Well, we are well into the fall semester, and it's keeping me pretty busy!
I am taking three courses, Probability Theory, Discrete, and Functional Analysis.
Probability theory is offered through the statistics department. It's a neat course and deals with stuff that I really enjoy. It's also pretty easy, much of it we have seen before in measure theory. The professor has a little background in mathematics, having spent two years in a math PhD program before switching to statistics in favor of the higher salaries. But, his analysis background does not go beyond a first year real analysis sequence. He often likes to speak of how rigorous he is being and the math folks in there just kind of look at each other. Usually the rigor is lacking, compared to what we are used to, at least. But he's a neat guy and is really passionate about the course. Of 21 students in that course, five of us are from the math program. The statistics students seem to really struggle with the material, but for us it's nice to have a class with some room to breath.
Discrete was a bad idea. I like playing with elementary discrete concepts, and thought it would be a fun class to take. I know it will be useful, but this class is brutal. The professor is a great mathematician, but his lectures are difficult to follow and taking notes is almost impossible. He also assumes an unusually strong foundation in discrete for an intro sequence. Even some of the students who got their masters in discrete are having a tough time with it. At least the grading system is not too tough. I shouldn't have a problem getting a decent grade in the course. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with it for my comprehensive exams, so I've got a lot of work to do there.
Finally, functional analysis is a blast. Great professor and a fun subject. It's a ton of material and we are blowing through it really fast. I could use a few weeks to get caught up, but I'm more than happy with the class.
Next semester I will take the second term of each of these three courses and next summer I will be taking comprehensive exams in each of these three sequences. I have a lot of work to do.
Now for the teaching stuff. This semester I'm teaching Math 115, Precalculus. I started with 41 students and am down to 34. Not a bad retention rate, and the drop date passed last week. Apparently 115 is the least desirable course to teach, but we run so many sections that grad students will teach it once every three semesters. I rather enjoy it. Since it's a four credit hour course, I do not have to work in the tutoring center. Most other courses are three credit hours and require a couple of hours a week in the tutoring center to make up for the difference.
I've got a good group of students. They aren't all necessarily good at math, most are exercise science (pre-physical therapy) or biology (pre-med) majors, but they are pretty involved in the course. I have a good rapport with them, and many stop by my office hours or schedule appointments with me to go over material or discuss their concerns. This is fairly rare. Often students will just struggle throughout the semester and not ask for help. An 8am class can be a bit of a drag, but I'm impressed with their attendance and attentiveness that early. It's hard to say how the grades will shape up at the end of the semester, but I can tell that most of them are working pretty hard in the course.
All in all, it's a good semester. I'm busy, and often stressed, but I'm having fun. Despite this, I'm feeling terribly uninspired. I am getting pretty tired of grad school, and I find myself thinking about what else I could be doing. I'm not sure what will come of it. I love the program and love living here, but it's a lot of hard work, and I really need to find some inspiration if I'm going to stick with it. This is a pretty serious concerned. I guess I'll see what happens when I take the Quals again in January, and we'll go from there.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Spring at USC
I have always found the USC campus to be exceedingly beautiful. Now that the weather has forced the area into bloom, it is breathtaking! I snapped some quick photos just outside of LeConte this morning.
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| My classmate, Jia, and his wife recently arrived from China enjoying the beautiful day |
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| View of LeConte |
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| "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" - Dr. Seuss |
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| View from LeConte |
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| White Tree. These are all over the place. Anyone know what they are? |
Monday, March 12, 2012
Spring Break
Last week was Spring Break. I left Columbia early (though not quite as early as I had planned for reasons explained in another blog) so I could make it to Natchitoches for the LA/MS MAA section meeting March 2-3. The conference was fun. I got to hang out with old friends and make some new ones. There are a lot of new faces that are active in the LSUS math department, not all math majors.
Doug Ensley was in from Shippensburg, PA to give the Plenary Address. I met Doug last year at the Joint Meetings in New Orleans where we had a great time filled with drinks and live music. (I later found out that he was, at the time, the 2nd Vice-President of the MAA.) His talk was fun, as was his company. I spent some time with him and Judith in Shreveport after the conference as well.
The Friday night banquet was in downtown Natchitoches and included a great talk by Erik Demaine. After the banquet we headed to a local establishment for drinks and impromptu dancing.
Unfortunately (I guess), being in Natchitoches on a Friday night meant that the bar closed at 11. Weird. A group set out to a dance club while myself and a few others headed back to one of the many hotels that we were staying at. The dancing group soon met us at the hotel. I'm not sure what happened with the club, but we had a great time (a little too much fun, in fact) kickin' it in the hotel room.
