I am excited to return to the Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) of the University of Washington Tacoma for the first time in a very long time, quite possibly 589 days. Renovations started during the COVID closure kept the second floor of the Snoqualmie building off-limits until today. I held my very first in-person drop-inContinue reading “October 18 Day 589: Grand Reopening”
Author Archives: Jenny Quinn
October 17 Day 588: No Filter
An early morning romp to the waterfront with my husband. We were rewarded with a colorful palette—starting with dark blues and purple. Transforming to oranges and red with a hint of yellow. Finished off with delicate clouds of pink. It lifts my spirits to see such beauty and share it with those I love. TheContinue reading “October 17 Day 588: No Filter”
October 13 Day 584: Overcommitted
I said yes to too many things. The next 3.5 weeks are going to be interesting. I really tried to say no. Honestly, I did. And I did say no…to some things. However, some commitments were made far in advance, others were just too good to decline, and still others were important for transparency, community,Continue reading “October 13 Day 584: Overcommitted”
October 8 Day 579: Daily Word Count
Do you have a maximum number of words you can write per day? I think I do. And I think all forms of writing accumulate towards that total. So, if I intend to work on a manuscript but I spend the morning composing email, I have already reduced what can be accomplished by the numberContinue reading “October 8 Day 579: Daily Word Count”
October 5 Day 576: Inconceivable
I just finished a virtual meeting with a student who was asking questions about the written homework due tonight (at 11:59 pm). He kept holding his work up to the laptop camera and I squinted to make out the writing. Hoping we could work differently, I asked, “What’s your favorite collaborative whiteboard?” Crickets. It wasContinue reading “October 5 Day 576: Inconceivable”
October 4 Day 575: Oops
It’s still early in the quarter so I hope that I will be forgiven my early mistakes. I arrived to the classroom 30 minutes early to get all the technology set up. I am using Zoom to record the class, my iPad to screenshare to the meeting, and the computer projector to display everything inContinue reading “October 4 Day 575: Oops”
October 3 Day 574: Old Routines are not Necessarily Good Routines
It’s the weekend during the regular academic year and it feels like nothing has changed. What does that mean? Phone calls with family and grading. It feels so familiar. The biggest difference is there is one more call to make now, having two sons away at college. UW Tacoma’s Matrix Algebra class is writing-intensive (a.k.aContinue reading “October 3 Day 574: Old Routines are not Necessarily Good Routines”
October 2 Day 573: Gather ‘Round
It is amazing to think that my first post about the virtual networking application Gather Town (gather.town), was one year and one day ago. The first space I created from scratch was for the November 2020 UW Tacoma Julia Robinson Math Festival. It replicated William Philip Hall, where the festival would have been held inContinue reading “October 2 Day 573: Gather ‘Round”
October 1 Day 572: Coincidence?
I attended two mathematically themed events today, the National Association of Mathematician’s MATHFest (Day 1) and the gallery opening reception of the Seattle Universal Math Museum art exhibit “For the LOVE of MATH!” Both were joyous occasions. I drove north to Mercer island in the early evening to celebrate the mathematically inspired (and often mathematicallyContinue reading “October 1 Day 572: Coincidence?”
September 28 Day 569: Irksome Day
I spent the entire day on campus in preparation for tomorrow’s return to in-person teaching. I am definitely out of practice and nothing worked quite the way it did before. The best part of the day was seeing colleagues and friends, picking up classroom supplies (like extra masks for my students), and cleaning my officeContinue reading “September 28 Day 569: Irksome Day”
Math Belongs to All of Us 