The Name of the Game...

... is panic attack! Let's see how many times I have a panic attack between now and May 27th :)

I seriously wake up every morning in a panic about things that have to be done, which are currently:

- Study for quals (written exam is May 1st, oral exam is May 11th)... EEK!!
- Refresh my memory on ecological principles for my field trip to Oregon next week (EEK!!! But that's a good panic... I think).
- Finish wedding planning (and everything that goes with it... EEK!!!)
- Teach students and grade papers for the rest of the semester.
- Get crap ready for moving on May 15th.


It's getting to the point that I almost feel like vomiting all day. Perhaps this will help with the weight loss? Gotta make sure my dress fits though.

I have a hair trial appointment on Saturday morning and I honestly have NO IDEA what to do with my frickin hair. Which is frustrating and disappointing because so few people have my type of hair, it's not like I can look up an actress and stalk her red carpet hair-dos.

Things that I do know:

- Dress is strapless, which probably means down 'do. (Right?)
- I will not be straightening my hair. I don't look like myself and it takes too long. (~ 3 hours. Yes. Three hours.)

That's pretty much all I know. I'm paying $75 for someone to play with my hair and tell me what I can do with it.

The only pictures I can find that are remotely useful are these:

So... yeah. Veil or no veil? Hair accessory? WHAT DO I DO!?!?!

That just happened??

This semester is proving to be very interesting indeed. I finished grading the second set of lab reports for the semester and sent out emails to the students containing their reports with my comments and their final grade. Lo and behold, I get a nasty gram from "Poop, while grim;" whom had earned a 47.

The following is the exchange we had via email:

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Lab Report 2 graded. Please read over the comments and use them to help write your Lab Report 3.

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Dear Allyson,

I feel your grading is a bit harsh and irrational and there are things that must be addressed. My sole intention is to clarify these issues, ask you to be more concise in what you are looking for, and ultimately to email me back on what I can do to improve further reports. 

I do recall you specifically saying our incubation time was till one, which you announced around twelve. If not, then we did did not have an incubation time told to us. I also do not recall what DO stood for, so that was obviously my mistake and should have asked. You also just told us it was at a boat basin, how am I supposed to describe a boat basin to you? I was not there when the sample was collected. I was not quite sure what you were looking for in that part of the report. If you can help with some tips on future reports I would be forever grateful or should I just read your comments and go from there? Thank you.

-K

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Dear K,

As you know, this is a writing intensive course with the objective of instructing you on how to become a better author of scientific material. The grade and comments that you received were reflective of your work and given to help you improve. 
 
As for what I’m looking for when grading, I grade with the rubric, which you have. You should use the rubric as a checklist to make sure that you have addressed everything in your report. If you are unsure of how to write a scientific lab report, there is a folder on eLearning with tips, in addition to the section in the lab manual about scientific writing and the Writing Center in CLB. During the incubation period in this week’s lab I will be going over some comments, tips and suggestions for writing lab reports.
 
As for the comments you have above: It is not my responsibility to provide the exact incubation time, though it was written in the methods of the lab manual. It is your responsibility as a student to pay attention to the details of your experiment. I announced that the water was taken from the small boat basin. If you were/are unclear about the study site, you should ask. Scientific papers are precise in their description of their study site, i.e. environmental conditions (temperature, weather, salinity if possible) and location of sampling (for example, in the report it would be Texas A&M University at Galveston small boat basin in Galveston, TX). 

In reading your report, it appears to DQ and me that you did not understand the experiment or the processes behind it. If by the end of the lab session you are unsure of anything regarding the experiments, please ask, preferably before the report is due. 

If you would like additional recommendations or comments I am happy to provide them. If you would like to neglect my advice your grades will reflect that.

Regards,

Allyson

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Thank you. I try my best. And I will keep trying my best, hopefully you and DQ will see that. 


End.----

Okay. I'm sorry but I would NEVER, EVER have talked like that to my TA. Who the hell does this kid think he is? Does he think I don't talk to the prof that teaches the class (and is also my advisor for crying out loud?!)?? I showed DQ his report with my comments on it, and while reading it she repeatedly gasped "What?!" It was very clear that he didn't understand the experiment, what was happening during the experiment, or the basic processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Which I don't understand because this is a SENIOR. LEVEL. CLASS. for which introductory biology and marine biology are prerequisites. 

But the kid has balls, I'll give him that. 

Sorry dude, I can't give you a grade for effort. If I could, it would probably be lower than what you got the first time. 

Life Adventures in 2012 So Far

Howdy doodles!


