ProfPost

Dance your Dissertation

Todd Herzog — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:04:27 +0000

You’ve probably heard the old joke about the student who decides that instead of handing in a traditional written thesis, she will express her research in an interpretive dance. The joke is usually leveled at humanities departments and their alleged fuzzy thinking and lack of rigor. Well, some scientists have taken the idea seriously. For the past several years, Gonzo Labs has held an annual “Dance Your PhD” contest for scientists around the world. You can read about the contest and view past entries and winners here.

Last month Gonzo Scientist John Bohannon took things a step further. He offered a modest proposal at TedX Brussels that we replace PowerPoint presentations with interpretive dance. His talk is both funny and thoughtful—as well as entertaining. Arguing that “bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy” he suggests that “we should use dance to explain all of our complex problems.” It’s worth watching.

Whether budget-conscious university administrators will crunch the numbers and decide to fund dance troupes instead of tech support staff remains to be seen.

Poetry Sunday: The Exam

Liz Tilton — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:45:28 +0000

The Exam
BY JOYCE SUTPHEN

It is mid-October. The trees are in
their autumnal glory (red, yellow-green,

orange) outside the classroom where students
take the mid-term, sniffling softly as if

identifying lines from Blake or Keats
was such sweet sorrow, summoned up in words

they never saw before. I am thinking
of my parents, of the six decades they’ve

been together, of the thirty thousand
meals they’ve eaten in the kitchen, of the

more than twenty thousand nights they’ve slept
under the same roof. I am wondering

who could have fashioned the test that would have
predicted this success? Who could have known?

[Each Sunday at ProfPost, Liz Tilton offers readers a poem broadly related to teaching and learning. We depend on our readers to bring these poems to our attention...so, please remember that you can always suggest a poem, submit a guest post, raise a topic you'd like to see us address on ProfPost, or ask us questions via email:cetl@uc.edu]

Poetry Sunday: Knowledge

Liz Tilton — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:58:01 +0000

Knowledge
BY SUSAN CATALDO

Kris said, You asked me two questions, why?
Why don’t you ask me a Star Trek question next?
You asked me a Raymond Burr question & a
Pete Seeger question, why don’t you ask me
a Robert Preston question? Like, what was
Robert Preston’s real name? Robert Mescervey.
Or a James Stewart question? Like what did
James Stewart study in college? Architecture.
Or a Ricardo Montalban question? Like, where
was he born? Mexico City. That reminds me,
you can ask me an Abraham Lincoln question.
Like, what foods did he eat? He ate an apple
for breakfast, a biscuit & coffee for lunch
& sometimes he ate meat & potatoes for dinner.

Poetry Sunday: Mixed-Up School

Liz Tilton — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 11:21:46 +0000

Mixed-Up School

BY X.J. Kennedy

We have a crazy mixed-up school.
Our teacher Mrs. Cheetah
Makes us talk backwards. Nicer cat
You wouldn’t want to meet a.

To start the day we eat our lunch,
Then do some heavy dome-work.
The boys’ and girls’ rooms go to us,
The hamster marks our homework.

At recess time we race inside
To don our diving goggles,
Play pin-the-donkey-on-the-tail,
Ball-foot or ap-for-bobbles.

Old Cheetah with a chunk of chalk
Writes right across two blackboards,
And when she says, “Go home!” we walk
The whole way barefoot backwards.

Poetry Sunday: Square Dancing with Sister Robert Claire

Liz Tilton — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 11:16:57 +0000

Square Dancing with Sister Robert Claire

BY MICHAEL CLEARY

First week of junior high, Kel wised off to her
same as he’d done to the one all year before.
I can still see it. Her so short, the uppercut put
all her weight under the whack of her pudgy fist
against the V of his chin. Kel arching a back-dive, landing
legs up, desks dominoing halfway up the row.
Sweet Jesus, she was tough, but bless her the first one
who liked boys best and didn’t carry a grudge.

