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there was an unpublished entry sitting in among the other entries called
"still no internet at home"
which was started on 7/25/09.
it only had like two lines, and in it, i started talking about all the other the luxuries we have in addition to the convenience of having internet at home.
having internet at home is definitely a luxury, and yet it's so easy to feel entitled.
i'm definitely grateful for the ability to connect to the world from the comfort of my home and to reach out to others in turn.
i just wanted to crank out an entry so that the days don't pass me by.
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Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
the second exam...
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so i administered the second exam to the students.
my intention was to make it a little more lengthy, and more challenging.
some students still managed to be done within 40 minutes; which is fine, i suppose...
at first, i graded the exam with absolutely no partial credit, that is, if any part of a solution is a little off, it was marked entirely wrong.
with this draconian methodology, the result of the exam was the following:
3 students got scores in the 100's.
6 students got scores in the 90's.
3 students got scores in the 80's.
3 students got scores in the 70's.
3 students got scores in the 60's.
6 students got scores in the 50's and less.
which to me, seemed not at all that bad.
...then, i felt a tinge of guilt, and since i've been granted mercy by God, i figured i should also grant these students mercy; so i gave +2 points for each problem that i gave no credit.
the results were the following:
5 students got scores in the 100's.
6 students got scores in the 90's.
4 students got scores in the 80's.
4 students got scores in the 70's.
0 students got scores in the 60's.
5 students got scores in the 50's and less.
the additional points definitely made the scores top heavy once again...
i reminded the students (mostly directed at the 5 students) the last day to drop the class without penalty with July 29th.
it would be ideal if 4 of the 5 students that are failing would drop, but i have a feeling the ego and the pride in some of these students will dictate that they would rather fail the class than taking no penalty... it's quite unfortunate, but i suppose if they must learn their lessons this way, so be it.
we'll see how it goes...
so i administered the second exam to the students.
my intention was to make it a little more lengthy, and more challenging.
some students still managed to be done within 40 minutes; which is fine, i suppose...
at first, i graded the exam with absolutely no partial credit, that is, if any part of a solution is a little off, it was marked entirely wrong.
with this draconian methodology, the result of the exam was the following:
3 students got scores in the 100's.
6 students got scores in the 90's.
3 students got scores in the 80's.
3 students got scores in the 70's.
3 students got scores in the 60's.
6 students got scores in the 50's and less.
which to me, seemed not at all that bad.
...then, i felt a tinge of guilt, and since i've been granted mercy by God, i figured i should also grant these students mercy; so i gave +2 points for each problem that i gave no credit.
the results were the following:
5 students got scores in the 100's.
6 students got scores in the 90's.
4 students got scores in the 80's.
4 students got scores in the 70's.
0 students got scores in the 60's.
5 students got scores in the 50's and less.
the additional points definitely made the scores top heavy once again...
i reminded the students (mostly directed at the 5 students) the last day to drop the class without penalty with July 29th.
it would be ideal if 4 of the 5 students that are failing would drop, but i have a feeling the ego and the pride in some of these students will dictate that they would rather fail the class than taking no penalty... it's quite unfortunate, but i suppose if they must learn their lessons this way, so be it.
we'll see how it goes...
Saturday, July 18, 2009
on a more personal note...
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i recently moved from my old place that i mentioned last year to a new place without any roommates!!!
the place is not exactly spacious, but i have the place to myself without any distractions, which is great.
it's a lot closer to the beach, but definitely further away from school.
since there are no more exams hanging over my head, there isn't a great need for me to be so close to campus.
at the same time, i wanted to take advantage of the awesome hawaiian climate and its environment, and be walking distance to the beach.
there are many plans i have brewing in my head, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with mathematics...
at the same time, all of which are perfectly legal and relatively wholesome...
we'll see how it goes.
