Accountability

This is to inform you that Alice Metzer has been arrested in Cambridge.

Sad day.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, This plugin isn’t ready yet!

I typed “t-e-s-t” instead of “r-o-w” in the rhyme below. The code is supposed to substitute “R-o-w” for “t-e-s-t”. Thus, if the original rhyme appears below, my plugin (version 0.0.1) is working!

Row, Row, Row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

I finished my first teaching assignment this summer. It was a challenging, yet an exciting adventure! I sure came out learning so much about teaching, Discrete Math and myself!

The program is called Women’s Technology Program, a four-week program for high-school girls to come to MIT and learn about Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Mechanical Engineering (ME). I was an instructor in EECS module and taught Discrete Math. Some background information may be relevant here. I loved Math as a kid but never really “taught” it to anyone. From this program I learned that you may know the subject matter in your head and even understand it excellently, but the real proof of your grasp of the material is how you communicate that knowledge to others. The girls were wonderful and bright. So, it was a challenge for me to make the class interesting yet fun for them. Also, this was the first time I ever “taught” as I had never designed a curriculum or prepared lecture notes before.

The reason I said that the course was challenging for me was because I fell sick the very second day of the course! It looks like I was allergic to the chalk in Stata Center (CSAIL building) and after the practice sessions the previous week where I used the board extensively, I caught cold and cough. It was terrible. After switching to dustless chalk and taking medicines (which unfortunately made me drowsy during class), my health improved a bit. However, the class experience wasn’t great and I felt that the students weren’t being taught efficiently. The three Math tutors I was assigned were really wonderful and volunteered to help me out. Through it all, God was faithful and helped me through the staff, family and friends’ support. I clearly remember the day when I called my mother and sobbed my woes to her. My parents then fasted and prayed for me and God really did break through my situation. The students commented that they learned a lot in that session and really enjoyed it! That was the day I saw James 5:16 (last part) fulfilled in a very tangible way. That verse says

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Until that point, I wanted to join the academia primarily because my mother is a professor and I loved the thought of becoming one (especially because I already love research and thought that teaching was a noble calling). After this experience, I realized that the primary purpose of teaching is to convey knowledge from the teacher to a student in a concise yet cogent manner. There were many teachable moments when I learned life lessons from my interaction with the girls. If these are challenging, consider them as a worthwhile and fulfilling… because they are! I think the best part of the learning curve is that I now know what I need to improve upon to be a more effective teacher. The two things are:

- accent/speed of talking/pronunciation

- more practice for each class (working out the problems once or twice before class is actually a great idea!)

The reason today (08/17/2011) is a great day to be writing this post is because today is Fermat’s birthday.

Pierre de Fermat

Fermat's Birthday -- Google Logo

As part of a fun activity for the WTP girls, the Math team showed some “Mathy/Geeky” movies and Fermat’s Last Tango was one of them. It is a delightful play about Fermat’s last theorem and how a Princeton professor solves it and how his family life was affected through the challenge. That was the night I really connected with the girls (not as a “lecturer” but as a friend).

To conclude, I end with a description of the girls. They are really bright young women and it thrilled me to be a part of their learning process. I know they will all succeed in various capacities and will make their families and friends proud. My favorite part of each day was when I collected and read the comments I received in the “MUD” cards they filled in each day after class. There were many complaints and suggestions (all of which I carefully considered so that I could improve my teaching skills and teach them better).  However, there were some gems of encouragement that I will always keep and cherish . A snapshot of a few of the lovely and encouraging words is shown below.

Students' comments