But she sure as hell wasn’t one of the almost pretty nuns
you could almost imagine out there in the world.
Picture pie-faced Lou from Abbott and Costello,
lumpy-looking in any duds but now add a thick black
floor-length habit with dozens of folds, hidden pockets.
Around her waist rosary beads big as marbles
dangling to where knees would be.
Hair, ears, and neck under a stiff white wimple,
she waddled the aisles like a wooly toad.

One week she dragged us into the gym
and the alien world of square dancing—and girls.
Shedding blazers, ties, and shoes, we were cornered.
In sweat socks and knee socks, we shuffled like prisoners,
allemande left and dosido stranger than dominus vobiscum.
Robert Claire stood on a chair trying to clap rhythm
into our dumb feet, sometimes leaping down, landing
light as a blackbird. She’d skip and twirl among us
arm over arm until her habit billowed like a gown,
face aglow, God’s clumsy children urged toward lessons
of possibility and romance she brought from a life before.
Reluctantly, we learned to move together, touch, let go.

Poetry Sunday: The High School Band

Liz Tilton — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 11:08:16 +0000

The High School Band

BY REED WHITTEMORE

On warm days in September the high school band
Is up with the birds and marches along our street,
Boom boom,
To a field where it goes boom boom until eight forty-five
When it marches, as in the old rhyme, back, boom boom,
To its study halls, leaving our street
Empty except for the leaves that descend
To no drum
And lie still.
In September
A great many high school bands beat a great many drums
And the silences after their partings are very deep.

Poetry Sunday: Everything Twice

Liz Tilton — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:54:34 +0000

Everything Twice

BY GARY SOTO

Biology was a set of marble-colored tables
And gas spouts where we bloated up frogs, I thought,
And I thought I had a chance if I bought the book
Early and read it with my lips moving,
Maybe twice, maybe with my roommate half-listening.
I tried chemistry. I tried astronomy,
Which was more like honest-to-goodness math
Than the star of Bethlehem shining down the good news.
I was never good
At science, and so at the beginning of spring
I leaned my boredom on the wood desks
Of piss-ant chairs. But when our biology prof came
Into the classroom wiping his mouth,
When he moved a chair out of the way
And still bumped into it, I knew I had a chance.
He was drunk. His bow tie was a twisted-up
Twig and a nest of hair grew
From each ear. I looked to the skeleton
In the corner and smiled. A breeze stirred
And the bones clacked on
Their strings and wire. With the classroom splayed
With sunlight and hope, the students sighed.
A few pencils rolled to the floor -
An easy grade for all. The prof slurred,
“Man was never created equal.” He fumbled at the
Blackboard as he hunted for chalk. When he turned to us,
Chalk dust clung to his face.
For a moment, I don’t think he knew where he was.
He touched his bow tie. He stuck a finger
Into an ear and repeated, “Man was never created equal,”
Took a step and stumbled into chairs. Right then
I knew I didn’t even have to buy the book.
He was already repeating himself. Right there,
I looked out the window and sucked
In the good air of spring. Trees were wagging blossoms
And the like. One petal would sway,
Then another, sway after slight sway,
A repetition that was endless
And beautiful in the uniquely scientific world.

Thanks to Kelcey Ervick Parker, Assistant Professor of English at Indiana University South Bend and author of the wonderful For Sale by Owner, for today’s poem. Meet Kelcey here…you’ll love her. I do.

Professors Advocate for the Classroom Outside the Classroom

David Gillespie — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:30:42 +0000

Running into a grade-school teacher at the grocery store often turns out to be an awkward situation for both the student and the teacher. Why does this happen? Often children view their teachers as doing only one thing—teaching. Their teachers’ lives outside the classroom do not exist, and they most certainly do not go to the same Kroger. As the child matures, he realizes that teachers have families and are involved in things outside of the classroom.

