Week One Notes
Jan. 11th, 2013 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowI don't have any classes on Friday, so I stayed home today. I don't plan to make a habit of that this semester - rather the reverse - but there were things I wanted to do around the house.
1. I was originally scheduled to teach Differential Geometry this semester, but only one student signed up. At the same time, we had unusually high demand for Linear Algebra I - more than we'd allowed for. (Everybody in math, and almost everybody in science or engineering, takes LAI.) So, the Chair and Assistant Chair decided to cancel DiffGeo and instead give me a new section of LAI. As a side effect, not enough textbooks for the class were ordered - including one for, ahem, me.... Anyway, Monday morning there were 28 names on the class roster. Tuesday evening, after the first lecture, I was mobbed by students waving Add Class forms. By Thursday, the roster was up to 36. The enrollment cap for that course is 40, so we should be about done with that.
2. Tuesday, as usual, after a few introductory remarks, I asked my Linear Algebra students if they had any questions. One student raised his hand and asked what my ancestry was. I blinked, told him, and then asked for questions that were remotely related to the subject of the class. He looked suitably abashed; there were no further questions.
3. I've only got a dozen people in my History of Math class this semester; usually there's about twice that. I'm going to have to rejigger the group assignments, which were due for overhaul anyway.
4. My third course is the second part of our two-semester sequence on abstract algebra. I had about 26 people for the first semester, down to 11 this time - mostly, the people who got A's and B's in the first semester. That's fine with me, as the quality of the students lets me move from lecture toward dialogue. There are a number of sharp kids in there (and a couple whom even I can't call "kids").
5. The one student who signed up for DiffGeo is also in my History of Math and Abstract Algebra classes. I tried to arrange for him to take DiffGeo as a readings course, but apparently the Policy Committee put the kibosh on it. (I can understand their point; we have trouble filling some of our upper-level courses, and offering them as readings courses drains the supply of people to take them when they're actually offered. Still, this guy's a Engineering/Math double major, and he's got a very tight schedule as is; if he doesn't take DG now, he probably won't be able to take it next time. And I was looking forward to having him in that class....)
1. I was originally scheduled to teach Differential Geometry this semester, but only one student signed up. At the same time, we had unusually high demand for Linear Algebra I - more than we'd allowed for. (Everybody in math, and almost everybody in science or engineering, takes LAI.) So, the Chair and Assistant Chair decided to cancel DiffGeo and instead give me a new section of LAI. As a side effect, not enough textbooks for the class were ordered - including one for, ahem, me.... Anyway, Monday morning there were 28 names on the class roster. Tuesday evening, after the first lecture, I was mobbed by students waving Add Class forms. By Thursday, the roster was up to 36. The enrollment cap for that course is 40, so we should be about done with that.
2. Tuesday, as usual, after a few introductory remarks, I asked my Linear Algebra students if they had any questions. One student raised his hand and asked what my ancestry was. I blinked, told him, and then asked for questions that were remotely related to the subject of the class. He looked suitably abashed; there were no further questions.
3. I've only got a dozen people in my History of Math class this semester; usually there's about twice that. I'm going to have to rejigger the group assignments, which were due for overhaul anyway.
4. My third course is the second part of our two-semester sequence on abstract algebra. I had about 26 people for the first semester, down to 11 this time - mostly, the people who got A's and B's in the first semester. That's fine with me, as the quality of the students lets me move from lecture toward dialogue. There are a number of sharp kids in there (and a couple whom even I can't call "kids").
5. The one student who signed up for DiffGeo is also in my History of Math and Abstract Algebra classes. I tried to arrange for him to take DiffGeo as a readings course, but apparently the Policy Committee put the kibosh on it. (I can understand their point; we have trouble filling some of our upper-level courses, and offering them as readings courses drains the supply of people to take them when they're actually offered. Still, this guy's a Engineering/Math double major, and he's got a very tight schedule as is; if he doesn't take DG now, he probably won't be able to take it next time. And I was looking forward to having him in that class....)
