dreastrongheart on Nostr: Reasons to be optimistic: I’ve been teaching freshmen their first courses in ...
Reasons to be optimistic:
I’ve been teaching freshmen their first courses in calculus for over a decade and
1. These engineering students are far more capable than my class was overall. Engaged, introspective, and highly motivated. I attended the same uni I now teach at. Many of these students will be the first in their family to earn a degree. They will learn more and earn more than their parents. It’s inspiring.
2. Wokism never made it into our classes. We are learning limits and continuity on day 1 and bounding areas with curves and discussing rotating the area around a third axis to form volumes on our last day. Loads packed in between. So much so, I’ve never cancelled a class. Every lesson adds to a fortified mathematical structure and this is how all my colleagues are teaching as well.
It’s the start of the semester so I’m particularly sentimental about the pleasures of teaching.
I’ve been teaching freshmen their first courses in calculus for over a decade and
1. These engineering students are far more capable than my class was overall. Engaged, introspective, and highly motivated. I attended the same uni I now teach at. Many of these students will be the first in their family to earn a degree. They will learn more and earn more than their parents. It’s inspiring.
2. Wokism never made it into our classes. We are learning limits and continuity on day 1 and bounding areas with curves and discussing rotating the area around a third axis to form volumes on our last day. Loads packed in between. So much so, I’ve never cancelled a class. Every lesson adds to a fortified mathematical structure and this is how all my colleagues are teaching as well.
It’s the start of the semester so I’m particularly sentimental about the pleasures of teaching.