Classes are Back in Session ...

[The Lone Ranger]

Yesterday was the first day of classes.

As it happens, Andy and I are teaching different sections of the same Introductory class. My class starts 10 minutes after his ends, and is taught in the same room. So, yesterday morning, a few minutes before the class was due to start, I strolled upstairs and to the classroom. As I was approaching, a bunch of students were entering. They didn't know I was behind them, and as they walked into the room, they saw Andy at the lectern, tidying up his notes before leaving.

One of the girls turned to her friend and whispered, "Oh no! That isn't him; that's the mean one!" Then she turned a bit further and saw me right behind her; she turned an interesting shade of red.

Later, after Andy had left, she explained: "He's the mean one; you're the good one!" That was pretty funny, and somewhat flattering, but I suspect they were a bit confused. Andy's a sweetheart.

***

Later in the day, I dropped by the bookstore. There were lots of students there making last-minute purchases. Many of them were there with their parents. (And by the way, every time I assign a textbook, I feel so guilty about it. The prices the publishers charge for those things are tantamount to highway robbery, if you ask me.)

Seeing a student from last semester, I said "Hi." She introduced me to her mother. Mom, upon hearing my name, immediately replied, "So you're the one I've heard so much about!"


So I guess the semester's off to a good start, eh?

If only I hadn't stupidly agreed to teach 8:00 a.m. classes each day of the week. What was I thinking?

Cheers,

Michael

[cappuccino]

8:00 a.m. eh? When I was in college, 8 a.m. was impossibly early. Now I've been humbled by real world and all that, 8 a.m. seems late to me and 5 a.m. a perfectly normal wake-up time.

[Dingfod]

8:00 AM classes were the ruin of my try at college, never could drag myself out of bed in time. I had no discipline. I'm sure working at the gas station from 1:30 PM until 10:30 PM had something to do with it though.

[Ensign Steve]

I have an 8 a.m. history class. I really wanted to take biology, but it just wasn't in the cards for me this semester. TLR you going to have time to keep schooling us along with your "real" students? :praying:

[The Lone Ranger]

I won't be putting 'em out as quickly as I was during the Summer, alas, but I'm going to revise and continue the "Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology" articles (finally!), and I'm going to continue to add more "Introduction to Zoology" articles as I can.

Actually, I have the next Zoology chapter mostly written now. I'll hopefully find time to finish it this week.

Cheers,

Michael

[Uthgar the Brazen]

It's obvious I'm going to have to start insulting you in order to bring balance to your universe.

Nerd.

Of course, takes one to know one. :giggle:

[Clutch Munny]

(And by the way, every time I assign a textbook, I feel so guilty about it. The prices the publishers charge for those things are tantamount to highway robbery, if you ask me.)

I agree. Except for mine. Worth every penny; oughtta charge double, in fact.

If only I hadn't stupidly agreed to teach 8:00 a.m. classes each day of the week. What was I thinking?l

I loved teaching early. You filter out some of the crappy students, plus it gets you going quickly. After you lecture all the cylinders are firing, you put in some writing or course prep, and suddenly it's lunch and you've put in a pretty good day by normal standards. (Of course, if there's an afternoon colloquium you get a serious case of Narcoleptic Whiplash around 4 pm, but otherwise it's all good.)

[The Lone Ranger]

That's a good point.

Last year, these classes were taught at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Going by the limited data I have so far, these kids seem like a sharper or at least more enthusiastic bunch. I had 40 sign up for the 9:00 class last year; only 25 signed up for the 8:00 a.m., but they're already more responsive than were those from last year. Takes a bit of gumption to sign up for an 8:00 a.m. class, I reckon.

And it is rather nice to be finished with the last of my classes while the sun's still shining.

Speaking of which, a trip to a nearby park for a nice walk in the woods doesn't sound like a bad idea at all right about now ...

Cheers,

Michael

[Kyuss Apollo]

Yep. Tomorrow starts the ball rolling for me. No kids until after Labor Day though.

Phoooey! Summer went by way too fast again! :runaway:

[Qingdai]

I've got another week before a new term begins and my son is going to pre-school!
:happy:

[JoeP]

Great news, Michael ... up to the "8 am" bit.

You aren't adopting the Michel Foucault technique by any chance? He moved lectures to 9:30 to try to cope with overcrowding (but that was France, and 30 years ago).

[biochemgirl]

That is definitely a good way to start things off.

