Site Map
Course Schedule
Wednesdays 1:25-3:15pm in WWH 512
See the Resources Page for links to the references.
Hand in writing homework by email to mch328+homework at nyu, on the Tuesday before the class for which it is listed as homework.
Jump to the resources for a particular date:
- Jan 29, Feb 5, Feb 12, Feb 19, Feb 26
- March 4, March 11, March 25
- April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29
- May 6, May 13
January 29
- Course Overview: introductions, logistics and goals
- Examples of bad writing and better witing
- Review of gramar: noun, verb adjective, nominalization
- Calculus 1 Paradox: value added by classroom instruction
- Observations of teaching strategies employed in the lesson.
Materials
Assignments due
None
February 5
- Teaching: Evidence Based Classroom Practices
- Discussed readings
- Implemented active learning techniques
- Writing: Actions and Characters
- Two principles for creating clear sentences: Make characters subjects, and make actions verbs
Materials
- Slides, class 2
- Handout 2 (Writing)
- Four sample Inquiry Based Learning activities
- Blish, Libertini “Who’s in My Differential Equations Club?” In Tactile Learning Activites in Mathematices, editited by Julie Barnes and Jessica M. Libertini, pg 169-172. Providence, RI: MAA Press, 2018. On Google Drive
Assignments due
- Fill out the Welcome Survey. Due Monday 2/3.
- includes a 1 paragraph (~4-6 sentence) description of your current research problem.
- Read MAA Instructional Practices Guide – Classroom Practices 1 (pg. 1-26) Due Wednesday 2/5.
- Finish the exercises on Handout 1 (you don’t need to hand this in.)
February 12
- Center for Teaching and Learning Writing Workshop
Assignments due
- Explain a concept that is central to your field of study, in ~100 words.
- Expand your explanation above, to ~500 words. (optional, but highly recommended)
Send these by email to mch328+homework at nyu by Tuesday, February 12.
Please also bring a hard copy to class.
February 19
- Teaching: Challenging Situations
- Preventing and addressing cheating
- Handeling student regrade requests
- Writing
- When nominalizations are good
Materials
- Forty-Two Ways to Prevent Cheating from Nilson’s Teaching at its Best pg. 165-167
- Student Solutions for Handout 2
Assignments due
- Sign up for a date to present your mini-lesson In Google Doc Due Monday 2/17.
- Read Emily’s Test, Salad Days and Seeking Points in Friedberg’s Teaching Mathematics in Colleges and Universities Due Wednesday 2/20
- Exercises from Writing Handout 2 :
hand in Exercise 3 (#s 5,6, and one more of your choice) and Exercise 4.
Please hand these in by Tuesday February 18th, via email to mch328+homework at nyu. - (optional but recommended) Read Chapter 3 of Williams & Bizup
February 26
- Teaching
- Grading and rubrics
- Writing
- More on characters
- More on nouns
Materials
- Slides, classes 4-5
- Handout 3 (Writing)
- Making the grade in Friedberg’s Teaching Mathematics in Colleges and Universities
Assignments due
- None for Writing (but bring a hard copy of your 100-word description to class)
March 4
- Teaching discussion topics
- Aligning assessment with learning goals a
- Formative and summative assessment
- Writing
- Cohesion
- Coherence
Materials
Assignments due
- Read MAA Instructional Practices Guide – Assessment Practices Sections 1-5 (pg. 49-75) Due Wednesday 3/4.
- Exercises from Writing Handout 3 Due by Tuesday 3/3
- Rewrite your 100-word description, incorporating feedback from your partner. Send to mch328+homework.
March 11
- Writing - Introductions
Materials
- Papers to analyze
- Slides, class 7
- Chapter 7, “Hooks and Sinkers”, from Stylish Academic Writing, by Helen Sword]
Assignments due
- Write Calculus 1 Final Exam. Bring print out to class and email to clarkson+homework. Due Wednesday 3/11.
- Write up feedback on another groups Calculus exam. Email to clarkson+homework. Due Friday 3/13
- Exercises from Writing Handout 5 Due by Tuesday 3/10
March 18 Spring Break – No Class
March 25
- Teaching discussion
- Creating exams in a group
- Online teaching
Assignments due
April 1
- Writing - Global Coherence
Materials
- Chapter 5, “Arcs of Coherence”, from The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker.
- “Deep Learning: An Introduction for Applied Mathematicians”, by C. F. Hingham and D. J. Hingham. SIAM Review, 61(4), 860–891.
