Right now, I’m about to start teaching Partial Derivatives in my multivariable calculus class. I’m going to teach them in a traditional way, to build a sense of what they are. However, I really want to create a project that has students take actual data and find something useful with it. To take you down […]
As you probably know, I’m teaching Multivariable Calculus this year, and I came into the course with a vision: a collaborative, problem-solved based class, where students aren’t motivated by exams and grades, but rather by the challenge of thinking for themselves. (Of course, getting really great, full-of-personality students helps too!) The problem sets seem to […]
As you might recall, I’m spending a chunk of this summer designing a multivariable calc course. The oft repeated phrase of the moment: GACK! This is a mini-challenge, because not only am I trying to plan out the curriculum, but I have to refresh my poor, atrophied brain which hasn’t touched “multi” (as I fondly […]
I need help! GACK! So I’ve decided that my one week of lazing about and reading (finished Middlesex and the teen novel It’s Kind of A Funny Story, and started Heat) is officially over [1]. It’s time to get to work! A mere two hours ago, I hoisted the Multivariable Calc book that I’ll be teaching from next […]
This is a milestone for me. I have been at my school for ten years, and this is the start of my eleventh. It’s the only school I’ve worked at. That’s a testament to my school, but more specifically, to my colleagues. Last year, my school’s awesome director of communications contacted the math department to […]
One of my multivariable calculus students did her final project based around a book we read and discussed in class. It is called The Calculus of Friendship by Steven Strogatz. In it, the author writes each chapter about his own life and relationship with his former calculus teacher through the lens of some mathematical puzzle or […]
Each year, except for one, I’ve written a senior letter to deliver to my calculus classes (when I taught them) and my multivariable calculus classes at our last meeting. I pretty much always give the same sentiment — the life of the mind is important. I always crib a bit from previous years (the perils […]
