None for me, thanks; I’m the Empty Set
So I, as a math and stats prof, admittedly should be more well-versed in LaTeX since like 99% of all math stuff is written using it.
I know the basics, of course, and how to manipulate it to give me pretty much anything I need, but I have never created a document fully from scratch. I’ve basically been going off of templates that others have created and have really only used it to create exams. Never notes or papers or anything like that.
Thus, since we’re revamping MATH 249 for the fall, I decided to use that as an excuse/opportunity to take the relevant note packets that I originally made in Word like six years ago and convert them to PDFs created using LaTeX.
So I spent most of the day today creating little LaTeX templates that I can fill in for each set of notes. The other purpose of these templates was just to give me some practice experimenting with typefaces, different heading styles, in-document hyperlinks, and other things so that I don’t have to pause in my note-making and figure out how to insert a box or a graph or remember the command that makes fractions look bigger/nicer in equations.
And speaking of boxes, I had to look up the code for how to make a boxed section and came across the manual for the “tcolorbox” package that allows you to do so and…
Five hundred and forty-nine pages??
This is exactly the level of pedantry that I would expect from math people, let’s be honest.
Anyway, to show y’all how professional I am, here are screenshots of my template.
I actually love doing this kind of stuff (messing around with code/commands/etc. to figure out what does what and how to make it do what I want it to do), so this was a highly enjoyable endeavor.
Surprised? I am.
So we had our final exam for MATH 249 today, and it actually went off without a hitch.
Like…no problems whatsoever.
Which is absolutely SHOCKING, because everything I have TOUCHED this semester has gone wrong in every way possible. I don’t know what’s going on, but this semester was an absolute smorgasbord of “here are all the ways you can screw up one of the easiest semesters you’ve ever had.”
Which is why I was SO NERVOUS about this final exam. Maybe I screwed up the number of exams to be printed. Maybe I screwed up the printing itself and a page or two would be missing. Maybe I screwed up writing one of the questions and the correct answer wasn’t printed. Maybe I didn’t give the printer place the correct instructions and the exams wouldn’t be at the gyms ready for us. Maybe I told the students the wrong day, time, or location for the exam. Maybe I put content on the exam that we didn’t cover during the semester. Maybe I forgot to upload the exam for the SAS students. Maybe I wrote the exam so that no one could finish it within two hours. Maybe I forgot to tell the TAs to show up and I’d be alone invigilating 1,200+ students.
The list goes on.
I was ready to throw up this morning because I was so nervous about this exam, dude.
So it’s a relief that it all went well, because I am so sick of screwing everything up all the time.
UGH.
ASHA-es to ASHA-es (this is the dumbest blog title ever)
I miss teaching that ASHA course.
True, it’s nice not having to frantically prep 100% brand new lecture material for every Tuesdsay/Thursday, but it was such a cool chance to teach something other than math/stats (while still throwing some math/stats in there) that I miss having that…diversity in my teaching schedule.
Maybe one of these years I can teach it again. Or teach one of the one-semester courses.
Who knows??
Graphin’ It
I think my favorite topic we covered in ASHA this past winter semester was the “good visualizations, bad visualizations” topic, in which I showed the students some examples of some really good visualizations of data/information as well as some really bad ones.
Visualization of information is, in my opinion, overlooked in introductory (and advanced) statistics courses. It’s important to not only understand the analyses and the data behind the analyses, but it’s just as important to be able to convey the meanings and interpretations of the data in ways that make said meanings/interpretations easy to understand. This can be done very effectively and efficiently with a good visualization.
And it can be done very misleadingly with a poor visualization.
I think I’m going to incorporate a little unit (maybe a lab or two?) focusing on the importance of good visualization next time I teach a higher-level stats course. Even if I just give similar examples to the ones I gave in ASHA (as well as, of course, general guidelines for different types of common visualizations), I can at least get students thinking about the visual presentation of information and how important it can be.
Anyway.
Are you ready for some CRIPPLING IMPOSTER SYNDROME????
We’re talking absolutely soul-crushing, progress-pausing, motivation-stomping, self-worth-suffocating, panic-inducing IMPOSTER SYNDROME????
The kind that makes you too nervous to even answer an email?
The kind that makes you want to hide in your office so that no one can see what a fake you are??
The kind that makes you so afraid of messing up for fear of being found out that you can barely leave your office to do your job???
The kind that people respond to with “you’re not an imposter!” and you just want to punch them in the face because how the hell would they know????
The kind where you can’t stop screwing up because you’re so preoccupied with trying not to screw up?????
THAT KIND??????
