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Post by brutalis on May 15, 2017 14:26:57 GMT -5
Yep, I am in Arizona land of the scorching summer desert heat. With air-conditioning you can survive out here but the summer June/July/August and into the 1st part of September can be brutal. The 100+ temperature would be endurable but once the humidity and dew-point goes up then you learn quickly to get up and do your stuff before 10am and then sleep away the rest of the day. Very draining physically and mentally for many. I jokingly refer to work as home during the summer because it is easier to go in early a couple of hours before i start and internet surf while having breakfast and stay an hour or two after work later and enjoy the comfort and coolness the hospital heavy duty A/C provides. I lived in the Phoenix area from 8/81-5/84 while going to grad school (with the summer of '83 spent in Tucson for an internship with the U of A Press), & about the first thing I did as a resident, before classes started, was rack up a case of heatstroke while lying beside the pool on campus. Oops. (And it wasn't as if I'd just blown in from the Arctic. Extreme SW Arkansas in August is pretty damned hot as well.) Don't feel bad. Every year there are locals who end up with heat stroke trying to hike the local hills and don't hydrate enough or drink all of their water on the way up and pass out on the way down. Almost a daily news story in seeing someone being airlifted by helicopter and taken to the hospital. Also there are those who go hiking the local desert's around their homes and get turned around and lost to be found by luck and also many elderly who end up dying just walking out into the desert unprepared. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 15, 2017 14:55:42 GMT -5
One aspect of teaching that is particularly unrewarding is marking an incorrect answer. The simple way would be to give no point whatsoever, because the answer, as stated, is factually wrong. However a test is not some kind of challenge in which the teacher tries to trick the student; it's meant to evaluate the student's level of comprehension. So the teacher tries to evaluate how much understanding the student demonstrates in their bad answer. Eventually a numerical value is reached (say, 2 points out of five)... but often students still feel that they've been wronged. Those I call "point lawyers" will even argue that their understanding was higher than that mark reflects, and that they should at least get 3 points, or perhaps four. And all the while the teacher thinks "Bud, you had ZERO point when I started this exercise". Aggravation, aggravation...  I had a teacher for a kinesiology class that required all his questions being answered in essay form. He TOLD the class that if you didn't know the answer then try to "baffle him with bullshit" because he felt that in writing out an "essay" that sometimes the student would show that they may not know the exact answer but that they had a general understanding or concept of what was asked. And that in "writing out the bullshit" the students could surprise themselves with actually remembering or finding the answer. He would base points on what he read and saw and how much "bullshit" that someone could come up with in their writing the answer. My teacher said he gave one student a 5 for 5 (example) just for the fact that the student wrote out a full 5 page essay. And surprise of surprises he said in every class test he would get students that would just leave a question empty and get no points at all even when he TOLD them they should always write something in and he would give them 1 point for effort. That's the way to go! There was a joke going around the net a while ago: it showed a kid's primary school test in which words had to be written in alphabetical order: bear, zebra, bird, monkey. The kid wrote aber aberz bdir ekmnoy Had I been the teacher, the kid would have gotten 100%. While misunderstanding the question, he or she demonstrated complete understanding of what was evaluated. Plus it was funny! |
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2017 15:10:02 GMT -5
One aspect of teaching that is particularly unrewarding is marking an incorrect answer. The simple way would be to give no point whatsoever, because the answer, as stated, is factually wrong. However a test is not some kind of challenge in which the teacher tries to trick the student; it's meant to evaluate the student's level of comprehension. So the teacher tries to evaluate how much understanding the student demonstrates in their bad answer. Eventually a numerical value is reached (say, 2 points out of five)... but often students still feel that they've been wronged. Those I call "point lawyers" will even argue that their understanding was higher than that mark reflects, and that they should at least get 3 points, or perhaps four. And all the while the teacher thinks "Bud, you had ZERO point when I started this exercise". Aggravation, aggravation... I had a teacher for a kinesiology class that required all his questions being answered in essay form. He TOLD the class that if you didn't know the answer then try to "baffle him with bullshit" because he felt that in writing out an "essay" that sometimes the student would show that they may not know the exact answer but that they had a general understanding or concept of what was asked. And that in "writing out the bullshit" the students could surprise themselves with actually remembering or finding the answer. He would base points on what he read and saw and how much "bullshit" that someone could come up with in their writing the answer. My teacher said he gave one student a 5 for 5 (example) just for the fact that the student wrote out a full 5 page essay. And surprise of surprises he said in every class test he would get students that would just leave a question empty and get no points at all even when he TOLD them they should always write something in and he would give them 1 point for effort. I had a test in College and every one of those questions had to be answered in an essay form and I usually done a fairly good job in fooling the Professor that I know all about it. When, I took home my essay tests to my older brothers who knew the answers were they were laughing their heads off that I derailed the Professor in thinking that I know the answers. But, in reality I didn't. It's prove that essay questions done in College is one lazy way of getting ahead and the students (like me) suffer from it and not learn anything from them. After, I graduated from that Community College - two years later most of the classes moved from multiple choice tests to essay tests and that's made the dumbing of the college student(s) even worst. Essay Tests (or whatever, you've want to call it) made us dumb and idiotic at the same time. That's sad ... |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2017 11:55:48 GMT -5
My theme music for today...
