In this Book
- The Three-Legged Woman and Other Excursions in Teaching
- Book
- 2010
- Published by: University Press of New England
summary
Since 1986, Robert Klose has taught biology at a “small, impoverished, careworn” college in central Maine. Located on a former military base, the school became first the South Campus of the University of Maine, or SCUM, and later, Penobscot Valley Community College, then Bangor Community College, and most recently University College of Bangor. Despite its improved nomenclature, University College of Bangor remains an open-admissions environment at which “one never knows what’s going to come in over the transom.” Klose’s nontraditional students have included, in addition to single parents and veterans, the homeless, the abused, ex-cons, and even a murderer (who was otherwise “a very nice person”). Chronicling his experiences teaching these diverse students, Klose describes with equal doses of care and wry wit those who are profoundly unfit for college, their often inadequate command of the lingua franca, and the alacrity with which they seize upon the paranormal (the three-legged woman) while expressing skepticism about mainstream science. He reflects on the decline of reading for enjoyment and the folly of regarding email as a praiseworthy substitute for expository writing. He details what works in the classroom, identifies what has failed, and relates stories of the absurd, the sublime, and the unanticipated, such as one student’s outburst following a discussion of evolution: “For what you have taught today you shall be damned to everlasting fires of hell!” Tempering thoughtfulness with a light touch and plenty of humor, these essays prove that teaching, an “imperfect occupation,” remains a “special profession.”
Table of Contents
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- Introduction
- pp. ix-xii
- Clientele
- What Happens if You Step on It?
- pp. 9-15
- Beautiful Dreamers
- pp. 15-21
- The Hoary Head is a Crown of Glory
- pp. 21-26
- What I Say and What They Hear
- pp. 32-41
- The Impossible Dream
- pp. 42-49
- The Death of Fiction
- pp. 50-52
- Our Common Tongue
- Whoa Is the State of English
- pp. 53-59
- The Illiterati
- pp. 59-65
- The Written Word
- pp. 66-72
- Why E-mail is not Writing
- pp. 73-78
- I Write, Therefore I'm Right
- pp. 78-84
- I, Teacher
- The Nutty Professor
- pp. 90-96
- A Seat at the Periodic Table
- pp. 96-103
- Atoms in Love
- pp. 103-108
- Forbidden Fruits
- What Hath Darwin Wrought?
- pp. 109-115
- Scriptural
- pp. 116-122
- The Dyspepsia of Intelligent Design
- pp. 122-129
- The Skeptic
- pp. 129-135
- Boundless Moments
- Let Us Praise the Bold Molds
- pp. 141-147
- A Season for Seaweeds
- pp. 147-152
- Through a Lens. Brightly.
- pp. 153-158
- Methodologies
- The Bell Jar
- pp. 159-165
- How I Youtubed my Biology Course
- pp. 166-171
- How to Study
- pp. 171-177
- The Truth Is in the Tape
- pp. 177-183
- Please Hold the Morphine
- pp. 183-188
- The Future is Now
- The New Technology
- pp. 189-195
- The University of Tomorrow
- pp. 195-202
- Beginnings
- pp. 203-206
Additional Information
ISBN
9781584659525
Related ISBN(s)
9781584659273, 9781611684711
MARC Record
OCLC
685185856
Pages
228
Launched on MUSE
2012-08-22
Language
English
Open Access
No