I was concerned that after that night, some of the group might not make it back to campus for Dr. Mabry's 9:15 talk. I made a big deal of this since last year all of the students attending the MAA meeting were too hungover to make his talk. I was up and out early, but sending messages to make sure other folks were on their way. Impressively, everyone made it, though just about everyone left immediately after Rick's talk.
Ask anyone other than the speaker himself and you will hear that the talk was a great success!
A few more fifteen minute talks, followed by an hour-long talk from last year's recipient of the section's Outstanding Teaching award, and then I hit the road back to Shreveport. I didn't think about the Business Meeting (which I skipped) being the time that they announce this year's recipient of this award. So, I missed the announcement that our very own Judith Covington was the educator being honored! We are all very proud!
Twas a good section meeting, and I'm really glad it fell during my Spring Break.
I spent much of the following week at LSUS. My old friends at the math department allowed me the use of the "Jim Robert's Office", so I was able to get some work done. With me hanging around, Rick saw a great opportunity to get out of some of his teaching duties by having me take over his number theory class one night! This is the joke, but was not the real motivation. I presented some earlier number theory research he and I had done. (Three years ago! Gadz!) I really enjoyed going back through the paper and relearning what we had done, and I had a blast presenting it to the students. Best I can tell it was fairly well-received, but who would tell me otherwise?
I'm now back in Columbia. I didn't accomplish nearly what I had hoped to over the week, but it was great finding myself back at LSUS for a few days. I miss that place and those people!
Doug Ensley was in from Shippensburg, PA to give the Plenary Address. I met Doug last year at the Joint Meetings in New Orleans where we had a great time filled with drinks and live music. (I later found out that he was, at the time, the 2nd Vice-President of the MAA.) His talk was fun, as was his company. I spent some time with him and Judith in Shreveport after the conference as well.
The Friday night banquet was in downtown Natchitoches and included a great talk by Erik Demaine. After the banquet we headed to a local establishment for drinks and impromptu dancing.
Unfortunately (I guess), being in Natchitoches on a Friday night meant that the bar closed at 11. Weird. A group set out to a dance club while myself and a few others headed back to one of the many hotels that we were staying at. The dancing group soon met us at the hotel. I'm not sure what happened with the club, but we had a great time (a little too much fun, in fact) kickin' it in the hotel room.
I was concerned that after that night, some of the group might not make it back to campus for Dr. Mabry's 9:15 talk. I made a big deal of this since last year all of the students attending the MAA meeting were too hungover to make his talk. I was up and out early, but sending messages to make sure other folks were on their way. Impressively, everyone made it, though just about everyone left immediately after Rick's talk.
Ask anyone other than the speaker himself and you will hear that the talk was a great success!
A few more fifteen minute talks, followed by an hour-long talk from last year's recipient of the section's Outstanding Teaching award, and then I hit the road back to Shreveport. I didn't think about the Business Meeting (which I skipped) being the time that they announce this year's recipient of this award. So, I missed the announcement that our very own Judith Covington was the educator being honored! We are all very proud!
Twas a good section meeting, and I'm really glad it fell during my Spring Break.
I spent much of the following week at LSUS. My old friends at the math department allowed me the use of the "Jim Robert's Office", so I was able to get some work done. With me hanging around, Rick saw a great opportunity to get out of some of his teaching duties by having me take over his number theory class one night! This is the joke, but was not the real motivation. I presented some earlier number theory research he and I had done. (Three years ago! Gadz!) I really enjoyed going back through the paper and relearning what we had done, and I had a blast presenting it to the students. Best I can tell it was fairly well-received, but who would tell me otherwise?
I'm now back in Columbia. I didn't accomplish nearly what I had hoped to over the week, but it was great finding myself back at LSUS for a few days. I miss that place and those people!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Grad Student as Instructor (Rant Warning)
This year I am enrolled in a pass/fail course that is now required of all TA's. It's a two semester course titled Graduate Student as Instructor (GRAD 800) and is a new thing that USC is doing. I believe this is the first year that they have done the TA training so extensively. As with a lot of things in academia, it is little more than a waste of time.
The first requirement for this course was attending a half-day workshop before the fall semester began. There was little that was said that was helpful or relevant to what I am or will be doing, and nothing that is not readily available online. The panel that we were required to go to as part of that workshop had absolutely no relevance to those of us in the math department. We've decided that the whole course was implemented to put butts in the seats at the workshops and forums that we are now required to attend.
