Basically, my dad wants to get the concepts across. No amount of notes makes up for concepts, which you can suss out in exams (mind you, I'm speaking from my physics experience.) It isn't a recitation of facts, it's grasping the larger picture. I dunno. If you don't have a visceral understanding of how the phases of the moon work, it's gonna show if the question isn't phrased as "how the phases of the moon work" but in a hypothetical planet with a hypothetical orbit in a special kind of way. Or describing a method in which you could determine the world was round. I know it sounds like I'm condescending to his students, but many of them have very little background in this subject, so the leap from the literal to the hypothetical is where the test comes.

And if you, the prof, isn't getting it across to most of the students, then you know it's your teaching that needs some work.

I admit, I come from a bias where the content of astro 101 was something I knew at an alarmingly early age. Comes from keeping your dad company in the "why" stage while he's observing.

24: As soon as I saw david Fury's name I thought, somebody's gonna die.

it's gonna show if the question isn't phrased as "how the phases of the moon work" but in a hypothetical planet with a hypothetical orbit in a special kind of way.

So maybe give those as notebook questions? Or something that they do outside of class or exams that require taking what they've learned in class and applying it - which is more or less what this lit prof was doing.

sarameg,

I empathize with your father. I've had some doozy of students myself. I had to put on my syllabus (for a graduate class) that checking their email during class is disruptive.

My classes are small (less than 12 students)

24: Damn, he killed China Beach Guy. I like him. I was hoping he'd be around for a while. Oh, well .

I have decided that I don't trust Logan's right-hand man (not Mike, but the other guy). ETA: Walt .

I love Jean Smart! So happy she's on the show .

YAY for an Allyson.

t sheepish

I check my email during class. But I also take notes on my computer which is probably distracting.

One of my friends often does work for her job in class, among other things -- finally one of our professors asked if she was taking verbatim notes.

I'm watching Y Tu Mama Tambien, which made me realise that that YA novel I've been looking for all this time didn't feature a cardboard cutout of Che Guevara, but of Emiliano Zapata. So much easier to google now.

Hey, Kat--you ever taught any Frank Bonham?

I decided on these shoes in cherry: [link]

ita, I've had students read Durango Street, but I've not read it. My whole class novels are rare these days and tend to be plays more than novels.

Those shoes are cute, msbelle!