No class this week, but the blog posts continue! This week I want to mention two especially helpful sources of information that I have found. Rebecca was a field school student of mine back in 2007. She got into adjuncting years ago, so now she has become the master! She has her… Read more“Cultural Anthropology: Intermission”
Cultural Anthropology Week 2: Beware of Plorbs
A funny thing happened between weeks one and two. While I was a bit of a nervous wreck preparing for the course, as week two rolled around, I was the coolest cucumber. My talks with colleagues and friends certainly played a role in rearranging my thought processes. Also, the nervousness… Read more“Cultural Anthropology Week 2: Beware of Plorbs”
Cultural Anthropology Week 1: Rite of Passage
Welcome to my weekly reflection of my cultural anthropology class! Going in to my first class, with over a month of build-up, I was pretty nervous. Spoiler alert: the class went fine and I was filled with joy doing it. There are things I would change for next time, though…. Read more“Cultural Anthropology Week 1: Rite of Passage”
Moving On Up
I have been away from my blog for good reason: since very late last year, I have been going through the process of getting hired to teach anthropology for a local community college! As of right now I am to teach a class on physical anthropology and another on cultural… Read more“Moving On Up”
Beat the T.A.!
Last time, I wrote about adapting a common college game for the purpose of education. Another type of game that I came up with as I hungrily took in ideas about teaching is something I call “Beat the T.A.!” The purpose of “Beat the T.A.” is to have the students… Read more“Beat the T.A.!”
Beer(less) Pong Study Session: Rules and Guidelines
Update: read this post, then continue to the 2017 update here. I’ve been reading and rereading a lot of the pedagogy of college teaching recently. I started by digging out my copy of Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do (2004), combined with a lot of web reading centered… Read more“Beer(less) Pong Study Session: Rules and Guidelines”
Keeley: Comic Hero Extraordinaire, Issue 5, Part One!
Remember that time I had a superhero comic hero comic? It’s taken a while, but at last I can show off the first six pages of issue 5! I took so long that a much better comic in the same vein is now out, the new Batgirl run by Cameron… Read more“Keeley: Comic Hero Extraordinaire, Issue 5, Part One!”
Why We Teach About Race in Anthropology
One of my most important activities as an online instructor is to communicate with my students via the discussion forum. Each week there are two topics that the students have to write a thoughtful post to address. One of the second week’s topics is about race in our culture. As… Read more“Why We Teach About Race in Anthropology”
Anthropomotron 2.1 is Out!
I had a little break between online classes so I went to work on updating Anthropomotron. It’s been a whole 11 months since I last looked at all of the code! I fixed some bugs, updated the inside platforms to the latest versions, and added a few more sets of… Read more“Anthropomotron 2.1 is Out!”
A Poster Child for Academic Posters
Alison Atkin, graduate student of archaeology at the University of Sheffield, made a brilliant poster on the modeling of plagued versus non-plagued cemetery collections. The poster debuted at the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) conference, where it won the Bill White prize (Atkin, 2014)! It will also be… Read more“A Poster Child for Academic Posters”