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.
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.
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!
Semester OVER!
WOOOOOO!
Time to be free for a few months (or like a month and a half) before I have to start doing stuff again.
Vroom.
OH GOD THE MATHEMATICIANS FOUND SOME GOOD CHALK
I HATE the feeling of chalk on my hands. I fortunately haven’t had to use it very much due to how I lecture (I put partially completed notes up on the doc cam and fill them in with pen…sweet, sweet, glorious pen), but when I was a TA most of the lab rooms just had regular chalkboards and I had to deal with that.
It gets EVERYWHERE. Maybe this Japanese chalk is different, but I would get out of lab just COVERED in chalk dust. Hell, the notebooks I used when I TA’d are still coated in chalk film.
Blegh.
*SCREECHES IN TENURE TRACK*
I submitted my tenure track renewal package today. If it gets approved, I’ll have an extra two years to apply for tenure beyond next August.
I don’t plan on delaying my tenure application past next August, but you never know what weird stuff could happen to require a delay.
So it’s a “just in case” sort of thing.
Anyway.
Last Day of Classes!
I’m freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
At least until the actual fall semester starts, haha. Having spring off was REALLY nice, though. I’m not sure which of the two shorter semesters is better for teaching. Spring is nice because then you have a really long break until Fall, but Summer is nice because then you get a break right after the Winter semester and there is NO ONE on campus in the Summer.
Meh.
You know what’s better than a migraine?
Being five miles out on a walk and getting that sweet, sweet scintillating scotoma aura in the middle of your vision and you have to deal with partial vision loss for 30 minutes and then the migraine itself for another several hours and then that fuzzy, out-of-it post-migraine feeling after that.
THE FUN NEVER STOPS I TELLS YA
On a completely unrelated note, my job title has apparently changed. I am no longer a “lecturer” but am instead an “assistant professor (teaching).” Which sounds WAY cooler, so I’ll take it.
If I actually get tenure when I apply for it I’ll become an associate professor.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Opportunity!
So back around the middle of last semester, I met with Dr. Ware in sort of the annual “all tenure track employees should meet with their Department Head to make sure they’re making reasonable progress” sort of meeting. At that meeting, he mentioned that he’d been approached by the people running the Art and Science Honors Academy (ASHA) about having someone from the Math/Stats department get involved in the program. ASHA is, according to Dr. Ware, designed for undergraduate students who show an interest in both the arts and the sciences. All of the courses offered in the program involve some mix of information from the arts side and the science side.
Of course, this sounded absolutely fascinating and I intimated that I’d love to teach something like that.
Well, I got contacted today by the ASHA people and they said they’d like for me to teach their intro class if I still wanted to. The intro class, unlike the higher level classes, is a full-year course that is often co-taught, preferably with one instructor coming from the Faculty of Arts and the other coming from the Faculty of Science. They also said they’d never had anyone from the Math/Stats Department involved in this before.
So I readily agreed! There are no further details other than that right now – I don’t know who I’ll be teaching with or what exactly we’ll be teaching – but I’m super excited for this chance. Based on what I’ve read about this program, it sounds like something I would have absolutely LOVED as an undergraduate.
Woo!
Up to the Date
SO.
Life update (kinda).
I just got off a Zoom meeting with our department head and it sounds like the best course of action for me this year is to apply for tenure renewal. I AM eligible to apply for tenure (though I’d be doing it a year early), but tenure renewal was suggested instead because:
a) if approved, it would add an extra three (?) years on my tenure track timeline, which means that if anything were to happen that would prevent me from applying for tenure next year (the last year I’m allowed to do so), I’d have an extra three years to apply without any sort of penalty.
b) I MAY be doing a brand new class next year, and it would be a class that would look really good on my application due to its uniqueness
c) the application for tenure renewal is exactly the same for tenure – cover letter, CV, and teaching dossier (the only difference is that when applying for tenure you have to also provide referees) – so it’s kind of like a “practice run” for the actual tenure application.
So yeah. I think I’m going to do that.
It’s the FIN-AL LEC-TURE (da-na-naaaa-na, da-na-na-na-naaaa)
WOO THIS SEMESTER IS OVER
Has it been an exceptionally stressful one? Yes and no. Yes because we switched from being online to in person IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEMESTER LIKE WHAT THE F and no because it wasn’t really any busier than most of my semesters.
Last semester, however, was brutal. And all the semesters since COVID have had their share of extra work. So I think I’m just really, really burnt out.
PLUS I haven’t been able to go back to Moscow since December 2019, and going down to Moscow is a very physical stress relieving activity.
So yeah. I’m glad I’m not teaching in the spring semester, ‘cause I need a few months to just chill back out and get ready for the summer and semesters beyond.
Edit: YAY A MIGRAINE WHAT A GREAT WAY TO END THE SEMESTER THANKS BRAIN OL’ BUDDY OL’ PAL
Got Class?
Heeeeey, so we got our (tentative) teaching assignments for the upcoming academic year and it looks like I’m teaching a new class! It’ll be MATH 275: Calculus for Engineers and Scientists.
Yes, I’ve taught calc before, but not this specific class. So I’m counting it as new. Exciting!
I’m also coordinating STAT 213, which will be my first time coordinating in person.
Online?
Ooooooooh so we just got an email saying that the remainder of this semester’s final exams will all be converted to online delivery. I think there was a COVID case in a big chem final room and now everyone’s freaking out because it’s probably omicron and super-spreadable.
I wonder what this means for next semester?
OH THE FUN ROLLERCOASTER OF COVID AT UNIVERSITY, AMIRITE????
??
?
Pika Pika!
So two of my students in calculus gave me this bad boy as a present today:
A Pikachu!
…or IS it?
OH JEEBUS IT’S A DITTO
Relatable
I think all profs can relate to this, especially at the end of the year.
Eigenblogger 