And 8 am wasn't so bad for me..it was the 7:30am Quantitative Analysis Chem that almost killed me. :shudder:

[Clutch Munny]

Ah, but I'll bet there were no lines at the coffee counter, and it was easy to find a parking spot. Silver lining, half-full, and all that.

[viscousmemories]

One thing I like about taking classes online is that I can set my own class times. (Un?)fortunately, that means I've had a crash course in overcoming procrastination over the past 10 weeks, which is something I didn't really want but definitely needed.

[Ensign Steve]

Apparently they sold over 9000 times as many parking passes as they have actual parking spaces at the university. :fuming: I paid a fortune for mine, and I absolutely hate having to shark for spaces. I showed up 40 minutes early and spent an hour trying to park. Way to be late on my first day.

[JoeP]

What time was that ES? 7:30?

[Clutch Munny]

Apparently they sold over 9000 times as many parking passes as they have actual parking spaces at the university. :fuming: I paid a fortune for mine, and I absolutely hate having to shark for spaces. I showed up 40 minutes early and spent an hour trying to park. Way to be late on my first day.

:fuming: indeed. So far as I can tell, the Parking Nazis at practically every university are outside the academic stream of command, and hence get very little oversight. That they work under the President (or Regent, or whatever your highest officer is) tends to be purely notional. At any place I've studied or worked, it seems that Parking is just given a mandate: make money.

[Sock Puppet]

Damn, I shouldn't have opened this thread. It just awakened all of my repressed memories of parking traumas at Berkeley. :mutter:

[Ensign Steve]

What time was that ES? 7:30?

My class started at 8. I got to school at 7:20, and entered the classroom at 8:20. :sadcheer: I think I can get around it on those days by showing up even earlier (maybe run around the track for an hour before class), but on M,W,F I don't have classes until afternoon, so I have no choice but to shark. Or take the train. But then why did I buy the parking pass?

[Smilin]

What is "Sharking" ES?

You got a side buisness of cutting loans on the fly to hardpressed college students at 1000% interest rate?

Need an enforcer...aka...knee cap buster? I's cans swings a means baseballs bat!:whup:

[Ensign Steve]

Sharking is when you circle the lot waiting for someone to leave. There are usually several sharks who have to scramble over each bit of prey as it becomes available.

[Smilin]

ahhhh....classic Walmart parking lot strategy........


Now about the loan sharking thing....I need a new career.... :lol:

[Ari]

I start classes tomorrow (taking, not teaching :D ) My gf started last week, after discovering she would have to arrive 2 hours early for a possible parking spot, it's the bus for her.

[Ensign Steve]

What are you taking, Ari?

This is pretty cool. There's wifi access all over the campus. I'm on break between classes, posting from my laptop.

Now I really need an iPod Touch.

My fuel light came on while I was sharking. :doh:

[Ari]

What are you taking, Ari?
I'm a photography student, so fluffy art classes. Ok, so they aren't that fluffy.
20th Century art history, a Studio shooting class, a people shooting class and a concepts go crazy class.

[Crumb]

people shooting class
Like sniper school?

[Ari]

A bit, yes. :D

[Ensign Steve]

Oh that sounds fun! Especially the go crazy part. :rush:

[Ari]

Yep, the concepts classes are hard but fun because you can take artistic license with pretty much everything.

(This is what I did for the final of the first year version of the class, Memories (http://homepage.mac.com/ericx1/site/forgotten_memories/index.html) Digitally shot and edited (although hopefully not obvious in a bad way) kinda a creative for creativities sake class.)

[Deadlokd]

I won't be putting 'em out as quickly as I was during the Summer, alas, but I'm going to revise and continue the "Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology" articles (finally!), and I'm going to continue to add more "Introduction to Zoology" articles as I can.

Actually, I have the next Zoology chapter mostly written now. I'll hopefully find time to finish it this week.

Cheers,

Michael

Oh yes, I want the Human Anatomy one. That's one of my subjects this semester. Pure rote learning, but damn there's a lot of bits of the human body.

It's really interesting though. I'm loving how versatile ATP is.

Where do you teach, if you don't mind saying?

You wrote a textbook Clutch? What was it about?

Damn I'm nosy, aren't I?

[Ensign Steve]

I spent another $200 on books yesterday. I'm up over $500 for the semester. That includes buying only used books and doing some serious bargain hunting.

I blame you, Michael. :glare: Also Clutch.

[The Lone Ranger]

It's really interesting though. I'm loving how versatile ATP is.
Ah, good old Adenosine Triphosphate -- every physiologist's favorite molecule!

