Frazzled in Floyd
I don't seem to be able to find the FLOW this morning. From the hundred subtasks in a dozen larger projects, I can't catch hold of one and follow it to the next in the sequence. Which is why I'm writing my morning ramble instead. Sometimes it helps just to sort things out in piles, and looking around the room reflects that this is just where I'm at this morning. I got so far over the weekend as to sort my scatters into piles--of books here, magazines over there--not a end in itself, but a stopping place until the next impulse of organization sweeps past. So, let me make some piles here.
THE REST OF MY LIFE: What am I going to do over the longer term? The piles: teaching, physical therapy, home projects, and the book. I was offered the Environmental Biology class again in the fall if I want it. I do. And I don't. I just picked up my class evaluations yesterday. While my average scores were higher than the department averages, it was discouraging to find how many of the students felt they needed to be guided by the hand, wanted to do less, couldn't follow directions and blamed me. On the other hand, many said what they liked best was when I stepped out of my academic-professorial role (I physically pretended I was stepping into a different role) in my so-called "Soapbox" performances, which were basically personal rants and diatribes--about littering and personal responsibility, about sustainability versus the throw-away society, about the ecology of bottled water--that sort of thing. I let my hair down, went wide open, then stepped back behind the podium, "off my soapbox." I had no idea that made such an impact. Other good things were the half dozen that said something like "I left class some days and almost wanted to change my major to biology." But the overall tone was discouraging, and makes me wonder if I belong among freshmen.
THE BOOK: I have made the mistake of looking too far ahead toward marketing, sales and distribution and I've spooked myself into cold feet. I have to reign in my vision, keep the blinders on so I only see one immediate and achievable subtask at a time. But I picked the wrong subtask this morning: writing out a "back of a business card" description of what the book is about. This is one of the hardest things I've tried to do. (And btw, reader KimMk who left a comment this morning while I was working on this--I sent you a reply that bounced. Got another email addy?) Otherwise, I am almost through final edits and think I have an idea of how title page, acknowledgement, TOC and all that falls in sequence. I'll be ready to flow my Word Docs into InDesign files and pull those files into an InDesign book, and then see what white space I can fill with black and white images. I'm getting close, but the actual printing of the book is only the beginning! What good are a thousand books stored in the barn (no I won't really) except for mouse bedding? Somehow, I'll have to figure out PayPal and Amazon and book speaking gigs, and... take a breath, fella, you'll hyperventilate.
Oh! It's perfectly calm, and snowing big fat flakes. I have an image and some text in mind. Showing those to you is WITHIN my scope of capabilities right now, and I'll feel better for having ONE THING DONE to completion. I gotta go.
Comments
Hey, don't forget to take some of those books to the General Store and other establishments there in Floyd, the Poor Farmer's Market in Meadows of Dan (that wonderful place HAS to still be there), the stores off I-77 in Fancy Gap, and on up to Galax and the new music center up there at Fisher's Peak. Make good use of I-77, I-81, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'll probably see your book down here in Florida when one of my friends gets back from vacation. :-)
Incidentally, I had NO plans to come to Floyd when I get back home for a visit, but since I've been reading your (and Doug Thompson's) blog and seeing your pictures of Floyd, I want to go and see it and go to the General Store for the music. I've also advised my nephew (retiring soon from 20+ years in the Air Force) to check out Floyd Co. He wants a place JUST like that - closer to city life and a university than Galax is. (We grew up in the Galax/Carroll/Grayson area.)
Posted by: M. Lawless | February 22, 2006 8:43 AM
Oh, to have freshmen again! I've been teaching GED prep classes and substitute teaching in the public schools, and the news is not good. Even the best high school students are not learning to read and follow directions, and the under 30 crowd in my adult ed classes doesn't even think the directions are meant to be read. They're just some stuff written in Greek at the top of the page to take up space.
I had someone in GRADUATE SCHOOL come to a GED class last spring for help with her homework. Her professor had given her a scientific article to review, along with 10 pages of explanation on how to write a review article. The paper was due the next day, and she hadn't read the directions, although she was in a panic about it. I read her the directions, and showed her how I would begin the article, but she seemed incredulous.
I loved freshmen, but it's been about 15 years since I had a batch, and something unfortunate has happened in the secondary schools since then. When I talk to my younger adult students about following directions, reading all the material and thinking about it, it's as if they'd never heard tell of such a thing in all their born days. But when they try it, it works. They're surprised, but they become converts.
RTFM, I tell them. (Read that FINE manual. Something like that.)
By all means, go back to the freshmen. They need somebody to help them RTFM.
Rebecca, in her teacher hat
Posted by: Rebecca Clayton | February 22, 2006 9:32 AM
If even one or two of your students thought about changing their majors to Biology, you're doing well! Who knows what may grow from these seeds, a few years maturity (on the part of the students) down the line?
Posted by: Jean | February 22, 2006 9:57 AM
Ah yes, the conundrum of teaching. Often we don't know what impact we have on students while we're teaching and even after they are no longer in our classes. But, rest assured, that you did impact their lives if only for a little bit. Grades reflect one of two things: actual learning, or the ability to master the grading system at hand and score well. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle.
In college I had a choir teacher who would step up on the soap box and let us know about life--far removed from singing. Each time though it made us sing better. Plus it was the 'food for thought' to chew on after we were finished for the hour.
It is good to let the student be not 'guided by the hand.' It is good to let them think on their own about what they are learning. Some of my best college classes were the ones in which I didn't get a letter grade. Those were the ones in which I had to ask myself a different question from the one of "what do I need to do to get an A?" Those are the ones I remember the most after all of these years. When the question is different so is what one learns. I'll look for that book tour sometime as well. :)
Posted by: Sean | February 22, 2006 10:03 AM