- Chapter 8, “The Story Net”, from Stylish Academic Writing, by Helen Sword.
- Handout 5 (Writing): Summary of principles of clarity & coherence.
- Slides, class 8
Assignments due
- Draft 1 of research report
- Read Chapter 5, “Arcs of Coherence”, from The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker. Make a note of principles you can follow to make your writing more coherent, and be prepared to share these in class.
- Scan “Deep Learning: An Introduction for Applied Mathematicians”, by Hingham & Hingham.
- Read Sections 1-4 (p.1-10), Section 8 (p.25-30), and the first 1-2 paragraphs each of Sections 5-7.
- Pay attention to the structure of the text: what is the goal of each section and each paragraph. Don’t worry about the mathematical content (unless you want to.)
April 8
- Writing Mathematics
- Remember who your reader is
Materials
Pre-class
- Chapter 3: “Mathematical Writing”, from Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences, by Nicholas Hingham.
- Handout 6: Editing rubric (draft for this week). and an .odt verion
- Editing partners list
During class
- Handout 7 (Writing): exercises in mathematical writing.
- Excerpts from student first drafts
Post-class
Further reading
- “Can We Make Mathematics Intelligible?”, The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 88, No. 10, by Boas, 1981
- “Writing Mathematics Well”, by L. Gillman, 1982.
- “How to Write Mathematics”, by P. R. Halmos, 1970.
Assignments due
- Read Chapter 3: “Mathematical Writing”. Make a note of things you learned / principles you can follow in your mathematical writing. Be prepared to discuss in class.
- Edit your research report, using the draft editing rubric to guide your edits. You don’t need to hand in your report again, but do hand in a short summary of the changes you made.
- After you have edited your report once, and send your report to your editing partners. You are each assigned 2 editing partners. They will provide further edits, due next week. Send them your report early, so they have time to provide thoughtful feedback.
April 15
- Inclusive teaching
Materials
- Read this article on inclusive teaching
- Read “Stereotype Susceptibility: Identity Salience and Shifts in Quantitative Performance”, by Margaret Shih, Todd L. Pittinsky, and Nalini Ambady, Psychological Science, Vol 10 (1999).
- Editing rubric (updated). and an .odt verion
Assignments due
- Provide feedback on your partners’ reports. For each of your 2 partners, fill out your editing rubric (or provide comments of a similar nature), and send it to your partner and to mch328+homework. (Alternative: if you have not had at least a week to edit your partners’ work, please send Miranda a quick email to let me know where you are in the editing process, and when you expect to finish editing.)
April 22
- Writing
- Concision
- Hedges and Intensifiers
- Ambiguous pronouns like This and It
Materials
- Excerpt from Chapter 9 of Williams & Bizup, summarizing our discussion of concision. Read all of Chapter 9, if you have the book.
- Handout 8 (Writing). Contains an excerpt from a draft of “Sticky-sphere clusters”, by Miranda Holmes-Cerfon, Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics, 2017, for you to edit. The published article is here.
- Slides, class 10
Assignments due
- Draft 2 (3?) of research report, incorporating your partners’ feedback.
Please name your new pdf YOURNAME_anythingelseyouwant.pdf.
If you haven’t had at least a week to incorporate their feedback, or if you feel you need more time to edit, then please send Miranda an email explaining where you are in the editing process, and roughly when you expect to finish this draft.
April 29
- Teaching
- Assessment: Grades
Materials
- How to Curve an Exam and Assign Grades posted on the Division by Zero blong by Dave Richeson on December 22, 2008
- Calculus Exam Scores Spreadsheet
Assignments due
- Draft 2/3 of your research report, if you haven’t yet handed it in.
- Read How to Curve and Exam and Assign Grades (linked above).
- Exam Curving exercise: The spreadsheet linked above contains three sheets. The first sheet has the scores for a Calculus 1 final exam. The second sheet has the historic grade distributions for the course and the third sheet has the grade cut offs for the course. Your task is to curve the exam. Be prepared to explain the method you used for your curve and why you chose it. You should also be able to quickly apply your curve to a given raw score.
May 6
- Teaching – What questions should you ask when preparing to teach a course?
- Writing – Conclusions
Materials
Assignments due
May 13
- Additional class for presentations
- Discussion and Review: What do teaching & writing have in common?
Materials
Assignments due
- Final draft of research report (approximate)
- More rounds of editing are fine – let Miranda or your partners know if you would like more feedback from them.
- I’d like to make a collection of reports on the website. Please indicate if you are ok with yours being included in this collection.