Where do you teach, if you don't mind saying?
A little college in Pennsylvania.

Cheers,

Michael

[Smilin]

I spent another $200 on books yesterday. I'm up over $500 for the semester. That includes buying only used books and doing some serious bargain hunting.

I blame you, Michael. :glare: Also Clutch.

I opened up my daughter's tuition bill for college last night after reading your post.

1,800.00....just her part, not including state and federal grants as well as student loans.

Good thing I've got this new job now...eh?:wave:

[Ensign Steve]

Um, you do realize I was just talking about books, right?

I wish tuition was $500.

I still need to buy a $90 board (http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=NEXYS2) and replace my graphing calculator in the next week or so.

[Dingfod]

When I went to junior college back in ancient times the $125 per semester scholarship from my grandmother was just about the right amount of money to pay my tuition. Books were about $100, room and board, $550. It was considered cheap at the time, Oklahoma State was about twice the price. If I had gone to junior college in the Texas Panhandle town I grew up in, it would've been even less expensive, $4 per credit ($60 for 15 credits) and $400 per semester for room and board. Books, probably about the same. Those were the days my friend, we thought they would never end.

[Ensign Steve]

http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4138&stc=1&d=1220658937

[The Lone Ranger]

Some textbook authors and publishers have something of a racket going. I don't know how profitable it is to the publishers, but the textbook market is too limited for the author(s) to make much money from writing them. At least, none of the people I know who've written textbooks have earned very much money at it.

On the other hand, there's the nefarious practice of coming out with a new edition every other year or thereabouts. Often, it's justified, as new knowledge requires updating of older textbooks. Sometimes, however, I suspect it's done primarily so that the publisher and/or the author can squeeze a little more money out of the students. I've lost count of the times some publisher has tried to convince me to adopt the latest edition of a textbook, and when they sent me a review copy, it turned out to be almost word-for-word identical to the previous edition. Oh sure, they'd slap on a new cover and perhaps change a few illustrations of course, but otherwise, it might be all but indistinguishable from the previous edition.

Last year, about halfway through the first semester of a two-semester course, I received a call from a representative of the publisher of the textbook I was using for that class. The rep was breathlessly telling me of how wonderful the new edition was, and how I should adopt it right now. I use the same textbook for both halves of the course, as I told him. He replied that this was a new version (ooh! aah!), and that I really should adopt it right away for the next semester. I told him that I'd be happy to receive a review copy to consider for the next year, but that I was not going to make the students buy a new textbook for the second half of the course. He seemed a bit disappointed, but he sent a review copy. As I'd suspected, it was nearly word-for-word identical to the previous version.

I can't really blame them, since I'm sure that's how they earn their salaries, but some of those textbook reps are downright aggressive when it comes to pushing their wares.

Cheers,

Michael

[Ensign Steve]

On the other hand, there's the nefarious practice of coming out with a new edition every other year or thereabouts. Often, it's justified, as new knowledge requires updating of older textbooks.

I used to think this was okay, because I am a computer science major, and the technology moves so fast. But the more I learn, the more I realize that the principles and the theory don't change nearly as quickly as the technology.

It's cool, though. Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having being back on campus and in the classroom?

[JoeP]

It's cool, though. Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having being back on campus and in the classroom?

No. Just your feelings about parking and the cost of textbooks.

[Ensign Steve]

Um, whoops!

I'm really enjoying being back on campus and in the classroom! :hyper:

My calculus teacher is really funny. He's Korean, and his accent is super thick, despite his having lived here for 40 years. He tells hilarious jokes (mostly about how Korea is the best), and it's funny to see the "wtf?" expressions on the faces of the students who didn't parse the joke when the other students start laughing.

[beyelzu]

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having being back on campus and in the classroom?


You have now, glad that you are having fun with the learnin.


I can't wait to join you in the renewing education category. Maybe I was wrong in the other thread, maybe envy and not theft is the sincerest form of flattery.

[Ensign Steve]

the good ship lollipop
:unicut:

[Kael]

I've got this really funny professor for Intro to Shakespeare. She's hungarian, still has a thick accent, and I can't help but think she makes up idioms as she goes. One really good one was "now, here's where the monkey jumps in the lake...":giggle:

She's great, though. A lot of people take shakespeare too seriously, they act like a little sarcasm or mockery is sacrelige or something. She's quite the opposite, despite having a very high opinion of the Bard. Gonna be a fun semester.