Math431/530 Fall 2020: ‘I need to catch up a little bit, still…’

– A post on campuswire on 19th October, 2020 –

Hey, let me get straight to the point here. Here are some of my lessons learned, over the years:

Language matters.

I know…

are there any questions?

becomes

what questions do you have

and it should really be

ask me two questions!

Get involved!

Most of you are already very much involved in the lectures.

But some are saying you still need to catch up on some reading or topics…. When are you going to find the time? > Let me guess: finals week.

?! that’s too late. way too late.

Active learning is key. …. so, what is with the office hours?!

Should I call my office hours tutorials instead? I just sit there and nobody comes, most days. (It’s so easy to forget!…)

Here are some tips:

• get a small group together. pick one example, one definition, and let’s join during my office hour (open door OR appointment slot – you pick!) and just walk through it again.

• you are allowed to come and say “um… can we just do X again from the lecture?” or “what the heck is this example from the book.”

• you are also allowed to call in and say something like … “i’m lost. i can’t keep the GB idea straight. it sounds like things make sense, but as soon as lecture is done, i don’t know where to begin”.

• for this previous point…. well, let’s pick ONE concept or ONE example and see if we can walk through it. YOU pick.

Let’s get started on catching up, shall we?

Use the hive-mind, this forum, the collective help from peers, TA, and Prof. :)

.

.

.

I'm here.