{"id":190,"date":"2016-06-14T10:20:45","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/?p=190"},"modified":"2016-06-14T10:24:19","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:24:19","slug":"a-tale-of-two-cults-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/2016\/06\/14\/a-tale-of-two-cults-chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Cults: Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last time, dear reader, I reported I would be following up about the next set of plans in my life that promised to ring in more crazy. \u00a0Today’s episode: AP Psych crazy. \u00a0And by that I mean Advanced Placement Psychology Exam reading:<\/p>\n

\"AP<\/a><\/p>\n

My dear friend, Caitlin<\/a>, is a reader for the Advanced Placement exam in psychology. \u00a0This is the exam for high school students who take an advanced class and hope to get college credit by scoring a particular score on a standardized test. \u00a0Caitlin shows up for a week every year and grades exams until she needs a new eyeglass prescription. \u00a0And this year she convinced me that this was\u00a0EXACTLY what I needed to do to round out my academic year. \u00a0(She was only able to compell me because I was\u00a0motivated by the money, needing to fund a certain excursion that will be detailed in the next installment.)<\/p>\n

So last Thursday afternoon she and I boarded a plane and flew to Louisville, Kentucky…on the self-same day that the\u00a0fine city buried its hometown hero (Mohammed Ali: it was an honor to witness the thousands who came to pay respects)<\/p>\n

\"Mohammed<\/a><\/p>\n

We arrived too late to get tickets to the memorial service\u00a0but the testimonials were broadcast on outdoor televisions all around our hotel and conference site.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t too long until I realized that I was being inducted into a freakin’ CULT! \u00a0Seriously…all the cult indoctrination techniques were in evidence. \u00a0Taking a group of relative strangers to a place outside their normal environment; restricting their access to media by insisting we actually TURN OFF our phones during the eight hours we are cloistered into frigid rooms lit only with horrid florescents; surrounding us with hyper-enthusiastic leaders\/cheerleaders whose job it is to keep us in line and ALL GRADING THE EXACT SAME WAY. \u00a0A cult! \u00a0Wait until I tell my students…<\/p>\n

But along the way I met with some really cool high school AP teachers whose devotion to their profession\/students is without compare. \u00a0I found an old friend from more than 20 years ago who is also a grader (“reader” — we’re actually called “readers”). \u00a0I played my first game of Cards Against Humanity (and I was pretty darned good at it!) \u00a0Several of my “young” friends tease me UNMERCIFULLY because I keep calling it Crimes Against Humanity.<\/p>\n

\"20160611_201103\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We’re trying to take really good care of ourselves (hydration, sleep, protein) because, my people, this work is GRUELING. \u00a0The effort that goes in to eight hours of focus, consistency, alignment with the rubric, etc., does not permit staying up to close down the bar or subsisting on donuts and Snickers bars.<\/p>\n

More evidence of my entry into a cult? \u00a0Secret handshakes in the form of honorary titles for various roles: *I* am an “acorn” (a first-year). \u00a0“Aliens” are people who can plow through piles of essays with superhuman speed and maintain excellent consistency scores (oh yes, we are being evaluated on our evaluations).<\/p>\n

Will I do this again next year? \u00a0I haven’t decided. \u00a0Dinner last night with five really great people, most of whom were new to me, at a fabulous Southern Smokehouse, after a day putting in REAL work was pretty fabulous. \u00a0Let’s see how the next three days pan out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last time, dear reader, I reported I would be following up about the next set of plans in my life that promised to ring in more crazy. \u00a0Today’s episode: AP Psych crazy. \u00a0And by that I mean Advanced Placement Psychology Exam reading: My dear friend, Caitlin, is a reader for the Advanced Placement exam in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/501"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/keyssell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}