The semester ended last Friday with exams. I am through with classes for another year.
It wasn’t my best semester.
My Theory of Computation class went off pretty well. It was a smaller than usual group, which allowed for a great deal of interaction. I lectured for the most part (as usual), but there […]
I haven’t blogged much about my experiences with my liberal studies math class. Mostly because it’s been a less than satisfying experience. I don’t feel like I’ve really “clicked” with most of the students at all. I could write all about it, but I’m afraid it would come off sounding like whining […]
As I always knew, the problem of motivation starts well before college:
“My general level students bombed a test (did poorly). The very next day I allowed them to correct the ones that they missed using their textbooks - they had the whole period to make the corrections which were mostly term definitions right out of […]
In Mathematical Concepts, we talked a lot about probability. I tried to get students to understand how to figure out what the possible equally likely events were in a number of probability scenarios (coin tosses, dice throwing, card drawing, etc.). I blew one explanation near the end of Tuesday’s class and had to […]
Nothing earth-shattering to report.
In Theory of Computation, we mostly reviewed the mathematical foundations necessary to understand the upcoming models of computation. I went through them pretty quickly, stopping only to introduce the concept of a language. I reviewed equivalence relations and induction in the context of strings and languages, which is […]
Not much to report, really. I was not as polished as I’d like to have been because I was burning off a lot of nervous energy - this is a very dfferent course for me: first math course I’ve taught in a long time, largest number of sudents in one class, most diverse group […]
Robert at Casting Out Nines has suggested that we cross-blog about our experiences with our Liberal Studies Math courses. Fair enough! I’ve created a new category, Liberal Studies Mathematics (as Robert has done), and will try to write about my thoughts and experiences in teaching this course.
This three-hour course is a core requirement […]