School stuff
Aug. 29th, 2007 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhOh my god, classes start next week! Oh my god, they expect me to teach people! I am not ready for any of this.
Yesterday and today I had to attend various orientations for new TAs, a process which began way, way too early in the morning and involved a great deal of handouts and lectures. I have now decided that I am utterly fearless in the face of putting together syllabi, grading papers, holding office hours, and so on. But I will fail utterly in the face of attempting to hold a lab on my own. I have two a week, an hour and 15 minutes each! I can't talk for an hour and 15 minutes! Not because of stage fright, but because I am not a chatty person. I couldn't talk for an hour and 15 minutes if my only audience was a cat. And certainly not at 9:30 in the bloody morning.
This problem is not being helped by the fact that the professor of the class has not yet returned from England, and thus I have no idea what the labs will actually consist of.
On that panicked note, my classes this semester:
Archaeological Methods and Techniques
It has come to my attention that, in teaching the usual broad ranging overview of archaeological methods, from survey and excavation, to dating, to typology, we are leaving students unequipped for many practical dimensions of becoming and being a professional archaeologist. Therefore, in teaching the course this year I am going to present a series of modules on a range of more pragmatic aspects of archaeological practice. Topics will include: artifact photography; light microscopy; computer graphics; artifact illustration; preparation of scholarly articles; artifact
conservation; conference presentation; funding applications; black and white darkroom processing; copyright permissions; planning and organization of excavations; museum exhibition; engaging a popular audience through science journalism; job applications. Where possible and appropriate, guest experts will be brought in to instruct and demonstrate. There will be weekly readings and practical exercises as well as an end-of-term class project.
(...whatever.)
Prehistory of South Asia
Provides an in-depth study of South Asia from the earliest sedentary settlements in the region through the development of food-producing economies, urbanization, and state-level societies in the third millennium B.C. Focuses on processes that led to the development of the Indus Valley civilization and its collapse, and the growth of societies on its margins (the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula).
(Yay, a course actually on my area! Boo, a chance for my professor to realize I do not know as much as she thinks I do! Yay, my paranoia!)
Environmental Archaeology
Environmental archaeology provides an introduction to the methods used by archaeologists in the reconstruction of prehistoric environments and some of the major theoretical issues in environmental archaeology. The techniques that will be discussed include faunal analysis, paleobotanical and pollen analyses, studies of insect and invertebrate remains, and geoarchaeology. Topical and theoretical issues include early human ecology, climatic changes at the end of the Pleistocene, the beginnings of plant and animal domestication in the eastern and western hemispheres, and the "Little Ice Age."
(I have no funny comment.)
Archaeology: Early Societies and Cultures
Archaeology: Early Societies and Cultures provides a solid grounding in the objectives, theories, methods and historical development of modern anthropological archaeology, as well as an overview of significant transformations in human culture over the past 2.5 million years. These latter topics include the origins of tool-making, the first hunters, the emergence of bioculturally modern humans, the origins of symbolism, the advent of plant
and animal domestication, and the development of cities and states. These
transformations in various parts of the world serve as case studies to illustrate the process by which archaeologists recover and study the archaeological record, and then infer from that record the vivid details of ancient societies (climate and landscape, settlement patterns, trade and exchange, technology, symbolic and cognitive systems, religion and social organization).
(The class I am TA'ing! Ah!)
Yesterday and today I had to attend various orientations for new TAs, a process which began way, way too early in the morning and involved a great deal of handouts and lectures. I have now decided that I am utterly fearless in the face of putting together syllabi, grading papers, holding office hours, and so on. But I will fail utterly in the face of attempting to hold a lab on my own. I have two a week, an hour and 15 minutes each! I can't talk for an hour and 15 minutes! Not because of stage fright, but because I am not a chatty person. I couldn't talk for an hour and 15 minutes if my only audience was a cat. And certainly not at 9:30 in the bloody morning.
This problem is not being helped by the fact that the professor of the class has not yet returned from England, and thus I have no idea what the labs will actually consist of.
On that panicked note, my classes this semester:
Archaeological Methods and Techniques
It has come to my attention that, in teaching the usual broad ranging overview of archaeological methods, from survey and excavation, to dating, to typology, we are leaving students unequipped for many practical dimensions of becoming and being a professional archaeologist. Therefore, in teaching the course this year I am going to present a series of modules on a range of more pragmatic aspects of archaeological practice. Topics will include: artifact photography; light microscopy; computer graphics; artifact illustration; preparation of scholarly articles; artifact
conservation; conference presentation; funding applications; black and white darkroom processing; copyright permissions; planning and organization of excavations; museum exhibition; engaging a popular audience through science journalism; job applications. Where possible and appropriate, guest experts will be brought in to instruct and demonstrate. There will be weekly readings and practical exercises as well as an end-of-term class project.
(...whatever.)
Prehistory of South Asia
Provides an in-depth study of South Asia from the earliest sedentary settlements in the region through the development of food-producing economies, urbanization, and state-level societies in the third millennium B.C. Focuses on processes that led to the development of the Indus Valley civilization and its collapse, and the growth of societies on its margins (the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula).
(Yay, a course actually on my area! Boo, a chance for my professor to realize I do not know as much as she thinks I do! Yay, my paranoia!)
Environmental Archaeology
Environmental archaeology provides an introduction to the methods used by archaeologists in the reconstruction of prehistoric environments and some of the major theoretical issues in environmental archaeology. The techniques that will be discussed include faunal analysis, paleobotanical and pollen analyses, studies of insect and invertebrate remains, and geoarchaeology. Topical and theoretical issues include early human ecology, climatic changes at the end of the Pleistocene, the beginnings of plant and animal domestication in the eastern and western hemispheres, and the "Little Ice Age."
(I have no funny comment.)
Archaeology: Early Societies and Cultures
Archaeology: Early Societies and Cultures provides a solid grounding in the objectives, theories, methods and historical development of modern anthropological archaeology, as well as an overview of significant transformations in human culture over the past 2.5 million years. These latter topics include the origins of tool-making, the first hunters, the emergence of bioculturally modern humans, the origins of symbolism, the advent of plant
and animal domestication, and the development of cities and states. These
transformations in various parts of the world serve as case studies to illustrate the process by which archaeologists recover and study the archaeological record, and then infer from that record the vivid details of ancient societies (climate and landscape, settlement patterns, trade and exchange, technology, symbolic and cognitive systems, religion and social organization).
(The class I am TA'ing! Ah!)
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-30 01:42 am (UTC)All classes should be that fun
no subject
Date: 2007-08-30 10:23 am (UTC)If it's "how" or "why", most of the time, if you ask them to talk through the question again they realise they knew the answer all along. If it's "what", and you don't know what, demonstrate how to find out.
It's different. In RL I hide in corners rather than talk to people I don't know well, but in front of a class it's easy. I was once told that it was an opportunity for an intimate relationship without expectation of commitment, but that may be overthinking it.
Still, that sounds a fascinating course. I'm envious.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-30 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 06:19 pm (UTC)I'm not truly panicked, just a bit nervous, I suppose. Excited too, though I think I'll feel that more once the first day is past.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 07:24 pm (UTC)Is it wrong that I'm doing a "we're going to have a skeleton!" dance?
Anyway, I'm headed home, because I'm a moron and have failed advanced planning for today.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 07:26 pm (UTC)Alright. I'm downtown right now.