I know exactly what you mean.
I teach college writing. Students have avoided the work of reading all their lives and haven't learned to read closely. They survived. Of course, they do not value writing nor see its benefits! It's so much work. Why bother? (I spent 6 hrs on a proposal yesterday, and I am not done).
I got 1 hr with a hospice aide who bathed my mom, a 1 hour nurse visit, a 1 hr social worker visit and chaplan visits. I needed daily help with bathing, wound care, dressing. I do not regret that time, but it was unnecessarily hard...and, as you said, ridiculous.
I can't even process the message because I am dwelling on the closing sentence. Is this a directive? What attention should I give to this matter? WHAT matter?
Actual evaluation: c I loved this class, but I didn't wand to read and write about food all semester." Class: Writing 2: Food Politics
I read this in my mother-in-law's voice.
Excuse me while I troll AI images and presidents posing as popes.
"Looks like we've got a conclave."
This Catholic did not love it.
I was just thinking about this. I tell my students to download resources I created (infographics,guides) and to download papers with feedback. They have to go to too much trouble to access something that belongs to them.
Passed the email on to colleagues and I signed up to moderate the Aug 5 session!
This screams generative AI.
Right! Writing theory focuses heavily on learning genre expectations, but in k-12 school, actually STUDYING the way writers write is not always taught.
And the person who wrote this does not understand the mood of Holy Week....No one says "Happy Easter" any sooner than Saturday.
There is a Society if Fearless Grandmother's? Where do I sign up!
Look no further than the comments in book review apps. I am reading a book (Hamnet) criticized for its "confusing" time shifts and for long, unnecessary descriptions. I appreciate and praise the writer's approach. These people have never read Faulkner nor Joyce. They want quick, direct "stories."
I think the more damning statement she made is this one: "We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work."
I just loved her in Pete & Pete. She played my favorite character...
We have a similar situation in our household. I cannot believe it has come to this.
Maybe its "Q" and his herd if Kraken. We haven't heard much from them lately.
I stopped my scroll to read and noticed this is a scene from the game final score still pinned on my screen.
That is a horribly written notice of termination.
I have been typing [and talking] in all caps a lot lately, AND IT ISN'T ENOUGH! I need a 72-point font.
And empathy...
I was a diehard KISS fan in 8th grade when my older cousin played Houses of the Holy on 8-track and I was transformed! I have tickets to see the film in IMAX next week. Thanks for the review!
I would dismiss it as a nervous slip up, but she said it THREE times!
The exact words I was planning to type here.
The blouse!
It's been more than 10 years sine I (jokingly)launched a Save the Paragraph" campaign. I am still teaching college students the glories of breaking up text into units of thought so that readers can follow their ideas.
Yeah...Me, too. Lots of "We have to sacrifice..." "It will be temporary..." and my favorite comment when people posted concern about the prices of imported fruit " We have our own fruit in America. We don't need starfruit and dragonfruit." Dolts.
I teach writing & tell students that writing will matter in their lives, not just at work, but when they write obituaries, tributes, speeches, eulogies, thank yous. I keep the emails from past students & reply telling them how much it affected me, so they can know that their writing mattered!
Thank you!You! I was just about to ask where we could find it. I still use my iPod with Bluetooth speaker. But, I haven't been able to adjust my Playlist or add music in quite a while...
Comp community: Asao Inoue is keynote speaker this year. This will be my 4th time attending this virtual conference. I recommend. It is so well organized and draws together faculty and administrative across disciplines.
Abstract submissions are now open! Please submit your abstract to present at the 2025 Grading Conference which will be held virtually June 11-13. Abstract submission information available at www.centerforgradingreform.org/grading-conf...
I see it too!
Yes. REPORT AND BLOCK
Mine, too!
This is a county fair line up!
And it's just 3:44 minutes! Bravo! I started out at 16....then after multiple exhausting revisions,settled for 6.
I present the title page of my latest narrative for my annual evaluation: #AIresistence #AIinhighered #Edusky
The insanity of being a fire ecologist in the epicenter of a major fire event, bags packed and ready to evacuate, watching active fire from my window, while taking media requests and explaining to the public, for the 100,000th time how climate change is largely responsible for this
This will not sit well with the growing home birth/homesteader crowd.
Artificial formulas like this were designed to make grading writing easier on teachers.To break this habit, try writing without structure...one big paragraph of your discussion/story. Then, break it up. You will find things will need further explanation, and things that might be moved around.
Thank you for this! I have used a tracker app to both show evidence of just how much time I spend working from home, and to better manage my time to spend less time working from home. Your tracker will work better! (I find that I fill available time with work...without reward).
Not only is there absolutely no evidence that would lead anyone to believe this true, but there is much evidence to the contrary. The only plausible explanation would involve a mad scientist lacing the water with a potion that turned all exposed into Trump minions.
There are 3.5 hours left!
Those cookies were appropriately designed with a Voldemort nasal passage.
I can hear this Photo! ( And it takes me back to when I bought it on vinyl...maybe 40 years ago?
This is almost as good as the O.Henry story, "The Gift of the Magi."
Many students in my college classes have never seen an episode.
Merry Christmas from my home office, where I am playing Wridges and patiently waiting for everyone else to wake up.
"Sheena was a man."
Not to mention the David Bowie worship....He admitted Ziggy Stardust persona was a fluid gender experiment.
In all the time I have been reading your work, you gave only been horribly wrong about one thing: Led Zeppelin.
An excellent story.I have assigned it in fy tech-disruption themed courses. I stripped the date off it. Students are always stunned to learn when it was written.
I am adding Whooping Cough, measles, polio....
Do you have any badges or trophies?
Thread!, yes. It is a Post article...I was trying to find something quickly. The documentary is online...I will see if I can locate.
The teaching case for AI in the university humanities classroom seems to be: Admit that you hate teaching and don’t want to prepare materials, run classes, prepare or grade student work.” I’d say this was odd and depressing but then a remember “teaching release” is the holy grail of academic success
I cannot bring myself to select a "heart" to acknowledge this! My jaw literally dropped through your entire thread!
Ages ago, I learned about them in a documentary I saw on PBS about this man: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...
I loom knit while grading, too! (Usually when trying to finish a gift). I thought it was my own " Pomodoro" technique! ( If you are looking for new stitches, I highly recommend the Loomahat tutorials on YT).
This makes me so happy....plus, I kept the Styrofoam out of the landfill. #Rudolph #Christmas
Same here. I assign 2 primary research projects-- a place profile and analysis (on a space on our campus), and a paper reporting survey findings.The students understand the material, learn through reading and feel more prepared to write.
One step beyond........
A 27yo student whose HS counselor told her "college is not for you," did not believe me when I told her she won an award for her writing Showcase presentation. "Come on," she said. "Did I really win or did you do this?" I told her that 5 judges chose her project. She burst into tears. #fywriting
