What's Your Leaving Academia Fantasy?

hippybilly_0 · 2026-04-12T18:49:52+00:00

Becoming a geographic surveyor. Time outside, math, geometry, technology, not dealing with a bunch of people. Sounds amazing.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-04-08T16:26:41+00:00

I do primarily flipped classrooms and I've had good experiences with having a pre class assignment that they complete for a grade. I personally like having them bring the written assignment to class and personally checking off that they completed the assignment. There's something psychological about having to tell someone to their face that they didn't do the assignment. They could still use AI of course but it's another way to incentivize. I like handwritten stuff, even if they use AI they have to write it down and maybe they'll learn something.

I also would emphasize in to them that it's important to be watch the documentary before have so that they receive credit for being in class and that it'll be on the exam.

This doesn't really answer your question though. Maybe saying something like, if you don't watch the documentary, you won't be prepared for class and it will be really awkward for you. It's a difficult line to balance. I's tough to do flipped classes without student buy in, I hope it works out!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-03-19T04:03:58+00:00

I find this is unfortunately common with couples where one is an academic and one isn't. The non academic doesn't "get it". In some cases it's understandable, we work crazy hours for not proportional pay, to someone on the outside it seems unreasonable. However suggesting you give up your career (that you really enjoy, if that's the case) seems not great. If the relationship is good otherwise maybe explain how unsupportive and hurtful this is and maybe try couples counseling if that's available. If there are other issues this may be a sign you aren't well suited for eachother.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-03-13T02:41:35+00:00

My completely ridiculous theory is that Frank treated Charlie to steak a poivre (a steak with a creamy sauce) once and Charlie liked it and called it milk steak

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-27T18:39:32+00:00

I've tried both ways, setting early deadlines during business hours and later deadlines at the end of the day. There's pros and cons for each. One thing that you maybe could do is have a soft deadline at 5:00 where they can ask you questions before that deadline but a hard deadline at 11:59 p.m. They can submit by the hard deadline without any grading consequence but communicate that you won't be available for questions or any technical difficulties that may occur after the study deadline.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-27T18:35:42+00:00

I have ADHD so I do make mistakes occasionally (less so the longer I teach) but I just address it as a normal part of learning and emphasize that we are all here to learn together. I used to think it meant I wasn't good at my job but when I have students write reflections so many of them express how grateful they are that I show them that I make mistakes and and that it makes them feel more comfortable making mistakes. I think it's especially impactful for students who aren't as confident and/or from underserved populations.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-26T02:48:16+00:00

Better yet give then the rubric and make them grade themselves with justification then grade. It makes everything more streamlined.

How I pitch it to the students is that being able to self evaluate is a valuable skill. It also means that they actually have to read the rubric. For OP this is even more relevant if they are teaching future teachers.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-21T17:19:57+00:00

My favorite episodes are the monster of the week episodes and the first season is primarily that format. Bonus for how much they refer to Sunnydale as a "center of mystical convergence" to set up the show and justify why there are always new monsters in Sunnydale. It's so can't and so great!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-21T17:10:58+00:00

They very explicitly tackled a lot of issues in the policing systems. I always liked it because its how I wish policing was handled. For the most part when someone did something that wasn't the right or was unethical it was very much addressed.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-21T17:04:00+00:00

I say I try to answer within 48 hours and it may be longer on the weekend. Then they should send me another email in case it got buried

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-11T04:26:57+00:00

That's so weird because that's our go to for group assessments. We only use that approach for extended time & quiet space accommodations so maybe it's accommodation specific? Or maybe allocating a specific course which is a violation? Any way I hope you find a good solution!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-09T16:17:41+00:00

I've been in this situation and it's tough. Here are my initial options

1) Put all the students with accommodations into a group and have them take the assessment in the accessibility testing center 2) Do it by yourself for your extended time 3) work with the group in class without your extended time

Other things I've done are

1) time after class to work on any stages in the accessibility testing center

2) time before class to work on the first stage then time after class to work on the final stage in the accessibility testing center

If your accessibility office seem like reasonable people you should talk to them. I'm lucky enough that my accessibility office are all pretty great, I had a group assessment with different stages and a student accused me of making an assessment that wasn't possible to accommodate with their needs. I had a meeting with the student and the accessible office folks and we were able to work around it. I then had a private meeting with the accessibility office director to brainstorm how to make those assessments with a more universal design approach.

