Everything has been communicated and released to the students—for the first week anyways. There will be a lot of experimentation in our “getting-to-know-you session.” A google doc, a sample quiz with different kinds questions and different ways to enter responses, randomly generated Zoom breakout rooms with assigned roles, and finally a upload assignment for theContinue reading “March 29 Day 21: Full Circle”
Monthly Archives: April 2020
March 28 Day 20: Struggling to Focus
I am really struggling to focus on needed work. It’s the last Saturday of “Spring break” and I am trying to get enough posted to my course management system to publish the second course that I am teaching beginning Monday. Instead I want to talk with friends on the phone, zoom, nap, or watch “TigerContinue reading “March 28 Day 20: Struggling to Focus”
March 27 Day 19: Applying a Growth Mindset to Survive
What a week! Thank you to Duong Rita Than, Ruth Vanderpool, and Erik Tou for brainstorming, problem solving, and material sharing. I am closer to being prepared for the first day of spring quarter classes Monday but it will be a long weekend. Reflections on the transition: I have always loved gizmos, gadgets, and tech.Continue reading “March 27 Day 19: Applying a Growth Mindset to Survive”
March 26 Day 18: Welcome to New Students Spring Quarter
It starts: “It’s Spring quarter. Flowers are blooming, rain is falling, and we are following Governor Inslee’s “Stay-at-Home” order. Unlike last quarter when we unexpectedly went to online classes in week 10, we are starting anew with the expectation that the entire quarter will be delivered virtually.”
March 25 Days 16-17: Making Space
Hoping we can all maintain the human connections that nourish our lives during this wild and exhausting adventure.
March 23, Day 15: The Third Wave
Many of my mathematical friends are in the vanguard of the third wave, starting their transitions to online teaching today. For many, their institutions were on spring break when the pandemic broke. Then granted an extra week for preparations, they are now making things happen for their students. I felt a social-media sigh as worries about “what to do” transformed into realities that they really “could do” this work. Creativity, caring, and resilience. I see it everywhere.
March 22 Day 14: Gratitude Edition
Its easy to get swept up by exponential growth in newly reported corona cases and worst case scenarios. Today I need to focus on the positive things in my life (and finish my grading.)
March 21 Day 13: Checklist
Grading final projects? In progress. Household trendsetter with copper door knobs? Check. Zooming for connections? Indeed. Today a brief check in with my thesis advisor Richard A. Brualdi; tomorrow a family meeting (across the 4 times zones of in the Continental USA). What I remember most? Sleeping with the window open and breathing fresh airContinue reading “March 21 Day 13: Checklist”
March 20 Day 12: Geek Squad Cred
I know my response to stress is to sleep. As I try to grade 15 twenty-page capstone papers, all my eyes want to do is close. I set a daily goal of grading five papers to ensure that I will be ready to compute final grades by Monday and assign them before Tuesday’s 5 pmContinue reading “March 20 Day 12: Geek Squad Cred”
March 19 Day 11: Math Majors Class of 2020
A bittersweet virtual goodbye to the senior math majors. Our sixth and final day of capstone presentations went smoothly. The students dressed to impress and made me proud. I learned that in a Zoom conference, we can all turn our microphones on and clap to create real applause. The UWT Math community is strongly connectedContinue reading “March 19 Day 11: Math Majors Class of 2020”
Math Belongs to All of Us 