the one friday that i miss colloquium becomes the friday night in which i'm attending dinner with the colloquium speaker.
argh.
he seems nice, though .. even offered to show me his slides at some point, next week.
as for why i missed it, i was running around, doing teaching errands of questionable importance. after 1 1/2 weeks into the semester, i think i have a newfound respect for administrators and people who interact with people for a living.
i also have a newfound wariness of scale: both my lectures are larger in population than how i've taught before. one has around 80 students.
emails alone are bothersome enough. they come every day. i used to have this rule of "no email or internet before noon" in efforts to get more research done, but i wonder how well i can stick to it ..
.. especially as the semester moves forward. in a few weeks, i'm suppose to have written and administered my first midterm.
ye gods: how does anyone get any research done?
at some point i'd like to blog about research-related ideas again. in the meanwhile, dear reader(s), i suppose you have to settle for my gripes about teaching.
3 comments:
A simple course webpage can reduce the number of emails from students, if it has answers to typical questions like: what's covered on the next quiz/midterm, when is homework due, a copy of syllabus, calculator policy...
A simple course webpage can reduce the number of emails from students
i know. i already have one with those kinds of details (except i don't give quizzes, this class; maybe next term).
instead, i get questions about scheduling conflicts and difficulties with particular sections that we have already covered in class.
maybe i should be a more brusque, meaner sort of guy. that way, students will be less inclined to ask or write me with questions. q:
You can encourage students to see you/TA/tutor instead of emailing you with math questions. It's not about being mean, it's about being efficient. Email is not an efficient way to explain math.
Scheduling conflicts like "but I already bought tickets for a ski trip on the day of an exam!" are simply none of your business.
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