Quick update in lieu of reviewing textbook chapters

I am going to borrow from ianqui and offer you what I believe she calls "bullets of random crap" (I can't link, though, because she doesn't have archives on view - sorry, ianqui!).

• Arghh #1! I was halfway through this post and clicked away from the page by mistake, erasing what I'd written - and it's all my fault; I can't even blame Typepad!
      
• Arghh #2! Bloglines has implented hotkeys, so you can navigate through your feeds via keyboard, which is lovely and efficient and all that, but I just accidently marked all my subscriptions as "read," and have no idea whose brilliant, insightful, and/or witty messages I have now missed! Note to self: avoid hotkeys.
     
• I don't want to let last weekend slip too far behind us without noting that I had the pleasure of meeting up with a fellow blogger. It was loads of fun - we had a wonderful conversation, and it was great to be able to put a face and an actual physical presence to the voice I'm used to reading in the written word. It's funny how you think you know someone from their blog, yet they turn out at once completely familiar and completely unfamiliar when you meet them face to face. I'm just sorry that I won't be able to hang out with this blogger more often.
      
• I got a very positive report back from my chair on her observation of my class earlier this week, which was a relief, especially since I've felt like I've struggled with my teaching since I've been here. (Of course, my relief at this is also a sign of how much I rely on other people's evaluations of me rather than my own, but that's a whole other issue.) I had to laugh because one of the things she complimented me on especially was my use of powerpoint - so, thank you, internets, for your advice! - given that I've only been using PPT in class since the beginning of the semester, I was pretty pleased by that. (I think, actually, that adopting it late has been helpful, because I've benefited from all the Edward Tufte et al. criticisms of how not to use PPT, and since I haven't been using it since it appeared on the scene hailed as the best thing since sliced bread, I didn't have bad habits to unlearn.)
     
• In fact, today was just overall a pretty good day (except for a boring meeting). After teaching in the morning, I went over to the coffeeshop, where I read for class tomorrow, and worked on this paper I'm revising. And I just really enjoyed it. I don't know whether they slipped me a caffeinated mocha instead of my usual decaf or what, but I felt energetic and really engaged in my work. I actually enjoyed reading Dante (not that I'm necessarily inspired for tomorrow, but it was fun to read), and the revisions went really well. I have a fairly complete draft, so I went through, numbered the paragraphs, and then wrote up a list/outline with notes of what each paragraph said and its function in the paper (e.g., "Intro: cool anecdote to introduce the specific issue I'm discussing," or "Shift from intro to body of paper: discussion of problems with using these sources"). Somehow doing this really helped me see where connections didn't work or where a paragraph really didn't support what I'd thought I was arguing. I found a lot of things left to revise, but it felt really productive. Most horrifyingly, I found that I'd done exactly what it is I always criticize my students for doing: saying what (topics) the paper is going to talk about instead of stating a thesis (I did a lot of "these sources demonstrate how people felt about X" rather than saying "these sources demonstrate that people felt Y about X"). Better to find that out now rather than later, of course!

I should be reading some textbook chapters that I promised to review (because they will pay me, yay!), but I think I am going to watch the rest of CSI: NY and then go to sleep. At a reasonable hour, for once.

Comments

[hypatia]

I like your outlining in reverse idea - I might have to try it on a paper I am writing!

[hypatia]

I think I might try the outlining in reverse thing on a paper I'm writing and struggling with - Cool idea.

[What Now?]

Outlining in reverse is one of my favorite revision techniques. I've used it with students, too, especially to show them when they've got too many things going on in one paragraph or aren't connecting their evidence to their thesis.

Congrats on the productive revision and the great teaching feedback. A good day indeed!

[Shannon]

I have never used bloglines, but in NetNewsWireLite the Undo command workd, so if you do something by mistake you can ^Z (on Mac) back to where you were.