At the University of Cincinnati, some professors go beyond the call of duty to advocate for their university, staff, and students by way of Profpost, a blog archive which members can post to and react to posts submitted by other professors. Discourse between professors at the same university allows them to learn from each other while often providing great conversation. Currently the economy of the United States is in a bit of an “overhaul” situation with budget cuts in education on the chopping block. In the coming months, Profpost will be an avenue for university professors to discuss the problems or triumphs in higher education and how it can be further developed to get the most for the probably declining “buck.”

Profpost is an effective discourse community that reinforces teamwork in the classroom between the academics who educate students at the University of Cincinnati and elsewhere. Website design largely contributes to its effectiveness. ProfPost’s layout and organization allow both member and visitor to explore the site easily and intuitively. Posts contain engaging diction, a variety of modes of transmission, and focus which maintains reader interest. Both the organization of posts and the nature of the opinions themselves will allow Profpost to adapt to the ever-changing issues in higher education.

As with any academic course, a framework must be established in order to successfully grasp the more complicated material. Websites, in particular advocacy websites, must adopt the same ideology. Layout and organization of website can lead to clear transmission of ideas or muddled thoughts scattered without meaning. Advocacy blog archives are no exception and are, arguably, prime examples of the necessity of functional framework. Profpost possesses a great layout with thoughtful organization that enables its viewers to immerse themselves in the website quickly and easily. On the homepage of the archive, a center column draws readers in with poetic blogs or some other collection of related works. Above the main stage attraction is a series of tabs that allow the visitor to access the background information to the website. Everything from the mission statement to guidelines for submissions can be located easily using the tabs. Horizontal to the collection in the middle are compartments that organize all of the posts within the archive. Date of the post, topic, tags within, and other blog sites to find related ideas create an aesthetically pleasing layout for the archive in its entirety. Appealing to the viewer is the direct effect of good framework which leads to success for the site.

In a study done by K. Dørum and K. Kine, websites were designed with spatial metaphors in mind. Three layouts were presented: a house, a town and a more social layout. Their research concluded that, “If success and satisfaction of use rely on reduced levels of disorientation and improved recall (i.e. knowledge acquisition and application) rather than how quickly the task can be carried out, the space should be designed to reflect familiarity,” (Dørum and Kine 135). Portraying the importance of organization over speed of access in websites, their conclusion supports the framework of Profpost. The “rules” of the discourse community are clearly organized at the top under the tabs and the “rooms” to the right side collect the blogs in a purposeful way. The framework provided through sound organization enables spotlight on a variety of topics within higher education which allows for the seamless transition with issues of the time.

Additions to the framework of a good advocacy site, the blog posts themselves, must capture the audience’s interests and spark response in the members of the discourse community. To encapsulate the audience Profpost contains posts with phenomenal language, multi sense appeals, and pointed focus, creating invigorating texts. Timelessness of the components allows the blog archive to remain pertinent and professional through whatever changes occur within higher education.

Possibly one of the most changing elements in higher education over the years has been the language used. Academics of the Renaissance certainly didn’t use the same language that was used in the 1950’s, and the language of the 1950’s positively is different from that which is used today. Obviously an online advocacy site wouldn’t be possible in the 1950’s but presently the language shifts are up to date in order to draw readers into a topic or idea. As a primary venue (an advertisement of sorts) for attraction of an audience, the title must use language that says, “Look at me I am interesting.” In the “Submissions” post of the website Liz Tilton, webmaster of Profpost, warns, “If it doesn’t start with a bang, it won’t see the light of day on our pages.” Professors answer with great “bangs” with titles such as; “Reality is Broken” by Page Beetem, “Requiem for the Shift Key” by DL Diva, and “How Can We Light Their Fires?” by Tom Haines. A good start in terms of language, however, this is but surface value. Delving into the posts themselves reveals more riveting language.