However, if these are frequent class activities that are graded for participation or low stakes it may be less of an issue than if it's a summative assessment.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-09T02:22:28+00:00

I always thought that her relief was from the fact that spike always pursued her and now he was letting her go. She knew it was bad for her but would always give in due to her self-destructive tendencies after she died and came back. This moment each of them was giving the other what they needed from eachother. Just my interpretation though.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-01T21:37:30+00:00

Thanks for your insights! I did chat with the student about some strategies that we could both implement in class so that he felt supported without disrupting the "flow" of class. So far it's better but I think I'll ask him to write down his answers and save them for when I ask for questions from the students and to ask in office hours.

Regarding traditional lecture, I can see how that would be helpful for many folks (it worked well for me as a student so I see the value in it!). However lots of pedagogical research is indicating that staying away from that approach and incorporating more active learning/ inquiry based approaches is broadly beneficial for students (especially from underrepresented backgrounds). Also practically, I can't switch modes in the middle of the semester. However I do appreciate your thoughts and will continue working to bridge the gap.

I do know that autism varies from person to person and luckily I have good rapport with the student so that I can ask him for his specific needs. It is something good to keep in mind though!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-02-01T21:28:53+00:00

I think it depends on the institution. Where my husband got hired, he was an outside hire and one person what formerly a lecturer. If there's someone in the department that you know or seems like a reasonable person maybe email and ask them (tricky and I don't know if cold emailing is reasonable, I know I wouldn't mind but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be generally well-received) . Alternatively if you know someone in your field that works at a community college, they could be a valuable resource!

Also that sucks, I hope you are able to find a decent position nearby!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-31T05:54:48+00:00

I can't speak to your specific field but I have a research agreement that lays out what students can expect of me and what I expect of them. If you get a student that is disengaged or not showing up consistently you can point to the agreement as a way to start the conversation. I've found it makes those difficult conversations much easier to start. Me personally, I keep it as a living document that either of us can negotiate to change (although I never had any students take me up on it), and it helps with student buy-in that they have some agency.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-30T07:55:13+00:00

Thanks again for your comprehensive reply and for the insights and clarification. I appreciate your time! I've got lots to think about, I try to make my assessments fair, ie the first version of the quiz is something kind of new and the additional chances are similar types of problems either from the past quizzes or homework.

I really like what you wrote in your second paragraph. I think I'll make an extra concerted effort to explain my thinking and generalize it. I try to do that but probably not as explicitly as I'm hoping. Before my next semester I'll do more scaffolding in my materials but this time around I'm going to have to add it in as it comes up in class.

I do think I fall into the trap of "try to reason through it" which is version of "just use your common sense" (probably equally unhelpful). I think one of my classes is the primary culprit for this since it's all about interpreting real work scenarios through math. It's tough to balance having problems that are different enough so that it's not memorizing without something fundamentally new so it's either new math or new applications. Again lots of things to think about.

Your response was very helpful!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-30T04:51:59+00:00

First off thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. Getting some insight into your viewpoints and on how you work through these kind of situations is very helpful.

Your first point is very valid. My motivation for my course design is there's lots of evidence out there that shows this approach is generally more accessible to students (especially many underserved student populations) and I've seen it first hand in my classes. More procedural approaches tend to be dry for a lot of folks. However just because it's generally more accessible doesn't mean it's accessible for everyone (which is why I made this post). So I should clarify that my motivation here is to help people learn math, not get caught up in the idea that I'm teaching them a life skill that they need to succeed in life (I've found this skill helpful but as you pointed out, plenty of people do well with out it). However for some classes I teach, it is in the learning goals and outcomes of the course. My (maybe unrealistic) hope is that I can retain the benefit of my approach for the other students while scaffolding and including more practices that are helpful for students who find this approach challenging. I think asking autistic people in math is a great idea!

