Teaching @ MindSay 
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Original comment:
The section about exhausted faculty members in this article interests me. I still wonder how faculty at my college teach 5 classes face-to-face. About 7 years ago, I opted to teach 2 online courses so I could be the type of teacher I wanted to be with my 3 face-to-face classes.
The larger issue, though, seems to be one of attraction. Are community colleges attracting faculty who have the intellectual curiosity and depth of disciplinary knowledge to honor our students’ efforts, students who fit school into complicated and busy lives?
I read in an article written by a PhD at a community college who claimed that it takes a gallon of wisdom to impart a drop of knowledge.
To my way of thinking, a 30-credit MA in English or any other discipline (a pint of wisdom?) does not prepare future faculty members to work in a community college, to know the discipline they teach, to understand the landscape of higher education and the community college movement’s place within it, or to engage the complexities of being a public intellectual. Indeed, many MAs are hostile to PhDs, universities, and thoughtful reflection.
Answers? None at the ready, I'm afraid. -- Professor of English
My reply:
Saying a 30-credit MA isn't enough to make a great instructor is an unfair generalization. At every level of education, it's a matter of motivation: *doing the work* as well as having the insight to realize *what is real teaching*. I'm one of those people with "only" an MA, and I just found that I was the only faculty member in my department who students reviewed as "giving a lot of good feedback" on student writing. And I thought I was doing the minimum.
Further, good teaching puts the integrity of the discipline (be it English, sociology, accounting, etc.) above the self-interest of one individual student. That means being sympathetic to students, but never lowering standards. Again, the credential of the instructor -- MA, MBA, PhD -- doesn't matter here.
You are right, however, in that some teaching-only instructors with an MA regard research-I and -II PhD professors as absent-minded Laputans. Tacking more coursework onto a 30-credit MA wouldn't have an effect on this. And I think the critique does have some credence. In fact, I agree with that argument, as a person who went through a top-40 MA program where the teaching of English composition was usually regarded as a waste of time.
In sum, the credential of the educator matters far less than whether the educator has the insight, motivation, and skill to do the work that makes good teaching.
The Jewish year is based on the moon and the first month is Tishrei. Each month begins with the new moon ( rosh chodesh) and each day begins at sundown as there was darkness before there was light. So Jews all over the world will go to synagogue at sundown in their time zones and do closely the same ritual all over the world no matter what kind of Judaism they practice. New Years is often celebrated for two days because of the poor communications in ancient times. that way no one could miss out and use the excuse they did not hear.
Traditional foods are apples honey and round challah rather than the typical braided ones. and yes one spends a good part of the day in temple. or in the lobby gossiping. A very nice custom is tashlich on the afternoon of Rosh (new) HaShanah( The year) in which one throws away ones sins in a body of living water ( it moves and has fish so swimming pools are out) Traditional jews use bread crumbs. Jim and I use torn up rice paper. we write the actions we regret and in tend to avoid in the coming year and then say some blessings at the river and toss the torn up paper into the water ( rice paper will dissolve).
Then on the tenth of Tishrei we begin the observance of the day of atonement (Yom Kippur) with a beautiful and somber service called Kol Nidre. Kol Nidre means "all vows" and is an ancient Aramaic prayer. It is sung or maybe played on a violin and then the entire congregation issues a group confession that exonerates them from religious edicts made under pressure ( as in forced conversions in the 1400's)
Certainly catholic confession evolved from these customs but one is not "off the hook" unless one actually turns from action and makes a change in their lives (I mention this as I had a catholic boyfriend in HS... we would have sex, he would go to confession,. say some hail marys and then later in the week we'd have some more sex. I never understood it. If sex was a need for confessional act he shudda stopped ...no? ) but I digress.
then after YK comes a few days to prepare for Sukkot - the Fall harvest festival on which Thanksgiving and The Christian Tabernacles is based. I will no doubt be featuring my sukkah here so I will stop with the lecture. but then two holidays that some Jews who are not very observant hardly know. Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzerat. More on those later.
For now... have a sweet new year. eat some apples in honey. say some blessings and make some New Year Resolutions of some weight and then KEEP THEM............. It's so Jewish.
Survived another day today, but the afternoon was really hairy. The morning flew by and was pretty uneventful. Adam and I went to music first thing, and then got back in time for break and then writing. During writing, D was asked to list 7 nouns, and he went for broke and wrote 22. ON HIS OWN! He did the writing part, instead of asking me to, which is FANTASTIC! Of course, when I said, ‘okay, now time to work on your free write’, he took his sweet time, counting/numbering his words and then showing Ms. J, but he finally started on that, too! His spelling needs a lot of help, but he’s getting more accustomed to work, and that to me is glorious.
