Speaking of teacher evaluation schemes, as we were, Doug Natelson draws my attention to a new proposal from Texas A&M: [Frank] Ashley, the vice chancellor for academic affairs for the A&M System, has been put in charge of creating such a measure that he says would help administrators and the public better understand who, from… Continue reading Worst. Evaluation Scheme. EVER.
Month: September 2010
Links for 2010-09-04
News: Searching for STEM Success – Inside Higher Ed “During the two-decade period from 1985-1986 to 2005-2006, rural community colleges increased the number of women and minority STEM graduates by more than 42 percent. By contrast, urban community colleges boosted these underrepresented groups by just under 24 percent and suburban community colleges by about 10… Continue reading Links for 2010-09-04
The ABC’s of AMO Physics
Over at Confused at a Higher Level, Melissa offers an alphabetical list of essential supplies for a condensed matter experimentalist at a small college. This is a fun idea for back-to-school time, so I’ll steal it, and offer the following alphabetical list of essentials for Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physics at a small college, kind… Continue reading The ABC’s of AMO Physics
Friday Vanity Blogging: Physics Central Profile
Earlier this summer, I talked about the blog and the book on the phone with somebody from the APS, providing material for a profile of me that was posted yesterday on Physics Central. It’s pretty good, but it’s still a little strange to see my name and picture on their profile index with some of… Continue reading Friday Vanity Blogging: Physics Central Profile
We Must Become Litigious Assholes or the Litigious Assholes Win
Via Thoreau, a story at Free Range Kids about “zero tolerance” policy run amok, this time from someone who moved to the US as a kid and ran up against the modern school culture in a bad way: Once again, I came from a culture where you were made fun of if you forgot your… Continue reading We Must Become Litigious Assholes or the Litigious Assholes Win
Links for 2010-09-03
Tom Waits | Music | Gateways To Geekery | The A.V. Club “Waits, who made his proper recording debut with 1973’s Closing Time, inspires music writers’ wild, Charles Bukowski-fueled imaginings because his work has always been about the losers, the freaks, the slow 3 a.m. drunks who fumble change out of their pockets for the… Continue reading Links for 2010-09-03
Thursday Toddler Blogging 090210
For this week’s Toddler Blogging, SteelyKid demonstrates her mastery of bubble technology. Appa is not that impressed. Her other big new trick is bossing us around in great detail– she’ll put something on her fake grill, close the lid, turn the knobs, then say, “Daddy! No touch! Hot!” pointing at the grill, followed by a… Continue reading Thursday Toddler Blogging 090210
What to Tell Your Dog About Einstein
“Hey, dude, whatcha doin’?” “Signing these contracts. I’m not sure why they need four copies, but they do.” “Contracts for what?” “The new book. Remmeber, the one we’ve been talking about these last few weeks? Sequel-of-sorts to How to Teach Physics to Your Dog? About relativity?” “Oh, yeah, that’s right! We’re doing another book! Where… Continue reading What to Tell Your Dog About Einstein
Good Advice Is Good Advice
Over at Inside Higher Ed, there’s a list of “survival tips” for women entering grad school in the sciences. It’s a pretty good and pretty typical list of advice– you can find more or less the same advice posted somewhere every fall. What’s striking about it, though, is that if you stripped all the specific… Continue reading Good Advice Is Good Advice
Links for 2010-09-02
BBC News – Would more holiday be good for America? “Whenever citing Americans’ acceptance of the longer hours they work or their lack of paid leave, the cliche is to say it goes back to the country’s Puritan heritage or the Protestant work ethic. I disagree. I think it comes from raw fear.” (tags: us… Continue reading Links for 2010-09-02