teaching – Page 6 – Math Belongs to All of Us

December 1 Day 633: Suspicions Confirmed

I was curious after my last post, so I asked. None of my students knew the 80s sitcom Cheers. One politely inquired “What was it about?” Another responded, “I think it was like Friends but in a bar.” Instead, we found common TV viewing experiences watching Blues Clues. The consensus was that Steve was theContinue reading “December 1 Day 633: Suspicions Confirmed”

November 29 Day 631: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

It was a “Cheers” moment in class. I was relaying the predictions about attendance prior to the Thanksgiving break and made an offhand comment that the same people were present today. While the number in the room was the same, a few students looked around and noticed that a regular, let’s call him “Norm,” wasContinue reading “November 29 Day 631: Where Everybody Knows Your Name”

November 24 Day 626: Drumroll Please

The predictions are in. Class is over. Overall the respondents were highly pessimistic. Here is a sampling of responses: . . The number of attendees was…. . . . . . Wait for it…… . . . . . . . . . . . In-person: 12 studentsRemote attendance: 6 students. Photographic Evidence that theyContinue reading “November 24 Day 626: Drumroll Please”

November 24 Day 626: Make Your Prediction Now

It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I have class at 1:30 pm. On Monday my class of 28 had 12 in person participants and 3 remote participants. How many do you think will be here today? This is the downside to recording lectures. It makes it too easy to stay home and watch it laterContinue reading “November 24 Day 626: Make Your Prediction Now”

November 18 Day 620: #TacomaMath’s COVID Transformations

I love participating in #TacomaMath, a workgroup of the STEAM Learning Network of GraduateTacoma! We started on a project before the pandemic and have been revising our work together ever since. Our goal remains the same: To invite the Tacoma community, especially girls, students of color, and those impacted by poverty, to engage in positiveContinue reading “November 18 Day 620: #TacomaMath’s COVID Transformations”

November 15 Day 617: Ready to Improvise

The power went out. All the fire doors closed. And I found my way out of the MDS building by way of the emergency stairs. That was an adventure in and of itself. I wondered how extensive the power outage was. According to Tacoma Public Utilities, the whole campus and then some. Walking to class,Continue reading “November 15 Day 617: Ready to Improvise”

November 10 Day 612: Have You Asked? The Answer(s) Might Surprise You.

I am forever impressed by the grit and perseverance of my students. In a reflection following the oral assessment, I asked how they were doing—both numerically and free response. The numerical range was -5 to 5 where 5=absolutely fantastic 0=meh -5= truly terrible. The average was 1.2–so more positive than the Autumn 2020 score ofContinue reading “November 10 Day 612: Have You Asked? The Answer(s) Might Surprise You.”

November 8 Day 610: Oral Assessment Redux

Oral assessment was something I adopted during remote teaching mostly to reduce the adversarial relationship between me and my students. By giving the problems in advance and allowing all resources (including Chegg and other online services) for preparation, no one was violating academic conduct rules. However, each student must individually present solutions to a smallContinue reading “November 8 Day 610: Oral Assessment Redux”

November 3 Day 605: This Happened

It’s been 605 days since the start of the pandemic and 1004 days since the first time I taught a “hyflex” class, but today I forgot to record the zoom session. It’s too bad really, I thought it was a fun class. There were a lot of AHA! moments and great interactions from the peopleContinue reading “November 3 Day 605: This Happened”