A teacher is not a performance artist.
This brings to mind the different metaphors people use for teaching. A lot of people use the stand-up comedian or performance artist as their model for
what a successful teacher looks like. For a long time, I've used a painter as a model for teacher: the painter creates a set of paintings for people to study,
sets them up at a show, and then facilitates the interaction between the audience and the painting. That has captured for me the work behind the scenes
that the teacher does as well as my vision of having the key interaction take place between the student and the intellectual content of the discipline, rather than the
focusing on performance of the teacher. This morning at 
BioTeach we began trying to identify the parameters
that affect student engagement in class and a key one was the relationship between the student task in class and how the instructor can model that task.
The goal is not for students to learn to paint, but for the students to recognize patterns and symbolism in the painting, and eventually, in everything. Art
and science have more in common than most people are willing to admit.
I finally made my travel arrangements for 
BioQUEST. Well, almost. I'm planning to meet Tom in Chicago and we'll travel together up to Beloit. I'm planning to travel by train, given my pledge not to fly until the War on Terror is over. I checked the prices this afternoon and was pleased to see that one-way ticket back was only $89. My session timed out while I was helping someone and when I got back to it, 45 minutes later, the price had gone up like $30! I was miffed enough that I tried calling to ask about it, but you can't talk to a human being if you call Amtrak. So I sent them email. Here is their reply
I checked pricing on train 448 from CHI to SPG for Jun 3rd and got $89. A half hour later the price had jumped to $122. What gives?
What gives is the fares are based upon availability on the date of departure. As the train gets closer to being sold out then the fares increase.
I wish the US had a real train system. For decades, Amtrak has gone to congress and said, "Here's what we need to offer train service" and congress gives them 50% of that. It's pathetic. And who knows -- maybe they've made travelling by train as unpleasant as air travel. At least we're getting a few decent rail trails out of the dismantling of the train system. With the current US government, you have to look for anything positive you can find.