Princeton…
I spent the day yesterday at Princeton’s Writing Program, having lunch with the directors and sticking around for a workshop on proposing writing seminars (I’m going to apply for a fellowship, so the workshop was definitely worthwhile).
Their program is a little different from what I’m used to at Cornell, in particular because the Princeton seminars are substantially more structured, with four standard assignments spaced throughout the semester. Though I initially wasn’t sure about what seemed a more rigid pedagogy, after thinking through a course design I realized that their setup makes a whole lot of sense. On the one hand, I’m definitely moving more toward the idea of a few longer assignments than a bunch of short ones (esp. with one long research paper, which will be the centerpiece of my “Writing as Technology” course next semester). Also, knowing up front the kinds of assignments that are expected makes it substantially easier to build a course from the assignments up, rather than the other way around.
Aside from that, the Princeton program felt very familiar and natural, with its explicit orientation toward teaching argument (plus, Kerry and Ann, the directors, are just plain cool). I’m most comfortable (and happiest) when teaching macro-level things like argument and structure, so I think I’d fit in fine. I’d say their postdoc would be one of my top choices for where to spend the next few years (plus, being able to live in NYC would be a definite plus)…
Oh, and here’s the weirdest thing about the day – I’m waiting for the train back from Princeton to NYC and I see a two other grad students from the workshop. I walk over, introduce myself, and one of them says “Cornell Science & Technology Studies, right? Are you the guy who lives in Park Slope and has a blog?”
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, he explained that he found “Epistemographer” via NYC Bloggers (he lives a few stops up on the F train from Jenny’s place)…too funny. It’s a little weird to meet someone who already knows a lot about you from reading your blog, but definitely a cool experience. So, a shout out to Michael, and I’ll look forward to catching up with you in the neighborhood sometime soon…