“Requiem for the Shift Key” exemplifies exciting use of language in its emotional exposition on the grammatical errors found in students writing, in particular capitalization. DL Diva uses sarcasm such as, “These students have had English 101 and 102, or at least, they have transferred these courses from another institution. (I checked with a few advisors, just to be sure.)” Entertainment and a silent self chuckle drive the viewer to read on about the lack of capitalization in writing to find common jargon and sayings. “In my effort to resurrect a capital letter or 2,” offers a common verbal saying combined with academic imagery of resurrection (Diva). Both professors and students can appreciate the language as it precipitates comedy and relativity. Dual audience appeal allows the posts on Profpost to directly target those whom changes in higher education affects.

Presenting an audience with quirky and insightful language may not be enough to fully reach them and turn advocacy into activism. Often multimodal texts will enliven the people who interpret them to take action. Profpost takes variable modes one step further by involving students of the University of Cincinnati’s candid interviews about topics in their Voices on Main series. Verbal and visual connections can be made to the topics students are interviewed about. Not only does this allow students to voice their opinions on their education experience, it also enables professors to access firsthand accounts of issues the students find important. Reflections can be made about what students are saying and the discourse allows progressive talks as to what can be done to improve both the classroom experience and the university as a whole. This also helps topics stay current with the times. As times change some professors aren’t aware of the issues that students are facing which can lead to misunderstandings within the classroom. Contextual reference to current issues goes a long way in an education setting and helps the student-faculty relationship tenfold. Issues will change and, for the most part, professors and students will be on the same page however, some conflicts will not be as up front in which case primary sources, the students, can provide information. Adaptability of discourse texts allows topics, posts and discussions to stay current and coherent without loss of attention or perspective.

Audience losing interest within the written posts poses a colossal threat to transmission of ideas. In today’s society visual and audio texts seem to hold the attention of a youthful and or active audience much better than written word. Focus on the idea and its applications are keys to debunking this trend. Focused posts make for focused readers. Whether it is a professor on a lunch break or a student completing an assignment, clear and concise ideas must be posted in a focused, original manner.

Liz Tilton gives advice of shortening the posts in order to maintain audience attention in her “Submissions” post. Arguably the best technique for focused posts is condensing thoughts to remove clutter. Tom Haines throws this caution to the wind, disregarding the brevity clause, in his post “How Can We Light Their Fires?” One of the more lengthy posts in the archive, how does Haines command focus within the post and his readers? Rhetorical questioning as in, “So what is it they truly seek?” at the end of his introduction leaves the audience chomping at the proverbial bit for him to answer his own question (Haines Profpost). The answer provides closure, only to follow with more puzzling thoughts. A definite strategy to keep the audience from wavering, the up and down of question and answer or thought and reflection entraps the audience to his topic of remodeling higher education.

Profpost revels in its ability to capture and maintain an audience. Focus allows for issues current among the academic community to acquire proper devotion and recognition. Reflection and commenting soon follows and the thoughts are being shared. Any issue, if given the proper focus, can be transcended to an audience, creating timelessness within the discourse community.

Issues change, ideas are voiced and forgotten, and the way both are communicated will be revolutionized again and again. Higher education, in the wake of current issues and those not yet foreseen, will also change with time. Profpost, a discourse community consisting of professors at the University of Cincinnati and beyond, facilitates advocacy for many subcategories of higher education. From the classroom to the prices in the bookstore, everything is covered in an entertaining and coherent manner. Website framework guides for easy access to viewers while the posts’ language, variety, and focus draw the audience in to think and reflect. Blog archiving acts as time capsules to each year and the thoughts and ideas it held. Yet the flexibility and charisma found on Profpost insures that the discourse community will shape shift with the University of Cincinnati to whatever lengths.

Works Cited

Beetem, Page, “Reality is Broken.” Weblog entry. Profpost. 15 March 2011. 27 July 2011 http://profpost.uc.edu/2011/03/reality-is-broken/.

Diva, DL, “Requiem for the Shift Key.” Weblog entry. Profpost. 13 February 2011. 27 July 2011 http://profpost.uc.edu/2011/02/requiem-for-the-key/.

Dørum, Kine. [No Article Title] Interacting with Computers 23.2 (2011): 129.

