First day!

(Section 1.1)

First day! Explained how the course will run: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday will be new material days, Mondays will be for review and quiz of the previous week’s work. Gave an overview of the topics we’ll cover over the course of the 8 weeks. Got each student to introduce his/her self, and say one thing they’re comfortable with in maths, and one thing they’re not comfortable with. Quite a big range of confidence, even though only 10 students: one maths major, and an engineer, who’re very comfortable in a maths environment, and 4 girls who’ve chosen elementary ed so they don’t need to do much math because they feel they suck at it. Also an already qualified elementary school teacher who is taking this as a CPD course, and wants to learn the ‘best’ way to present the curriculum. Ack; no pressure!

Gave a reasonably short overview of the first section, then handed out a worksheet I’d prepared, and asked them to work on it in groups. When they were done, talked through the worksheet, getting answers from the class and making notes on the board. Lots of discussion about the number of possible configurations of 3 planes in space; I’d brought spare pieces of paper, so people could play with them and explain what they were thinking.

I think I can do this! They seem to be a really lovely bunch of students, and so far have been enthusiastic and responsive.