Semester winding down

So the Spring semester is finally winding down, and all I gotta say is about freaking time. Driving 1 hour 15 minutes each way to and from UW=Platteville was starting to run me down physically. I am most def going to have to get in with a carpool next year. A couple of random thoughts on my first year of teaching:

1) A lot of my students do not seem to be interested in any aspect of science. This is weird because almost all of my students this past Spring are science majors (chem, bio, etc.). Last semester I had freshman that were engineering majors. Now I understand that most students might not like chemistry, but if you are a science or engineering major I would like to think that you would have some intellectual curiosity, which brings me to my next point.

2) Why and how are we failing are kids by not fostering their intellectual curiosity? One thing I've noticed is that as a professor I don't want to grade a student's work. It's tedious and boring. It also sets up a dynamic with your kids that makes it so that your students begin to despise you if they are failing and condone you if they are doing well. It would be more enjoyable if you could have discussions with your class about the material. Unfortunately, unless you give your students some kind of incentive (aka. a grade) they won't read the chapter or do the problems making a discussion like that impossible. Also, we've set up our education system so that being wrong means looking bad with your peers so no one says anything for fear of looking bad. All this, in my mind, goes back to the fact that intellectual curiosity seems to be lacking in a lot of my students. Where did it go? At some point these kids were probably asking questions like. "Why is the sky blue?" or, "What are clouds made of?". By the time they get to college they are asking, "What do I need to do to pass this boring class?".

3) How do I as a college professor address the above issue and make my class a place where curiosity is encouraged and fostered? Do I do group projects? Do I force the students to talk in class by making it part of the class?

Like I said, these are just random thoughts. On the whole, I love teaching and am looking forward to starting my tenure track position next Fall. However, I have a lot of questions as to how we are teaching are kids. There seems to be a lot of issues and the solutions don't always seem clear. Maybe part of it is finding ways that work for me and running with it. I dunno. The reason that I want to teach is to inspire kids to go on to do great things. Sometimes it feels like I am just herding cats though and no matter what I do, the results will be the same. What are your thoughts?

After a long hiatus, Dr. Raj is back

So I've neglected this blog for a long time. I started a blog for the Tough Mudder that I am doing in July, so I decided to start this one up again. A quick update. I finished my post-doc at the UW-Madison, got a lecture position at UW-Platteville, and then subsequently got a tenure track position at UW-Platteville. I've been dating Jennie Mauer for two awesome years and ave been living with her (in her house, great job being a homeowner babe) for about a year. I love Madison but don't like commuting to UWP every day. Luckily, the Spring semester is almost over and I'l be spending most of time in Madison. My old post-doc advisor (Laura Kiessling) has graciously allowed me to work in the lab over the summer. I won't get paid but she has a lot of resources and awesome biochemists, so I'll be able to learn the techniques I need to pull off my independent research. So this is the first post after awhile. I'll try to keep posting once or twice a week. Enjoy.

Dr. Raj

This is what happens when people burn massive amounts of drugs at your work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUScdrsMzpM

This video made me laugh for like 30 minutes

Check out this video from failblog.org.

The high school team is on a winning streak

I decided to help my friend DC coach his high school ultimate frisbee team. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the whole experience made me respect coaches at any level way more. It's really hard to motivate kids and get them to want to do, what you want them to do. You can cajole, plead, and trick them to do things during practice. When it becomes game time though, all that flies out the window and they are on their own. I think this is true at any level of play in any sport. All a coach can hope to do is give their players a road map of what to do in various situations. If you drill and practice certain situations enough, some things can become second hand. That's why you stress the fundamentals. Like in ultimate you stress catching with 2 hands, not getting broken, staying on the force side, etc. At the beginning of the season most of the kids were pretty bad. It was maddening at times. I wondered why they couldn't remember the simple things we had been telling them. Then I remembered how bad I was when I first started playing. I sucked. It took older players constantly telling me what to do for me to understand my role on a team. That thought gave me solace while the high school team lost game after game. I felt bad, but I felt worse for the kids. I felt like I was letting them down. They were working hard and not seeing the benefits. I just wanted them to win some games. Well, they finally won a game in Spring league this past Monday. It was a great game for everyone. Everyone played a part from the best player to the worst player. Then they won their high school game yesterday. Hopefully they will keep rolling. It's nice to see their hard work finally paying off. I think that's why people coach. They like to see people they have helped succeed. In the end, I'm not so worried if we win every game, I'm just happy to see them improving and having fun.

Glen "I like to push kids over" Davis

Jennie and I were watching Game 4 of the Celtics v Magic game last week. First off, I don't really care for the Celtics. I am most def rooting for them to lose. So when Glen Davis hits the game winning shot, I nearly crapped my pants. Then he ran over a kid on the sideline. Jennie sent me a video of Glen Davis apologizing for running over the kid.



A couple of things about this video crack me up. First off, Jennie and I were trying to figure out if Glen Davis is trying to grow a mohawk. She thinks he is. I think that is how he likes his hair cut. Obviously Glen Davis running over the kid is hilarious, but Doc Rivers reaction is also hilarious. Finally the apology itself is so good. God I hate the Celtics. I hope Dwight Howard slam dunks the ball on Glen Davis' mohawk like head.

PS - Jennie sent me another pic that is also hilarious. It's not adult porn but it might not be safe for work. Jennie almost got caught by her boss looking at it. Check out the O face that the woman in the front is making. Palotti pointed that out for me. Why don't you ever see stuff like that on National Geographic HD?

Ode to Burrito Drive

P-lotts is always sending me funny videos.

A Love Song To The Late Night Burrito Place -- powered by Cracked.com