First Attempt at Video Editing …

Yikes. This might be pretty bad, but it was my first try and I only had about 8 hours to do this (including filming). I’ve never edited a video before, so yay for trying something new!

What this is: I had a job interview yesterday, in which I had to do a 10-minute presentation. The guidelines for the presentation were as follows: “Imagine you are standing in front of a Freshman English course. Your job is to spend 10 minutes explaining to them how to succeed in college.” I thought that it would be good if I included a short (2-minute) video in my presentation (and I think it was well received!). The following is my video clip:

 

How bad was it? Ha!

Unteachable Students – Issues in the Humanities

Teaching humanities courses has its challenges. Teaching religion courses can be especially frustrating. A friend posted this recent blog about “The Unteachables” and the difficulty of teaching humanities these days.

The author divides the issue into “traditional” education and “progressive” education, although I think the problem runs deeper – the main problem that I have encountered is the issue of consumer-students who feel that they deserve good grades because they are paying money to come to class. They essentially are “purchasing” a degree so that they might get a better job. This sense of entitlement has caused students to expect an “A” if they show up every week, and a “C” if they just show up to the tests.

Not every student is like this, but I would argue that, at least in a community college setting, most of them think this way. If I didn’t curve my tests, I would have 10-15% of my class getting a passing grade and the rest failing, which would quickly result in me losing my job. In the past I would have considered 85-90% of the students failing to be my fault for writing a test that is too difficult, but when a handful of students make 90% and up without extra credit or a curve, and nobody is in the C or D range, and half the class scores less than 60%, I feel that the problem is unprepared students.

When I don’t “give” high grades to students that don’t deserve them, I receive a lot of complaints. One student, on my yearly evaluation, said that I “don’t respect working students and assign too much information for someone to learn if they have a full time job.” That didn’t stop the  other handful of students who have a full load of courses plus a job from getting 95% + in the course …

When I teach, my goal is to challenge my students. If they know that they will get an automatic “A” or “B” just for showing up, they will not be challenged to do anything! My goal for my class is that it will be hard to fail, but also equally hard to make an “A,” because I want students to actually have to work to ace a class, even in a community college.

Three Tips to Be More Productive Today

I am a stay at home dad with an 8-month-old son. I teach in the evening as an adjunct at a local community college. I also am trying to write book reviews and have a few dictionary articles (that the editor wants this month!). In addition to these things, I am trying to prepare myself for future applications to PhD programs; I am studying for the GRE, attempting to learn conversational and theological German, and trying to keep up with my ancient languages. Needless to say, it is easy to get distracted.

(1) Set Reasonable Goals

This is an idea that I struggle with every day. I want to accomplish everything possible, but instead I get overwhelmed and accomplish much less than I should. Instead, if I want to read, instead of deciding on “x” amount of pages (and then getting upset if I get distracted), I will set a timer. I will read for half an hour without interruptions (interruptions that can be helped, anyway – I do have an 8-month-old!). Then I will set another goal, be it doing laundry, cleaning up around the house, mowing the lawn, editing an article, etc.

(2) Limit Distractions

I know it is hard, but if you want to read or edit or write, you don’t need the internet. Don’t be afraid to turn off the wi-fi on your laptop! It won’t kill you to be without Facebook for 30 minutes. To ensure that I avoid distractions like this, I also hook my iPhone into my iHome, turn on a Pandora station, and leave the phone behind (if it rings, it will ring through the iHome and you’ll hear it anywhere in the house, don’t worry).

Some distractions are unavoidable. I will stop and feed my son. I will stop and play with my son. I will let the dogs out to go to the bathroom. Phones will ring. People will come to the door. What is key is that you don’t let these distractions derail your attempts to be productive. If you set a timer for 30 minutes, and you plan on reading for those 30 minutes, and you get an important 5-minute phone call when you have 10 minutes left on the timer, then you still have 5 minutes that you need to read. That is 5-10 pages that you can cover that you wouldn’t cover if you just gave up because you had a distraction.

(3) Make Tomorrow Easier

So often I have used the excuse that most of the day is wasted, I will get back on the horse tomorrow. Why wait? Read, write, or edit for 30 minutes before bed. Do something around the house that needs to be done. 30 minutes now means 30 minutes of extra productivity tomorrow.

100 Posts!

This is my 100th blog post!

I could not decide what subject I wanted to be the focus of my 100th post, so I decided to just note the passing of 100 posts. I started this blog in March of last year, so have almost completed a year of blogging. I have had ups and downs, with 2 or 3 posts in one day and no posts at all in 5 or 6 days.

Blogging is not easy; it is fairly hard work to stick with it. I have a couple of blogs I am working on and intend to post shortly (I want to complete the series I was doing in the authorship of Isaiah, and I also have a response post to the biblical references to Adam and how people abuse those to call for an historical Adam).

