Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My Tenure Application is in!

I turned in my tenure dossier. It had the following components;

  • A cover letter- mine was relatively brief, with a table of contents-like format.
  • A section on novel material for this review
    • a self-evaluation from in which I had to place myself  on a scale from complete dodo to ubermench and justify why. I put myself at the second-to-highest ratings for all three areas, teaching, service and research. This form was long and included things like:


      I receive comments on my evaluations such as

      ·         “Thank you, Prof! You set the bar high and then do everything you can to make sure we reach it”
      ·         “Prof is probably the single most competent professor I have encountered at U. She really knows her stuff!”
      ·         “Great simulations and demonstrations to go along with challenging concepts”
      ·         “all of the different teaching methods used to help us understand the material-good!”
      ·         “I think Prof is an extremely challenging professor, but she is also the most willing to help you. I greatly appreciate that because it helps and makes her a great professor.”
      ·         “connecting what we were learning with real life examples”
      ·         “that Prof did not just allow us to memorize definitions but she actually made us learn the material. I personally struggled in the class not because Prof was a bad teacher but because she was an excellent teacher that challenges her students”
      ·         “I learned a lot from her style of teaching, esp w/ her sense of humor”
      ·         “demonstrative  activities that allowed us to go a little deeper than the PowerPoints in class”
      ·         “This text was the first textbook I’ve read cover to cover. Your scientific knowledge combined with the text and subject matter make this class very interesting and thought provoking”

      Comments such as these are evidence that I am reaching my goals to create a learning environment which is simultaneously challenging and supportive.  I use many demonstrations and analogies relevant to students’ lives to explain complex concepts, and the students seem to appreciate it.

      I also included my "how I integrate faith in the classroom" paper here. It was 5 pages long with 7 citations including heavy reference from David I Smith (Calvin College) and Nancey Murphy (Fuller Theological Seminary) 
      The theme was embodiment. 


      More soon.

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