It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature

I wonder how many of you will recall that commercial from a number of years ago.  The tag line of the commercial was “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” whereupon Mother Nature stands up and with a wave of her hands—boom--thunder and lightning.

I couldn’t help but recall that commercial with its closing line as the predicted Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast of the United States.  Even now, a day after the hurricane has blown through central Pennsylvania—on its way to the Midwest—the storm is wreaking incredible havoc.  Manhattan, New York City has been hugely affected—power stations exploding disrupting power, cranes dangling from building construction sites, cars trapped in or out of Manhattan with bridges and tunnels closed. 

Of course, post-hurricane there will be debates—has global climate change made such super-storms inevitable?  I have read enough to know that climatologists are careful to talk about long-term trends, and steer us amateurs away from drawing hasty conclusions about individual weather events being caused by global climate change.  So, they are comfortable attributing the many heat records that were broken this past summer and the widespread extended drought to global climate change.  They are less comfortable attributing a single storm such as Hurricane Sandy to global climate change.

I find this whole topic maddening.  It is emblematic of a weird tendency in the U.S.—the tendency to subject something that either is (or isn’t) to a popularity contest.  So, polls are conducted to determine if people BELIEVE in global climate change.  And, while you might not think something such as global climate change would be an indicator of one’s political leaning, we find that depending on whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, global climate change is or is not happening.  85% of Democrats say there “is solid evidence of warming” as compared to 48% of Republicans who accept that.  (Source: Pew Research Center) (Incidentally, more than 70% of so-called Tea Party adherents do NOT believe that global climate change is occurring.)

Where my anxiety goes off the scale is when the political ramifications come to play in WHO provides leadership in our national governmental structures on these issues.  Where the Republican platform four years ago had an extensive section on climate issues, the whole topic of climate has disappeared from the Republican platform.  Thankfully, the Democratic platform still deals with global climate change.  I know, I know—the platforms don’t mean much.  They simply give a snap-shot of what matters to the respective parties.

It should come as no surprise that our regard for science—or, I should say, our lack of regard—has an effect on our success in science education.  A recent report found that the U.S. is lagging behind many countries in various subject scores.  As the report notes, we might have won more Olympic gold medals, but we aren’t winning gold in education areas including science.  Who ranks first in science?  China.  The U.S. ranks 23^rd.  (Source: Huffington Post article)

I do not blame our public education system for this decline—not at all.  I blame the pervasive attitude in the U.S. that science just doesn’t matter.  After all, you can subject it to a popular vote—if most people don’t believe it (whatever IT is: global climate change, evolution, you name it), then it must not be true.  Not only is it NOT true, but it has to be disputed at every turn.  Layer on top of that scorn a constant drum beat of fascination with the most mindless topics imaginable—can you say Snooky? Honey Boo-Boo?  Boxers? Or Briefs?  (All those topics have been asked of recent candidates for President, where the candidate’s position on global climate change has NOT been asked.) 

Well, Mother Nature gets the last word.  It’s not nice to fool her.

The Graduate

When we got Ziva, our new dog, we determined to "do things right" with this sweet puppy. We vowed to be good people parents, not succumbing to some of the bad habits we had previously given in to with Tipper.

Among other things, we thought it would be a good idea to take her to obedience class. So, we signed up at our local P*t Sm*rt store for classes. The instructor was a kindly older German woman named (Re)gina. She told us to call her Gina. She spoke with something of an accent, which only gave her instructions the sound of COMMAND as she put us through our paces.

The first week, there were about ten dogs and owners in attendance. One dog was a small pit bull who could not/would not stop barking. Gina took a metal water dish and kept dropping it next to the dog--clang, clang. The dog would startle, stop barking for a bit, then resume barking. There was a sweet looking border collie named Dakota that was so shy and freaked by all the people that she would not look at anyone. She kept her head tucked in next to her person.

Then there were Murphy, a labradoodle who looked for all the world like a big doofy puppy, and Brook, a sweet retriever mix. And of course Ziva. These three dogs were the "big" dogs of the group.

Brook and Murphy

The second week of class we missed because of Ziva's little medical episode. When I called Gina to tell her we would not be there, she said, no problem. Also, she was dividing the class into two groups; would we come next week at 8 p.m. Sure.

