I started journaling the day after the announcement that the University of Washington’s three campus’s classes would suspend face-to-face interactions and go online. Mostly posts were on Facebook. Some were on MAA Connect, the Mathematical Association of America’s member platform. Maybe it’s because I was in the leading edge of the emergency transition. Maybe itsContinue reading “Why this? Why now?”
Tag Archives: community
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 16 Day 38-39: No Visual Cues
I miss my students. Today I had a meeting with three students doing a reading course. We all know each other and have shared several classes together. The interaction online is easy—not exactly like being in the same room but we trust each other enough to make mistakes and not worry about what we say.Continue reading “April 16 Day 38-39: No Visual Cues”
April 11 Day 34: A Duchenne Smile
Weekend Edition. This morning I made a foray to Trader Joe’s in my new Corona mask. They were letting about 30 people into the store at a time. I think more of us were waiting outside at socially respectable distances than were actually inside shopping. There we were, venturing out and craving human contact…but everyoneContinue reading “April 11 Day 34: A Duchenne Smile”
April 10 Day 33: On the MAA Recommendations for COVID-19 Response
Sometimes we get to contribute to meaningful work.
April 7 Day 30: Online Wait Time
Getting better at online interactivity. 24/25 present. Started with group presentations; student spokespeople sharing computer screens. We worked examples, discussed writing, and ended with a mini lecture. I ask a lot of questions. Giving sufficient wait time for student responses is harder in a remote class room than in a face-to-face one. Seven seconds seemsContinue reading “April 7 Day 30: Online Wait Time”
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 25 Days 16-17: Making Space
Hoping we can all maintain the human connections that nourish our lives during this wild and exhausting adventure.
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”
Math Belongs to All of Us 