We survived the trip to California, not much worse for the wear. We didn't get to visit everyone and everywhere that we wanted but overall the trip was a success (and too short, but isn't it always?). We made it back home with our apartment intact, our plants still (mostly) living. I inadvertently killed our basil... apparently you're supposed to pinch off the flowers? The stems transitioned from herbaceous to woody for the most part. Our mint still lives but I think we're just going to start over and have each herb in it's own pot instead of the windowsill box. 


George's sister did us the favor of going to the venue's meal tasting for us, as they were unable to accomodate one for us while we were in the area over the holidays. She sent us her notes and our menu is done! Etiquette says that I need to wait until the 3 month mark to send out invitations (just under 4 months now!) and I'm getting impatient. I've had these invitations since July. Patience is a virtue and I have limited quantities of it. Just ask George. I gave him his Christmas present before Thanksgiving because I was too excited about it. He opened his birthday/anniversary present 4/13 days before the actual occasions. 


Dress is done with alterations, though I haven't had the chance to do my final fitting before taking it into my possession. George ordered his wedding band. A close friend is going to premarital counseling as mandated by the church that's doing the service. After hearing that, I thought "Should we be doing that? Why didn't I think to do it in the first place? What if we don't match up on paper? Ohgodohgodohgod." Thankfully we were able to go through pseudo premarital counseling by asking ourselves these questions (which went very well! We're very excited about the future.) I'm starting to get to the stage of planning where I'm getting sick of planning and I just want the damn thing over with.


Our five year anniversary was last week! It was a very low key day, but it was wonderful :) Our last dating anniversary! This next year is going to be awesome. 


We've been dealing with new neighbors since we came back from break. All of them have the neighborly consideration of a frat house. I've had to knock on each of their doors several times because I can not only hear what they're watching on TV but the bass is so loud that the pictures on our walls shake, and my feet vibrate. I HATE SHARING WALLS WITH PEOPLE. I cannot WAIT to move. Honestly?! Who does that? Why would you have your volume and bass up that loud when you share walls with three different apartments??


I'm applying for several scholarships, one of which is very distinguished within NOAA and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. It would fund the remainder of my graduate career and would make life OH SO MUCH EASIER. I came in with a two year scholarship from College Station, and after dealing with the bureaucracy of being a TA in Galveston but taking College Station hours and figuring out who pays for what, I just want to be self sufficient. Fortunately the huge grant I'm applying for sounds like it was written for me, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I'm also STILL WAITING to hear back from the Office of Graduate Studies on my change of degree from Master's to PhD. Even though they've had the paperwork in hand for weeks. The sooner they process it, the sooner I can submit my grant application and not worry about confusion for technically being a Master's student when I applied, when actually I'm PhD. 


I'm teaching Marine Botany lab this semester and already I can tell that it's going to be interesting. Their first assignment was to pick one of the five scientific articles that we posted to the class website and write a 250 word summary. Now keep in mind that they have access to the rubric that we're using to grade their assignments. THEY KNOW WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR. And still people submitted incomplete assignments. Two of my students very blatantly plagiarized. One of the two submitted a summary with not a single original sentence. Everything, and I do mean everything, was copy-pasted. This same student submitted a nearly perfect paper this past week with everything cited, which sent off red alerts in my head. Something fishy is going on with this student, but I have no proof of anything. 


A couple of my students can't write proper English to save their lives. One of the papers they were given to summarize (which the majority chose) was an article about how whale fecal matter in the upper water column contributes to the nutrients available for phytoplankton to utilize in photosynthesis. The following is an excerpt from a summary submitted by a college senior:


The authors use wishy-washy math and have "conservative" answers eluding their uncertainty. Poop, while grim; this was an interesting take on how it enhances life.




Take a minute to read and let that soak in. 




Still don't understand what he's trying to say? Neither do I. Here's a short list of the few problems I have with this excerpt:

• Since when is math "wishy-washy?" 
• Why are you using the phrase "wishy-washy" when writing a scientific article summary?
• Do you know what the word "eluding" means?
• Why did you say "poop" when writing a scientific article summary? The article clearly references "poop" as "fecal matter."
• "Poop, while grim" is not an independent clause, therefore there should not be a semicolon after it. 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do these kids get into college? How have they gotten this far? Why are they trying to make my life miserable? WHY???

(I have the feeling that I'll be asking the question "WHY?????" a lot this semester.)

The "poop" student also submitted his next report with a picture of his grading rubric instead of the document. He could have just copy-pasted the rubric into his report, but instead he took a picture of a printed rubric and inserted the picture into his report. 

