Here we go...

2004-10-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

I decided it would be a good place to start some type of diary about my experiences with teaching. Things seem to go by so fast, I rarely get to sit and reflect about what just happened and how I can change things for the better.

I was reviewed today by Nicole. I was totally nervous to have her watching me in the classroom. It made me go too fast and be too redundant at the same time. Her overall review was positive. She said I needed to work on my boardwork. I need to write larger and to write more details on the board. She's right, I tend to use the board just for highlights, and I need to do a better job of filling in the gaps. Especially with the International students, who have a large language barrier to deal with.

She gave me kudos for my rapport with the students. She said I used humor very well, and that it was obvious that my students felt comfortable with me. She said that I did great when answering questions - that my face lit up and I put a lot of energy into it. She said that if I could "turn that switch on" for the rest of my lecture, things would be spectacular.

Also today I went through the e/m experiment with Chris, and still couldn't figure it out. I called in Sue, and found that she had similar data. Turns out that the problem is that Tera is 10^12, not 10^15. How embarrassing... At least I know why it was "broken" now, and have an experiment for the week after next. Two more labs to figure out before the end of the quarter. On the other hand, my cushion for the homework is almost completely used up.

I brought in the Jacob's Ladder to 4B today and gave them a short sales talk about how they could get extra credit. They had a good time watching the demo, especially when I blew the spark down the terminals. We then shifted gears into loop equations, and they got really bored. I had at least one student asleep. :(

Angel says that I shouldn't be too concerned with students on the bottom of the curve, a lot of them aren't trying, and I can't make them successful if they aren't taking the steps they need to in order to understand the material. It was good to hear that.

David's Teaching Diary

Here we go...