DARK SHADOWS FORUMS

Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '25 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '03 I => Topic started by: sheenasma on April 28, 2003, 08:15:55 PM

Title: OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: sheenasma on April 28, 2003, 08:15:55 PM: Miss Criseyde has just had the first run, expirimental course she taught this past semester garner raves, and has been asked to continue this course as part of the regular curriculam.

Her course? Fandom.

Way cool, huh?

n
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: ProfStokes on April 28, 2003, 09:07:26 PM: Congratulations to you, MsCriseyde! [hello] I wish you luck with your future semesters.

ProfStokes
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Midnite on April 28, 2003, 10:39:36 PM: Quote from: sheenasma on April 28, 2003, 08:15:55 PM
Way cool, huh?

Absolutely. [okg] The reviews are fabulous and well deserved, I'm sure. Congratulations, Cris!

I STILL want to take that class!!! [bawl]
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on April 28, 2003, 10:58:44 PM: I couldn't be happier for you, MsCriseyde! [thumb]

Quote from: Midnite on April 28, 2003, 10:39:36 PM
I STILL want to take that class!!! [bawl]

Wouldn't that be great. Maybe we should all take September through the end of December off from work and then register for it. ;)

I could just imagine the look on MsCriseyde's face on the first day of class if she discovered that her students are all people from this forum. [lghy]
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Minja on April 29, 2003, 12:22:29 AM: This is wonderful news Cris!!! Mucho Congrats!
And this means more research!!!![clap]
YOU GO GIRL!!!!![/color]

Always, Minja [wink2][thumb][/color]
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Debra on April 29, 2003, 05:11:35 AM: Congratulations to you Miss Criseyde! After viewing your site like I have been I knew you would have success in whatever you choose to do!!
Best Wishes!
Deb :)
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Josette on April 29, 2003, 06:44:52 AM: Congratulations!!!
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: The Ghost of Sarah Collins on April 29, 2003, 06:56:22 AM: Most Excellent News! Congratulations to you Criseyde I love your site! so it is only natural everything you do would be as well done! ;)

Brava! :D

Sarah's [ghost]
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Cassandra on April 29, 2003, 08:05:47 AM: Congratulations MsCriseyde!! [thumb]

This is fantastic news and Im so happy for you!![clap]

Cassandra
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Annie on April 29, 2003, 12:45:53 PM: Congrats Cris!! I'm so very proud of you!!!!!
Way to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [beer] [beer]
Love U Anne :-* ;D ;D ;D
( YOU DON'T HAPPEN TO HAVE THE Q-MAN AS ONE
OF YOUR STUDENTS DO YOU???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Raineypark on April 29, 2003, 01:40:33 PM: Congratulations on a job obviously well done.

May I ask in what department your course is offered? My first guess would be English...but it could also be Comm Arts or even Sociology, couldn't it? :D

Again....congratulations!
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: MsCriseyde on April 29, 2003, 02:49:05 PM: First, thanks for all the fuss, everybody. It's very odd to get congrats for doing something you really enjoy anyway, but don't tell the university that, or they'll cut my salary down to less than a half a living wage. ;D

Quote from: Raineypark on April 29, 2003, 01:40:33 PM
May I ask in what department your course is offered? My first guess would be English...but it could also be Comm Arts or even Sociology, couldn't it? :D

The course is taught through the English dept. and is offered as an alternative to the generic "pop culture" version of freshman comp. that doesn't concentrate on any one topic. This course just concentrates on one element of pop culture for the semester, and, in my case, it really has to do with the intersections and perceived oppositions between popular or fan culture and academic culture. The dept likes it because we're increasingly having to treat the freshman yr of college as the 5th yr of high school, and the course offers an intro to academic culture that encourages interrogation of its practices.

A lot of what we read is drawn from authors with a solid reputation in media and fan studies -- Henry Jenkins, Camille Bacon-Smith, Constance Penley, etc. We also use stuff from psychology and sociology journals.

The class begins by looking at "official" products and fan activities and moves on to "unofficial" fan creations like fanfic, songvids, message boards, web sites, etc. Then we wind up by examining media representations of fans. This semester, we watched The King of Comedy, a De Niro / Scorsese film, and Trekkies, which won't be making a return appearance next semester because my students don't even know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek, and it was anticlimactic after having seen raw footage from the DS Festival earlier in the semester. ;)
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Raineypark on April 29, 2003, 03:09:52 PM: Fascinating, Professor!

