Monthly Archives: February 2012

February 25, 2012
8:23 am
by: rainman

Another Failure, Another Lesson Learned

It’s Midterm season.  The time of the semester when stresses spike and schedules get busier and Red Bull records record profits.  As a grad student, this is not a favorite season.  In fact, given the option, I would skip it … Continue reading →

Posted in Failure, Teaching Philosophy

February 16, 2012
10:28 pm
by: rainman

Is Blogging a Good Idea?

As I have watched the daily scroll of entries on the “motherblog”, I have seen a number of people who talk about the dangers or uneasiness of blogging.  I don’t necessarily share their point of view, but am glad that … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging

February 15, 2012
1:01 pm
by: rainman

Meanwhile, back in the Real World…

So, outside my student life, I actually have time to be in contact with non-students.  Other grad students in the engineering college will know why that is a shock.  But today, one such friend, an English teacher, emailed me an … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Philosophy

February 10, 2012
9:41 am
by: rainman

Say What?

In engineering, I have grown accustomed to using highly technical words that sometimes I didn’t even know the meaning of.  Words like exacerbate (to make worse) and efflorescence (that white stuff on Torgerson Hall).  I don’t think engineers do it … Continue reading →

Posted in Vocabulary

February 8, 2012
1:48 pm
by: rainman

A lighthearted break

Don’t ask me why it occurred to me today.  Maybe not enough sleep.  But I thought about the various jokes I have heard over the years involving “Little Johnny”.  If you google it, you get lots of links, but this … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Teaching Philosophy

February 6, 2012
3:55 pm
by: rainman

The path less traveled

One of the most frustrating things about hearing about “learner-centered teaching” is how foreign it is to my experience.  I routinely think of my pedagogy class as “touchy-feely”.  Now, if you were an engineer with a couple decades of experience … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Philosophy

February 3, 2012
4:01 am
by: rainman

Failure… the Final Frontier

In engineering, if we want to know how strong a material is, we test it til it breaks.  Pull and pull and pull and see just how much it can take.  Record what happened just before and you have the … Continue reading →

Posted in About the Author, Failure, Teaching Philosophy