I have left Harvard as of July 1, 2008 to take a position at NYU. This website has been cached and left static. Feel free to browse my new website, aka "What the heck is a Clinical Associate Professor?"

10.20.05

Upcoming: TUMS II talk

Posted in Teacher Training at 12:33 pm by leingang

I’m glad to be leading the inaugural discussion today in the new Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics Seminar (TUMS II), which meets alternate Thursdays.

To quote from the seminar’s web site:

Teaching is a significant component of most mathematicians’ careers. Just as future lawyers and doctors must study and train to become more proficient in the skills needed for their professional careers, future mathematicians must study and train to improve their teaching skills. The goal of the Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics Seminar is to provide opportunities during the semester to discuss and reflect on teaching philosophies and practices in order to become better teachers now and to prepare for the teaching activities which will be part of future professional careers.

The seminar presentations and discussions are designed primarily for mathematics graduate students, but anyone interested in mathematics teaching is welcome to attend. We will be examining teaching by reading and discussing case studies developed at Boston College.

And here is the teaser for the case today:

Hugh Brightman, a second year graduate student, is teaching his own Calculus II class under faculty supervision after a successful year as a TA for a recitation section in a large class taught by a professor. Although not many students have been coming to his office hours, Hugh is confident that they are well prepared for his first hour exam. He is shocked when he discovers that they don’t seem to have learned even the most basic techniques and concepts.

First NAEP Report Card since NCLB

Posted in Math, Teacher Training at 11:50 am by leingang

The latest report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was released yesterday. It’s the first such report since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act 0f 2002. NAEP is based on tests of 4th- and 8th-graders across the country and is administered every two years.

Unfortunately, as the Washington Post and New York Times are reporting, the results are not so good. Reading scores are down, and although math scores are up, they didn’t increase as much as they did in the last testing period.

It’s hard to say what this means for college educators, except that these students will eventually be our students. Understanding our students’ backgrounds, and the fact that they will have been educated in this test-driven scheme, will be critical in the future.