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!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A New Semester Begins
But wait... What happened to the last semester?
Despite my joyous discovery of the Blogger app, y'all haven't seen updates for quite a while. The past is the past, so it will suffice to say that I survived my first semester in grad school. I did fairly well and enjoyed every minute of it. But, I know that I have not been working nearly as hard as I should be. I plan to step it up this semester...I'll have to with quals looming in the near future.
My teaching assignment this semester is a bit odd. I am still doing calculus 2, but rather than running two labs and two recitations for one professor, I will be working with two upper level grad students and one part-time instructor. The grad students run their own recitations, so I will be conducting their labs, and I will be doing the lab and the recitation for the part-time professor. I'm not thrilled for a couple of reasons: First, I love doing the recitations, but I'm not crazy on the labs, so it's a bit of a downer to be assigned three labs and only one recitation. Second, since I expressed no preference for time of day, I've been given 8am and 4:40-5:30 teaching assignments. No one wants mornings, and no one wants evening. I don't mind either, but never dreamed they'd stick me with both!!! Most students live very close to campus. It's a longer walk to where I park my car than it is for many of them to their homes. If I lived closer to campus, I would have the freedom to go home during the day. But, I'm sure I can use my time productively. What really gets to me about the schedule is that I was going to sit in on a 5:30 German class. I could still try to make it to the class, but I would have to blow off my students at the end of class (and be very strict about the time they spend on quizzes), and I would have to show up late. If I were an enrolled student I wouldn't be concerned about this as it would be more-or-less unavoidable given the schedule set by the university. But, if a professor is allowing me, as a courtesy, to sit in on a class, I would not risk anything that might disrupt the class. So, next semester maybe.
Despite all of my bitching, I'm excited to get going. The instructors that I am working with seem pretty laid-back. One of them I know socially and have spent time with him and his wife. At last count I have five returning students. I'm not sure that they realize that they are stuck with me again, but I'm sure it will be a good semester.
I'm really excited about the courses I am taking. The second semester of analysis is measure theory, a course I tried to have offered at my undergrad until I got distracted by something else...graph theory maybe? Anyway, totally psyched! We are using a new book by a recent Fields Medal winner who has a very strong online presence and seems to be a pretty nifty guy. And the professor is fabulous.
The second semester of Algebra should be interesting. We should have an exam sometime in the first couple of weeks, so we'll see how it goes. I'm still concerned about this class, but I'm really starting to enjoy the material more and more (I've always thought it pretty cool).
Finally, rather than completing the graph theory sequence, I am taking a topics course in topology. I really wanted to complete the GT sequence as it's a good option for comps and a pretty easy class. But, coming in to USC I knew I wanted to comp in topology. There is talk of a sequence (as opposed to the topics course) being offered next year, but you never know. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I'm intrigued by the professor. I've interacted with him a couple of times, and I like him outside of class. But, I've heard stories of his teaching style, and I'm curious to see if they hold up.
So, all in all, I'm excited to get back in the swing of things, though I wish I were more ready. There are a lot of things that I had hoped to get done over the break that I never got to. But, I've missed being in the classroom.
Here we go....
Despite my joyous discovery of the Blogger app, y'all haven't seen updates for quite a while. The past is the past, so it will suffice to say that I survived my first semester in grad school. I did fairly well and enjoyed every minute of it. But, I know that I have not been working nearly as hard as I should be. I plan to step it up this semester...I'll have to with quals looming in the near future.
My teaching assignment this semester is a bit odd. I am still doing calculus 2, but rather than running two labs and two recitations for one professor, I will be working with two upper level grad students and one part-time instructor. The grad students run their own recitations, so I will be conducting their labs, and I will be doing the lab and the recitation for the part-time professor. I'm not thrilled for a couple of reasons: First, I love doing the recitations, but I'm not crazy on the labs, so it's a bit of a downer to be assigned three labs and only one recitation. Second, since I expressed no preference for time of day, I've been given 8am and 4:40-5:30 teaching assignments. No one wants mornings, and no one wants evening. I don't mind either, but never dreamed they'd stick me with both!!! Most students live very close to campus. It's a longer walk to where I park my car than it is for many of them to their homes. If I lived closer to campus, I would have the freedom to go home during the day. But, I'm sure I can use my time productively. What really gets to me about the schedule is that I was going to sit in on a 5:30 German class. I could still try to make it to the class, but I would have to blow off my students at the end of class (and be very strict about the time they spend on quizzes), and I would have to show up late. If I were an enrolled student I wouldn't be concerned about this as it would be more-or-less unavoidable given the schedule set by the university. But, if a professor is allowing me, as a courtesy, to sit in on a class, I would not risk anything that might disrupt the class. So, next semester maybe.
Despite all of my bitching, I'm excited to get going. The instructors that I am working with seem pretty laid-back. One of them I know socially and have spent time with him and his wife. At last count I have five returning students. I'm not sure that they realize that they are stuck with me again, but I'm sure it will be a good semester.
I'm really excited about the courses I am taking. The second semester of analysis is measure theory, a course I tried to have offered at my undergrad until I got distracted by something else...graph theory maybe? Anyway, totally psyched! We are using a new book by a recent Fields Medal winner who has a very strong online presence and seems to be a pretty nifty guy. And the professor is fabulous.
The second semester of Algebra should be interesting. We should have an exam sometime in the first couple of weeks, so we'll see how it goes. I'm still concerned about this class, but I'm really starting to enjoy the material more and more (I've always thought it pretty cool).
Finally, rather than completing the graph theory sequence, I am taking a topics course in topology. I really wanted to complete the GT sequence as it's a good option for comps and a pretty easy class. But, coming in to USC I knew I wanted to comp in topology. There is talk of a sequence (as opposed to the topics course) being offered next year, but you never know. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I'm intrigued by the professor. I've interacted with him a couple of times, and I like him outside of class. But, I've heard stories of his teaching style, and I'm curious to see if they hold up.
So, all in all, I'm excited to get back in the swing of things, though I wish I were more ready. There are a lot of things that I had hoped to get done over the break that I never got to. But, I've missed being in the classroom.
Here we go....
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