The main issue I have with teaching basic language courses in required programs and much taught languages is simply that it is an enormous project. From the fourth semester on up, it is just a class, but in the first three, when you have all the random students, the e-workbook, the interface with multiple sections, … More Another answer to Shedding Khawatir
My colleague says that she and her colleague described certain institutional practices to their friends at a conference, and were not believed. I am also tired of that conversation. “I cannot believe what you say is true.” “It is true.” “Go on the market, then.” Going on the market it is not realistic if one … More More on abusive work environments
I am a spontaneous person, I do things well off the cuff, and I can make good decisions quickly, but some of this is because I am so well informed anyway. I do not like to live by the seat of my pants. I do not understand why it is considered so healthy not to … More In an authoritarian culture
Every time someone tells me to “just do it” they are acting in their own interests and not in mine. I think it is some insidious American plot to reencode reflection as laziness or “procrastination.” Do not just do it, you will become a cog, someone else’s tool, or a workaholic. Step back and reflect. … More On just doing it
I have a major issue with these basic language courses and I have to figure out what all goes into it. I will do so in a fragmentary way as I do not have time to sit down and think about it. But this needs a solution. 1. I am afraid to think about them. … More I have an issue, and it is abusiveness again
My colleague says it is a uniquely authoritarian institution in a highly authoritarian culture and region. She compares it to Mexico in the 1820s but after reading an article about Argentine culture under J.M. Rosas as cruel and terrifying I am starting to wonder whether we are really 1840s Argentina. “Just get a book, dear.” … More On why it is difficult for us to feel relatively whole and to get things done in a normal fashion
They love to read, that is why. So they do in fact use it to procrastinate. I would rather write. If I am able to sit down and read, it means I am in the real zone and I am working very well. Every attempt I have ever made to write without reading first has … More On why people think reading is procrastination
…if it has become a space of oppression, one naturally does not wish to enter it. I fear lower division courses and this fear paralyzes me for them and thus for everything. That is why I keep saying, you have to take authority. WAIT, I SEE: the issue is the lack of authority in course … More On fear of starting work
I have just discovered by chance that someone in my main department is using a graded reader I used to use at the sophomore level as the textbook in a senior level survey course. I do see why — it has abridged and modernized versions of the classics. I was using it in the lower … More On how I could make my life easier
1. It assumes your primary goals in life are suburban, and are house-driven rather than field-driven or research-driven. 2. It either assumes you are so interested in your work that you will put up with anything, anything at all, in order to do it, OR that you are in fact not interested in it and … More One more insight about the assumptions in standard academic advice
