[academicsecret] 3/29/2007 04:48:40 AM

I think Spring Break and the Easter Bunny have a lot in common, actually.

Really, though, I wholeheartedly support taking a day off sometimes. We deserve it! And our breaks should be at least a teeny bit of a break. Not that I took one, sigh. But next year, next year!! (Oh, wonderful next year, when I hope to defend the diss; I plan to party for a month if it really happens...)

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Posted by Poppy Red to academicsecret at 3/29/2007 04:48:40 AM

[academicsecret] 3/28/2007 12:28:10 PM

That's amazing, Poppy, but great too! I'm glad things have turned around. I hope that you can see know that it clearly wasn't something about you or your teaching or your control over the classroom, but something about him.

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Posted by fraud, in denim to academicsecret at 3/28/2007 12:28:10 PM

[academicsecret] 3/27/2007 04:55:19 PM

I don't know if anyone is still reading these comments, but I just wanted to report an amazing update. The other day, I had a meeting with The Angry Student. Quite randomly in the middle of the meeting, he APOLOGIZED for his behavior in the class I initially wrote about, and said he had done research on the point I was trying to make, and discovered that indeed, my point had merit. He also agreed with that my point was not a matter of "reading too much into the text" in the style of a "typical academic" (which is what he had claimed) but rather that it was a matter of his own resistance to that specific reading. !!! It was like a dream, where the person who made you angry suddenly recanted and agreed that you were totally right and even had insight into their character. Yes, it's still somewhat problematic that he could only come to this conclusion by getting verification from other critics instead of looking to how I was trying to guide the students in the text (another male-female dynamic in my opinion), BUT I do feel that he has a lot more respect for me now and will stop pulling this shit, at least in a really disrespectful way. He is argumentative by nature, but I think it won't be as bad. And it just goes to show how students are still processing beyond the classroom, and that things just don't always sink in immediately.

This has been one of the weirdest teaching experiences, but it's certainly taught me a lot!

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Posted by Poppy Red to academicsecret at 3/27/2007 04:55:19 PM

[academicsecret] 3/25/2007 08:30:07 PM

Ye gods.
The brat.
Get a copy of How to WIN Every Argument by Madsen Pirie. It's priceless ;-)
Very best,
Alex

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Posted by Alex to academicsecret at 3/25/2007 08:30:07 PM

[academicsecret] 3/21/2007 03:27:55 AM

Hey, how are we supposed to tell them that they have to change their egocentric attitudes so this world won't be ruled by selfish little brats in a couple of decades if you depend on student evaluations in the end of the semester?

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Posted by TenureTrackNewbie to academicsecret at 3/21/2007 03:27:55 AM

[academicsecret] 3/14/2007 08:52:31 PM

i don't have anything useful to add. I just wanted to say I think I had this guy's twin brother one semester and I feel for you.

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Posted by Anastasia to academicsecret at 3/14/2007 08:52:31 PM