Upsetting Composition Commonplaces by Ian Barnard My rating: 3 of 5 stars Interesting book that takes some sacred terms in composition theory (audience, objectivity, voice, etc) and critiques them from the lens of whether or not teaching is in line with composition theory and pedagogical approaches to writing. After admitting several times in the course…

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The University of Southern California is a very, very pretty place.  Aside from the inevitable technical issues on the video call – why can’t any university just make it easy to do this? Everywhere I go there is a camera that isn’t connected, microphones and speakers that are not connected, logins and other security measures…

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A lot happened yesterday that involved good food and wine and a boat. I didn’t have the time last night (because I went immediately to sleep) to download and have a look at the videos I took of the boat but maybe I’ll do it tonight after the conference.  Had an amazing dinner yesterday at…

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the race is on! Who will get to LAX first? Flew in pretty early and arrived around noon. The last 30 minutes of the flight we were involved in a drag race with what looked like an American Airlines flight? I have a few of these photos but I think one really is enough to…

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Thankfully this semester is over and I can slowly, over time, forget the terrible course that I just “taught.” In trying to figure out what went wrong I’m looking for various theoretical explanations. I want to avoid any and all explanations that blame the students, I.e. “You didn’t spoon-feed them the material,” “Where is your…

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I was asked by the English Speaking Union to come out to NEST and judge the final debate of their middle school competition yesterday. Seems like a good way to end the semester. The middle school debates by the MSDP are always of a good quality (I’ve judged a couple before, one at the Hackley…

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So incredibly relieved that I no longer have to deal with my Modern Rhetorical Theory class which was in every sense a total failure. I thought I would feel happy about the end of the term, but the only feeling I have is relief. Relief in the sense that something you were close to is…

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This semester has been the worst semester I’ve had in my whole career.  When I started teaching in 1997, I thought I didn’t do a very good job then. Makes sense, since I was new. But that year looks amazing compared to the dumpster fire of shit teaching that I have accelerated this semester. I…

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University students are dying the death of a thousand rubrics. From daily blog posts, to discussion board questions and answers, to short papers, to quizzes, to exams, to the ultimate capstone, the 20 page research paper due at the end of the term, students are immersed in thousands of small tasks that have very firm…

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Much has been said and written about the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and their sudden and violent non-consensual entry into the national gun control debate. Many were impressed, surprised, confused, and pleased with these students’ incredibly composed, organized, directed and well-articulated claims that the government had failed in its basic duty to…

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