Anyway, all of you who read my blog, thank you! This next year and these next 100 posts will contain more book reviews and hopefully more solid content. I want to possibly write a few more series, possibly on OT books and/or themes. I would love it if my few followers would reblog, tweet, and Google +1, and Facebook like any posts that you do like, because I would love to have a larger readership in order to actually have some conversation. The reason that my Isaiah discussion was put on hold was that a few people had expressed interest in the idea, but there was absolutely no discussion when I started the “conversation.”

 

 

Feeling Great!

This has been a rather busy week! Other than submitting my resume for a couple more possible jobs, I have stumbled into a few writing opportunities. Other than the dictionary articles I mentioned the other day, I have been given the opportunity to participate in some book reviews in both academic journals and popular magazines.
I am very excited, but this also means that I am going to be very busy the next month or so!

Syllabus Journal

A new journal is calling for articles, “toolbox” entries, and syllabi entries. Register here if you teach and want to share your course design with the world! It sounds like it is going to be a real interesting and helpful thing for those of us who teach.

Teaching Philosophy – Any Advice?

I am currently preparing my CV and Cover Letter for an adjunct position at a nearby university. The school also asks for a “teaching philosophy,” which I have not yet needed to write. The idea seems so absolutely vague that I really am not sure what is being asked for, so below is my best shot. If any of you have any advice, I could REALLY use it. I will likely be putting this in the mail tomorrow, so let me know if I absolutely missed the mark! Thanks!

 

As an Adjunct Instructor of Religion, my goal in the classroom is to present major topics in religion (depending on the course, this could mean various world religions or topics within one religion or holy text) are to foster critical thinking and improve basic skills required throughout college and later life, including reading, writing, and study techniques.

My primary goal in teaching is to empower the student to think critically about a subject that they would otherwise overlook. The purpose of teaching religion is not to promote one point of view over another, but instead to offer various viewpoints and give the students the resources to analyze the various viewpoints in order to asses them critically.

A prime example of fostering critical thinking within the religion classroom is the presentation of two opposing viewpoints on interpretation of a passage of scripture in my New or Old Testament courses. While a student might simply assume that the interpretation they are more familiar with is correct, I hope to enable the student to view and engage different theories (both familiar and foreign) critically instead of simply ignoring the unfamiliar. This same approach can be applied to World Religion classes, which, in the state university system, must be taught from an informative point of view and not a confessional point of view.

I also strive to help my students improve basic reading, writing, and studying abilities while in my courses. I encourage my students to turn papers in early so that I might return their papers with comments prior to giving a final grade, and I assign a healthy amount of reading on which the students are quizzed. I have adopted a tactic I learned during my graduate work; having the students use class time to work in small groups encourages them to continue working in a group while studying outside of the class, while at the same time fostering academic relationships with their peers.

 

The position is teaching World Religions as an adjunct at a state university, which is what I geared my philosophy towards. If I was applying to a small liberal arts school with a religious background, I would have written this slightly differently.

 

Thanks again!

Extra Credit?

Teaching Question:

Is it better to give a hard test and curve it / give extra credit, or an easier test with no curve or extra credit?

The highest grade in the class for my last test was a 63% (which I was disappointed with, considering that I gave them a study guide AND gave them a list of 5 possible essay questions, 3 of which appeared as the only essay questions on the test). I then curved the test by 37%, so the highest grade in the class would be 100%, as well as allowing 2 extra credit questions at the end of the test that were good for up to 15% more (the highest grade got 5 of the 15 extra credit points). After doing this, about 30% of the class made an A, 35% made a B, 20% made a C, no Ds, and 15% made an F. On the one hand, I am concerned that so many people ended up with an A or a B when the original highest grade was a 63%. On the other hand, I must take some of the blame, as the instructor, if the highest grade was only a 63%.

Those of you out there who teach, what is your take on this? I am teaching community college kids Old Testament; these students don’t really care about the OT, they just needed a humanities credit. Does that make a difference? Should I give extra credit and a curve and keep my tests difficult? Or should I ease up on the tests? Should I keep the tests hard and ease back on the curve or the extra credit?

Wednesday Night Bible Study!

I am supposed to lead a bible study for the adult bible study at my church tonight. Here is what I have for them!

