TimoSkaggs

The class is Critical Thinking. The assignment was to take a problem or a situation in your life, something that is important to you, and use the skills you have learned in critical thinking to arrive at a judgment or conclusion. Some students wrote about getting married, some wrote about choosing a major or starting a business. Generally speaking, I didn't treat this as a spelling and grammar exercise. If I did that, few would pass the class. I really wanted to get insight into how they are making decisions. I had a number of really amazing papers but the one below absolutely blew me away. I want to honor this student by using his voice so I have copied it almost exactly as he wrote it. He's from one of the provinces and he's here ... read more

One of my students just left my office. She's had to miss her midterm exam last week because of work. This isn't uncommon. She's an unusually bright young girl with an intense face and a stout, but not overweight, frame. She's curious and an eager learner who always sits in the front row and she goes by the name Kimmy, which is short for Ong Kimheang. It's unusual for Khmer people to take on Anglo names like so many Chinese students do. She is way more engaged as a student than just about any of the other young girls. She's not a vampire girl. Vampire girls are a description that Sam and I have given to the young women who are from wealthy Phnom Penh families. They dress very Korean chic, color their hair, are rail ... read more

Eight months and counting. There are a lot of ways to think about eight months which can either make it sound like a second or an eternity and how it really feels to me depends on the day. On one hand eight months is about how long it takes to create a new human life. Had I been pregnant when I left Houston I would be delivering just about now. Of course, had I been pregnant I would also have been on Oprah, Jerry Springer and Dr. Oz and graced the cover of every tabloid in the supermarket. Eight months is about the lifespan of a honeybee and eight months is still not enough time to decide whether or not I want to spend 8 more months in this part of the world. Good thing I'm ... read more

I'm not sure where to start. So much has happened since my last blog but what spurred me to action is I just received our holiday schedule for 2013. You sort of have to love a country that values work life balance so much that they have 35 national holidays. Earlier I blogged about the plight of the textile workers only making $100/month but when you figure in all the holidays, their lot improves considerably. Of course I’m kidding, but it is so over the top that it really interferes with student learning and national productivity. Just as you get into a rhythm with students you have a holiday and they return like someone stuck a vacuum cleaner up their nose and sucked out all the gray matter. Of course, if the holiday is on a ... read more

I’m five days away from the six month mark in Asia. One friend told me early on the six month mark is the hardest in terms of dealing with culture shock because what was once enchanting and interesting just becomes plain old annoying. You can tolerate anything as long as you know how long it will last. This is what bothers me most about the concept of eternity. Still, losing enchantment doesn’t necessarily mean disenchanted. There is a discovery process going on that is more about discovering myself as an American with all the culture and ideals that go with that. I’ve always heard it said about us that we are consumed by work, solving problems, creativity and efficiency. This isn’t a myth started by someone who doesn’t like us—it’s absolutely true. I’ve always prided myself ... read more

A month or so ago I wasn’t blogging much because I just didn’t feel I had anything new to share or words of wisdom that might be worth reading. The last three weeks I didn’t blog because I frankly couldn’t find any extra time to make it happen even though I had plenty to say and lots of things are happening. My three critical thinking classes are keeping me very busy. I have a total of about 75 students. I’m gaining greater empathy by the day for teachers at home who are constantly grading and lesson planning and creating evaluations for student learning and managing the classroom and serving on committees and meeting with parent and…………whew. Exhausting. My students are a handful! When I put them in groups to work together they won’t talk but when ... read more

Last week was flat out tough. You don't do something like this to sit around and wait for something to happen, yet that's how I felt all week. All of the work designing the Master's and Ph.D. programs was pretty much finished and awaiting approval from the Ministry of Education. Yes, the government must approve new academic programs even those of a private university. And of course there is a hefty fee for doing so. I'm discovering those who approve our academic programs know precious little about education so they come up with some rather perplexing regulations. Just one example is Ph.D. students are required to submit their dissertation proposal as part of their entry into a doctoral program. I can think of no good reason for such a regulation other than to dissuade potential students ... read more