Teaching College English

Polish Poet

Dr Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:10:29 +0000

Eva Lipska has been translated into English by two women, one of whom is a teacher at U of Houston Downtown. At a poetry reading this last weekend the professor read a few poems from Lipska’s new English work The New Century.

In her poem “September 11, 2001″ I especially liked the lines about talking to her dressmaker, who said,
“The world has unraveled
and the sewing machine
laughs caustically.”

I’ve only heard three of the poems from the English compilation work, but I really liked them.

Reading the Scarlet Letter

Dr Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:09:40 +0000

A podcast of The Scarlet Letter.

Positive Info on CCs

Dr Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:23:35 +0000

A Chronicle forum says:

Higher level courses at a good community college are just that–higher level. I took financial accounting at Wharton back in the day, and then I took it again at the cc where I teach. It was both better and harder at the cc. Moreover, my mother is getting her BA is at this cc (she’s 78), and Columbia recruited her. At my cc, we have many grads who go on to Columbia in both math and sciences and do just fine.

I know at least half a dozen people who took their freshman and sophomore math and physics at a CC and then transferred to major universities (including Ivy League) and sailed through upper level physics, engineering, and other sciences majors.

Who Knows What Colleges are Thinking?

Dr Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:42:47 +0000

Cali State U has asked instructors to give up their stipends for a one-credit class.

They receive, for that one credit class, what I am paid (or more) for a three-hour composition course at the CC.

25% agreed to that.

Remember that UNC Chapel Hill turned down an offer for free teaching. See, I told you the budget wasn’t tight enough in NC.

R U Smarter than a 1954 8th Grader?

Dr Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:33:03 +0000

I am pretty sure I never had to know all this stuff. Of course, I wasn’t a government major in college, maybe they had to. But check out an 8th grade social studies test.

Beowulf Intros

Dr Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:36:16 +0000

An interesting song to juxtapose to Beowulf would be Nicole Nordeman’s “Legacy.” “Goodbye Ordinary” by Mercy Me would be good for that too because if anyone lived large, it is certainly Beowulf. There is lots of relevant art on the net for Beowulf. Non-B art might include West’s version of “The Death of Wolfe” and Penney’s version of the same subject.

Early Brit Lit Musings: Themed Film and Art

Dr Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:26:41 +0000

It might be interesting to ask the students to provide a piece of music and a piece of art (and possibly a film clip) on another related theme in the literature we have read.

On living, I could use Montgomery Gentry’s song “Something to be Proud Of” and “I spent the morning at an old friend’s grave” by Rascal Flats and “Goodbye Ordinary” by Mercy Me. I could use film clips from She’s Having a Baby. Another movie clip for that might be Groundhog Day.

Brit Lit Love Sonnet Introduction Ideas

Dr Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:14:47 +0000

As a lead-in or tie-in to the love sonnets, I could use The Princess Bride and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. There are a million songs and I could actually assign the students to bring in words or music to love songs. That would be fun. It would get them thinking about the theme before we got to the sonnets. I think that is a good idea. There are plenty of romantic images online. I could also have them email me the urls for one each. Then we could look at those in class too.

Link for my Silence Work

Dr Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:46:12 +0000

Bibliography of the history of rape

Copyright Clarity

Dr Davis — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:30:03 +0000

ReadWriteThink.org has a lesson plan on copyright law.

This would have been useful for one of my students’ research papers this semester and I personally want to go through it and see what I might be able to reasonably add to my curriculum for next semester.