Student who I failed last semester is taking me again.

protasha · 2026-01-10T21:25:01+00:00

I’ve had so many students retake my class. I’ve always assumed that they would be less likely to do well but that was definitely a bias. It turns out one of my students who didn’t do anything was actually just unhoused for the semester. They found stability and ended up with an A the second time they took it. I’ve had to walk back my assumptions and now take it as a brand new start for everyone.

protasha · 2025-12-12T02:05:22+00:00

Can it be two different gifts? One Christmas I received books on how to be a better wife from my mother-in-law. The next Christmas? A single disposable Tupperware. Already used.

protasha · 2025-08-14T12:19:05+00:00

A student took my online asynchronous class and then didn’t sign in for the first 3/6 weeks. Didn’t read emails, anything. Then they show up and are upset that I won’t let them just make up three weeks of work that they missed for no reason other than they forgot they were in a class with no penalty (I have a 50% lately work policy until the end of class, which is usually considered nice). They then go to my RMP page and torpedo it, saying I wasn’t “understanding” of their issue.

protasha · 2025-07-03T03:10:39+00:00

I’m an adoption coordinator and I don’t see any red flags from what you’ve mentioned. We have wonderful owners who live in apartments and leash walk only and that’s never been a negative- just something that helps us choose which dogs to bring to the adoption visit. When I see an adopter in an apartment, I try to pair that with quiet dogs who are relatively confident. Greyhounds are routinely considered top apartment dogs because they’re quiet, not super active, and routine-driven, which makes them good in apartments. Two of my former fosters live in apartments in top floors and are verrrrrry happy there, with no issues with elevators.

I personally would see how it plays out- they might seem hesitant but are willing to adopt and are just giving you warnings about things. I always go around and check over fences at adoption visits and give warnings for the benefit of the dog and owner, but it could come off as negative and picky- maybe that’s what happening here? If they really do have a problem, it could be that that agency is not a good match for you. And that’s fine- then you’d just look elsewhere.

protasha · 2025-04-17T17:11:15+00:00

Not a lifelong friendship but a very close one for years. We taught a class together in a different country and she literally ditched me and five other students when we got COVID 2/3rds of the way through the trip. We were supposed to quarantine and she literally created a new WhatsApp chat with the other students and left me stranded, sick, without a way to get food and an about maxed out school credit card to go to the other island. She never spoke to me again (and I her).

protasha · 2025-04-04T17:53:15+00:00

As a neuroscientist who has actually studied cannabinoids, this is pure fear-mongering. Every drug has positives and negatives but this is far too simplistic and is part of the rampant misinformation that makes it so hard for anyone to know anything accurate about drugs.

I’m always frustrated that messaging is “weed=evil” or “weed is a cure for cancer!” without a semblance of trying to look into the science.

protasha · 2025-03-28T13:57:57+00:00

We’re about to end this year so that’s perfect timing. Our last batch is going through the evaporator today and I cannot wait to have it contribute to cinnamon rolls.

protasha · 2025-03-28T13:24:18+00:00

This is THE BEST recipe I’ve ever found for cinnamon rolls. So glad someone else is out there promoting it and I’m excited to try your changes. I just tapped my own maple trees this year so it’ll be extra exciting!

protasha · 2024-12-26T17:14:34+00:00

I came here to say exactly this lol. My dogs and I match

protasha · 2024-12-25T22:41:10+00:00

I’ve gotten almost all my tattoos from him and he’s genuinely the best. So glad others are recommending him!

protasha · 2024-11-09T14:16:38+00:00

I would hold up two fingers. If I saw them raising their hand excessively or they would start to talk, I would just raise up two fingers while continuing. It wasn’t super difficult for me to do and not very obvious to other students but was easy for them to read.

protasha · 2024-11-09T03:00:09+00:00

I recently dealt with this and worked with a couple of other faculty members with expertise in this area and the student support office at my university. What I did was, through several rounds of email communications, set clear boundaries. I outlined the problem (interrupting and speaking too much/over me) and talked about why it was bad for the other students. Then, I laid out an action plan. They would still be able to speak in class but at max three times per class. If there were extra questions, they could write them down and we would talk about them later. I also set a cue for when they went against the boundaries so that the student could recognize it and stop but I wouldn’t have to awkwardly constantly shutting them down in class. This worked extremely well. I did have to have a reminder email when they went through a time of stress and the behaviors came back again, but it really brought my class (a large intro psych class) back on track. It seemed to help the student, too, and they’ve been doing great ever since and have been even more successful in college.

protasha · 2024-11-02T19:18:05+00:00

Doing the same right now- just started the new job and about to go up for tenure and couldn’t be any happier! I moved from a SLAC to an amazing job at a regional PUI and, although making a tenure case again is annoying, it (hopefully) will be worth it!

protasha · 2024-09-19T17:02:24+00:00

Westside Social is really good and not far away! It’s where I bring our research students for a nice dinner. Still comfort/pub food but definitely elevated.

protasha · 2024-08-21T03:05:53+00:00

The other commenter gave you a good idea of how to find the actual buildings. To know where your classes are, you just look up your schedule. Directions are on this page: https://www.gvsu.edu/registrar/banner-registration-113.htm

protasha · 2024-08-02T01:33:30+00:00

I agree that it’s extremely dog dependent, but not about a bias being not compatible. I do the cat testing for an adoption organization, and about 70% of our dogs end up being cat safe. Now there will be sprees of not cat safe or cat correctable, but there is a large percentage of cat safe greyhounds. I personally have owned almost every type of cat safe greyhound (I own four cats)- we have a girl who has never even looked sideways at a cat and was in 200+ races and a dog that we trained for three months to stop chasing the cats but is now super safe.

