The Beginning of Another Semester

It seems that I am usually dreading this time of year--mostly because it means the end of summer and a small amount of free time, but mostly because I am never mentally or physically prepared for the beginning of the fall semester.

This year it is very different--I am not only ready, but I am actually super excited about this semester.  Here are some possible reasons:

• We are in a new building, the best one on the #SDState campus.  
• My new office is clean and organized--it won't last long. 
• I get to teach freshmen in Calc I Lab.
• I get to use my new online book in Calc I Lab.  

Certainly those are great reasons, but I think it comes down to the fact that I love my job because I get to work with awesome students!

Last night Dr. Christine Larson and I received the nicest email from one of our alumni who is supervising one of our student teachers. He wrote: 
"I know how much I appreciated all of the amazing hard work you did for me, and I'm glad to see the same dividends with other graduates (and soon to be graduates)."

Chris and I have had the great opportunity to work with very talented students who then become talented teachers. Talk about job satisfaction!  There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that you are helping make an impact on countless children learning mathematics.

I hope that my semester continues to be as great as the first couple days. I wish all of you a wonderful and productive semester!

Our awesome new building

Evidence that my office was clean on the first day of classes

Learning From Your Students

My colleague, Dr. Christine Larson and I, just spent the last five days with twenty middle school and high school math teachers. We often have week-long teacher workshops in the summer, depending on whether or not our grant is funded. Every time we have a workshop, I always leave with more knowledge than when I started. Yes, Chris and I are the instructors, so shouldn’t we be the ones imparting knowledge on the participants?

The answer to that question is Yes and No. This answer reiterates what we did throughout the workshop—let your students explore the concepts, figure things out for themselves, and discuss what they discovered with their classmates. Yes, this is an extremely difficult way to teach. Yes, things will not always go as planned—sometimes they will be better and sometimes they will be worse. But the one thing that will always happen is that you will learn from your students and your students will learn from each other!

The participants in our workshop ranged from teachers that just finished their first year of teaching to those that have taught more than 30 years. All of them contributed to the conversation, shared great ideas, developed creative lesson plans, and learned from each other. And both Chris and I learned a lot as well.

I think that sometimes as instructors we think that we need to know everything that might happen in our classroom; that we need to impart our expertise to the students; and that we don’t have time to let students explore on their own. However, some of the best learning takes place when students explore concepts on their own and discuss their ideas with each other.

How do we find the balance between student exploration and concept coverage in our classrooms?

                                                             Group Photo

Back row (Left to right):  Jerry Toering, Chamberlain; Patti Hancock, Chamberlain; Pam Zubke, Brookings; Cassandra Richter, Brookings; Amy Tvedt, Deuel; Jane Syltie, Brookings; Carolyn Burns, Deuel; Ashley Brockhaus, Aberdeen; Amy Thompson, Aberdeen; Jarrod Huntimer, Brookings.

Front row (left to right):  Todd Jorgenson, Brookings; Tom Carruthers, Chamberlain; Kelli Pazour, Chamberlain; Lori Wagner, Webster; Sharon Vestal, SDSU faculty; Julie Abraham, Brookings; Michelle Moeding, Iroquois; Christine Larson, SDSU faculty; Cindee Evenson, Menno; Adam Juba, Brookings; Adam Nelson, Chamberlain; Jeff Rademacher, Chamberlain.

The Success of an Organization

You have heard the saying, “an organization is only as good as its people.”  As we attempt to evaluate the success of our NSF-funded REMAST Scholarship Program, we keep coming back to “it’s all about the people.” 

Last week we had our 5^th annual REMAST Summer Conference.  As always, it was a lot of fun and a huge success.  Every year it is a lot of work, but when it comes together, it is so worth it.  It truly is two of my favorite days of the summer because I get to spend it with awesome people.  Again, it goes back to the people!

As I sat listening to our outside evaluator ask questions of a focus group of alumni, I realized something that I had never thought about before.  One of the alumni said, “Getting selected for REMAST meant that they believed in me.”  I have no idea why I hadn’t thought about that before—the fact that someone picked you as part of their group means they believe in you! 

The power of someone believing in you makes you more successful.  This seems like such a simple idea, but it also seems like more organizations need to embrace the idea.   And it isn’t just about stacking your organization with lots of successful people—it is about building relationships amongst those people.

Last week, whether the participants realized it or not, the REMAST conference focused on building relationships.  The first day, participants drew a playing card to see which table they would sit at (thanks to Dr. Nepal for that great idea).  And then the tables were tasked (thanks to the South Dakota Innovation Lab) to build a tower out of an unlimited number of notecards and 12 inches of masking tape. The second day, participants were organized into teams for the Campus Scavenger Hunt.  I purposely put together the teams in a way so that they would have one new REMAST scholar, and one or two alumni.  I also tried to make is so that there was at least one science person in each group. 

I hope the result of the conference was the new scholars feeling like they fit in, the alumni feeling like they belong, and everyone feeling like we are family.  We are in education for the long haul, we are in it together, and we believe in each other.  Those are the successes of the REMAST Scholarship Program.

Ryan having fun while measuring.

Liz and Mark working to make their tower the tallest.

Jessica, Brendan, and Cindy on the Scavenger Hunt.

What Legacy Will You Leave?

This weekend I had the privilege of joining about 200 other educators from around South Dakota at the Joint South Dakota Science Teachers Association & South Dakota Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual conference.  At the banquet, we heard retired teacher Bill Zubke (ezbzspeak.com) give his talk entitled, “Laugh, Learn, Love, and Leave a Legacy.”  His speech was entertaining and enlightening—and made me think.