Joshua Sasmor

What it feels like to be bad at math

Joshua — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:17:53 +0000

I’m blogging this so I can find it again next semester: http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/04/25/were-all-bad-at-math-1-i-feel-stupid-too/#more-160

- hat tip to Joanne Jacobs for this. I should send this to my students before exams next week…

Dear Student:…

Joshua — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:10:55 +0000

Saw this on Facebook, and I had to repost it here so that I could find it later.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/artcarden/2012/01/12/dear-student-i-dont-lie-awake-at-night-thinking-of-ways-to-ruin-your-life/

Learning to Podcast!

Joshua — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:52:36 +0000

I’m learning to write podcasts as part of my technology training this year. Here’s my first one! It’s a calculus 2 problem on power series. Let me know what you think!
Podcast attempt

A style-guide for math

Joshua — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:40:36 +0000

I’m posting this for reference – this was give to me at a conference last year, by Anders Hendrickson. It’s his, and I really like using it. I’ll be starting most of my classes this year with a discussion about … Continue reading →

“Flipping” education?

Joshua — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:31:10 +0000

I wonder – when I go through the training for our new Title 3 grant next year, will I be able to do something like what Salman Khan suggests in his TED talk? http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html (Two strange things: for some reason, I can’t seem to insert hyperlinks at the moment – hopefully I can go back and fix this in the office on Monday; also the talk transcript appears at the link, but the video is not visible here or on my iPad via the TED app.)

I remember trying this in an upper level class several years ago – having the students read the book and then coming into class and doing several examples at their direction. After three or four sections of complete confusion, I asked them if we should start over with more traditional lectures and they (ALL) said yes. Perhaps the addition of my lecture that the students can watch on their own time would make this better. I hope that I can manage to do this.

Hat tip to http://www.joannejacobs.com/ – the video shows on her link at http://www.joannejacobs.com/2011/03/khan-use-video-to-flip-education/

Fear of failure?

Joshua — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:33:24 +0000

I’m blogging this as a reference – I think this is really important, and I must go read the research behind this. I think it is funny that this is from a Seton HALL professor

The college fear factor and the original place I saw it was on Joanne Jacobs’ Community College site.

Are final exams going away?

Joshua — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:30:47 +0000

An interesting article from the Boston Globe about the decline of the final exam. As long as I am teaching math, I know there will be comprehensive exams in my classes…

Free e-books from Kaplan!

Joshua — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:37:27 +0000

From today until August 30, Kaplan Publishing is giving away study guides in the iBooks store! Check it out at http://readkaplan.com/ You might find something you can use!

Yoyo Master

Joshua — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:44:36 +0000

Anyone who has taken one of my classes knows I like to yoyo. I carry one (usually my Henry’s Viper) with me almost everywhere I go. But this guy just makes me look completely amateurish. This is amazing!

(Hat tip to The Daily What)

Why go to school?

Joshua — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:43:50 +0000

As I was reading my daily blogs (I will put a blogroll up here eventually), I cam across a link to this letter. As a teaser, here’s a quote I like: “Higher
education is designed to develop the mind, which in turn allows the
graduate to bring that developed mind to the workforce.”

I think this is worth looking at. (Hat tip to Joanne Jacobs)