Kelly in Kansas

This is grant-writing season (March 9 is the due date and none of us wants to push that envelope this year - too much unnecessary stress) and it's been interesting working with some new partners.

I'm busy preparing and grading for classes now that the semester is in full gear as far as students go.

There's also quite a bit of work going on at my house - replacing the popcorn ceiling with an orange peel ceiling - fewer cobwebs and getting rid of the 15-year-old paint. It _almost_ looks like a brand new house. I'm also adding some color to walls. I moved in and only used an ivory paint during construction and had some of that redone about 8 years ago. Now, it's time to add some color. It's all moving a bit fast but I know I will be glad to have it done. And the man doing the work will do a lot of other odds and ends that either I don't have time to do or he can do much better/faster and/or that I just can't do.

Poor Molly is a little disoriented . . .

I'm also spending more time on Facebook . . .

Labels: classes, grants, house

There is plenty to do but a feeling that it is all possible if I don't let myself get overwhelmed. There's still a week before one of my F2F classes meets to start the semester. I will put up some more material for them to prep for the first part of the semester. Seeing who has taken time to take a look and work on some of it enough to have questions will help me get to know my students a bit better before I see them the first time. I keep thinking of ways to get around the various issues perplexing students when they enroll in a class late. I don't want to hold the rest up but it's hard not to create extra work for yourself when students seem to think it is up to you to catch them up instead of their showing a bit more initiative - esp. with all of it online on the university's CMS site. (If I'm rambling a bit more than usual, it's because I'm thinking aloud.)

The best news right now is that my annual performance report that is due Tuesday is already submitted. I was able to get enough of it done before break despite the numerous distractions from the normal semester. This year I'll aim to get it done before I go on break and maybe just have to wait for the end-of-course evaluations.

One of the small breakthroughs I've had lately is to look at these evaluations as what they are - course evaluations - and not evaluations just of me. Some students love the technology throughout the classes while others are still struggling with it apparently unaware how much of it will govern their future work lives. I have a course release for an outside service responsibility for the next two semesters and am hoping that, unlike my last course release, I don't let the work on fewer classes just expand to still fill the normal time it takes to handle a 12-hour load.

I've been able to get quite a bit of Truman work done even if it's not as much as I'd like. And I can finally give up the hope of finishing all the big household rearrangement tasks (if I haven't used it since I moved in over 15 years ago, I can probably get rid of it or donate it to charity) and resign myself to just keep plugging away on them. At least the outside isn't calling as much given the weather although more leaves need gathered. (That's probably related to the immediate neighbors who haven't picked up any and they keep blowing this way. . .. )

Not meeting my first class until the second week is preferred to meeting it once right away (it's once a week) and then having a week off. There's not as much playing catch up with the students who add in between.

I've posted the graduate syllabus for the course on political cartoons for the semester with all of the detail on the assignments. All that is left is creating the unit folders and links in the CMS. But that's a task for late in the day or evening and not when I'm at my best writing.

I had been feeling guilty that I wasn't working til 11pm like I did back in my 20s and 30s but am discovering that I can actually get more done if I take some time off. And in talking to a colleague that is a prolific scholar, she said she always stops at 6pm (unless there's an immediate deadline for indexing or proofs) and chills out - watching tv reruns is a favorite. She says some of her best ideas come then when she is letting her scholarly brain rest. I remember my major professor saying my best ideas would come when I was walking on the beach (my first TT job was at the University of West Florida) and while I didn't quite believe him and did NOT spend enough time on the beach the year I was there, I did finish the dissertation.

So, this week I need to get in my regular pattern for the semester before the grant teacher institutes and travel starts in late February.

But I am now ensuring that I take Sundays to read the newspapers. I used to not let myself do that until late in the day but have decided that is a good reward for working so hard all week. Besides, I will be working later today anyway.

Labels: classes, CMS, colleagues, students, teaching, work, writing

Yesterday began the semester with a 3-hour meeting on MTSS. It was great seeing colleagues. We were disappointed, however, that the secondary team members who could answer our questions were not able to attend.

A few students who didn't take care of what they needed in November are now in panic mode since consequences are now quite clear.

Today, I'm finishing the online syllabi for the grad course on political cartoons and the 20th century diplomatic history course. Since it's a Monday course and we're out for the MLK holiday, that course won't meet in person for about 10 days.

There's a little male poodle at our local humane society. Fighting the impulse to go get him, I sponsored him via Petfinder. You can also find him through sekhs.org

Labels: classes, colleagues, meetings, MTSS, poodle, semester

For some reason, I'm less stressed than starting other school years. I think I have more confidence and a renewed outlook to enjoy the students. The main thing I seem to have more in the front of my brain is that there is only so much I can do as the instructor and the rest is up to the students. The old you can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink argument.

