Reflections on Summer Semester: Course Planning and Execution

The summer semester closes this week, and as always I believe it is prudent to reflect on my original plan, how well it was maintained, whether or not it was successful, and what changes I will make for the Fall semester.

Overall, I am very happy with the Summer Semester. At the end of Spring, I was troubled by the organization and record keeping methods I was currently using, and worked hard to change it for the summer. This is “behind the scenes” and I do not know if a student enrolled in both my spring and summer classes could tell the difference. However, I certainly could. I was in near panic mode for the last six weeks of Spring, where panic did not touch me in the summer. Of course, the summer semester is only half as long as the spring, and maybe that has something to do with it as well. Nevertheless, I will continue using my summer methods for grade keeping, attendance, and other record keeping.

But that is the boring stuff, the stuff that is only a tool for my higher goals. My higher goals are to get students to think more critically about their own views, to expose them to the alternate and sophisticated views of great philosophers, to engage them in conversation and improve their conversational skills, to make them better critical readers of difficult texts, and better presenters of their own ideas through written argumentative essays. To re-examine methods of thinking and be able to frame a question or problem which they intend to solve: the essence of self-directed thinking. Finally, it is to instill a tolerance of ambiguity, to break the habit of rushing to answers too quickly, and be a little bit more comfortable with the irritating sensation of doubt.

Did I achieve these goals? Did my students achieve these goals?

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Novels this Weekend

I managed to read two small novels this weekend. I have not done that in a long time, and it felt good. Most of my reading is consumed by philosophy and teaching essays, and student’s essays.

The first novel I had has been sitting on my shelf for a very long time: Ian McEwan’s Black Dogs. I have read a few books by McEwan: Atonement, Amsterdam, and Saturday. All of them were excellent. Black Dogs did not disappoint. It is narrated by a man who, at the beginning of his life, found himself addicted to becoming friends with his friends’ parents, because his own parents had died when he was 8. Also, he finds himself caught between the one side of believing too much, or not enough. The book is mostly set when he is in his forties, after he had finally met a woman whom he married in his thirties. The focus of the story, however, is not about him or his wife, but about his wife’s parents, Bernard and June. June believes too much, Bernard doesn’t believe enough. The narrator (Jeremy?) is exploring the lives of his parents-in-law, who had split a very long time ago but were nevertheless addicted to the memory of one another. Throughout the entire story, an episode of their youth is hinted at: June’s encounter with a pair of black dogs, whom June sees as the embodiment of evil or a manifestation of the devil (sort of). Bernard doesn’t understand what she sees, and the split begins from there.

The other book I read was Paul Harding’s Tinkers. Harding is a brand new novelist, but his book managed to pickup a Pulitzer Prize nonetheless. Tinkers focuses on a retired clock-repairman who is about to die, surrounded by his wife, children and grand-children, and the man’s father, who was an Appalachian traveling salesman.  The book moves back and forth between the two lives, and it is very well written.

I recommend both if you feel the urge for a good, well-written, thought-provoking story that is nonetheless not too heavy.

Run Post

On April 19, I posted on this blog that I had been working on my run time and was currently at 5-miles in 40 min 15 sec. I took quite a hiatus after that, due to end of semester stress and lack of discipline. But I’ve been back at the gym regularly for over a month (starting at 3 times per week, and now up to 5 or 6 workouts). Today, I managed to break my previous record, at 5 miles in 39 min 25 sec. A 50 sec drop, and 5 miles at 7 min 55 sec per mile. It is still not an excellent time, but I’m proud of the progress.

As for my workouts in general, I’ve been placing a heavy emphasis on cardio, placing weight training as a second priority. My goal right now is to increase my energy efficiency and endurance, and cut away the beer belly I’ve accumulated over the years. At this rate, another six weeks of making cardio the priority will probably get me to my goal. At that point, I will switch my priority to weight training.

My cardio routine places the priority on running, and second place goes to the stair climber. I will run on the first day after a break, then use the stair climber on the second, then back to running, etc., until I take another break.

In the mean time, I’m still working on weights, but only after I’ve exhausted my body with a run or stairclimbers. My muscles are slowly getting reacquainted to the work, and progress is going well. Today I did my first pull-ups in a very long time. I managed to hit 8 complete pull-ups (completely locked arms when down, chin above bar when up, no swinging). I was at 29 when I was a 21 year old Marine.

I am making physical fitness my priority now. Not because it is the most important thing in my life, though. Being a good teacher is the most important thing in my life: it is my purpose. But when I force myself out of bed and to the gym at 6am, and when my body is in excellent shape, I am better at managing the rest of my life. And so it is the practical priority, while the ethical priority is in teaching and learning.

Teaching should not be this much fun.