Back when music used to come in CDs (and cassette tapes), I had a decent CD collection. I still have most of the CDs, but its been unplayed for many years. I now mostly listen either to the radio or iTunes music in the car.
One of the CDs I bought back when it was first released was Graceland, by Paul Simon. It wasn't the title track that got much radio play then, but rather "You can call me Al", which I took an immediate liking too. The music video which features the very talented and tall Chevy Chase, in contrast to the diminutive Paul Simon is nice and quirky too.
I really like many of the songs on the album, which was my first introduction to "World Music", and the CD spent a lot of time in my player. It took quite a few listens before I liked the title track "Graceland". But I never understood the lyrics and how it fit into the rest of the album. That changed when I bought the 25 Anniversary album on iTunes, which included a few bonus tracks, including one on the making on the title track. Simon's description of how the song started, developed, and the meaning of lyrics, helped me understand how the song fits in with the rest of the album.
Earlier this week, I used polleverywhere to get some immediate feedback after my small group student teaching. NUS, through CIT, provides institutional access to it for staff. Polleverywhere works much better than the previous SMS reply polling system.
I first used the software for a presentation session in Coimbatore for the ISSH last year, but it didn't work so well because the internet at the conference venue was slow. Still the audience was quite supportive and tried hard to participate.
For my student teaching this week, the software worked pretty well. Most of the students participated and beyond the feedback scores (which was encouraging), I was really happy to receive some written comments.
Now comes the hard part. Turning the feedback into some concrete action and changes.
