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”
Category Archives: mathematics
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”
March 17 Day 9: Not a rollercoaster. Black hole.
Day 9 in the Year of the Plague. It’s not a rollercoaster but a black hole sucking us toward an uncertain future. We may not be able to see beyond the event horizon, but we can help each other on this perilous journey. Each day brings new challenges. Yes, we are bringing our oldest homeContinue reading “March 17 Day 9: Not a rollercoaster. Black hole.”
March 16 Day 8: Personal Mantra and the Second Wave
Worry less about the integrity of online examinations and quality of online content. Worry more about the people. Assume best intentions. Think about your learning goals: to enable students to be critical thinkers? problem solvers? to have flexible minds and be able to adapt? They will get all that through the experience you provide and more. Will it really matter if your Calculus I class doesn’t get to L’Hopital’s rule or your Calculus II class doesn’t get to partial fraction decomposition? I doubt it. For those that need it, there will be time later. For now, congratulate yourself on getting through the first day (or the first week or planning for a future week) and just
March 11 Day 3: Bitter Sweet End
Reflections on day three teaching but not in face-to-face classes: last day of Calculus 2 for the quarter. More students participated than Monday but still less than half the number of registered students. I wonder if they are OK. It was bitter sweet. I really enjoyed this class and regret not being able to sayContinue reading “March 11 Day 3: Bitter Sweet End”
March 9 Day 1: Where Were the Students?
Reflections on the first day teaching but not in face-to-face classes: Where were the students? Less than half the enrolled students zoomed in. I post the recording online later but still…do they interpret cancelling f2f =cancelling class entirely? Even after I messaged them on Friday and again this morning? That being said, I think thoseContinue reading “March 9 Day 1: Where Were the Students?”
Math Belongs to All of Us 