Can I help you design that Yacht?
So a few years ago, I was part of a project. Students often get As throughout high school math, and then come to college, and fail their math courses. Why? So this project was to find out, and make recommendations to both the high school teachers and the college professors. I liked the philosophy of including both in the discussion; nothing Magic happens in the three months between someone being a college senior and a high school freshman - so why do they go from successes at math to barely passing?
We held a giant congress involving high school teachers, college professors, administrators, etc. Both our State Senators showed up. It was a big deal. Then we took all the results of the discussions and drafted a document. We took that to a subset of attendees, and had them comment, change, etc. Eventually, we came up with the Transitions Guide, which is being used throughout Iowa.
What did I do? I helped plan the congress, emceed it, helped gather the data, draft the document (I was the lead writer for the Calculus part of it), worked on the final draft, and gave talks about it as it was disseminated. I don't want to overstate my role - I was part of a team, and everyone on the team was extremely good, and we were equals. There were about 5 - 8 of us in the main team, and then there were a bumch more who reviewed that first draft, and then about 100 who attended the congress.
Well, I ran into the head of the project as the L and I were entering the Village Inn. He just got back from an Important meeting with govenrment officials, and they would like Transitions Guides for various other disciplines. He said that he would like me on board as a consultant, and I said, "yes." It was a very rewarding task, and I got to work with passionate people, and I feel we did some real good. And I feel I was good at it. So after the "yes" we briefly (we are standing outside of a Village Inn) discussed my duties, given that I'm no expert in the content areas.
I got the impression that he would welcome my help in organizing, editing, etc. But I also got the impression that what he was MOST excited by, the reason he asked me to sign on as a Consultant, was to reprise my role as ... emcee
(Again - I'm not bitching about being an emcee. I love doing it, and I'm good at it. But given what I wrote about yesterday, this was just too funny.)
We held a giant congress involving high school teachers, college professors, administrators, etc. Both our State Senators showed up. It was a big deal. Then we took all the results of the discussions and drafted a document. We took that to a subset of attendees, and had them comment, change, etc. Eventually, we came up with the Transitions Guide, which is being used throughout Iowa.
What did I do? I helped plan the congress, emceed it, helped gather the data, draft the document (I was the lead writer for the Calculus part of it), worked on the final draft, and gave talks about it as it was disseminated. I don't want to overstate my role - I was part of a team, and everyone on the team was extremely good, and we were equals. There were about 5 - 8 of us in the main team, and then there were a bumch more who reviewed that first draft, and then about 100 who attended the congress.
Well, I ran into the head of the project as the L and I were entering the Village Inn. He just got back from an Important meeting with govenrment officials, and they would like Transitions Guides for various other disciplines. He said that he would like me on board as a consultant, and I said, "yes." It was a very rewarding task, and I got to work with passionate people, and I feel we did some real good. And I feel I was good at it. So after the "yes" we briefly (we are standing outside of a Village Inn) discussed my duties, given that I'm no expert in the content areas.
I got the impression that he would welcome my help in organizing, editing, etc. But I also got the impression that what he was MOST excited by, the reason he asked me to sign on as a Consultant, was to reprise my role as ... emcee
(Again - I'm not bitching about being an emcee. I love doing it, and I'm good at it. But given what I wrote about yesterday, this was just too funny.)