This course has required attendance at 4 events, independently schedule by us busy grad students, with a 1000 word essay for each. The problem with this is that it is counter productive. I have had to miss class to attend forums and sacrifice study time to write essays. I submitted several "assignments" at the end of last week, and they were graded by Monday. It frustrates me to spend time on this course when I'm quite certain that the assignments are not read with any attention to quality. With 150 students enrolled in my section alone, I expect my documents were, at most, quickly opened and checked for length of content. This would be fine with me, expect that I'm not one who can blow off an assignment, whether it is being taken seriously or not.
All that being said, I'm happy to report that last night I uploaded my last pointless, time-consuming assignment. All that remains are a could of exit surveys, which should take no time at all, and my teaching philosophy, which will take quite a bit of time, but it the one worthwhile thing that we are required to do.
The red tape of academia...but it could be worse...my university could be facing a forced merger with a lesser institution that would guarantee the inevitable and rapid deterioration into oblivion of an establishment that I love and respect. Fortunately, us folks in academia and our trusted politicians have too much common sense and insight to ever let anything like that happen. Oh, wait... Damn.
The first requirement for this course was attending a half-day workshop before the fall semester began. There was little that was said that was helpful or relevant to what I am or will be doing, and nothing that is not readily available online. The panel that we were required to go to as part of that workshop had absolutely no relevance to those of us in the math department. We've decided that the whole course was implemented to put butts in the seats at the workshops and forums that we are now required to attend.
This course has required attendance at 4 events, independently schedule by us busy grad students, with a 1000 word essay for each. The problem with this is that it is counter productive. I have had to miss class to attend forums and sacrifice study time to write essays. I submitted several "assignments" at the end of last week, and they were graded by Monday. It frustrates me to spend time on this course when I'm quite certain that the assignments are not read with any attention to quality. With 150 students enrolled in my section alone, I expect my documents were, at most, quickly opened and checked for length of content. This would be fine with me, expect that I'm not one who can blow off an assignment, whether it is being taken seriously or not.
All that being said, I'm happy to report that last night I uploaded my last pointless, time-consuming assignment. All that remains are a could of exit surveys, which should take no time at all, and my teaching philosophy, which will take quite a bit of time, but it the one worthwhile thing that we are required to do.
The red tape of academia...but it could be worse...my university could be facing a forced merger with a lesser institution that would guarantee the inevitable and rapid deterioration into oblivion of an establishment that I love and respect. Fortunately, us folks in academia and our trusted politicians have too much common sense and insight to ever let anything like that happen. Oh, wait... Damn.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Student Evals
I try not to put much stake in student evaluations. Often, I think, students struggle with needing to have someone else to blame when their study skills fall flat. Fortunately (for now), students usually like their TAs and will blame the instructor of record.
My evals arrived in my inbox a few minutes ago and were very complimentary. I was a bit taken aback by one comment that said, "Not good at math." Then I realized that this was in response to the negative aspects of the course question, and the student was referring to his/her own ability. It's good reassurance, but I still don't give it much credence as I was surely being compared to the professor, who, as should be expected, was more demanding.
One thing concerns me, though... I received a photo copy of the responses. For the last few handwritten evaluations I did at LSUS, I was one of only a few students enrolled in the courses. I have no doubt that the professors knew my handwriting!!! So much for anonymity! I guess it's a good thing I've forgotten what I wrote---I hope they have as well!!!
My evals arrived in my inbox a few minutes ago and were very complimentary. I was a bit taken aback by one comment that said, "Not good at math." Then I realized that this was in response to the negative aspects of the course question, and the student was referring to his/her own ability. It's good reassurance, but I still don't give it much credence as I was surely being compared to the professor, who, as should be expected, was more demanding.
One thing concerns me, though... I received a photo copy of the responses. For the last few handwritten evaluations I did at LSUS, I was one of only a few students enrolled in the courses. I have no doubt that the professors knew my handwriting!!! So much for anonymity! I guess it's a good thing I've forgotten what I wrote---I hope they have as well!!!
Four Weeks Down
I'm trying to be better about keeping this updated, so I'll go ahead and babble a bit.
I "survived" the Algebra exam last week. I'm anxious to get caught up in Analysis and Topology, but the necessary time still alludes me. I'm trying to spend more time hiking and/or kayaking, but I count these as distractions that are unavoidable if I want to sustain some semblance of acceptable mental health. I'm pretty behind in Analysis this week, but expect to get the emergent stuff done in the next day or two, and the less pressing things taken care of by the end of the weekend.
My Calc 2 class had their first exam this week, and I was pleased with the results. The students are pretty great. My office hours are always busy, and the in class interaction is good.
One of the problems about TAing for different classes is that some instructors like to adapt the "accepted" syllabus to suit their personal styles. I think this is a great thing, but that means that the three different classes I work with are not always on the same page. Since the lab is planned by an instructor designated as the "lab coordinator", it also means that we are a bit off schedule. This semester I am not meant to be writing the lab exams, but given that the material my students are covering differs from the norm in some places, I will likely be taking that on as well.