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i recently moved from my old place that i mentioned last year to a new place without any roommates!!!
the place is not exactly spacious, but i have the place to myself without any distractions, which is great.
it's a lot closer to the beach, but definitely further away from school.
since there are no more exams hanging over my head, there isn't a great need for me to be so close to campus.
at the same time, i wanted to take advantage of the awesome hawaiian climate and its environment, and be walking distance to the beach.
there are many plans i have brewing in my head, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with mathematics...
at the same time, all of which are perfectly legal and relatively wholesome...
we'll see how it goes.
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the result of the exam i gave...
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i was extra nice about the exam, and i even gave them an easy bonus question worth 10 points...
so the result of the students were the following:
10 students got scores in the 100's.
6 students got scores in the 90's.
2 students got scores in the 80's.
1 student got a score in the 70's.
4 students got scores in the 60's.
3 students got scores in the 50's and less.
so most of the students get what's going on, and there's really only about 3 slackers that really don't care about what's going on in class; i'm praying they will drop the class by the drop date, which is July 29th; most likely, only 1 will drop, and the remaining 2 slackers will squeeze out a "D" in the class.
we'll see how it goes...
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i was extra nice about the exam, and i even gave them an easy bonus question worth 10 points...
so the result of the students were the following:
10 students got scores in the 100's.
6 students got scores in the 90's.
2 students got scores in the 80's.
1 student got a score in the 70's.
4 students got scores in the 60's.
3 students got scores in the 50's and less.
so most of the students get what's going on, and there's really only about 3 slackers that really don't care about what's going on in class; i'm praying they will drop the class by the drop date, which is July 29th; most likely, only 1 will drop, and the remaining 2 slackers will squeeze out a "D" in the class.
we'll see how it goes...
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Monday, July 13, 2009
see??? more frequent!
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so it's been a week since my teaching began.
tomorrow, the students are scheduled to have an exam.
initially, i was planning on giving a short quiz, which would last about 25 minutes, then i would be able to present new material for the remaining time of the class (one entire class time is 75 min).
then i realized a short quiz in my mind may be a full length exam for the students...
i don't really enjoy the idea of losing an entire day for an exam, but this is probably best for the students.
...even tempering my ambitions further, today was devoted to reviewing all the material from last week; i keep telling myself... this is probably best for the students...
we'll see how it goes tomorrow...
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so it's been a week since my teaching began.
tomorrow, the students are scheduled to have an exam.
initially, i was planning on giving a short quiz, which would last about 25 minutes, then i would be able to present new material for the remaining time of the class (one entire class time is 75 min).
then i realized a short quiz in my mind may be a full length exam for the students...
i don't really enjoy the idea of losing an entire day for an exam, but this is probably best for the students.
...even tempering my ambitions further, today was devoted to reviewing all the material from last week; i keep telling myself... this is probably best for the students...
we'll see how it goes tomorrow...
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Monday, July 6, 2009
more frequent updates!!!
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By now, I can't imagine the readership of this site is too great, but for those few and faithful, I have resolved to put life back into things around here...
...so what have I been doing???
since May, I have been on summer break...
I was in California visiting friends and family for about 3 weeks; while in Cali, I pretty much ate all the food that I missed in the last year that I was away in Hawaii; that was goooood...
In June, I attended this math conference where everything they talked about pretty much went right over my head... it further confirmed the area of focus that I would study for my research (definitely nothing related to the conference...)
Today was my first day of teaching summer school. This class is what they call a "terminal math course" which means we do nothing technical like calculus, but the content is still supposed to stimulate the non-science majors to think mathematically... We'll see how it goes...
--
By now, I can't imagine the readership of this site is too great, but for those few and faithful, I have resolved to put life back into things around here...
...so what have I been doing???
since May, I have been on summer break...
I was in California visiting friends and family for about 3 weeks; while in Cali, I pretty much ate all the food that I missed in the last year that I was away in Hawaii; that was goooood...
In June, I attended this math conference where everything they talked about pretty much went right over my head... it further confirmed the area of focus that I would study for my research (definitely nothing related to the conference...)
Today was my first day of teaching summer school. This class is what they call a "terminal math course" which means we do nothing technical like calculus, but the content is still supposed to stimulate the non-science majors to think mathematically... We'll see how it goes...
--
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