The mentoring meetings were interesting. I'm starting my 15th year at my institution and it was insightful to see what new faculty are being told about what to expect. The main thing I came away with is how department-specific all-around success can be. My new colleague possesses numerous types of experiences prior to his arrival and I have no doubt he will do well. That will be quite a change from the previous occupants of his position.

Our opening meeting was the most fun as always - getting to see people you may only see once a year. For my part, however, I noticed that I am no longer one of the young pups and have quite a long tenure here at 15 years. Our department meeting went quite quickly thanks to our chair and then we had lunch together.

Enrollment day was quite typical - no one came in but I did answer an email at 6:30 am (at home) and a phone call. My assumption is that online enrollment has decreased the numbers showing up in person for help.

The graduate class for grant teachers has their first assignment due this week so that they can finish by Thanksgiving. The short interval between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so hectic for teachers that it works out best for everyone that way - especially since they have already been in school for a couple of weeks.

I"m going to take a more relaxed approach to the teaching methods course and go through some more modeling experiences for them. The basic assignments will be the same but we will do some more collaboration and peer review - especially before turning in assignments. What I have planned will lead to ensuring they are even better prepared and my not killing myself with the such intense grading duties normally associated with this course. We'll see how it works.

We're also utilizing the newly available features in our version of ANGEL - the blogging and wiki functions. It will make it much easier for me to keep track of individual blog entries since they will be collected in one place. I also have a plan to stay on top of grading a bit better and not get buried too quickly - esp. if I'm spending more time grading an assignment than a student does in preparing it (as in the past).

I hope I am not getting old and cranky but just more realistic about the parameters within which I work. I need to focus more energy on the tasks that I can bethttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifter control the outcome - ie research and publishing.

I have a book project trip and a state conference in September and then in October I'm off to New Orleans and Miami for conferences/H-Net meetings and then Houston for a conference in November. I'll probably also have a meeting in November or early December. That will be plenty with having to be in New York for over a week in early January.

Labels: back to school, classes, conferences, H-Net, NARA, students

We had a short period of rain today and it now officially smells like spring. The redbuds are just gorgeous.

I emailed the city again this morning about the drainage blockage dating back to some construction behind us over a year ago. About an hour later, I saw a city car out front and had a nice conversation with people who seem to understand what needs to happen so that I'm not living in a swamp.

And there was the potential for more good news but the mud flaps I've been waiting 11 months for did not fit in an acceptable manner even to the GM service techs. There was double-sided sticky tape and gaps that would not only collect dirt and gravel and road debris but also encouraging the paint finish to get scraped up. So, back on went the generic mudflaps. The engineers have just had trouble resolving the new style running boards with the mudflap design.

Another situation is resolving itself and I am not left being the bad guy and have been in fact thanked for my extensive efforts on behalf of this organization.

I was able to get in some more heavy duty weedeating but will not head out to the farm given the hail possibilities. I had hoped to hunt for morels since they seem to be popping up all over. We're not supposed to get any super warm nights so maybe I can find them next week.

The best news from yesterday is that I finished all my grading even though it took me until after 7pm to do so. But I came home without that weighing on my mind. It's continuing to amaze me how students think grades are a debate and how students spend more time gaming the system and losing in the short term instead of understanding that the instructor operates on more than just raw points. But sending a 300-word email about less than 5 points is probably not a student's best option - but pointing that out to them only creates more havoc. So, I offered to do an entire regrade of all assignments and adjust all late papers instead of just this student's latest one. He's forgetting how much slack he has been cut and so arguing about 5 points that won't actually make a difference in the hundreds of points being offered is just not the best option. It's also interesting to see how some students think just by doing the work and meeting minimum standards earns them an A while most of us consider that average, or C.

I'm off to the Western Social Science Association meeting in Denver tomorrow. An econ colleague is going with me and two old friends and at least one new friend that I met at the OAH will be there.

Oh, I talked to Doc the other afternoon about Beau and Maggie. I pushed hard enough that he finally said he'd like me to get a puppy so that I have more influence in forming their personalities. It's made me think a bit more along with the advice he gave about how to check them out before I bring them home. I'm supposed to talk to their foster mom tonight and hopefully that will help me come closer to figuring out whether I am better as a one-dog house or a two-dog house. In any case, I have a room reserved for the first weekend of the month and will hang out with friends in St. Louis after I meet the dogs and do some thinking about what works best for everyone involved. This is so hard but worth it in the end. I can't believe I haven't had a dog at home for 5 months . . . it just doesn't feel the same - even though I'm trying to stay busier than usual.