TLDR: All is well, but it's time to buckle down and get busy. Anyone want to go kayaking?
I "survived" the Algebra exam last week. I'm anxious to get caught up in Analysis and Topology, but the necessary time still alludes me. I'm trying to spend more time hiking and/or kayaking, but I count these as distractions that are unavoidable if I want to sustain some semblance of acceptable mental health. I'm pretty behind in Analysis this week, but expect to get the emergent stuff done in the next day or two, and the less pressing things taken care of by the end of the weekend.
My Calc 2 class had their first exam this week, and I was pleased with the results. The students are pretty great. My office hours are always busy, and the in class interaction is good.
One of the problems about TAing for different classes is that some instructors like to adapt the "accepted" syllabus to suit their personal styles. I think this is a great thing, but that means that the three different classes I work with are not always on the same page. Since the lab is planned by an instructor designated as the "lab coordinator", it also means that we are a bit off schedule. This semester I am not meant to be writing the lab exams, but given that the material my students are covering differs from the norm in some places, I will likely be taking that on as well.
TLDR: All is well, but it's time to buckle down and get busy. Anyone want to go kayaking?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Two Weeks In
We are about to get rolling on week 3 of the semester. Time flies like crazy around here!
I don't have a whole lot to say about teaching yet. Three of my four classes (all labs) are held on Monday, so with last week's holiday (MLK), I have only met with most of my students once. The one time that we did meet was basic review of Maple, and most of the students have had Maple labs here before. The classes tomorrow will be, more-or-less, a continuation of the review with some Calc 1 concepts incorporated.
My recitation students are fun. They are definitely making use of my office hours. It got a little crowded in my office last week, and the conversation did not exactly stay on topic. I'm thrilled that they are showing up, though. I'm glad they are comfortable with me, and I really want them to ask for help instead of floundering (inevitably followed by flunking) in this class. They seem to like the professor, and he and I work well together.
Classes are fun, but I haven't yet really been able to focus on Measure Theory and Topology as much as I'd like. After Wednesday's Algebra exam that should change. I think Algebra is going to continue to be a self-study for the most part, but I'm okay with that. I've got great classmates and several additional textbooks for reference.
Topology is interesting. We've mostly been going through some set theory stuff, but are starting to get into the topological concepts. This is my only Friday class, and is followed by a Set Theory/Topology seminar that most of us participate in. I cannot yet form an opinion on the professor's teaching style, but he's a neat guy outside of class (i.e., during our Friday nights at the local bars). He is also a possible advisor if I decide to go more towards Topology or Set Theory. His mathematical lineage is quite distinguished, which would help when I start applying for jobs in a few years. I'll have a better idea about what I want to do after this semester's Measure Theory and once I get started on the General Topology and Functional Analysis sequences next year.
For now, I'm trying to keep my focus on the Qualifiers at the end of the summer. It promises to be a bumpy road!
I don't have a whole lot to say about teaching yet. Three of my four classes (all labs) are held on Monday, so with last week's holiday (MLK), I have only met with most of my students once. The one time that we did meet was basic review of Maple, and most of the students have had Maple labs here before. The classes tomorrow will be, more-or-less, a continuation of the review with some Calc 1 concepts incorporated.
My recitation students are fun. They are definitely making use of my office hours. It got a little crowded in my office last week, and the conversation did not exactly stay on topic. I'm thrilled that they are showing up, though. I'm glad they are comfortable with me, and I really want them to ask for help instead of floundering (inevitably followed by flunking) in this class. They seem to like the professor, and he and I work well together.
Classes are fun, but I haven't yet really been able to focus on Measure Theory and Topology as much as I'd like. After Wednesday's Algebra exam that should change. I think Algebra is going to continue to be a self-study for the most part, but I'm okay with that. I've got great classmates and several additional textbooks for reference.
Topology is interesting. We've mostly been going through some set theory stuff, but are starting to get into the topological concepts. This is my only Friday class, and is followed by a Set Theory/Topology seminar that most of us participate in. I cannot yet form an opinion on the professor's teaching style, but he's a neat guy outside of class (i.e., during our Friday nights at the local bars). He is also a possible advisor if I decide to go more towards Topology or Set Theory. His mathematical lineage is quite distinguished, which would help when I start applying for jobs in a few years. I'll have a better idea about what I want to do after this semester's Measure Theory and once I get started on the General Topology and Functional Analysis sequences next year.
For now, I'm trying to keep my focus on the Qualifiers at the end of the summer. It promises to be a bumpy road!
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