So the third week, we went, and found that it was just the three big dogs. Actually, the pit bull was supposed to be there too, but the owner never came back. Maybe he liked having recalcitrant perpetually barking dog.

Each week, the class would begin with a mad tumble of dogs. All three mixing it up, with Brook and Ziva especially liking (and licking) each other. Ziva and Brook seemed to be best friends. Then it was down to business--sort of.

The training focused on SIT, DOWN, STAY, COME, puppy push ups (sit, down, sit again), and WAIT. The difference between "stay" and "wait" is basically that "stay" requires duration, distance, and distraction. You get your dog to sit or lie, you back up to put some distance between you; then you hold for 15 seconds or so, then go back and release the dog. Distraction means you should be able to have the dog stay, even if you walk around it or some other distraction. "Wait" is you walking away from the dog, then calling her to come to you. Frankly, a fine distinction, but maybe there is a point to it.

Finally, there was one magic command that Gina wanted everyone to learn and practice. TOUCH. When you are some distance from the dog, and you want her to come to you, raise your hand overhead, waving, and yell ZIVA, TOUCH. The dog comes running, you grab her collar or leash, say "good touch" and give a food reward. If you imprint this sequence enough, you should be able to use it to bring your dog back to you, if for some reason she is getting away from you, or about to be in danger.

Ziva receiving instructions

Let's just say that Ziva was an easily distracted pupil. Oh, look, there are bunnies in the cage over there. Oh, there's a customer, maybe he wants to pet me. Oh, another dog, I should go say hello. She reminded me of the dog in the movie UP--squirrel! If you have seen it, you know what I mean.

We would go through the paces, she would sort of do each step. She got very good at SIT, and DOWN. OK with puppy push-ups. STAY--well, sort of. For a few seconds. COME--no problem. WAIT--forget it. TOUCH--she was great with that, and we have even used it a few times at home.

The next to last class, when she was supposed to go through ALL the steps, she would not do it. She basically refused every command. Gina was very understanding. Oh, it's the border collie in her. RIGHT. All I see in Ziva is retriever. Her mother was reputed to be a golden retriever., But my suspicion is her mother was a yellow labrador retriever. And, labs can be rascals--loving, yes, but rascals.

So this week was graduation. But, first, there was the final exam. Gina walked around dropping a label on the floor with each step. My heart sank--she (Ziva) had been so bad the previous week. But, like some human students I have known, Ziva seemed to be absorbing even when she wasn't performing.

The final exam

She went from SIT, to DOWN,STAY, and COME. She even did puppy push-ups. Then WAIT--a bit of trouble with that. But she enthusiastically ran to me for TOUCH. In fact, as each dog owner would say TOUCH, Ziva was ready to run to them.

She passed. And got her certificate to prove it. I don't think she's a natural student, but at least we both survived our training.

The graduate!

----------------------

P. S. Dakota, the sweet border collie, completely came out of her shell, and was very friendly. Another successful graduate.

Oh, My!

Note just received in my campus email (at my community college). . .

CANCELED: Tonight's Workshop, Thur. April 10th on "The Importance of Education"

Due to low participants our workshop for tonight has been CANCELED and will be re-schedule for the Fall semester, date & time TBA.

Note: message reproduced exactly as it appeared in my in-box.
Oh, my!

Testing, testing. . .

It happens every semester--I construct a final exam that is absolutely drop-dead perfection, that I expect students will be as thrilled to take it as I am to construct it. But, no. They always complain!

Today, I gave the final exam for my English 102 course. The semester that began with such promise has now ended. One by one, as the students finished writing the exam, they brought their papers to the front, and mumbled--that was hard.

Well, I think smugly, if you had paid attention in class. . .

I have had to take drastic measures recently. Sadly, cheating continues to be a problem. A recent news story demonstrates that even the best of universities is not immune. My drastic measures are two-fold: 1) I assign seats. Basically, I arrange the students alphabetically. There is no magic to this approach; it is just a simple remedy so that students can't count on sitting next to someone they think might have easily seen answers. 2) I tell the students at the beginning of the exam no touching their cell phones. In fact, if they do, the exam is forfeited. Why so drastic? Some schools discovered students using the text messaging capabilities of cell phones to get answers. Students were so adept at texting that they did not even have to look at the cell phone to enter their message. So, my cell phone ban is a pre-emptive strike.

