A conversation

Me: Wow, I had no idea there was an xfig port for the Mac

Dr. H: Um...

Me: Can you tell I don't want to work on these letters?

Dr. H: I wasn't going to say anything, but...

Two track mind

Me: I know what you are thinking, but I have a lot of work to do.

Dr. H: How is it you always know what I'm thinking?

Me: You are always thinking about the same thing.

Dr. H: Not true. Sometimes I get all distracted by an interesting statistics problem.

 

Being so busy is making me a better teacher

I've been swamped the last few weeks. I'm teaching three different classes with three different labs. This is not horrendous in itself - one course is in it's 10th iteration, another in its 4th. I did make a major change in the 4th iteration course, which is taking some time. The other course I taught once 10 years ago, so that's a little more trouble. The real problem is all the stuff I have on top of that, committees, other teaching/research responsibilities and the like. This week, I also had my sabbatical research presentation. That went well, but what I want to talk about is how having no time has influenced my teaching.

I don't have a lot of time to spend on class preparation. As a result, I've lost track of what I'm supposed to "cover" each week. In my faculty development days, I was fond of telling people that "to cover" normally means "to obscure". Merriam-Webster has the definition as "to hide from sight or knowledge" - not exactly what I'm trying to do in my classes.

I have built up a library of in-class group exercises for that course now in its 10th iteration. Normally, I schedule days to do group work, and when the day comes, I build an assignment based on something new students are ready for, what they are having trouble with, or some upcoming topic I have a cool problem for already. This term, I feel so busy, I keep looking at the next thing in my lecture notes and think "I'd rather just have them DO this". And, as it turns out, I usually have some problems or an activity in my stash that addresses that topic. I'm using all of them. I'm lecturing a lot less. And, what do you know? My students are learning more. This should be no surprise to me, as I have recommended the practice to others. I've given workshops on such approaches. And, I must admit, I've always wanted to figure out how to do more of it myself. Of course, this approach does take more time under normal circumstances. You have to figure out what you want your students to be able to do after the class session, find/design/create an appropriate activity, plan the lead in to the activity to prepare the students, and figure out how to lead or guide the activity. The only reason it is working for me now with less time is the extensive problem and activity base I have built up already.



I'm doing something similar in the course I have not taught in ten years. We are currently working on topics now that underlie the basic ideas my graduate work rests on. As a result, I'm just letting the class go where it goes, presenting some, throwing up problems on the board when everyone is having trouble, leaving half the class period open and filling it with what the students seem to need at the time. I won't be able to do this for every topic in the course, but for now, I can. It is a senior level class, the students are excellent and interested, and I know most of them well.

Recently, I was in need of an icosahedron for this course. After considering making one from card stock, starting and deciding I had no time for such an endeavor, I looked at Dr. H and said "You played D&D! Where are your dice?" The result was an excellent activity in which I emptied Dr. H's "geek kit" onto the table and gave two sentences of instructions. The second sentence being this one: "You can ignore dots and writing."

More on Nerds

Again via Language Log - read this post.

Me: That's pretty funny.

Dr. H.: Wow, I get all those references.

Double Take

One of the coolest things I saw last week:

Gender differences in color perception? (via Lab Cat who always seems to have some nice science-y thing up)

Perhaps this explains why my father in law thinks his maroon coffee pot is the same color as the lavender bits in his granite counter top:

Me: That coffee pot is pretty spiffy.

FIL: Yes, as soon as I saw it I knew we needed to have it.

Me: Oh?

FIL: You know, because of the counter top.

Me: .....Ah...

FIL: I couldn't believe it. I mean, what are the chances of finding a coffee pot the exact same color?

Me: Uh...Okay.

Actually, I suspect the true issue has something to do with his developing cataracts, which according to this, can interfere with color perception.

And one of the weirdest things I saw last week:

Via Language Log, I found this article about research suggesting nerds are effectively "hyperwhite". The Dean has some things to say about it here.

