Lean With It/Rock With It

Posted on November 2, 2020 by kthompson

From amazon.com. Been a while since I gave a book recommendation…

I feel like a bad feminist. And not in the Roxane Gay sense. More like in the literal sense.

A female colleague of mine recently was talking about a “Lean In” group she was running on campus, and I asked her, “I’ve heard of that…I kinda know it’s about women in the workplace, but beyond that I have zero clue. What exactly are you leaning in…to???”

She gave me an example of a way *I* had taught her to “lean in.”

Deep breaths, because I’m still not sure what “lean in” is after this description, or really what newsflash I was providing…

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Posted in bias, books, community engagement, conferences, mentoring, minorities in mathematics, outreach, women in math | Leave a comment

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Posted on October 1, 2020 by kthompson

My online “classroom”…before any students show up.

A few months ago I said it was “noble” that some were trying to recreate as exactly as possible in-person experiences online. Multiple weeks into the new semester, I no longer think this is noble. And anyone who is doing a “hybrid” by choice I truly do not understand. I think these moves of mimicking in-person experiences online and going hybrid are done predominantly out of denial. They are done out of fear of the unknown, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable (to the faculty). To be quaint, I just keep saying to myself “Bless their hearts.” To be more realistic, I have to laugh in order not to cry.

And I hope at the end of this you’re laughing too. Because you couldn’t make this stuff up. It’s hilarious if you can remove yourself, even for a few minutes, from the horror that it’s actually our reality. Continue reading →

Posted in active learning, cheating, classroom design, classroom management, classroom response systems, inquiry-based learning, online homework systems | 1 Comment

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Posted on September 1, 2020 by kthompson

My first ever college football tickets. Go Dawgs!

Many of us, myself included, have it pretty easy. And so it’s been interesting to see what people’s “Corona/quarantine” breaking-points have been. For some, who I believe are VERY pampered, it came early: “I don’t know when I’m going to be able to travel internationally again! I had so many countries I wanted to visit this year.” Cry me a river.

For others, it was “All my favorite restaurants are closed!” to which I thought, “Whoa! You have way too much expendable income” slash “Learn to boil water.”

For others still (and now, we’re moving to friends outside academia), it was “The NBA playoffs were postponed.” [Though they’re on again as of the writing of this post, and though players make millions a year…having been to Disney World relatively recently thanks to math competitions, I can tell you it’d take at LEAST $500K to convince me to isolate myself indefinitely in ‘the Magic Kingdom.’]

I started my quarantine/isolation on March 9. It took almost six months for me to have a similar #firstworld breaking point.

My breaking point is college football, or lack thereof.

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Posted in attracting math majors, conferences, networking, social aspects of math life, Social situations with students, work-life balance | Leave a comment