The afternoon, as I said, was rough. Ms J was taking E and D to their art class JUST as Ms. Daley arrived with Z and his aide, Mrs. K. A and I took them on a tour of the school, and it became very apparent he doesn’t interact with many people. He reacts quickly and strongly to things; he had a brief meltdown as we showed him the lunch-getting procedure because the lunch lady asked him to not put his hand inside the serving area because it might be hot. It took some work to get him back from that. He interrupts a lot, because he’s not used to conversation I guess. We survived the tour, and had a hard time showing him the morning routine because he kept darting all over the place. Pat and Ms. D came to check on us as we were doing our practice on the rug, and they asked what I thought about a whole day, and I told them honestly that we’d only taken a school tour, and done nothing academically, but it seemed okay, and promised I’d let them know.
D and E came back, and the fireworks began. Because Z is as, if not more vocal than A, he and D are already going to be in conflict. Even E was effected by the outbursts. A was having his episode after lunch as usual (I really don’t think he sleeps at home, so by 12:30 or 1 or 1:30 he’s wiped out), and Z just kept yelling at him to be quiet and couldn’t ignore him, and his outbursts only riled D. We got NOTHING done during SS between A’s tantrum, Z’s reaction, and D and E’s subsequent reactions. Even moving away from the desks to the back table, we got nowhere. Actually, the last 5 minutes before recess, I was able to draw E in and get him on the computer to do the research, and then 2 minutes later I was able to get D to at least talk with me about it, but Z had gone to the bathroom and A was perseverating on how HE had to go and couldn’t wait until Z got back… it was frustrating to me, because what I was asking them to do was stuff they could definitely complete. It wasn’t hard work, but they couldn’t focus because of all the commotion.
A and I went to recess even though we actually should have gone to art, so we ran to art at about 2:18. Mrs. A was REALLY understanding. We sat at a table with one of my old campers, Thea, and she was really helpful towards us. However, while I was gone, apparently D was threatening Z and told him, ‘you’re even worse than the other one’. That does not bode well for him joining our room full time. Pat called us at the end of the day to see if he could come full day. After the tour, I had thought it would be okay for him to join, even if his aide wouldn’t be there until the afternoon, but we have since vetoed that idea.
I feel like a bit of a wimp/ bad teacher that there are 4 kids and 2 teachers and we’re saying we can’t handle the 4th one all day at this point, but these are not 4 ordinary kids. Right now E isn’t exhibiting any of his behaviors, but that time will come, I got a progress report from the OT today and A operates on the same level as a 4.11 (4 years, 11 months) old, even though he’s 11, D is very volatile and goes off easily and hides that he can’t dot he work by leaving his seat to sharpen pencils, and Z has been homeschooled for 3 years and doesn’t know how to interact with a school day, rules, peers, or teachers besides his grandmother. All I can do is hope tomorrow is better, and that we can find a full-time aide to work with him. At this moment, if I’m truly honest with myself, I don’t think he can stay because he’s upsetting what balance we did establish the first 2 weeks, but I also want to prove to myself I can accommodate and make this work.
We’ll see.
My kids: a series describing the children that I have to deal with on an almost daily basis.
Part one: The Stupid, Silent Type.
This kid occurs at least once a week. It’s actually less a personality trait than an affliction, and it seems like it can happen to anyone. I will be calling on students to answer questions and things will usually be going well enough, until I hit the SST. They will stand up, say something so quietly no one can hear, then freeze up completely. Nothing will open them up from this point. I will speak Japanese to them; no response. The teacher will speak Japanese to them; still no response. The entire class will cheer them on, give them answers and help out; yet still they hardly move a muscle.
Once I hit a SST, I know I am in for a long wait. To be fair the teacher will insist that this student answer the question (everyone else has, after all). It’s like a standoff at that point. Will the SST ever say anything? Will the teachers just give up and let him go without answering? Will the chime sound indicating the end of the period thus saving the SST? All three have happened at one time or another.
In a few rare cases the SST will freeze up so bad it will take them several minutes to even sit down after being excused from having to answer any questions. Either English affects the nervous system in a way I was hitherto unaware of, or these kids need to seriously chill out.
Advanced cases of SST can lead to as much as 20 minutes of class time taken on one kid tossing their head back and forth, stealing glances at me or the regular teacher and looking down. The final stage of SST includes a total breakdown and weeping fits. You know, because having to say “Hello, how are you?” is truly the most traumatic thing a young child can do.
Now, it would seem like I must hate these kids passionately. Actually, I chose to do these kids first because they are my favorites. They take up such huge chunks of class time they end up making my job much easier. Instead of singing a stupid song or trying to explain how to play a game (when no one is listening), I can stand there and watch the minutes just melt away. In the case of a crier, this time wasting is cut unfortunately short.
The SST is a common case that almost anyone who has worked as an ALT has witnessed.
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