A Jungle Named Academia

Yukiko Inoue-Smith

doi:10.5771/9780761866718

Summary

Professional ethics require continuous self-improvement of professors, through writing, reading, and learning: no less than for students. Promoting excellence in scholarship, mentoring students in their research, and effectively teaching, are vital elements in our professional and personal growth. However, any one of these could be a full-time job in itself. To excel in each role, it is essential for faculty members to reflect daily on our work.

What is the role of comparisons, in this reflection? Though our colleagues’ successes may suggest to us possibilities in our own work that we didn’t know existed, there is a danger that our neighbor’s “flowers” will always seem more beautiful than our own. We should let comparisons with others suggest new approaches to our goals, but never focus on comparing our outcomes (successes and failures) with those of other people. Instead, we should focus on steadily improving our own levels of mastery of skills in scholarship and in work with students.

In American academia, where both faculty members and students are ethnically and culturally diverse, such that we will often find our assumptions challenged, reflective thinking is even more essential than in a culturally homogeneous environment. Hence reflective, systematic approaches to daily practice in reading, teaching, and writing are powerful survival tactics, and are likely to sustain one’s vitality and productivity as a member of the academy.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2015
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7618-6670-1
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7618-6671-8
Publisher: Hamilton Books, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 169
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Foreword No access
3. Foreword No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 4
1. The Reminiscence of a Feminist Professor No access
2. The Origin of My Scholarly Journey No access
3. Confucian Beliefs on Education No access
4. A Marriage of East and West No access
5. Re-examining the Japanese Mind Amae No access
6. The Human Seasons and Higher Learning No access
7. Communication Manners of the Japanese No access
8. Wider Availability vs. Better Preparation No access
9. A Letter to My Daughter No access
1. Achieving a Work-Life Balance No access
2. Born to Be Human No access
3. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others No access
4. Perspectives on Aging No access
5. My Future Is Here and Now No access
6. The School Called Life No access
7. The Role of Language in Ethnic Identity No access
8. Three Mysteries of Buddhism No access
9. Collegiality and Colleaguality No access
10. The Power of Writing No access
11. Photographs of Ourselves No access
12. A Continuing Challenge No access
13. Don’t Panic! We Know It Doesn’t Work No access
1. How Poetry Emerges from Difficulty No access
2. Poetry as Qualitative Data No access
3. Japanese Language, Literature, and Poetry No access
4. My Interpretation of Haiku No access
5. English Tanka: A New Creation No access
6. Guam Teachers’ Reactions to English Tanka No access
7. The Fascination of Haiku, Tanka, and Senryū No access
8. The Gift of Tanka No access
9. Book Review (1) No access
10. Book Review (2) No access
1. Our Neighbor’s Beautiful Flowers No access
2. The 33rd Year: A Crucial Point in Adult Development No access
3. The Power of Throwing Away Things No access
4. The Work of a Book Editor No access
5. IGI Global Interview No access
6. A Jungle Named Academia No access
7. Space Clearing: A Serious Business No access
8. Anyone Can Do but Few Actually Do No access
9. Faculty Leadership and Reflective Practice No access
10. One Life to Live No access
1. The Cinderella Complex No access
2. “Two Lives”—Some Interpretations No access
3. Men, Women, Work, and Marriage No access
4. A New Trend in the College Curriculum No access
5. Portraits of Today’s Undergraduate Women No access
6. Book Review (3) No access
1. Earned and Not Given No access
2. What Is Critical Thinking? No access
3. Academic Experience and Critical Thinking: A Connection No access
4. Thoughts on Human Learning No access
5. The Internet and Online Learning No access
6. A Never-Ending Challenge No access
7. MOODLE for Blended Learning No access
8. CATs for Improving Teaching and Learning No access
9. Lifelong Self-Directed Learning No access
10. Quality and Sustainability No access
11. Job Hunting Seminars No access
12. Students Voices on Educational Technology No access
13. Learning, Memory, and Cognition No access
14. Rethinking PowerPoint in the Classroom No access
1. Attention Is Basic for Any Human Activity No access
2. Stand Up for Myself No access
3. Practical Applications in Everyday Life No access
4. Self-Development and a Story about Sai No access
5. Initiatives for Sustainable Living No access
6. Small Brochure, Big Advice No access
7. It’s Good to Laugh Uncontrollably, Sometimes No access
8. Ongoing Professional Development No access
9. Silence Is Golden: An Interpretation No access
10. An Opportunity or a Routine? No access
11. Golden Rules Applied to Professors No access
1. Attachment Comes with a Cost No access
2. The Diary of Pumpkin and Her Babies No access
Tanka: Sharing Presence in a Moment No access Pages 155 - 158
Notes No access Pages 159 - 160
1. Introduction No access
2. Part One No access
3. Part Two No access
4. Part Three No access
5. Part Four No access
6. Part Five No access
7. Part Six No access
8. Part Seven No access
9. Part Eight No access
Index No access Pages 167 - 168
About the Author No access Pages 169 - 169