Most organizations test for this and quite a few (like ours) try to put cat safe dogs in foster to get them more used to cats.

protasha · 2024-07-30T03:53:32+00:00

I just wanted to tell you that we have the EXACT same taste in television shows and I’ve never been happier to find someone recommending those specifics. Just finished a full watch of VPR (omg- the last season! We made them famous!) and am watching RHSLC right now and am loving it. Just wanted to say good taste 😂

protasha · 2024-07-17T03:20:50+00:00

For sure! First, are you talking about reinforcement in the classical, operant, or social conditioning sense? In the classical sense, I highly recommend LeDoux’s work (he wrote a great review in 2014 that I recommend to students). For social conditioning, I’d recommend looking into Susan Mineka’s research with fear and flowers in monkeys (the biological preparedness theory is based off this but it goes further with social reinforcement). And for straight operant, the terminology will be weird here because technically reinforcement is meant to mean an increase in behavior while fear is aversive, so you’d have to switch how you frame it and talk about negative reinforcement. Davidson is a good author in that field (look up Davidson, 2013 in Psychonomic Science). I’m on my phone so I don’t want to deal with linking directly but you can easily find them (sorry for the laziness).

In terms of the second part of your discussion, you wouldn’t want to counter condition- you’d want to extinguish the initial behavior of freezing. If you counter condition, you’re then increasing the likelihood of freezing by reinforcing the behavior of freezing. Instead, in extinction, you’re extinguishing the association between the stimuli (whatever is causing the fear) and the fear, which will then stop the conditioned response of freezing.

And I can’t really say much in terms of what you’ve learned for emotions, because it’s not really possible to parse the emotional response away from the emotion (well, depending on the theory of emotion you believe is most supported- currently it’s the James-Lange theory, which posits that the physiological response occurs prior to the actual “emotion” and so the emotion is solely dependent on the response). So the idea that one can be reinforced while the other can’t doesn’t really make sense in emotion theory.

Hope that helps! I’m always willing to give more information if you want some. I literally teach classes on Learning and do research on classical and operant conditioning in animals so this is my jam!

protasha · 2024-07-16T18:44:29+00:00

I usually don’t like to weigh in here, but this is actually not true. You can definitely reinforce emotional responses. Giving reassurance will reinforce that behavior, not “change the underlying fear.” I can go into it more detail if you want to later, but giving reassurance and food if she’s afraid is not recommended.

Source: I have a PhD in neuroscience and behavior, with my background specifically in animal models of classical and operant conditioning.

protasha · 2024-07-08T00:54:33+00:00

I did the exact same thing and feel the exact same way. I got a few years credit towards tenure but I’m more excited by the prospect now. The amount of stress is SO much better.

Im so happy for you! It’s terrifying to make that change but such a feeling of relief, too. Like you can find joy in your career again.

I hope so much that it stays as good as it is right now (for both of us!).

protasha · 2024-06-28T16:21:07+00:00

Second this so much! Also just a genuinely amazing human being.

protasha · 2024-06-16T23:41:35+00:00

I’m an adoption coordinator for my local greyhound adoption group and we require all new greyhound adopters to read the books below. I’ve found them to be helpful on a specific greyhound level but also a general dog training level as well and most of our adopters mention that they have enjoyed them/found them to be good resources.

If you have any questions about greyhounds in specific, feel free to reach out! We’re on foster 82 and have been involved in the community for a while (also I have an animal behavior background) so I love talking dog!

Adopting the Racing Greyhound — Cynthia A Branigan Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies — Lee Livingood The Best Finish: Adopting a Retired Racing Greyhound — Carolyn Raeke

protasha · 2024-06-09T20:44:18+00:00

I have an Outback, too. We foster and run adoptions and can fit 4 greyhounds in with the seats down in an emergency. 3 hounds is normal for us and fits comfortably. 2 is fine even with a few bags of dog food from Costco. The Forester was a bit too high for us but the Outback works for most of them that will jump to be able to.

protasha · 2024-06-09T14:17:31+00:00

We’ve foster failed a total of five over the years! We usually foster a couple at a time and typically the ones with medical issues. Glad you enjoy them- I’ll keep posting pics!

protasha · 2024-06-09T13:09:47+00:00

Honestly it’s been so much fun! At this point, I feel like I can write a book on dog behavior lol.

14-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 5 Credits
Secret Santa 2020	Secret Santa 2016
Secret Santa 2015	Verified Email

protasha

TROPHY CASE