Category Archives: Uncategorized

The difference between kindergarten and college

It’s a rainy day in CT, and so this morning at breakfast the topic of “going to school in the rain” came up.  Here’s the conversation with the 5-yr-old: we were talking about how kindergartners are a lot like college … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The difference between kindergarten and college

Reading is hard, or two things I’ve learned from the first few weeks of the Intro to the Major course

This semester I’m teaching for the first time our department’s intro-to-the-major course, which is fairly new to us.  (Previously we tended to assume that our majors got all the intro work they needed from the surveys.  We no longer think … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Rubrics

This is a first for me: A blog post reconstructed from text messages, but here goes: A friend of mine at another university–for strict anonymity’s sake we’ll call him “Brian”–wrote this afternoon to ask whether I had any practical advice … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Learning new tricks: The conference outside your field

Last week I was in Porto for WikiSym 2008. It was both fun and informative, in ways some followup posts will explore. Perhaps the most interesting and invigorating part was the opportunity to be at a conference that was both … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Learning new tricks: The conference outside your field

Reliving the Holocaust in old age

Matt Sedensky has an interesting article out today on the problem of institutionalizing elderly Holocaust survivors. Here’s the lead: Nearly every night, Martin Hornung’s nightmare unfolds to the same haunting strains. Of Auschwitz. Of screaming voices. Of scenes he would … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reliving the Holocaust in old age

A 3-pack of interviews: Richard Morgan, Kate Summerscale, and Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

It’s odd that these three came out within a week of each other, as they were conducted several months apart, but I do have three new interviews up over the past 10 days or so: In Clarkesworld Magazine, an interview … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on A 3-pack of interviews: Richard Morgan, Kate Summerscale, and Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

New Britain Herald, show me some love! (Oh, and the school board’s crazy)

The school board seems to have met to discuss the issue of “Kaizen Thursdays,” after a storm of criticism erupted from many parents who felt that they hadn’t been consulted, or even informed. And I think that Rick Guiness, the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

An unexpected resemblance between the faculty senate and little league

1. At meetings of each, there can frequently be more passionate discussion of the by-laws governing the election than the candidates for election or actual issues. 2. At both, it’s hard to find people willing to hold office. Thus, 3.  … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on An unexpected resemblance between the faculty senate and little league

How to notice things in an English class: Word clouds

A few days ago I posted a low-tech way to notice more details in an English classroom; here’s a more web-friendly way. Assuming you have an electronic version of your text–generally (though not always) a safe assumption for my Victorian … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

On the eve of school . . .

. . . both for us and for the 5-yr-old. We’re unready for the start of classes on campus, but the boy’s pretty excited about the start of kindergarten tomorrow. In part, this is the unfortunate effect of a name … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on On the eve of school . . .