Order of Education

Teaching Poetry in Literature-Based Writing Courses

Josh Boldt — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:17:38 +0000

This post begins a four part series that explores literature-based writing classes. In this series, we’ll explore the concept of literature-based writing courses and how we, as writing teachers, can use literature in our composition courses to teach writing. In order to gain a full perspective on this discussion, I’m going to break our exploration…

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Buy Your Very Own Ohio Adjunct!

Josh Boldt — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:37:46 +0000

You, too, can own your very own adjunct. All you have to do is move to Ohio and become a university administrator. Yes, folks, that’s all it takes and then you’ll be able to trade people like property. Ohio adjuncts live to serve you. They will do anything you tell them. And they cost next…

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The Cascading Labor Market of Underemployment

Josh Boldt — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:07:47 +0000

Tomorrow, when the monthly unemployment numbers come out, we’ll learn that the underemployment and unemployment rates remain relatively high. Big surprise there. According to the latest Freakonomics podcast on NPR’s Marketplace, there’s a new theory for why the high unemployment rate persists. Apparently, we’re getting hit with the side effects of a trend that began over a…

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The Creative Work Conundrum

Josh Boldt — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:50:45 +0000

The problem with creative work is it usually fails. Creatives spend hours and hours on projects that almost always crash and burn. Just about every project started by a creative professional will end in disappointment. It’s demoralizing. It’s depressing. It’s draining. Worse yet, when a creative doesn’t succeed, he doesn’t get paid. All those hours…

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Conspicuous Consumption in Education

Josh Boldt — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:00:46 +0000

As consumers, we’re often willing to pay more for something due to its perceived value than we are for its tangible value. The value this purchase confers upon us as the consumer, in this case, is greater than the value of the currency used to purchase it. In this type of exchange, often referred to…

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The Teacher-Run School: Coming to a City Near You

Josh Boldt — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:03:17 +0000

This idea of the “teacher-run school” has been popping up lately and I’m liking it. In our weekly newsletter, #EdFriday, we featured a Pittsburgh educational cooperative that’s bypassing the high cost of learning by reducing wasteful overhead and expensive administrators. And just this morning I read an article about another potential teacher-run school being considered…

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If This, Then That: The “Quit Your Job” Edition

Josh Boldt — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:04:06 +0000

If you don’t make enough money to buy groceries and put gas in your car, then quit your job. If your student loan payment is more than a fourth of your monthly income, then quit your job. If you’ve been making the exact same salary for the past decade, then quit your job. If you…

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Three Opinions About the Affordable Care Act

Hazel M. — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:00:55 +0000

I can’t let the Affordable Care Act and its impending effect on adjunct professors go unmentioned here. Everyone is writing about it, so I’m not going to try and rehash the same old stuff. The Chronicle of Higher Education has covered it in detail and over at the Adjunct Project, an accounting professor named Ken Ryesky provided a…

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You Can’t Be Anything You Want to Be

Josh Boldt — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:32:51 +0000

You can’t be anything you want to be. Most of us grew up hearing a repetitive mantra: “You can be anything you want to be.” All through my childhood I can remember being told this in school by teacher after teacher. Even as a kid, I was skeptical of it. By the time I reached…

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Teaching Without a Plan

Josh Boldt — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:31:14 +0000

Teaching without a plan makes the classroom exciting and a little dangerous. In a good way. Dangerous because it’s a bit of a gamble. You never quite know for sure what will happen. Sometimes the house wins and you go back to your office and close the door, wondering what the hell just happened. These…

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