Flipping the Classroom

I've been working on a project that will become a presentation I am giving at the MTSU curriculum meeting this coming February. The video presentation will be based on the research I am doing on creativity in the classroom and transversal learning. (Thanks, Bryan Reynolds.)

I was inspired today by this amazing video presentation by Gabe Zincherman : How Games Make Kids Smarter. I've been talking with my students who are also avid gamers and what I have found is that learning preferences of gamers tend to be the same as non-gamers. It's the way in which young people think that we are disconnected from. Education expectations have changed - and are changing - very quickly. This video explains that quite well.

I Heart Tom Nelson!

The Future Adjunct Spring?

I’m no protestor. My idea of civil disobedience is usually a pithy comment on a news story I’ve seen posted on Facebook. But I surprised myself (and my family) last Thursday when I stood with a few hundred other people on the side of West End Boulevard in Nashville as part of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests. What brought me there was not, as the media claims, a secret liberal agenda, or a need to be a part of something I could not or was unable to explain. I knew exactly why I needed to stand with the rest of the 99%.

I’m an adjunct. I teach two part-time jobs at schools 45 minutes apart. But I’m not complaining. I know how lucky I am to be working.  For six months I was unemployed, living off the generosity of my boyfriend, and scared as hell. These two jobs this fall have saved my life and my self-esteem.  But even though I’m getting a check, I know I’m not out of the woods. I’m still afraid that more cuts will come and I will lose my job to an economy that keeps falling apart and pulling its most capable down with it. And I’m not the only one.

Adjunct teachers are increasing on college campuses as more full-time, tenured teachers are phased out. And since colleges save money hiring part-time teachers who do not qualify for any benefits, the trend will only increase as economic outlooks decrease. Since adjuncts don’t have offices, they often use rolling carts as their own portable offices, filled with student writing journals, water bottles, and lunch bags.  Adjuncts drive older cars sporting several different school parking tags and bumper stickers.  These educational nomads are often seen sitting in their cars eating their lunches – no way can an adjunct afford to buy lunch on campus. And since grading is sometimes done while eating lunch in the car, students’ papers occasionally sport stains along with well thought out comments.

We adjuncts are grateful to work where we can – when we can. We are committed to our students as much as any full-time professor; we just have to do our work on the run to keep up.  If we’re lucky, we’re splitting our time at two or three different schools - that means we teach more classes each semester than most professors.  We have more papers to grade, more names to learn. Each school has different rules, deadlines, goals, etc., so we have to learn those as well.  There are different offices to find, different email and online databases to check, and different expectations to live up to.

Adjuncts are certainly part of the 99%.  I don’t know the number of us considered poor, but I can only imagine that the available part-time jobs compared to the number of applicants with Master’s Degrees would show that we are not only underemployed, most of us live well under the survival line.  There’s a critical mass coming. Colleges are employing adjuncts to save money, yes, but some of the unintended consequences of that are making this large, non-represented and marginalized group rethink its rights.

  Will there be an Adjunct Spring? Probably not.  We’re too tired from all that driving to organize and protest and start our own union. But that doesn’t mean that colleges shouldn’t pay attention to what is coming. In fact, there are things that colleges can do to before its adjuncts outnumber its full-time faculty, creating a critical mass of underemployed and pissed off academics. Before colleges are caught off guard, there are several things they could do to pacify the growing majority of adjuncts –at little or no cost to the institutions. In fact, considering how much schools are getting for so little investment, I would think the following list would be a welcome shift in how colleges think of adjuncts and how they choose to treat them.

