A short entry to offset the recent long ones: Showalter inspires conversation about teaching literature.
Archive for the ‘Academic’ category
Teaching English literature
December 9th, 2003Studying for Contemporary Critical Theory
December 9th, 2003To study for my examination in English 470A, I outlined some essays that we studied this term (mostly the early ones, by the formalists and structuralists). I post these outlines and notes here for all to read. Use them at your own risk 
A poor effort and a poor result
November 8th, 2003So I got my ENGL 470A midterm back on Thursday. As I expected, I didn't do as well as I would have liked to. During the midterm I felt like I was rambling on about superficial similarities between the various texts that we've studied this term. Turns out that my intuition was correct: I got 81% on the midterm. Really, I think my mark should have been lower, around 75%. I need to work harder on my group seminar and essay.
Preston Manning talks about faith and politics
November 2nd, 2003On Friday, Preston Manning, former leader of the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance, gave a talk entitled "The Interface Between Faith And Politics." His talk was the 2003-2004 Wintermeyer lecture, which is organized by the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience.
The talk was quite different from last year's Wintermeyer lecture, which was given by Joe Clark on the topic of faith in public life. Unlike Clark, Manning argued that faith should play an important role in the development of public policy.
Althusser’s “Ideology” relies on oral examples
October 23rd, 2003Today in English 470A, Contemporary Crtitical Theory, we talked about Louis Althusser's essay, "Ideology." Murray McArthur outlined the main ideas set out in essay and handled questions raised by my fellow students.
Caveat: Our anthology only includes part of the essay, so the following is not necessarily true.
Goyer avoids ORE
October 17th, 2003Prolific blogger and UW student Matt Goyer must not read my blog. If he did, he would know that it only took the Office of Research Ethics ten days to clear my basic application, not four months.
Full ethics approval for my work report research
October 9th, 2003I submitted my surveys and associated material to the Office of Research Ethics on 30 September 2003. On 2 October, the Manager of Research Ethics, Susanne Santi, e-mailed to let me know that I've received provisional ethics clearance. In her e-mail, she outlined what I needed to change to receive full ethics clearance. She also asked some questions about my materials. I revised my materials and resubmitted on 6 October. Today Susanne Santi e-mailed me to let me know that I've received full ethics clearance for my research.
» Read more: Full ethics approval for my work report research
Google file system examined
September 30th, 2003If you've ever wondered how Google stores and accesses its massive index, you may find this paper on the Google file system interesting. I haven't finished reading it.
Contemporary critical theory: eight classes in
September 28th, 2003I am taking English 470A: Contemporary Critical Theory this term. The course is taught by Murray McArthur, chair of the Department of English Language & Literature at University of Waterloo. The course covers formalism (including American New Criticism), structuralism, pyschoanalysis, post-structuralism, feminism, queer theory and post-coloniality.
The reading list includes excerpts of essays by Victor Sklovskij, Roman Jakobson, Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Vladimir Propp, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and others. To date, we have read and discussed texts by the first six writers.
Canada’s economic policy and double regulation of post-secondary education
September 24th, 2003Tonight, I attended a talk at the Four Points Sheraton by Pierre Duguay, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada. UW's Dean of Arts, Bob Kerton, introduced Duguay to a crowd of 120 Rotarians and guests. The talk was hosted by the Grand River Rotary Club.
» Read more: Canada’s economic policy and double regulation of post-secondary education