Haines, Tom, “How Can We Light Their Fires?” Weblog entry. Profpost. 4 May 2009. 27 July 2011 http://profpost.uc.edu/2009/05/how-can-we-light-their-fires/.

ProfPost. CET&L at University of Cincinnati, 29 Apr. 2008. Web. 28 July 2011. .

Tilton, Liz, “Submissions.” Weblog entry. Profpost. 11 December 2011. 27 July 2011 http://profpost.uc.edu/submissions/.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Author David Gillespie prepared the above essay for his 2011 University of Cincinnati English composition course 289, the focus of which was to analyze discourse communities. We’re delighted Gillespie chose to analyze ProfPost, and we certainly want to make his work public here. And hats off to both Gillespie and Professor Allison Hammond for tackling such academic work. We’re really proud of them.

Poetry Sunday: September, The First Day of School

Liz Tilton — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 10:42:39 +0000

September, The First Day of School

BY HOWARD NEMEROV

My child and I hold hands on the way to school,
And when I leave him at the first-grade door
He cries a little but is brave; he does
Let go. My selfish tears remind me how
I cried before that door a life ago.
I may have had a hard time letting go.

Each fall the children must endure together
What every child also endures alone:
Learning the alphabet, the integers,
Three dozen bits and pieces of a stuff
So arbitrary, so peremptory,
That worlds invisible and visible

Bow down before it, as in Joseph’s dream
The sheaves bowed down and then the stars bowed down
Before the dreaming of a little boy.
That dream got him such hatred of his brothers
As cost the greater part of life to mend,
And yet great kindness came of it in the end.

A school is where they grind the grain of thought,
And grind the children who must mind the thought.
It may be those two grindings are but one,
As from the alphabet come Shakespeare’s Plays,
As from the integers comes Euler’s Law,
As from the whole, inseperably, the lives,

The shrunken lives that have not been set free
By law or by poetic phantasy.
But may they be. My child has disappeared
Behind the schoolroom door. And should I live
To see his coming forth, a life away,
I know my hope, but do not know its form

Nor hope to know it. May the fathers he finds
Among his teachers have a care of him
More than his father could. How that will look
I do not know, I do not need to know.
Even our tears belong to ritual.
But may great kindness come of it in the end.

Poetry Sunday: M. Degas Teaches Art and Science at Durfee Intermediate School—Detroit 1942

Liz Tilton — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:48:03 +0000

M. Degas Teaches Art and Science at Durfee Intermediate School—Detroit 1942

BY PHILIP LEVINE

He made a line on the blackboard,
one bold stroke from right to left
to ask, looking as always at no one
in particular, “What have I done?”
From the back of the room Freddie
shouted, “You’ve broken a piece
of chalk.” M. Degas did not smile.
“What have I done?” he repeated.
The most intellectual students
looked down to study their desks
except for Gertrude Bimmler, who raised
her hand before she spoke. “M. Degas,
you have created the hypotenuse
of an isosceles triangle.” Degas mused.
Everyone knew that Gertrude could not
be incorrect. “It is possible,”
Louis Warshowsky added precisely,
“that you have begun to represent
the roof of a barn.” I remember
that it was exactly twenty minutes
past eleven, and I thought at worst
this would go on another forty
minutes. It was early April,
the snow had all but melted on
the playgrounds, the elms and maples
bordering the cracked walks shivered
in the new winds, and I believed
that before I knew it I’d be
swaggering to the candy store
for a Milky Way. M. Degas
pursed his lips, and the room
stilled until the long hand
of the clock moved to twenty one
as though in complicity with Gertrude,
who added confidently, “You’ve begun
to separate the dark from the dark.”
I looked back for help, but now
the trees bucked and quaked, and I
knew this could go on forever.

This week it was announced that Philip Levine has been selected as our next U.S. Poet Laureate.

Listen as Philip Levine talks off-handedly about and reads this poem. I enjoy listening to him. He sounds like someone I’d like to know.