I'm sure of the two courses offered, yours is the one that produces the better end result from your students.

WHY is Freshman year now the 5th year of High School? A friend taught briefly at the local Community College of the SUNY system and she was appalled at the level of incompetence in English among the first year students. What are kids who are barely literate doing in college anyway? Why do they have diplomas?

New York State is raising the bar by making the Regents Examinations in 5 major subjects mandatory for EVERY child in order to get a High School Diploma. You would NOT believe the parents and others who railed against this as unfair and punative.

Parents like that, who don't understand that a General Diploma is a useless lie if the kid can't read, are a disgrace. I attended a meeting on the subject where it was explained that our district was already planning additional instruction for students identified as at-risk for failing the exams. The first parental question asked was "Is this going to be on Saturdays? Because I have things to DO on Saturdays!!" I wanted to slap her.

I think these days you have to be a hero to be a teacher.
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Gothick on April 29, 2003, 04:09:48 PM: Congratulations, Criseyde. This sounds both like a lot of fun, and a very useful way of quietly building some important skills these kids will need to function in college. Some of the writers you mention, such as Penley and Jenkins, might even make the kiddies think about reasserting their subjectivity in the face of the stifling, all-flattening multimedia juggernaut that saturates North American postmodern consciousness.

That said, I'm horrified to learn that these kids are so illiterate they don't even know the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars. I shudder to think what they would make of a Shakespeare play, a Bronte novel, or an Auden poem.

You're working in the trenches, dear. Goddess bless you!

Gothick
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on April 29, 2003, 04:51:41 PM: Quote from: Raineypark on April 29, 2003, 03:09:52 PM
New York State is raising the bar by making the Regents Examinations in 5 major subjects mandatory for EVERY child in order to get a High School Diploma. You would NOT believe the parents and others who railed against this as unfair and punative.

Oh, I would! My first year of teaching was in a Technical High School instructing two senior classes (and one Post-Secondary class for adults) and you would NOT believe just how many parent abdicate any responsibility for their kids' education. If asked if they'd be willing to try to help out a kid who wasn't doing well, their view was that it had to be the schools'/teachers' fault if their kid wasn't doing well, and they didn't have time/weren't being paid to do the schools'/teachers' jobs. Their only concern was that their kid pass and graduate regardless of their abilities. Sadly, a few of them got a rude awakening when their kids neither passed nor graduated.

I don't quite know where that attitude has come from, but it's something that's been steadily developing over the past 20 years, and as far as I'm concerned, (most) teachers who work in elementary and high school education these days are candidates for sainthhood when it comes to dealing with that type of parent. I thank God every day that I have an enjoyable and fulfilling job on the college level, that (most of) my students have been conscientious and well motivated, and that I rarely have to deal with parents.
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Gerard on April 30, 2003, 12:13:59 AM: Congrats, Cris! From an unemployed teacher, you get the highest kudos from me!

Gerard
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Patti Feinberg on April 30, 2003, 01:34:06 AM: YOU GO!!!!

But....not to detract from Mscriseyde's GLORY the thing that got me enthralled was to 'know' something about our
mysterious benefactor[/size]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patti

I can't believe I coded that all by myself and it WORKED!! (yeah, yeah, it only took Midnite 20 bizzillion years to teach me) ;D
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: Birdie on April 30, 2003, 02:12:55 AM: Add mine to your many cheers of congratulations!

Birdie
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: MsCriseyde on April 30, 2003, 07:12:57 PM: Ok, thanks everybody. [blshy]

Now it's time to put an end to this thread, so here it is:

[a144]
Title: Re:OT Congrats, Cris
Post by: ROBINV on April 30, 2003, 07:56:07 PM: What wonderful news, Cris--but no surprise to me. Since coming into online DS fandom in 1996, I have avidly followed your amazing Selby site. I bet your class is fantastic and wish I could take it--and I DO know the difference between STAR WARS and STAR TREK, really I do!

CONGRATS!!!

Love, Robin