For many students, there is that awful moment of truth when they open the exam and see this.


EXCEPT. . .there are no labels on the triangle. And the question is--here is a diagram of the rhetorical triangle. Use a single word to name each of the three points, then define that word.

Out of my class of 23, I had only 3 students get this question correct. I have a feeling that for some students that question is the moment of truth--uh-oh. I knew I should have studied more. Or I knew I should have taken notes in class. Or I knew I should have attended the lectures. WHATEVER.

I have been teaching at my community college now for 5 years, spring and fall semesters. So that is 10 semesters of observation. My prior teaching at a 4 year liberal arts college (back in the 1970s) was very different.

I observe that community college students have little time to bond as students. They do not live on campus, leaving each day to go back to their homes, their families, their jobs. They all carry too much--many of them work at least part-time, some full-time. Many of them take full course loads. The result is their interest in learning is subjugated to their need to finish the course and get the grade. I had one student this semester who began sending me emails toward the end of the semester asking--what is my grade. I responded that she had the syllabus which gave the values for the work, and she knew what she had earned thus far. Finally, I told her--just study REALLY well for the exam! In some ways, I feel sorry for these kids because they are missing out on what makes education wonderful--the joy of discovery. The Aha! moments of college.

The other major observation I have is that each semester differs. This semester's class began at 12:30 p.m.--not bad. Mostly, everyone was awake. I have had 8 a.m. classes that are awful, or late afternoon classes where students are restless. This semester's class was also dominated by women--only 5 men in the class. Then one dropped out just before the end of the semester. That is the other marked difference between my community college teaching experience and my liberal arts teaching experience. Students at the community college have no qualms about dropping courses. They drop them early, or late. Sometimes they fill out the drop form, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they just quit coming. Then, when I drop them, I get irate phone calls--why did you drop me? I went to sign up for tennis (!) and learned I can't take it because I don't have 12 credits since you dropped me. I feel like saying--DUH--you have time for tennis but not to attend my class?

Oops--I am getting testy. Well, once the final exams are graded, I will enter the scores on my nifty Excel spreadsheet that will zip the calculations through in no time. Then, I will relax for the summer, and get ready for the fall--actually for mid-August, when classes start up again.

And they're off!

Well, another semester has begun. I have one section of English 102 (emphasis on argument and rhetoric) this semester, and a Tuesday/Thursday day time schedule--the best of all possible schedules. That leaves M/W/F for whatever it is I do when not teaching.

It looks like my section this semester will be a "good" one--that means, thoughtful students, who give every appearance of being interested in learning, who participate in class discussions, who take notes when I lecture (with the help of PowerPoint) and who actually read the text from time to time.

But, not everyone has a good section. From my colleagues, I have heard that students have made the following comments: "do I have to do this work at the beginning of the semester? I took the course last semester and have already done this work." This from a student who failed the course last semester and, in retaking it, has the same instructor! And another comment--"I didn't come to class today because you didn't list it on the syllabus that we have class." The exasperated instructor points out that the syllabus lists classes by the week, as in "the week of February XX, read these pages" etc.

I have had bad sections in the past. One semester, the students just seemed to feed off each other's misbehavior. They talked over each other, and over me, they made totally inappropriate snickery comments, they made racist and sexist comments. They did not read any assignments, they resented every requirement of the course. And so on. In desperation, I asked my husband, an educator, what to do. He pointed out that groups go through "storming, forming" times--when they first get together, they test the limits and boundaries, and then settle into whatever norm they will hold. Well, this section certainly stormed, but never formed. Then my husband noted, there are some groups that NEVER settle down--they are bad at the outset, and stay bad. Yeah, that was that group.

Thankfully, every semester ends.

But, for now, we are at the beginning--and as the semester moves along, I will learn who will mysteriously stop attending classes and not tell me he or she has dropped the course, who has more excuses for not attending than there are days of class, who actually does the work, who writes well, and who cannot put two words together and make any sense.