Lessons from today's Emag class...
1) This one is probably fundamental:
Cherish + staying up too late at night + no tea before class (caffeine, anyone?) + standing at white board with marker in hand = utter chaos
Our prof is basically having us stand up to the board and go through the derivations for our emag class. I had prepared some stuff, but not on what he asked me to talk about. (That's okay, he says, we'll go through it together.)
On the other hand, when we got talking later in the class, I was able to explain some stuff pretty well. (Someone asked a question and the prof opened it up to the floor.)
2) I need to spend more time prepping for this class. I don't know some of the intro material as well as I thought I did. Good to know this now rather than at my defense.
3) It's hard to see the "big picture" when you're at the board. Much different than when you're sitting down. (I can tell I'm used to teaching undergrads who never ask any questions.)
4) Even a bad day in this class is a lot of fun. Everyone in the class is rather inquisitive, so we spend a lot of time delving into the background and where things come from. No one attacks you if you make a mistake (and I made plenty today). It's very conversational, which means you learn from everyone, not just the prof.
5) I can still tell that even though I've been away from "physics" for a while, a lot of what I learned conceptually has stuck with me. This gives me a different perspective from the other students in the class. I think this is very complementary to the conversational environment.
Cherish + staying up too late at night + no tea before class (caffeine, anyone?) + standing at white board with marker in hand = utter chaos
Our prof is basically having us stand up to the board and go through the derivations for our emag class. I had prepared some stuff, but not on what he asked me to talk about. (That's okay, he says, we'll go through it together.)
On the other hand, when we got talking later in the class, I was able to explain some stuff pretty well. (Someone asked a question and the prof opened it up to the floor.)
2) I need to spend more time prepping for this class. I don't know some of the intro material as well as I thought I did. Good to know this now rather than at my defense.
3) It's hard to see the "big picture" when you're at the board. Much different than when you're sitting down. (I can tell I'm used to teaching undergrads who never ask any questions.)
4) Even a bad day in this class is a lot of fun. Everyone in the class is rather inquisitive, so we spend a lot of time delving into the background and where things come from. No one attacks you if you make a mistake (and I made plenty today). It's very conversational, which means you learn from everyone, not just the prof.
5) I can still tell that even though I've been away from "physics" for a while, a lot of what I learned conceptually has stuck with me. This gives me a different perspective from the other students in the class. I think this is very complementary to the conversational environment.