It’s a cold rainy day—a sure sign that fall quarter is fast approaching. I was having a hard time being productive at home, so I decided to put that new parking permit to use and head to campus. The first question to resolve—which parking lot am supposed to park use? There are lots on eitherContinue reading “September 17 Day 558: To Campus”
Category Archives: teaching
September 16 Day 557: On Contract
Welcome to the first day of the new academic year—at least for those of in the University of Washington system. Time to get serious about preparing for new students in new situations with new university guidelines. I am teaching in person (at least that is the intention at this moment in time. One can neverContinue reading “September 16 Day 557: On Contract”
August 20 Day 530: Affirmations in Focus
I admit, I was grumpy and feeling down yesterday. But I bounced back after seeing the newest issue of MAA Focus released online. The President’s message that I wrote was about using affirmations to help students address mathematical anxiety, especially associated with assessments. Reading it again, helped relieve my own anxiety of the moment. EvenContinue reading “August 20 Day 530: Affirmations in Focus”
April 21 Day 409: An Eleven Hour Whirlwind
It’s crunch time. My youngest needs to make his college decision. But because of the pandemic, the only college visits he had were three years ago when he was dragged along on his brother’s tour. I promised before he made his final choice, we would visit the campuses he was considering. I can neither confirmContinue reading “April 21 Day 409: An Eleven Hour Whirlwind”
March 29 Day 386: The Fourth Bucket
Teaching. Scholarship. Service. The triumvirate of academic success. Why is it that collegiality remains a fourth unspoken bucket? Historically, collegiality was used to exclude women and faculty of color from academic success. And the practice seems to be alive and well today. It is disappointing. Disagreement and opposing viewpoints can be valuable. You do notContinue reading “March 29 Day 386: The Fourth Bucket”
March 24 Day 381: Small World
Some days the world is smaller than others. I was cold-called by a group in the UK about the possibility of recording some math lectures for their start-up enterprise. This felt like a legit inquiry and I responded. Today’s conversation was a delight. Amber, the person who contacted me, grew up ~11 blocks from whereContinue reading “March 24 Day 381: Small World”
March 19 Day 376: The End of Winter
I know it’s a few days until the equinox and the official start to the Spring, but I feel like tonight I am putting Winter (or at the very least winter quarter) to bed. Yesterday I administered the final oral interviews for Abstract Algebra. After struggling through teaching for three remote quarters (Spring 2020, AutumnContinue reading “March 19 Day 376: The End of Winter”
March 16 Day 373: Finally Got It Figured
No teacher likes to wait in office hours for students to show up and ask questions. This quarter I instituted a rule that if no one arrived with questions in the first 15 minutes, I was not obligated to stay. Tonight was my last evening drop-in hour for Winter Quarter 2021. The oral final examContinue reading “March 16 Day 373: Finally Got It Figured”
March 1 Day 358: Jumping In With Abandon
Twice now, I have been in a webinar/online conference where a presenter used Desmos Teacher to engage the students online. It is similar to Poll Everywhere in that by sharing a link, the audience can follow the presentation and interact using multiple choice, text boxes, free form drawing, or integrated Desmos explorations. It’s really slick.Continue reading “March 1 Day 358: Jumping In With Abandon”
February 26 Day 355: Disappointment
After 4.5 hours on Zoom without pause, it was time to sign into a meeting with a student. I had reached out in concern and we agreed to meet at 5 pm tonight. Can you guess the outcome? To be fair, I was contacted and asked if we could change the time to Monday. ItContinue reading “February 26 Day 355: Disappointment”
Math Belongs to All of Us 