Another end to the semester...

Last night marked the end of my semester. For those of you who don’t know, I teach a course every semester at the University of the Incarnate Word here in San Antonio. This semester’s topic was Linux/UNIX.

This was a tough semester for me. I’m getting married in September, trying to buy a house and was traveling a lot for work. I definitely understand that I wasn’t able to put the amount of prep time into this class that I wanted to, but again I was fairly disappointed with the effort extended by the students.

I think that I just have to be a jerk in the future. I mean, these are all suppose to be highly motivated students, private college, students looking to go the extra mile. Instead they’re just students!!!! Ok, maybe I have high expectations, and I know that I could be a bit lazy, but I still don’t remember pulling half the stuff that these students pull. I knew better than to try and turn something in 3 weeks late and expect full credit.

I’ve noticed that the students are quite bold. More than willing to tell me when I’m wrong and mocking me if I made a mistake – that was the part that really hacked me off. So I gave a review, and I had a mistake in it. On the test, they (All the students) parroted back the mistake on a multiple choice question that was from the review. On the test, they had to write some code. They got the code sections right! They parroted the multiple choice answer that was wrong and yet could answer the questions.

I'm obviously not the only having issues with students feeling entitled - I like the entry below from a law professor

http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2006/10/disciplining_th.html

Maybe its just a case of students will be students, but I again had another frustrating semester. Maybe teaching is too much for me right now in my life.

I teach management of technology next semester. I want it to be a really good course. I’m thinking of really using group work and articles. I want them to prove that they are ready to graduate. We’ll see.

Slowing Down

I've been reading a number of articles about slowing down my life lately. I'm a driven person, no doubt about that, but the constant drive since I left my undergrad has burned me out and I keep seeing myself spiral further into anxiety and high stress and all the issues associated with it.

I'm not going to go on a blamestorming session at the moment, but I'll just say that I don't let the past go very well. Sure I handle things well: layoffs, grad school abuse, etc. But those items just stick with me making it hard to move on.

I really like the following sites:
http://www.slowdownnow.org - humorous, but illustrates the concept of slowing down well and
http://www.slowmovement.com


Now, the Slow Movement site is a bit liberal for my tastes and every time I read that site I get this "Margaritaville" image in my head, but then again, what's wrong with that? Shoot, I wish I could sit on a beach all day sipping margharitas!!!! Also, if you read up on Slow Food, which encourages people to cook and enjoy their company rather that scarf down a BigMac, that is a realistic action people can take.

I know this is not going to be easy for me. I consider myself an achiever. As a reflect on my past, I realize that I used to be a much more relaxed person. Maybe if I didn't always appear that way, I know that I was. I could take a few hours and read. I would put on the headphones and just listen and daydream. I would simply close the door to my room and play guitar. And yet I still managed to get good grades in school and work.

I know there was stress in my world before. I also know that it was just that, stressful times, not the entirety of the time - which is what my current life reflects.