Twelve years ago, the Joint Mathematics Meeting was in Washington, DC as the election of President Obama was being certified. The place was electric—full of optimism and hope. Today the virtual Joint Mathematics Meeting started. It was supposed to be in Washington, DC too. I imagine the city is again electrified—this time with hostility andContinue reading “January 6 Day 304: The Mixed-Up No Good Very Bad Wonderful(?!?) Day”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
January 4 Day 302: A New Start
It’s the first Monday of a new year and the first day of winter quarter classes after an all-too-short break. So, how did you approach it? Me? I moved forward with determination, optimism, and hope. I refused to be weighed down by the problems to be solved, promises to be kept, or schedules to beContinue reading “January 4 Day 302: A New Start”
December 25 Day 292: Christmas Break
Just a short post to say, I am spending the next few days with my family. Even though we have been together since Thanksgiving, this is the first time I feel like I can take a break from work and simply enjoy time with them. So that is what I intend to do. Today wasContinue reading “December 25 Day 292: Christmas Break”
December 11 Day 278: Wait is a Four Letter Word
Just when I’m thinking, “It’s Friday of the last teaching week of the quarter. I have finals to go but then there will be a brief reprieve,” everything turned upside down. While working on manuscript edits, my phone rang. It was my husband. I ignored it because my co-authors and I only had sixty minutesContinue reading “December 11 Day 278: Wait is a Four Letter Word”
October 19 Day 225: Obsolete
I used to be cutting edge. I hyflexed my classroom when only a handful of people had professional Zoom accounts. I used our course management system for everything from communication to homework submission. I have been grading on an iPad for more than 8 years. In terms of technology, I’m not really doing things (much)Continue reading “October 19 Day 225: Obsolete”
September 7 Day 183: Taking Inventory
Labor Day marks the end of summer and the start of the back-to-school season. By the middle of next week, almost everyone who attends or works at an institution of learning (with the exception of those few on the quarter system), will have returned to work. Some have been back in school for weeks already.Continue reading “September 7 Day 183: Taking Inventory”
April 20 Day 43: Whiteboarding it
Today I had a positive interaction with my precalculus students and the shared whiteboard in Zoom. We were using transformations to graph basic functions. Starting with a simple power function, they individually contributed by computing points, plotting them on the axes provided, and connecting the dots. The same process was repeated with a related butContinue reading “April 20 Day 43: Whiteboarding it”
April 1 Day 24: Zoom Frustrations
Where was my breakout room button? I blamed it on Zoom changing meeting settings to foil zoom-bombers (yes, it’s a real thing) but I have since learned that wasn’t the correct answer.
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 10 Day 2: Campus Ghost Town
On MAA Connect: This week we have seen many universities and colleges choose social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel corona virus COVID-19. At the time of this writing the number has risen past 120 institutions of higher learning. This means faculty are scrambling to transition to different teaching practices very quickly. TheContinue reading “March 10 Day 2: Campus Ghost Town”
Math Belongs to All of Us 