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2017 20:28:45 GMT -5
The above started as a joke, after getting tired of waiting in line at the "service" desk of Wal-Mart (20 minutes, no movement, no calls for back-up), then, McDonalds got the lunch order wrong (well, I helped the mistake on that one). I had to go into work to do sit through a training seminar, since the chat can only be accessed on company computers. problem is, I commute an hour to work. The seminar was 90 minutes of interpreting and acting on statistics, for rookie managers. I've been in a leadership/managerial position for 25 years, with a degree in economics. I know how to read and interpret statistics and also know that I can give 5 different interpretations of the same statistics. Went outside to drive the hour home and had a flat tire. Got out the jack and spare; but, the Korean engineer who designed the jack or the executive who decided to buy that particular design, must be 4 ft 3, with tiny arms, as you can't get enough rotation in the handle to turn the screw of the jack. Took forever to raise the car to the point I could change the tire. Got the tire replaced, was driving home (a state hwy) and had to divert around some kind of accident. We are having high winds, which is blowing topsoil around from fields that haven't been plowed yet (lot of planting going on), so there are big dust storms with the wind. I'm done in from fighting with the jack, my brain hurts from the wasted 90 minutes of seminar (which can be added to the previous 4 I had to sit through that I could have taught, in less time than the instructor assigned), and I am too pooped to do the reviews I wanted to accomplish today.
Sing it Elvis!
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Post by DE Sinclair on May 17, 2017 21:16:47 GMT -5
The above started as a joke, after getting tired of waiting in line at the "service" desk of Wal-Mart (20 minutes, no movement, no calls for back-up), then, McDonalds got the lunch order wrong (well, I helped the mistake on that one). I had to go into work to do sit through a training seminar, since the chat can only be accessed on company computers. problem is, I commute an hour to work. The seminar was 90 minutes of interpreting and acting on statistics, for rookie managers. I've been in a leadership/managerial position for 25 years, with a degree in economics. I know how to read and interpret statistics and also know that I can give 5 different interpretations of the same statistics. Went outside to drive the hour home and had a flat tire. Got out the jack and spare; but, the Korean engineer who designed the jack or the executive who decided to buy that particular design, must be 4 ft 3, with tiny arms, as you can't get enough rotation in the handle to turn the screw of the jack. Took forever to raise the car to the point I could change the tire. Got the tire replaced, was driving home (a state hwy) and had to divert around some kind of accident. We are having high winds, which is blowing topsoil around from fields that haven't been plowed yet (lot of planting going on), so there are big dust storms with the wind. I'm done in from fighting with the jack, my brain hurts from the wasted 90 minutes of seminar (which can be added to the previous 4 I had to sit through that I could have taught, in less time than the instructor assigned), and I am too pooped to do the reviews I wanted to accomplish today. Sing it Elvis! Sorry you had such a crappy day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. |
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Post by hondobrode on May 18, 2017 2:12:15 GMT -5
Yeah, for real.
Whereabouts in the world are you codystarbuck ?