WHY????????

Year One: Complete.

I finished classes, both for teaching and for taking, on May 9th at 11:30 pm. The take home final was tedious and annoying, but I finished. Ever since, I have been over the moon. No more teaching. I'm done with the bulk of my classes. I'm a year and a half (most likely) from finishing my Master's degree. It's strange to think that this time last year I was graduating from undergrad. It feels like so much longer ago. It's also strange to think that I'm still 22. For some reason I feel like I should be older. I feel older. Twenty-two sounds really young, and truthfully I'm one of the youngest grad students in the department. But I don't feel that way.

There were definitely ups and downs over the course of this semester. Most of the downs to do with assignments for which expectations were not made clear, uncertainties with what concepts were going to be asked of students on exams, and dealing with juggling teaching 3 classes and taking 3 classes. All in addition to the myriad of situations of undergrads-and-their-lack-of-common-sense.

The ups... this will take me a minute.

- Going out on a boat on Galveston Bay to collect samples and falling into the best sleep I had had in months at 8:30 that night until 6:30 the next morning.
- Teaching my students about recycling and really cool animals that I find awesome. And then having several students pipe in about options for recycling. And then seeing their eyes widen and their faces screw up in concentration as they contemplate how big a blue whale really is when I show them a baleen tooth.
- Talking about concepts related to my thesis in my Biogeochemistry of Estuaries class (taught by one of my committee members!) and debating about what's going on there.
- Booking a venue for our wedding! And planning a trip out to California to investigate vendors.
- Planning a summer that will involve a full time paying job in a lab that I enjoy being in and research cruises out on the Gulf :)
- Almost weekly meetings for lunch and/or drinks with my dear friend and bridesmaid Alicia, who got engaged two days ago! I'm so happy and excited for her and her now fiancee! Wow that's weird. But a good weird.

I mentioned in my previous post (or rather the comments) that I should give at least one story about the good kids in my classes. As I racked my brain, I found that there's really not a story about the good kids. I enjoyed having them in my classes, and they gave me a ray of hope that the world may not end after all. Though for a short story, in the last lab of the semester, Nekton/Benthos, we discussed the effects of pollution through non-recyclable plastics, what different animals live where, and then a series of video clips about things that I find awesome followed (i.e. bubble netting, dolphin longshore feeding, Christmas Island crab spawning, flamboyant cuttlefish, pretty much anything narrated by David Attenborough) and a video about overfishing (look up Blue Planet: Deep Trouble episode).

I swear to god, everything this man says sounds AMAZING. ALWAYS. By far, my favorite documentary narrator.

This was the class that a couple of students spoke up about other options of where to recycle. At the end, one pair of students that had piped in in the discussion came up to talk to me at the end of class to talk about a book she had read for a different class in Environmental Studies. I forget the name of the book, I'll email her about it later, but she said that she was so moved by it that she decided to not eat fish, and she had previously not given any thought to it. It was really... something. I felt fortunate to have been her TA.


In other news, we start our move to Houston on Wednesday. I haven't really started packing yet. Maybe I should start packing up the office tonight. It'll give me something to do other than re-watch the 7th season of Gilmore Girls. I've also been investigating washers and dryers. We're FINALLY moving to an apartment with washer/dryer connections and while it would be cheaper to buy off of craigslist, I'd rather buy new. I think it's worth the cost to invest in something new that I can get fixed in case of accidents. Plus, with applying for a card from the store, I can pay off the washer and dryer but keep the card for future big purchases. It feels so adult!

After moving, we have a week to get settled before jetting off to California to tour our venue and investigate the florist, photographers, cake bakers, hotels, rehearsal dinner locations, and observe a set up of a wedding at the venue. It's going to be a packed weekend, but I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be nice to get something concrete done and not school related for the next couple weeks.

*face-palm*

A while ago I had a student miss a class and she didn't email me or come talk to me about missing it. So I was really surprised when she submitted a data form for the class she didn't attend. I took a closer look and it was a xeroxed copy of her lab partner's data form. She just scribbled out his name and wrote in hers.

At first I wasn't sure how to deal with her because I had never had that happen before. So when she was done with the lab I took her outside and showed her the data form and told her "This is plagiarism and I can't accept this data form. I don't want to have to report you to the Aggie Honor Code Office."

For those of you that aren't Aggies, we at Texas A&M have an honor code that all students must abide by:

"An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do."

The Honor Code Office (or Academic Integrity Office) handles cases of cheating and plagiarism, and students can be expelled for plagiarism depending on the severity.

