Tuesday morning things

* This takes a somewhat....desirous of self-extinguishing?....tone at the end, but this article from the Onion, oh yes.

Crawling back into bed sounds really good. I wouldn't want to sleep FOREVER, though (because who knows what dreams may come, and honestly, being able to read or get up after a few hours is nice too). But yeah. I am tired today.

* I feel a bit better about the progress of the water heater, though: it sounds like it should work. Am still going to get the electrician out to look at the wall socket to be sure it's okay to go - I would hate to have the guys come and hang the new heater and all and then find out, whoops, there's no power to that socket. (YES I know I could test it myself but I want an expert to look at it to be sure).

* I finished grading papers in one class this morning. Three of the eighteen were at least partly plagiarized (one from Simple English Wikipedia. REALLY? Did you think that might not show up on a search, student?). Two others I had to ding for doing lots and lots of direct quoting instead of rewriting the stuff in their own words (and actually making it flow better by doing that).

I am guessing schools don't teach research papers any more, based  on the quality of some of the ones I get. It's frustrating to have to try to teach writing/research ON TOP OF the subject matter. I try, but I probably don't do a very thorough job of it. (I remember all the papers I had to do as a kid, how I learned the "notecard method" - which I still use, in fact). I remember writing one on the Everglades and one on mountain lions and I am sure there were others, it seemed we did a couple a year from fifth grade or so on....

The problem, of course, is that grading student writing takes time and effort (it's one of the things I dread doing a little bit) and in today's world of 30-student classrooms and teachers having to do so many things, I can see them going "Eh meh, not gonna do it" unless they are mandated to.

Honestly? I would like to see a required "freshman seminar" class at colleges (some have them) that is all ABOUT writing and reading critically (and might also include some things like details on note-taking, which I guess is not explicitly taught many places: I was taught it as a freshman in high school and it was one of THE most useful things I ever learned)

But yeah. And of course there's also the "Mash-up" mindset (that does not respect copyrights on works) and also the mentality of "if it's free online, it must be 'free' to use unattributed" that I sometimes run into....and I wonder if we are going to see a sea change about how all this works. (I hope not, even as I have been told some cultures - none of which the students in question here are from - tend to regard "copying a work verbatim is a form of tribute")

* I have a slight headache today, and it's bordering on an ocular migraine (some vision disturbances, but they are not alarming because they are the typical ocular migraine thing). I do get to go home for lunch and am hoping a hot cup of strong tea will help. Part of it is it's very humid and the air is thick with pollen - I could tell my breathing was compromised while working out both this morning and yesterday morning.

I hope it doesn't get worse because I tentatively agreed to help with the handbells tonight. A new member is wanting to revive our old handbell choir (we have a nice set of bells, but they've not been maintained, and need some minor repairs). I have small hands and am generally good with fiddly things so I thought I could help.

I'm also tentatively....going to be IN the choir, at least for one go. Despite my misgivings about past stage fright over things like playing piano in public (at least with the bells there will be other people). Part of it is concern that there might not be enough people otherwise....part of it is, yeah, I can read music and have at least a rudimentary sense of rhythm, so I should be able to do it. Partly because I want to encourage the woman who is heading this up.

And anyway. I need more "third places" stuff that is neither work nor home, and doing stuff like the handbell choir is something like that. (The actual choir is out - I don't have much vocal range and it's often muffled by my allergies, but the bigger obstacle is that they rehearse at a time when I'm already committed to something).

* I do need to at least clean up the kitchen a little again before the electrician comes, and maybe try to get the dining room in better order - I did do a little cleaning in the living room last night (partly in preparation of piano lessons starting this week) so that's done.

I will have to decide after lunch if I come back and try to do research-reading or if I stay home and clean, with the thought that I need to do it, will feel better (and be more productive) with it done, or what. Though I am worrying about not really having ANYTHING planned for the summer and this is kind of how the "harder, faster, more" mindset in academia gets to you: I am not paid to do research; I suspect taking a summer off would not hurt me THAT greatly in the next 3-year review. And yet, I worry: we need, these days, I think, to seem "non-expendable" and even if the research I do brings in zero overhead dollars and no "glory" to the university, still, doing it means they CAN'T point at me and go "slacker!" so I don't know.

I have a vague half-baked idea and maybe that's good enough for a pilot study, I don't know. But this semester has really got away from me.