On Disasters: H1N1, earthquakes and outbreaks.

The flu has turned up in several of my classes, but in one, there have been 2 reported cases of the illness formerly known as swine flu. One purported to be confirmed by a doctor, and the other of a student who fell ill immediately after a sibling had been diagnosed by a physician, and with identical symptoms. This reminds me of a funny story.

One of my favorite professors ambled in to class during one of the annual Mumps outbreaks in the dorms of a state university. He said he hadn't been to a doctor yet, but he was displaying all the symptoms of the mumps. He asked the class to decide if he should teach that night. There was a long pause for reflection. I'd just gotten married. The potential offspring topic had been shelved, but I wanted that option left open. The mumps can do mondo-bad things to men after puberty, and I had been 29 for a while already. A male relative lost something supremely near and dear to him...

The teacher asked us to make a decision. Was maintaining the impression that grades or the class were more important than my health expected of a grad. student? Luckily nurse working on a Ph. D. put on their official mien and asked us all if we were insane.

But disasters demand common - sense adjustments on everyone's part.

Monday, 9.21.9 is the anniversary of the big Taiwan earthquake of 1999. It hit at 1:47 am. I couldn't turn off a movie and felt a little guilty for being up so late when it hit. Richter scales as far as California measured it at 7.6 or higher at the epicenter - about 30 miles from my house in the mountains of JuDong. Over 3000 dead. It wasn't the weirdest disaster I've dealt with in a class - but it took the highest human toll. Rolling blackouts and aftershocks for months. I later heard "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire and listened to the words for the first time (lyrics, see video) in a really gritty dive and freaked mildly out. Maybe it was all the candles and flashlights. Maybe it was the way we recognized temblors by the sloshing bottles behind the bar. Betel nut and Whisbih may have been involved.

And don't get me started on SARS. My wedding anniversary is on the hottest day of the Kansas summer because of SARS.

The point:

• stay on top of your student email,
• log in to ANGEL often,
• read your announcements,
• communicate with your classmates.
• Let me know if you have flu-like symptoms - by email or phone, im whatever.

Prepare. If you don't have a home computer but your cell phone is important to you - set up a calling tree. We will adapt.

Questions for the class 8.19.9

How do you want to organize and archive your daily writing? In the past I've very prescriptive (or is proscriptive?) in telling students what kind of bound and expandable notebook type contrivance to use. And always 3-5% of the class would subvert the paradigm, bringing about the chaos described in my first blog.

The first entry in your collective daily writing journal/portfolio/notebook/blog will address the question, "Why am I in this class"? That will be on the back of the syllabus "quiz."

I like the idea of students posting their own blogs - we could create our own social network. A previous class had some success - and I learned a lot from the experience. I doubt it'd work for everyone, though I have ample evidence that blogging and the sort of web 2.0 skills that come with it are necessary for sucess in the workforce three years from now. Employers are going to demand it. and there are so many

So who should make the decision, teacher or students? regardless it needs to be convenient for review. Think not only of the categorical imperative but of the greg imperative (ie what would the greg's life be like if everyone did what I do?).

Accessing ANGEL

ANGEL is our online course management system. It is required for college excellence whether you're taking distance learning courses, hybrid (with reduced seat time) or traditional 'sit and get' courses.

ANGEL tutorials provide detailed video re: how to login and use the system. Check 'em out. To find the site and login go to https://dl.jccc.edu/. Many people prefer to just go, mess around and figure it out on their own. You can't hurt anything. Check it out.

Course Policies - filling in the gaps

In case you missed it in class discussion, there are some issues not addressed in the official course policies that might be of interest.
You are the best judge of whether you need to use the bathroom. I may have shared the experience of a former classmate who was denied access when he had explosive diarrhea. It doesn't have to be medically validated for you to leave the room. Most people tend to get real gassy when they need to move their.... Remember the categorical imperative. What would happen if everyone did, or did not do, a behavior? That said, if you can't go 75 minutes without a nicotine break, quit the habit.

And again, if you have a fever stay home until you go 24 hrs - drug free - without a fever. I don't require explanations for absences - after the fact - unless you think you might have the swine flu. In fact there are certain personal details I don't enjoy, including that mentioned above.

Use your classmates as resources. Every college teacher I know has a major issue with students who miss class and say something like, "I missed class. Did you say or do anything important?" Teachers tend to think everything they say is important and can be real touchy given their inflated sense of self worth, but fellow classmates can a better judge of what happened in class. Consulting classmates has the added benefit of not reinforcing for the teacher that you missed class. By Friday I'll have a course schedule/ daily lesson plan up on ANGEL. I'll also post a forum for what we did.

Information and communication is important - but not more than honesty. Again, don't kill off relatives or say you're sick if it is not accurate.

Need to discuss acceptable/ appropriate language