•         Adjuncts should have first choice of class schedules. Of course, administration must take many things into consideration, but adjunct schedules should always be at the top of the list.
•         Adjuncts should get special parking. The list of parking priority should go like this: Handicapped, Dean, Adjuncts, and then the rest (Full Timers, Maintenance, and Students).
•         Adjuncts should have special ID cards that give discounts on everything on campus. This card will also grant special access to the new adjunct office/lounge. (But more on that later.)
•         Adjuncts should make up a new voting group that has a say in department issues. This means that there should also be a “Head Adjunct” or “Special Adjunct Coordinator.” Whatever the title, this person heads up a powerful lobby of adjunct teachers at the school.
•         Golf cart rides – anywhere, anytime. Remember those damn rolling carts?

•         Special Adjunct teaching awards and named adjunctships.

•         The Adjunct offices must change from corner closets with shared old desks and computers to workspaces akin to Google, or Ebay headquarters. And of course, there must be free printing. This office must also have an Adjunct Secretary! How can the University pay for this? – Hire more adjuncts!

<!--[if !supportLists]-->

Of course, this is just a start. The main thing that colleges and universities should keep in mind is that they can do something to pacify the growing number of adjuncts they hire. Treating adjuncts like rock stars is the first step, because if you can’t give money, special privileges go a long way. Sure, what I really want is a full-time job with benefits; but I will certainly take help and appreciation when it’s offered.  I want to be recognized as part of this dedicated work force – and not just by a “thank you” email.

Schools should be rushing to do this, not just to avoid blame when the underemployed also claim to be exploited. Schools should do this to slow the inevitability of all of us being outsourced to another country like India.  For those of you who have used Skype and video conferencing, you know this is very possible.  Because once schools see that video outsourcing is a viable way to replace all of their employees with qualified people who will work cheaper in countries where benefits are not required, the only employees left on campus will be IT staff and security.

Vern - A Hero's Journey

Some people sit in the comfort and safety of mediocrity, never really living life to the fullest, and some people take the hero's journey through the worst, scariest, and ultimately the best, of what life has to offer. At least, that's how the expert on mythology, Joseph Campbell, explains it. The reason that Campbell is read by so many is not that he knows so much about gods of our past, but because he knows that mythology is really the story of the best of us - the hero.

 I was thinking about the "hero" in all of us when I heard about the passing of a dear friend, Vern.  Vern was that very hero - a man who stood up to all the dragons that ever came his way. Vern was a man as brave as anyone you might ever meet. And yes, Vern was a super hero. He had the strength to hold his family together through tough and strange times. He overcame more in a lifetime than most couch potatoes could ever comprehend. He was a man who had slain many dragons (and even a few turtles). And he did it all with grace and an amazing laugh that I can hear in my head right now. What a laugh he had!

And he had some amazing stories! I can think of one he told me about sitting around the table as a kid listening to Hank Williams on the radio - and buddy you better not say a word or BAM! - his dad would knock you on the head for talking. Man, how his dad loved Hank Williams.

Just a couple of months ago, Vern did something that would have amazed his dad. Vern arranged a private concert at his house with Hank III playing. He commented on the circle of life that concert was for him - how his family and Hank Williams' family were bound to come together - after all those years. And he told Hank III that at the end of the night - when the two of them were walking together down a dark driveway on Vern's property - Hank III a tall, lanky figure next to Vern, in socks, no shoes.

And that night was so special in many other ways for Vern. He was with the woman he loved, Jamie. Just a few weeks later, Vern would propose to her. After she said yes, Vern told me that he was so happy and proud.  He said that he had found "The One." He also told me that he had actually gone to her father to ask for her hand - like a hero. And he told me that he wanted to have kids with her - soon. My heart is breaking for Jamie right now because I know she has lost her hero.

We all have lost a hero. You see, Vern leaves behind more than his fiance Jamie, his sisters, his niece, his grand-niece, numerous friends and family members, his dogs Pete and Pete Jr.; Vern leaves behind a legacy - the legacy of a hero - one that will not soon be forgotten. I believe that Vern would want us to know that it is bravery that makes life satisfying. It is in his example of living - of being the hero of his own life - where we see that magic really happens. What we do with our lives, with the all the bad stuff (and the good) is what makes us heroes. And I thank Vern for being a shining example of that.