Sounds like the Midwest like some of us.
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Post by Spike-X on May 18, 2017 3:45:15 GMT -5
I went mountain bike riding and saw some kangaroos!  |
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Post by brutalis on May 18, 2017 8:07:43 GMT -5
I am always amazed at upper level management's thought processes. Last year my department here at the hospital lost our Director, we went 6 months without a Director and then was assigned an interim Director in October for 3 months and then in January that Director was assigned as our new Director along side her duties as another department Director. She has been in the hospital around 10 years and i am starting my 15th year here as Administrative Assistant to my department. I have worked with and assisted her at times over the years and every department has had an Admin Assistant at one time or another so everybody will know what it is that we Admin Assistants do. I work here for/with 4 different hospital departments and Directors as the older Admin Assistants retire the hospital has chosen to NOT refill those positions and say for cost effectiveness it is better to reassign more onto us Admin Assistants to covering multiple departments.
Last night in a conversation she admitted to me that since she took over my department that she has no idea at all of the hours i work or the job i perform and what all i do for this department. She wants me to write up a job description/listing ALL of my duties and approximate time everything requires. HUH?
The hospital has a legally defined job description that we review and sign each year at our evaluation. She has worked here 10+ years and doesn't have any clue to what Admin Assistants do? Wants me to provide her with my duties when she is responsible for me and my assignments? I am supposed to be the left hand of the Director's and Managers yet she doesn't include me in or discuss anything with me.
Amazes me regularly anymore that the higher up the leadership chain you travel the more disconnected from reality you become....
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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2017 9:30:11 GMT -5
Yeah, for real. Whereabouts in the world are you codystarbuck ? Sounds like the Midwest like some of us. East Central Illinois |
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Post by hondobrode on May 18, 2017 10:53:02 GMT -5
Yep, that sounds right.
I'm currently crashing with my parents while I pay off some bills and get resettled. They have a farm about 70 miles east of Omaha.
Fairly soon, I'll be getting a condo in Des Moines.
Woke up this morning to my Uninterrupted Power Supply screaming at me saying that we'd lost power last night, like we have on and off for the last week.
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Post by DanBintheUnderworld on May 18, 2017 12:20:48 GMT -5
Ouch. Nothing quite like paying almost 5 percent more for an automotive repair bill than you paid for the car in the first place (granted, it was a heckuva buy ... but still). I can handle some basic repairs myself, but CV axles, brake shoes, rotors & calipers are beyond my (non-)expertise.
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Post by hondobrode on May 18, 2017 19:06:32 GMT -5
Not that I'm a mechanic by any means, but those Chilton Auto Manuals have worked well for me and my brothers in the past.
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Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2017 19:44:35 GMT -5
Ouch. Nothing quite like paying almost 5 percent more for an automotive repair bill than you paid for the car in the first place (granted, it was a heckuva buy ... but still). I can handle some basic repairs myself, but CV axles, brake shoes, rotors & calipers are beyond my (non-)expertise. Hey Dan, how is the security system working? It's been a while since I've seen you post. |
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Post by DanBintheUnderworld on May 19, 2017 12:19:24 GMT -5
So far so good on the security system. Still no break-in since I had it installed some 2 years ago. Knock wood, of course. Which apparently I neglected to do yesterday after the car repair, because damn if the starter didn't go out after I ate lunch. I'd started it 3 times since the garage visit, with no warning signs whatsoever, but I guess when it rains it's sure to pour. Just lucky, really, that it didn't happen here on base (which it would have if I'd ridden to lunch, as per usual, with a co-worker who happened to be off yesterday as well as today), because getting a tow truck or whatever past the security gate would've been its own special ordeal. Not that I'm a mechanic by any means, but those Chilton Auto Manuals have worked well for me and my brothers in the past. Yeah, I've saved myself a fair amount of money using those manuals over the years. Might've been able to do so again by buying & installing a starter myself, since it's located on top of the engine in '96 Maximas (I'm more used to having to replace starters on the bottom of an engine, as was the case with the '73 Pinto where I performed that task several times back in the '80s), but under the circumstances I simply didn't have the luxury of time to try that out. |
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