Abraham Settles in Canaan
Genesis 12-15

When would this story have taken place? According to the biblical dating, this event would have happened around 2000 BCE, although the use of round numbers in the text makes this a VERY loose number. Based on the major upheaval in the region surrounding the collapse of Ur III, it seems possible that Abraham lived somewhere between 2000 and 1800 BCE. The collapse of the empire would have been a good reason to get up and move your family!
The first thing that I want to call your attention about the text to in this story is that 12:1 is Abraham’s first encounter with Yahweh. There is no introduction, but simply a covenant command and promise.
What is a covenant?
In the Ancient Near East, the time and space setting of the Old Testament, covenant forms were very common. In the Ancient Near East, there were two major types of covenant: the parity treaty and the suzerain/vassal treaty.
The parity treaty was simply a treaty between two equal parties; these treaties usually were military alliances made between neighboring countries when a greater threat was approaching.
The other type of treaty, the one that pertains to our study in Genesis, is the suzerain/vassal treaty. In this type of treaty, one party was bigger and more powerful than the other. We see examples of this in letters found between the Egyptian pharaoh and his colonies in Canaan during the 14th century BCE. In these letters, we see the vassal lords living in Canaan appealing to the suzerain pharaoh for help. Usually in a suzerain/vassal treaty, we see stipulations that the vassal must keep up, and blessings that the suzerain would bestow upon the vassal if the stipulations were kept up. Usually the vassal would have to pay taxes or tribute and join with the suzerain in battle if the suzerain went to war. In return, the main blessing bestowed on the vassal would have been protection, and that is why the vassals in these letters would ask for help.
If you look at the suzerain / vassal treaty handouts, you will see a list and examples of the major components of a suzerain / vassal treaty. They are as follows: (a) Preamble/Title, (b) Historical Prologue, (c) Stipulations/Obligations, (d) Deposition and/or Reading of Document, (e) List of Witnesses, (f) Curses and Blessings.
Looking at Genesis 12:1-3, how many of these components do you see (hint: it is not many!). I see one stipulation: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” I also see a list of blessings: (a) “I will make of you a great nation,” (b) “I will bless you,” (c) [I will] “make your name great so that you will be a blessing,” (d) “I will bless those who bless you,” (e) “I will curse those who curse you,” and finally (f) “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
What is interesting is that there is no Preamble and no Historical Prologue. The purpose of these two components of a treaty was to point out all of the good things that the suzerain has done for the vassal in the past. For example, in Deuteronomy 1-3, we read a historical prologue that explains that Yahweh has done all of these great things for the people, such as bringing them up and out of Egypt. The reason why one follows the stipulations is not just because of the blessings that will happen to them if they do follow, or the curses if they do not, but instead the reason is because the suzerain has ALREADY blessed them!
Why do you think that is not included here?
I would say that it is because this is the beginning! Abraham, through all that he does, through his failings and his successes could be described by one word: FAITH. Although there are times where he seems to lack faith (such as in the later story of Hagar and Ishmael), but overall throughout the story he seems to (usually) do things without question.
That is what is so amazing about the first three verses of chapter 12; Abraham displays such faith that he is simply told to go, without a historical reason to trust Yahweh at all, and he gets up and goes.

The next feature of this text that I want to talk about is the stipulation within the covenant. “Go…to the land that I will show you.” Pretty vague, huh? This idea is what the rest of the book of Genesis, all of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua point towards. The “land that I will show you” is what the Israelite people spend the first era of their history, from Abraham to the Conquest, trying to obtain. It is what they spend the second era of their history, from the Judges to the Exile, trying to keep. It finally ends up being what they spend the third era of their history, from the Exile up through the New Testament, trying to get back. The “land” is central to the Israelites theology, because it is based on the promise of God.

Abraham’s response to the call of God is extraordinary; we read in verses 4-5 that Abraham, although already 75 years old, took his family and all of their possessions and travelled to Canaan, where he set up an altar to the Lord. He then continued travelling south, and set up another altar east of Bethel, and then finally continues south and west to Egypt because of a famine. This is interesting, because Abraham has now come to the Promised Land, crossed it, and gone out the other side! After the Pharaoh gives him and his family the boot, they travel back north to just outside of Canaan, where he asks his nephew, Lot, which land he would prefer. Lot chooses the plain of the Jordan, to the east, and Abraham moves into Canaan.
At this point, Yahweh finally stops in and lets Abraham know that THIS LAND, Canaan where he is now living, is the land that will be given to his offspring and where he will build Abraham’s nation. Abraham’s home was at Hebron, about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

Moving on to chapter 15, Abraham asked God why he is still without an heir, and God did something interesting: God told Abraham to bring a three-year-old heifer, female goat, ram, and a turtle dove and a pigeon. Abraham then splits the 4-legged animals in two. Yahweh then told Abraham about the coming oppression in Egypt, but promised that at the end of 400 years he would bring them out safely and with great possessions. Abraham then saw a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the pieces of the animals that have ben cut in two. This was a sign of the cutting of the covenant. Finally, Yahweh defines the exact borders of the land.

Old Testament Survey Exam 2!

I just finished grading the second set of exams in my OT Survey course (excluding a couple of students who had permission to make up the exam late).

The class average before the curve is 54.5%.
The class average after the curve is 69.5%.

The class median before the curve is 62.5%.
The class median after the curve is 77.5%.

The highest grade before the curve is 85%.
The lowest grade before the curve is 16%.

Note, the class is VERY small, so the demographics are probable skewed a bit.

I think that I am pleased with the grades. The students that I knew would do good did pretty good, and the students that I was concerned with did not do well.

Knowing that I teach at a community college, and that most of my students have no desire to attain higher education beyond their AA degree, my goal is simply to teach these kids about the content of the text and a method to study the text beyond what is covered in class. I know that they all are not going to treat this as though it was their favorite class, and they certainly will not be A or B students.

Should I be discouraged or should I be satisfied with these exam results? How much of the grade is caused by my teaching and how much is caused by student effort / retention / learning ability / study habits?