Old school work

B"H

i finally received a response from two of my professors on classes that i have incompletes for. below are their emails regarding my missing course work.

EXE100
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Avi,
I hope this finds you doing well. Upon consideration, I would like you to provide the optional assignment in print and we can discuss the observation assignment orally. The holidays are upon us and I will be in South Africa over Yom Kippur returning on the 4th. Perhaps we can meet sometime that week or the next to see where things are.
L’Shanah Tovah.
R.B.B.
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this is interesting because aparently this professor is jewish, and slithly religious. maybe i can get him to advise our group instead of mr. useless podet whom has never even shown up to a meeting.
*sigh* here's the other one:

ENG305W
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Hi Avi.

I went to respond to your draft on your play yesterday and I couldn't find it. I searched all over my email inbox at home as well as all my documents. I still couldn't find it. I thought I had saved it.

Now I'm in school and I can't find it nor can I find any of your recent emails. Again, I was sure I had saved it but can't find it.

Could you possibly send it to me again? I'll prioritize getting it read.

Also, could you send me your OLD STORY MADE NEW if you have it on your computer? I read it but it got buried in a bunch of papers and I need to re-read it.

Sorry about the inconvenience.

Terry
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ok, well, atleast they're trying to work with me. also, now i have a better idea of what's going on. now to buckle down and start actually doing the work.

Teaching and education

B"H

while cruising the interweb, looking for some lesson plans, i found a discussion board on a variety of topics. one of the topics discussed was different reward systems used, and their effectiveness. instead of replying with details and variety, everyone who replied said something along the lines of, "i don't believe in rewarding people for doing what they are supposed to do."

*stares for a moment*

what? that's not what was said. in fact, that's not even a healthy use of a reward system. i believe that everything you bring into the class (physically or conceptually) should add to the lesson and rarely if ever detract. anyway, this was my response to the crazy people on that discussion board.

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in response to those who look down upon using reward methods, any constructive reward system is not intended to manage classroom behavior. it's intended to spark an instinctual love for the subject material. at the early years, children are egocentric, impulsive, and desiring more immediate reinforcement than "grades". i'm not saying give them candy for paying attention. i suggest developing a reward system along the lines of "end of year awesome field trip", and over the course of the year implement an earning system. it can be a publicly displayed sticker progress chart with a goal point. take the number to letter grade system and morph it into a number to sticker ratio. (ex. earning 80-90 earns four stickers, 90-100 = five stickers). this gives the students a permanent visual reminder, an ultimate goal to work towards, an exciting way to wrap up the school year, understand that the more you learn = the faster you achieve your goals. along side the grade to sticker ratio chart, include a penalty chart. (ex. 2x missed homework equals minus a sticker, 3 missed classes equals minus a sticker, etc.) the advantage of this negative is the worst they do is "tread water." the options they now have is at best progress and at worst remain where they are. this reinforces and builds self-esteem, as well as healthy competition, while minimizing scholastic frustration.

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agree? disagree?

New M$ commercials

First post, School complaints

B"H

this is my first post to my Blogger account. some of you may be wondering why i even bothered moving accounts when Livejournal was working perfectly fine. to be frank about the whole thing (pun intended) i did it for two reasons.

1) Erik made me do it. you can go yell at him on either of his two journals.

2) I've always associated Livejournal = Drama, and there is a plethora of reasons for this connection, most of which I'm trying to avoid.

3) Blogger is owned and operated by Google, one of my internet loves whom i make a habit of courting frequently.

OK, yeah, there are three reasons for a list of two. not caring.

that's the (hopeful) end of that discussion and if anyone has complaints, feel free to comment. that's what the function was designed for (in my opinion). i was just wondering, and maybe someone can fill me in here on what I'm missing, why do professors comment, "don't worry about this for now, you have a few days/weeks/months to breathe" when assigning long-term assignments? do they want us to fail? repeat the class? continue paying tuition?

all of the helpful advice I've both personally accumulated and read online regarding getting large assignments done emphasize starting as soon as possible and finishing as soon as possible. wouldn't it be better for both professor and student for student to finish assignment weeks before it was due instead of hours?

professors would get better quality work as well as better pass/fail percentages. students would be less stressed out and retain more knowledge. school systems would display better average GPAs and filter out worse student applications. overall, everybody involved in the education system benefits from professors reversing their tactics and emphasizing students to finish long term assignments a.s.a.p.

am i missing something?