Successor site to the Philosophy of Happiness blog (http://philoshap.blogspot.com/) that supported PHIL 3160 at MTSU, 2011-2019. The course returns Fall 2025.
PHIL 3160 – Philosophy of Happiness
What is it, how can we best pursue it, why should we? Supporting the study of these and related questions at Middle Tennessee State University and beyond. "Examining the concept of human happiness and its application in everyday living as discussed since antiquity by philosophers, psychologists, writers, spiritual leaders, and contributors to pop culture."
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Meetings
Have you noticed the cartoon in our conference room?
It's kind of insane how well this fits our situation lol
I wanted to take this post as an opportunity to say a couple of things.
1. I really have enjoyed this class more since we've moved to attending in the conference room. It's so much more conducive to conversation. Also the old classroom was a bit cramped and it was always unfortunate that all of that noise would occasionally happen right outside the room. Again though, I'm glad we go to the conference room now and hope that we continue!
2. The other thing I wanted to vocalize is that I feel there is another reason our classes have been so much more discussion based. Until last class period, we had been skipping the ritual of "what happened on this date" and looking over the news. Truly, I feel that this ritual hinders us more than anything. I don't mean this to be a Debbie Downer or to be mean, this is all just my opinion. It feels as though when we do perform this ritual though, we waste a lot of class time - usually about 1/3 to 1/2 of it on things that are ultimately not related to the topics at hand. Typically, this time spent does not spark discussion, though I believe that is the intention. Again, this is not to talk down on anything or anyone, I just truly believe that our conversations have been so much better lately without this ritual and just wanted to vocalize that point.
The cartoon sorta fits our situation, though our classes feel nothing like my staff meetings. (Thankfully!)
Re: 1. Me too. That's why I moved us. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee the availability of the conference room each week.
2. I started the history/news ritual in my Intro classes because I found, and find, freshmen shockingly uninformed about both. I've continued the practice in all my courses (when I don't forget) because I find it fun and often enlightening. But, if the consensus view in our course is that we'd prefer to dispense with it, I'll yield to the will of the majority.
But don't expect me to be a good democrat in every situation. ;)
It's kind of insane how well this fits our situation lol
ReplyDeleteI wanted to take this post as an opportunity to say a couple of things.
1. I really have enjoyed this class more since we've moved to attending in the conference room. It's so much more conducive to conversation. Also the old classroom was a bit cramped and it was always unfortunate that all of that noise would occasionally happen right outside the room. Again though, I'm glad we go to the conference room now and hope that we continue!
2. The other thing I wanted to vocalize is that I feel there is another reason our classes have been so much more discussion based. Until last class period, we had been skipping the ritual of "what happened on this date" and looking over the news. Truly, I feel that this ritual hinders us more than anything. I don't mean this to be a Debbie Downer or to be mean, this is all just my opinion. It feels as though when we do perform this ritual though, we waste a lot of class time - usually about 1/3 to 1/2 of it on things that are ultimately not related to the topics at hand. Typically, this time spent does not spark discussion, though I believe that is the intention. Again, this is not to talk down on anything or anyone, I just truly believe that our conversations have been so much better lately without this ritual and just wanted to vocalize that point.
Flynn, thanks for the feedback.
DeleteThe cartoon sorta fits our situation, though our classes feel nothing like my staff meetings. (Thankfully!)
Re: 1. Me too. That's why I moved us. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee the availability of the conference room each week.
2. I started the history/news ritual in my Intro classes because I found, and find, freshmen shockingly uninformed about both. I've continued the practice in all my courses (when I don't forget) because I find it fun and often enlightening. But, if the consensus view in our course is that we'd prefer to dispense with it, I'll yield to the will of the majority.
But don't expect me to be a good democrat in every situation. ;)
And may I just add: I thought discussion last class was pretty spirited, ritual notwithstanding.
Delete