I found this to be very interesting. However, what I find odd is the lack of discussion of geek and nerd culture as distinct in its own right. For example, I don't think everyone finds xkcd as funny as some of us do. My non-geeky, non-nerdy students have no idea who M.C. Escher is. And, of course, there is the general lack of recognition of the Kirk versus Picard debate as a valid intellectual, um, enterprise. I'm wondering how this sort of thing fits in.

When it rains....

It's been a good day:

• The college powers that be asked if we want to keep Retiring Colleague's 1 year old Mac with OS 10something. I claimed it for my lab. It will potentially be useful for my research students and one small upper division lab course.
  
  
• The college approved my request for a "special configuration" replacement desktop . I'm up in the rotation, but you get Generic Very Noisy PC with Windows XP and no monitor unless you ask nicely and give 47 reasons why you are special. Somehow, I convinced them to by me a Dell Precision Workstation with Linux and a 20" flat screen monitor - largely by arguing it is simply a replacement for my current Dell Precision Workstation with Linux and a 20" flat screen monitor and giving only about 29 reasons why I am special.
  
  
• My new MacBook (personal purchase) arrived today! Amazing, you plug it in and everything works. This summer, the education discount includes a free iPod. Assuming Apple honors the rebate, this will be my second free iPod. I won one in a promotional give away last year. I told my Windows using husband "We'll never know what life is like on the other side unless we take the plunge and buy a Mac." So far the grass IS greener. (compared to WinDoze, of course)
  

When Geeks Marry Geeks

I had an epiphany yesterday: When our daycare providers try to give us advice, my husband (Dr. H) and I react in very different ways. He listens. I get defensive. He enjoys asking other people for advice about such subjects. I prefer books. Or blogs. Or magazines. Basically, I like asynchronicity.

I'm just as prone to parental anxieties as the next person about most things. However, right now I'm a little annoyed that our main daycare provider has just totally stressed out my husband.

Dalton hasn't been eating very well there recently. He has also been sort of zoned out at times - especially the last week or so. Our daycare provider has previously shared her concern that Dalton sometimes doesn't join in with the group and just goes off and does his own thing. She's now apparently concerned about his nutrition level and that this somehow is affecting his behavior. She was clever enough to share this with Dr. H. instead of me.

The reasons I'm annoyed are many, but the first thing is that Dalton has had a cold for the last 1.5 weeks or so. I had it first. The main symptom? Lethargy and lack of appetite.

I'm also more than a little annoyed at her having such a problem with my son's behavior. I want to scream at her "Have you noticed that his parents are TOTAL GEEKS?" and "Do you think that this only shows up in adulthood?" Call me crazy, but I think (a) having two parents who went to engineering undergraduate schools, (b) specialized in the most math-based areas of their chosen fields in grad school and who (c) love video games might just be relevant here.

The truth is, Dalton is very social and interactive when he wants to be. He has empathy and he also understands how to piss his twin sister off when he wants to. He often talks about wanting to see his relatives and knows who they are on site (grandma, grandpa and nana, cousins, etc) even when he hasn't seen them in a long time. This is not a kid with social issues. This is just a kid who prefers figuring out a door mechanism to circle time on occasion.

My conversation with Dr. H. went something like this:

Dr. H: I'm just worried about him

Me: He's fine!

Dr. H: Well what if his behavior is something we're...

Me: We just spent the weekend at your sister's house. She's a child psychologist, remember? If there was anything to be concerned about don't you think she'd tell us?

Dr. H: Well, I guess so.

Me: She would. I've asked her like 20 times if she would tell us if she was concerned and she promises she would.

Dr. H: Yeah, okay, but...

Me: He's fine!

and so on...

In any case, I don't think I succeeded in completely allaying his fears, but I hope he has relaxed a little. Our daycare provider is otherwise great, by the way. In principle, I agree she should share her concerns of this sort with us. I just don't like hearing them.

Anyway, what should be more surprising is how on earth Dr. H. and I were able to produce a child as socially aware as Curie.