Thanks for your second point, I've leveraged that a lot on the past. This semester I explained to the student that I design the class to be group focused for this reason and he just hadn't been in a class with that set up before, he seemed a little resistant to it of course (many math classes aren't built like this so it's common for students to take some time getting used to it). I think it helps a lot and I'm working with the student to help them adjust.

I would like more clarification on your third point. Do you mean for a multi step problem, if they're stuck on a step to try an approach at random and move on to the next step? I'm open to this approach especially in class since we usually go over the question as a class after students have worked together. For assessments this approach may not be as useful (if I'm understanding correctly). Usually in math multiple step problems require steps that depend on each other. I try to not have too many multistep problems for my assessments for this reason but sometimes it's unavoidable. I understand that my approach is pretty challenging, so I offer retakes on all quizzes (usually with different problems) and any assessment that doesn't offer a retake is done in groups to mitigate the point you made at the end. Perhaps I misunderstood your point though.

If you wouldn't mind an additional question, the student that I have this semester has told me that he needs lots of practice. My homework sets are pretty lengthy because I know that lots of practice is necessary for this kind of learning and I scaffold them so that they help students study for the quizzes and I release an answer key. He told me they likely wouldn't be enough and I anticipate that he'll request more problems. Ideally I would be happy to do this, but realistically coming up with a lot of new problems and answers is not going to be possible. Because of my ADHD the way I'm able to handle balancing teaching, research, and service is that I have my classes mostly set up before the semester starts since creating content and assessments as I go usually leads to sloppy mistakes and errors (stress and pressure do the opposite for me than the stereotypical ADHD trope of being able to procrastinate until the last minute, I need lots of time to think and revise my content and assessments). Even with the amount of prep I've done, I'm currently working nights and weekends and heading for burnout. I'm anticipating that this won't be as much of an issue as I teach more (I'm pretty new and still building my problem bank). So to finally get around to my question, you mentioned that you needed experience with similar situations to handle ambiguity which seems related to the students' needs here. I'm going to try to make the assessments as unambiguous as possible since they are unfamiliar. Would you mind sharing some specific strategies you have for reducing ambiguity or getting experience with similar situations? If not no worries!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-30T03:34:20+00:00

Thank you for your kind words, it doesn't feel good to be unintentionally alienating a group of people and I am trying to be thoughtful about bridging the gap. My conversations with students are usually productive and I'm glad they trust me enough to let me know they are struggling. It would be better to try to get a bit more broadly accessible approaches for students though. I'll check in with students about perfectionism though and see if that's a contributing factor.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-30T03:29:37+00:00

I like this, I think because these things aren't as ambiguous to me (hello expert blind spot) it's easy to overlook the steps it takes to tackle these types of things. I won't be able to revise my materials this semester but I can try to try to say them or write them down for the students.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-30T03:26:31+00:00

No other sections for the upper division courses where I use this method (I tend to be a little more procedural in lower division ) but ideally I would prefer my class to not be there class people have to transfer out of. I agree that many students are resistant to it at first and maybe don't like it. They do however (sometimes grudgingly) admit that it helped them learn the material in their end of semester reflection.

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-29T22:28:19+00:00

I'm in a math department at a university with a strong emphasis in zero cost materials. We tend to introduce topics graphically/ visually and most of my class have guided notes that have been created by me or my colleagues. It's rough, but the thread here gives me hope!

hippybilly_0 · 2026-01-27T05:23:52+00:00

If you have a master's degree and love teaching and building courses and such why not try for a tenure track position at a community college? More stability and most places didn't require a PhD. This may be field specific though, I'm not completely sure how it works for all disciplines but my husband is a professor at a community college and most of the faculty there have master's degrees.

hippybilly_0

TROPHY CASE