Hello, fellows!

So I’m almost done grading all the assignments/tests for my stats class.

I think things went pretty well this semester, especially considering that I had about five days’ notice that I’d be teaching AT ALL. I think the best part of all of this, though, is the fact that I overcame my fear of public speaking. Seriously, when I had to present my thesis, which was just in front of four people, I really really had to practice a lot beforehand and, once the day came, I had to concentrate to not throw up/not stutter/not run off in fear.

After the first two or three lectures this semester, however, it was the most natural thing ever for me. I love the fact that my passion for stats and my passion for teaching others how to do stats totally eclipsed my fear of public speaking.

That’s a good feeling, my friends.

One thing I think should change, though, is that I really think that STAT 251 needs to be treated like a science class. That is, I think it needs to be bumped up to 4 credits and given a lab. Statistics is like the hard sciences in that it really needs to be applied to be learned. I think a lab—a day where the whole class would go to a computer lab and given an assignment or something to do using SPSS or Minitab or whatnot—would really benefit students.

That’s kind of what PSYC 218 is, actually, but obviously a lot of students who aren’t in psychology won’t be taking 218.

Just a thought. I know I have no control over that, but that’s what I’d change about this class.

Now I’m going to go screw around. BECAUSE I CAN!