(Me and Vern at Vern's house on the night of the Hank III show.)

New Project Ideas

A new semester has started and I'm already thinking of projects that inform and improve my teaching. The first project will deal with my basic writing classes at Nashville State. I would like to actually rethink the way we are teaching remedial courses from refreshers to being ESL based. I'll have details later after I do some initial research, but I am starting to feel that we need to redo the course as if it is a NEW language altogether. The second project will be based on using Skype for student-teacher conferences at MTSU. I feel that students are more comfortable with video chat than actual human interaction - especially when it comes to communicating with a teacher. Of course, I'll start with a little research before I continue.

Notes from Big Red - 5

It’s been such a long time since I’ve written about life at Big Red. Since I’ve missed the opportunity to tell some great stories, I thought it was time to start up again.

Yesterday, while taking out a particularly toxic bag of trash (I’m cat sitting – so we have two now.) a Metro Police car pulled up. The officer waved – I waved back –and then walked on. Seconds later he was out of his car, asking me if I lived there.  Turns out, the Medical Direct Club offices had a silent alarm tripped and he was checking on the situation.

The officer was very curious about Big Red. He said he had no idea it was an apartment building and he was quite surprised that I would live there since this was “The most dangerous area in the city.”

What?

Oh yeah. Turns out that all the homeless services across the street are not so much a haven for the down and out as much as for the serious sexual offender. Sure, I would expect some crime in that area – cars get broken into all the time. But the officer told me that stabbings, rapes, etc. are the norm over at Catholic Charities and Room In the Inn almost weekly. He said I should be packing a gun at all times of the day. Turns out there are some serial rapists who enjoy the charities of our civic and religious outreaches.

He made serious suggestions for me to protect myself.  First – get a gun permit. Second – get a .32 and carry it on my person at all times. (Jesus, really?) Third – also carry a knife – just in case. Fourth – remember to start shooting sooner than later. (This part he demonstrated, showing several different scenarios of all the bad things that could happen if I allowed an attacker to come too close.)

In the mean time, he suggested I get mace immediately and hold it (ready to spray) in my hand at all times outside the building.

Now I’m sufficiently freaked out.

The last thing he said to me: “Don’t forget to shake the can of mace before you spray.”

Why The Contributor's Lawsuit is Important

I really shouldn't have to explain this. It's called the First Amendment. It's the most endangered amendment along with the second, and now the fourth (thanks to the TSA).

If you don't know THE BILL OF RIGHTS, well, it's time that you learned.

I understand what the city of Brentwood is trying to do - insulate itself from the sight of the homeless on their streets. If you've driven through there, you have seen the McMansions with manicured lawns and decorative desperate attempts to hide the fact that they are actually in Tennessee. You only have to see the names of some subdivisions to prove that: Agin Court, Arden Woods, Barrington Place, Camelot Acres, Governor's Club, Montclair, Taramore Manor, etc.  (Basically, if it sounds like the name of a soap opera, then it might be a subdivision in Brentwood.) But this township is only a couple of ordinances away from DNA testing the dog poop left on its sidewalks. In their attempts to maintain their property values, they have forgotten that the right to call one of their subdivisions "Valhalla" is the same right that protects the homeless man at the corner selling newspapers.  We're all the same in this, dumbasses!

If you are a local, you know that The Contributor gives the homeless who are willing to work a chance to make a real living. Selling The Contributor helps these people get off the street. And, quite frankly, every time I buy one at any given intersection in Nashville, I feel like I'm really helping. It feels good. I hope that Brentwood residents are making an effort to buy The Contributor somewhere else until this lawsuit is over.

To the Brentwood council I say: get over yourself. It's too late in the game to act like this. And think, just think, if you changed your attitudes and decided to help instead of prohibit what amazing things could happen. None of us (not even you) are that far from where those guys are. None of us. Get your head out of your ass and your heart out of your wallet and do the right thing.