‘Cause I’ve got a surplus of it if anyone wants it.
Semester, COMMENCE!
First day of classes! It’s super early this year (all the dates are weird this year), but we’re done on like December 6th or something, so it balances out.
This is going to be my first time (officially) coordinating MATH 249, though I wish I was coordinating STAT 213 as well, as that course has become my baby over the past four years or so.
At least I get to teach a section of it, though!
Computer Science Department, WHY?
In the Science A building on campus, there are these little showcase windows, one for each department in the Faculty of Science, that show off articles, objects, videos, etc. of interest from each department. Some of them are pretty boring (Chemistry just has a big periodic table in theirs), some haven’t been changed in a while (Math/Stats has had the same papers and crocheted patterns/figures for like a decade), and some get changed up quite frequently. Computer Science’s case is a good example of that last category. They change their content every few months it seems.
And what do they have in there right now?
I have a visceral reaction of dread and panic when I see these slides, man. Not because of teaching online (though that was pretty rough), but just because of all the early pandemic stuff in general.
Was Yesterday a Dream?
Because my brain is trying to convince me I hallucinated the whole thing. There’s no way I should have tenure.
I have to keep re-reading that email I got confirming the decision.
And I can’t concentrate on anything else today, haha.
I GOT IT
I got tenure.
That is all.
Yeah, No Thanks
Article (not sure if you can access it without permissions, though)
But here’s the abstract:
Dressing formally or informally as an academic may be a trade-off when it comes to managing impressions towards students, but the extant body of literature remains limited with only mixed results. This research is the first focussed investigation to examine the effects of academic dress formality on the ‘big two’ of impression formation, perceptions of warmth and competence. In a series of three controlled laboratory experiments (total N = 1361), we find dress formality to increase perceptions of competence but to decrease perceptions of warmth, which leads to ‘downstream’ effects on students’ evaluations of instructors and behavioural intentions to enrol in a course. Furthermore, we demonstrate that perceptions of competence may be subject to other information cues (success communication and discipline norms) that can mitigate negative effects associated with dress informality. Implications for higher education practitioners are provided.
Yeah, I’m never going to change the way I dress. I don’t care how “incompetent” it makes me look. I’ve always worn weird and colorful clothing. It’s part of who I am. And I will not sacrifice that part of my identity to “look the part” of an academic. It’s not like I’m showing too much skin or wearing offensive graphic tees or wearing jewelry that clinks together and makes noise when I lecture.
I wear color. I keep it bold but simple. I usually stick with two main colors (pants and shirt) and match one to my earrings and the other to my eyeshadow.
Oh yeah, I’m not toning down the eyeshadow, either.
Students can think what they want of me. I like to think I earn “looking competent” by, I don’t know, being competent. If they can’t get past the way someone’s dressed, that’s their problem.
Also, I’ve never had anyone comment on my apparel other than to say that the colors help brighten their day or that they like the way I always match or that they like that I don’t wear “blacks and grays.”
So fight me.
On Wednesdays we wear THE BLOOD OF OUR ENEMIES
Ahoy!
So next semester I was slated to teach STAT 323, STAT 327, and ASHA 222, right? Well, we have a new hire in the department, and because she’s already taught 323 and is thus familiar with it, to help ease her transition into the department, I’ve been moved off 323 and will be teaching SCIE 301 instead.
I’ve taught 301 before, but it was only once AND it was during the initial Covid semester (Winter 2020) when we had to move online halfway through the semester and everything was chaos.
But I’m excited to teach it again! It also works a lot better with my schedule than 323 did. Now I’ll have two back-to-back classes on Tuesdays/Thursdays and one class in the afternoon on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays.
Plus French.
Can’t forget French!
Ravioli Rigatoni
Me: I am so busy this semester that I don’t even have time to make dinner like five out of the seven days of the week.
Also me: I really want to do NaNoWriMo in November.
H I L A R I TY
It’s Like a Reward
So for whatever reason, I’ve decided that I’m not allowed to decorate my office door with cartoons and the like until (unless) I get tenure.
That’s…that’s just the rule.
BUT, while I was running this morning, I thought of a cool way to display said cartoons should I actually get tenure. I could make like a little Cartesian plane on my door with one axis that goes from “no math” to “math” and another axis that goes from “not obscure” to “obscure” and then plot a bunch of cartoons according to these to criteria.
If that’s not a perfect way to display cartoons in a math/stats department, then there isn’t one.
Submitted.
And now we wait.
Question:
How many emotional breakdowns is one allowed to have over one’s tenure application?
Asking for a friend.
Eigenblogger 