06/03/2004: "My Epistemology ate my Paradigm Shift"

Last night I went back to my room at 8:30pm and decided to read for awhile, since no TV and no computer and no art supplies...I could only read for about 30 minutes before I got really sleepy. Now, normally I don't go to sleep *ever* before 1am, so for me to go to sleep at 9 is unheard of. But I did, getting something like 11 hours of sleep, and then had two very large cups of brewage this morning so I should be w i d e awake, however, my first session of the day was such a snoozefest I thought I was going to pass out. It was a study someone did on the information seeking behaviour of the millenials and terms like "metacognition" and "pedagogical" were being thrown around at such a speedy rate I nearly lost conciousness. Why do people use thousand dollar words when they could say the same thing so much more simply? Does it make them feel intellectual?

Oh man, something just happened to me that ALWAYS seems to happen to me. I was sitting here in the computer room on a break, the only person in here except for one other person who let a monster SBD (silent but deadly). She quickly got up and left the room and a minute later, the cutest guy here came in to use a computer, got a whiff, and high tailed it out of here. Now I'm sure he thinks I'm a nasty smelly freak and I'm be branded thus for the rest of the conference.

Why do these things always happen to ME???

It has only been one day and I'm already homesick for my pencils and paint brushes...I always feel like this big dork at these things. Everyone standing in big groups talking like they already know eachother, many of these people do, they go the whole conference circut, probably do that more than an actual job. I *loath* making small talk. Plus we have to wear these badges around our knecks so people have to stare at your boobs in order to see where you're from. Even worse, the air conditioners are cranked up full throttle so I'm experiencing the dreaded THO (if you don't know, don't ask)

OK, sorry to be so negative. I usually do learn a lot at these things I think I'm just in a grumpy mood because the timing of this thing is cutting into the precious little time I have left for painting.
Well, I better go get some lunch while there's time. I'll say one thing, they are providing all the meals and snacks and they've "spared no expense".

Replies: 2 Comments

on Thursday, June 3rd, John said

People use specialized language or jargon either to appear amrter than they are, to exclude people who don't know the jargon, or because they are under the mistaken impression that it's actually easier to understand what is said through the use of jargon than without. Why didn't you bring pencils or whatever dry media suits your fancy and a sketchbook? Pretend you're taking notes and instead be drawing during the boring meetings.

on Thursday, June 3rd, support@elisetomlinson.com">ELise said

I should see if they have a bookstore that sales art supplies and just get some pastels and paper. Great suggestion, thanks!

This second session I just went to was MUCH better. The presenter was a real person speaking sans jargon and had us actually doing stuff so keeping awake wasn't an issue. If anything this is making me a better instructor, being a student again and seeing what works and what doesn't.