Her response to my statement was "Oh my gosh, I didn't think about it that way! I'm so sorry, thank you for letting me know."

In my head I'm thinking "How else would you think about it? You took your partner's data form, xeroxed it, and tried to pass it off as your own. That's the scenario definition of plagiarism."

Anyhow, I give my students the opportunity to complete extra credit by finding scientific articles and writing a one page summary of the article. I reminded her of the opportunity and said that she can make up the points that way.

She came by my office 5 minutes to the deadline and handed me a stack of papers, along with her Fandango ticket to see African Cats, and then left. A few minutes after she left I looked through the papers to find:

- a scientific article on coral reefs (NOT a summary, just the article)
- a scientific article on harmful algal blooms (again, NOT a summary, just the article)
- an incomplete google docs printout of what looks to be a summary on beached oiled seabird surveys (nothing related to the aforementioned articles).

Confused, I emailed her asking if she misunderstood the assignment or if there was a mix up. She emailed back about a half hour later saying "Oh my goodness, I gave you the wrong stuff! I already left town for the weekend, can I email them to you?"

I said yes she can email it. If it's a simple mix up I have no problem giving her the opportunity to rectify the situation.

This morning I wake up to no email from her. So I emailed her this morning saying "I need your summaries (SUMMARIES, not the articles, but please include a works cited of the articles you summarized) via email by 5 pm today. In fairness to those students that turned theirs in on time, after 5 pm, your submission will be considered void and won't count as extra credit."

In my head I'm thinking, "If someone wants to go from a C to a B or a B to an A that badly, if they know they did something wrong and asked for an opportunity to correct their mistake, they would do so ASAP."

It's now 11 pm and I haven't even heard a "Sorry, I couldn't get to my email, here's my stuff." Obviously, she doesn't care enough. And I don't care enough to hear excuses.

The other girl from yesterday finally submitted her extra credit summaries, which she did as a text file and formatted it so that half of the summary was red and italicized and overall formatted weirdly. One was okay, the other was only half a page and didn't include a works cited.

I'm sorry, but for a summary, if I don't have some way of knowing what you summarized, how do I know whether or not what you wrote was plagiarized? Or completely bullshitted and made up?

Something similar came from the lab partner of the would-be plagiarizer. He submitted one, but didn't give a works cited. Fortunately there was still time until the deadline and I told him he needed to give me his works cited. He then submitted another summary, only this one was half a page because he put his works cited on the same page as the summary and took up about a quarter of the page with his heading.

Some students are not going to be happy with their grades. And quite honestly I don't care because they will be in the minority.

Comparisons.

So one of my Texas besties, Lara, has been doing Teach for America down in the Rio Grande Valley at a middle school, and she also blogs about her teaching adventures. I shamelessly follow her and I think she's awesome. For one thing, I don't think I'd have the patience to work with 12 and 13 year olds. So whenever I read her blog, I do an internal comparison between her teaching stuff and my teaching stuff.

Reasons why Lara is awesome:
*She posts regularly about the good, the bad, and the ugly. And sometimes, the excellent. Always balance. I like it.
*She's still learning about teaching, as I am.
*She still has at least another year of teaching. I don't. Though I think I'm glad for my own situation.
*She has to deal with parents, ADHD kids, and annoying kids in general. All day, 5 days a week.
*She has the chance to mold these whiny middle schoolers into better students at a higher education level. So hopefully, with more Lara's in the world, TA's won't have as much to complain about

Internal comparisons:

I usually just complain about the lack of effort I get from my students. And sometimes their idiocy. However, when grading yesterday, I got two perfect forms (out of the 60 that I graded). There's still hope.

I only have to see my students once a week for two hours each lab. I don't get to work with them, to really tell them how to improve, and see if they listen. But at the same time, I'm glad that I don't have to baby them, or deal with their parents. In college, students are away from their parents for the first time. They've left the nest, they need to learn to take care of their shit. Sure, I'd feel bad failing a student, but I can only do so much. The apathy I get from my students really scares me some times. You as a student are paying to take my class. Show some interest, learn something. Don't pay for a class if you're not going to put some effort into it.

I think there's a dilemma about whether or not students should be required to take classes that are not relevant to their major. Would making a Business Administration major take an Oceanography lab for science credit make them a more well rounded student and person? Maybe. It depends on whether or not they care. Universities make requirements and most students will take what they perceive to be the easy way out. But why? Where did that begin? What's the difference between doing one thing really well and doing multiple things at an average level of accomplishment? Does a well rounded student exist anymore? Did it ever?