Labels: adoptions, city, classes, conferences, Denver, dog, dogs, drainage, grading, students, teaching, weedeating

Trips to Baltimore (gorgeous spring in bloom) and Dallas went well. Getting from Balt. to Dallas was hell, however. A side stop in Omaha (NOT on the route) because of t-storms and running out of fuel. Missed connection but made next flight. Plane at gate and additional four hours because of line of storms. Planes were coming in right and left at Love field when I arrived - and this was at midnight. Thank goodness major prof brought Mexican food home from the dinner I missed and is a night owl who didn't mind picking me up late.

It was fun being recognized as one of UNT's outstanding alumni and seeing my grad professors that haven't retired. Seeing Bob Caro talk about his work on LBJ was inspiring as well the talk on Lady Bird by Jan Russell. Caro walks across Central Park to work every morning - what a way to start the day!

The Denton Benefit League ball was also a great time had by all.

But I never been so glad to be home in my life.

Today's the last regular (non-test) day of my in-person Modern America class and my last set of assignments for the online class. Student teacher visits are complete - just reports to finish.

A cardinal is hanging out in the branches in front of my office window - a truly wonderful site of nature. Need to get out and mow before we have 3 more days of rain . . . .at least it's good exercise.

Labels: airplanes, cardinal, classes, Denton, semester, teaching, travel, UNT

It's been quite a week on this end. I helped some other departments in the college and university work on submitting a grant to prepare more elementary teachers to effectively teach middle school math and science. And, of course, grant deadlines are always interesting.

Students are finally getting the hang of what to expect in classes and that my classes aren't the "hang out for several weeks and then hurry up and take a test, repeat" and instead require consistently keeping up even if it's a once-a-week F2F class.

Went to a service meeting yesterday - was great seeing everyone - we're getting ready for our next accreditation visit in 2010.

We had 60 something degrees yesterday as another cold front moved in but, sadly, we missed out on the wintry mix.

I'm working on a project all day today and then will enjoy the farm and working out in the cold with frozen, non-muddy ground. And, of conditions are right, I will burn waste wood tomorrow.

I have a lecture ready for Monday about German American internment camps in Kansas to help bring home WWII to our students. I saw the Camp Concordia remains this past August . . .. along with finding a neat quilt store.

Labels: Camp Concordia, classes, German-American internment, grant, service, teaching

Profgrrrrl's most recent entry details her early successes with asserting control over her schedule. Previous posts detailed her feelings of being overwhelmed by meetings requests from both university colleagues and students. It's hard to get much done when you're constantly having to stop to go to a meeting. She's quickly finding that others adjust to your not being available in person 24/7 - esp. given the ease of email. I still find that most students who can never find a convenient time and finally do just want to go on and on about how busy they are, etc., instead of discussing something I can actually do anything about as a professor.

And, on a related note, I allowed students 3 weeks to get there books before having an assignment due specifically over a book (one of the best ways to get them to read historical monographs!) and there's still a complaint that the student doesn't have the money. At least this time I was able to come back with how I had so many financial problems of my own that I couldn't possibly take on the numerous financial problems of all my students. Luckily, that moved the conversation on to something else - esp. as I moved into the computer lab to help this student with a blog introduction assignment.

There's one very energetic group of grad students that are presenting a good challenge - constantly answering all the questions. They are a nice change from the apathetic group last semester and definitely an easier challenge to handle (give them another week or so and my constantly reinforcing how well I think they are doing so they won't feel as much need to prove themselves) than no participation at all. And that helps guide some of the future assignments. The main challenge is ensuring that this small group doesn't alienate the rest of the group. And the larger group is sitting near the front instead of gravitating toward the back - another plus!

Labels: classes, discussions, meetings, profgrrrrl, schedule, students, teaching

How did it get to be Monday again already?

We had a candidate on campus Thursday and Friday and, as expected, that consumed most of the non-student time and also provided for some much-needed social interaction.

I attended a reception at the Truman Library Institute in Independence, MO, last week that was quite worthwhile in many aspects. It was also great to spend some much-needed time with relatives. They found a little 15-lb lab puppy in a storm drain this summer and it's now challenging for them to deal with a 50-lb lab with lots of energy. But it was good exercise for me to walk/job with him.

Mom needed help cleaning out the attic - the plan was in the works but the furnace failure expedited the process.

Most importantly, my dining room table (aka work table) is all cleared off so I can use it for more than piling on more papers. (We'll leave the office for a bit later.)

Our unusual almost 60 degree weather yesterday allowed time for some outdoor work to be continued - mulching and pulling up errant plants that grew from limbs that had grown beyond my ability to keep up with triming them. Now, to get rid of the 3 oak trees in inconvenient places thanks to our very busy squirrels.

My Modern America, 1941-68 class meets for the first time this afternoon - it's always good to get the first class meeting completed to get a better feel for them.

