Rollercoaster Day
Today definitely had its ups and downs. Blagh.
In the morning we woke up to our Charlie-dog alarm. He has an internal "PEE!" clock and wakes us, or more accurately, Casey, at like 7 every day. Which is fine. I reluctantly ponder getting up, continuing to "sleep" while Casey is out with the dog, and just get up when he gets back and lets the excited dog jump all over my face - my reward for getting to sleep a few minutes longer!
Anyway, this morning was Get-Charter-To-Fix-The-Internet. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but it got fixed, the wireless networks were reestablished, and all was hunkey dorey, though it did take a lot of trial and error before we got both computers connected to our network. Huzzah!
Then it was off to campus for the TA meeting with Dr. Popiel. They're trying out this new class structure for History 111, where, instead of just straight lecture and fact learning and going through a chronological book chapter each week, they're gearing it more toward building historical skills and having a collaborative professor approach. So, it's an experiment. They're focusing on analysis of primary sources, historical questions, comparisons, interpretation, etc. Much more like what we pro historians actually do, rather than just making them memorize names and dates and facts. Also, different professors will come in each week to lecture with Dr. Popiel on what they do as a historian, how their approach is different, explain their specialty, and give an overview lecture of their historical period. They're hoping that exposure to different professors, different periods, and different ways of doing history will generate more interest in the department, and hopefully more new majors.
In essence, it sounds great, but we'll see how it plays out in reality. It's a bit unstructured and may lack continuity from one day to the next... Plus it may be hard to grade these assignments...
Looking forward to TAing with Matt and Scott - they're both so chill and relaxed, it should making working with them easy and enjoyable. I sure will miss the unstoppable trio of Luke-Amy-Dan though.
BRB. Day To be continued.
In the morning we woke up to our Charlie-dog alarm. He has an internal "PEE!" clock and wakes us, or more accurately, Casey, at like 7 every day. Which is fine. I reluctantly ponder getting up, continuing to "sleep" while Casey is out with the dog, and just get up when he gets back and lets the excited dog jump all over my face - my reward for getting to sleep a few minutes longer!
Anyway, this morning was Get-Charter-To-Fix-The-Internet. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but it got fixed, the wireless networks were reestablished, and all was hunkey dorey, though it did take a lot of trial and error before we got both computers connected to our network. Huzzah!
Then it was off to campus for the TA meeting with Dr. Popiel. They're trying out this new class structure for History 111, where, instead of just straight lecture and fact learning and going through a chronological book chapter each week, they're gearing it more toward building historical skills and having a collaborative professor approach. So, it's an experiment. They're focusing on analysis of primary sources, historical questions, comparisons, interpretation, etc. Much more like what we pro historians actually do, rather than just making them memorize names and dates and facts. Also, different professors will come in each week to lecture with Dr. Popiel on what they do as a historian, how their approach is different, explain their specialty, and give an overview lecture of their historical period. They're hoping that exposure to different professors, different periods, and different ways of doing history will generate more interest in the department, and hopefully more new majors.
In essence, it sounds great, but we'll see how it plays out in reality. It's a bit unstructured and may lack continuity from one day to the next... Plus it may be hard to grade these assignments...
Looking forward to TAing with Matt and Scott - they're both so chill and relaxed, it should making working with them easy and enjoyable. I sure will miss the unstoppable trio of Luke-Amy-Dan though.
BRB. Day To be continued.