Notes from an Award-Winning Teacher

It's all about the prompt:

Truthfully, I don't know why I haven't won more teaching awards . . .

Self-Portrait 2018

As we've discussed I'm a big believer in modelling assignments in some of my classes (not behavior, certainly, because no one should act like me, but rather how one might attack an assignment).  It's nothing I would do with upper classmen, but I think it can be useful early in the undergraduate experience.  Thus, in my COR 110, Concepts of the Self, class, which students take the first semester at Champlain, I create my own self-portrait.  In the second year I also create my own version of the Velazquez-Picasso project, partially because, as first semester sophomores they're still reasonably new to college, but also because it's a challenging assignment. For the first year students the self-portrait is a requirement, and I think I emphasize it more than any of my worthy colleagues.  This includes starting every day with a brief examination of a different self-portrait from my monstrous self-portrait folder in ArtStor. Every year I start from scratch and create a new self-portrait, which gives the students a template on how one might approach the assignment - although, truthfully, I think they get more from me presenting my self-portrait, which also sets the bar higher for their own presentations.  I always emphasize to the students that they should choose one thing to focus on.  If they tried to tell me everything about their lives in one image  they would, by definition, produce a very surface level work.  Again, modeling the assignment, I choose a different specific thing every year, and I don't always choose something positive.  To me the self-portrait can also be a tool for self-reflection, so choosing a less laudable aspect of your personality is probably useful.  This year I focused on my famous temper. I was interested less in the moment of the explosion, but rather the isolating consequences. Starting with a picture that my most excellent nephew Garrett took of me in the desert outside Liwa in the UAE as my foundation, I ran off a copy and then burned it on my grill - and snapped a couple dozen shots.  Initially I wanted to then take the remnant and lay it down in an actual fire pit and photograph it again in the ashes, emphasizing the expanding aridity.  That said, I actually like how this turned out, so I stopped here.  The students viewed the grill as prison bars, which somehow made it all work all the better.

You can imagine the memes this has already inspired.

The Greatest Bucket List Quest

OK, so it's probably not actually the Greatest Bucket List Quest of all time, or maybe not even my own Personal Bucket List Quest of my time (mainly because I actually never think of the world or my future in that way). As Vermont's Leading CFL Fan (patent pending) I'm always, usually unsuccessfully, trying to drag my friends to ever more games across the border.  Actually, I think I'm finally winning them over (I mean, the Canadian Thanksgiving Alouettes game is a tradition and we do have an annual Grey Cup party). This summer, as recorded on the blog, Kevin Andrews and I attended a Hamilton Tiger-Cats game and had a great time, and that solidified an idea that I've been playing around with for some time: seeing a game in every CFL stadium.  Now, granted, there are only nine, so it's not the same as visiting every minor league baseball field, but it's a unique challenge nonetheless.  OK, two down, Montreal and Hamilton, and seven to go. My goal for next year will be to knock off Ottawa REDBLACKS and Toronto Argonauts, which shouldn't be too difficult, and then I would have covered the entire Eastern Conference. Then things become more complicated.  Maybe in 2020 I could combine Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders games; Winnipeg and REgina aren't really that close, although I guess they're close by Canadian standards.  I could fly into one, rent a car, and travel to the other, which is made easier by the unique CFL schedule wherein they routinely play games on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. That would leave 2021 for a trip to Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders games.  Again, I'd fly into one of the cities, rent a car, and make an Alberta road trip.  Of course, I'd probably not tell fans at either game what I'm doing because the teams are bitter enemies. Unless the CFL decides to add a team in Halifax (there's some talk of it), I would then be able to finish the quest in 2022 with a BC Lions game in Vancouver. My girlfriend thinks I should take my impending sabbatical and knock off all nine in one glorious road trip, which is actually a solid idea.  It would potentially make an interesting book about the relationship between Canada and America and I could interview folks along the way.  Of course, to sell this to the sabbatical committee I really should try and publish a couple articles and flesh out the idea for a  book.  Hmmmm.

The map is a little misleading because the icon for the REDBLACKS makes it seems like they're in Quebec, when obviously Ottawa is in Ontario, but you can get a sense of the scale of things.  Not since Ibn Battuta will such an unplanned trip turn out so to be so epic. If the CFL ever actually puts that team in Halifax then I'll get to see even more of Canada.