Back to other work . . . .

Labels: classes, Kansas City, Modern America, Truman Library Institute

Enrollment was last Wednesday and classes started on Thursday with a day off for MLK Day yesterday. That means I see my first F2F students on Monday. This morning I woke up ready to teach - all kinds of ideas swirling in my head about how to approach the new semester. I have a course release to work on a book project and am doing the usual teaching one class online, Modern America, 1912-41, and supervising student teachers. The latter varies from 3 students in nearby towns to 15 that may be spread around 250 miles in two directions. (I don't mind being dragged to Kansas City, though . . . )

My F2F class is Modern America, 1941-1968. I took a different approach to the narrative text and made it optional since they can also utilize a survey text from a previous class to get the background. Hopefully that means less complaining about textbook costs - which I find difficult given that if I require a text, they use it and are tested on it. Winkler's Homefront USA from Harlan Davidson, a nice compact discussion of the topic, is one of the other texts along with Lizabeth Cohen's Consumer's Republic. It's my first time using Cohen and I've already found the graduate student notes that summarize it in 3 pages that shows up on the first page of a Google search. Wonder how long it will take students to find that. But, forewarned is forearmed.

Another facet of the class will be studying Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I think it's important that students read some of the literature of the period so that they better understand it. in the past, I've used Peyton Place for this class but it's not longer available for the last publisher and I don't want to encourage the used book market. Plus, I can still show the Peyton Place film and accomplish some of the same results in student learning. What always amazed me about using Peyton Place was how the men enjoyed reading it. And, of course, a "banned book" is such a foreign concept in today's culture.

The anniversary of the publication of On the Road was one motivation to use it along with my visiting a Kerouac exhibit in Lowell, MA, when we had teachers there to tour the mills last summer. Getting to view the scroll of On the Road was interesting as well as the modern exhibit interpreting his life. This was in contrast to the Lowell exhibits that are in need of updating once they get more funding - the machinery was intriguing but not anything I hadn't seen before.

I found a book in our university library about the "women in black" - the females who have often been overlooked in regard to their contribution to the Beats - not only psychologically and physically supporting the men when they weren't doing so for each other but their actual artistic contributions. So it should be a fun exploration for all of us.

One of the first things students will do is examine and debate the causes of World War II. That will be a good way to review how we arrived in 1941. And, of course, it's obvious to highlight the drama surrounding Pearl Harbor with some comparisons to what our intelligence services could tell us then and how we still have some of the same coordination problems in this century. The next challenge is how to "review" the New Deal without getting lost in that massive topic while emphasizing that World War II ended the Great Depression and not the New Deal. Taking a close look at FDR and Eleanor will also be fun.

The online Modern America, 1912-41, class will focus first on Woodrow Wilson as a person and as a president before we jump into World War I. In that course, students are reading Willa Cather's One of Ours. Cather spent a great deal of time just across our northern border - that's the Nebrasks she describes in her book and much of it isn't that different in psyche than the Kansas we know down here except that we are closer to larger population centers - especially in modern times.

Another change I made this semester is just having the graduate students write the analytical papers over the Major Problems texts from Houghton Mifflin. By confining it to that group, I can expect a higher level of achievement given that they are supposed to be surrounding by historiography and not just being introduced to it.

Here we go . . . . .

Labels: classes, Kansas, Kerouac, learning, Modern America, Nebraska, on the road, One of Ours, semester, students, teaching, Willa Cather

The last few days of vacation involved driving through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks and then across some very interesting terrain I hadn't seen before in Wyoming as I headed to Casper. I had been to Jackson on a train trip so I detoured about 30 miles to visit the town and eat some Mexican food for lunch and gather up some great bakery items.

Casper was enjoyable and a good way to rest up for the last two legs home. One of the highlights of the trip was the Bureau of Land Management's National Historic Trails Interpretive Site. It was simply outstanding in its interactivity and the staff went out of it's way to greet and talk to visitors and make sure they had access to all the features of the site.

I also found a neat walking/biking trail - although it took until the second day to find the pretty longer part of it.

I then made it to Hays, Kansas, for the night. It's become quite the growing metropolis since I last was there about 3 years ago. I stopped by FHSU and then headed to Wichita for some Vietnamese food for lunch. I found an E85 station right by my hotel (right under my nose again) in Hays. I finally made it home by dinner time on Wednesday in time to go to opening meetings on Thursday. It was great seeing everyone at PSU - especially the folks I don't always get to see during the year since we're all in different buildings going different directions. It really doesn't seem like I was gone for a year on sabbatical.

I'll meet students in the teaching and seminar courses this afternoon and this evening.

Labels: Casper, classes, college, Hays, Kansas, school, vacation, Wichita, Wyoming