Tanking is an issue in the NBA is currently trying to fix. When a team falls out of playoff contention, it can become rational to lose games on purpose. Worse draft position comes from winning, so late-season success can actually hurt a rebuilding team. The league has tried to address this. The draft lottery flattens […]
We are in our last week of class, and I am continuing my practice of having the students submit their final grade reflections early. I largely stole the final reflection from my colleague Anne Sinko. The reflections are about three pages long and roughly ask: I am focusing on the last two questions in this […]
Linear Algebra is a key transition course for our math majors. This is significantly different from every previous mathematics class they have had, and it is their first exposure to proofs. I am teaching it this semester, and I am teaching it next semester. I tried “mandatory office hours” this semester (although I didn’t call […]
I recently took two months off from blogging. This ended up being intentional, and I thought that it would be useful to explain why. I have several colleagues who describe themselves as “burned out.” I am not burned out, but I also don’t want to become burned out. As such, I am working on creating […]
I have taken a hiatus from blogging this semester, which will end at some point soon (I was planning on waiting after my coaching season ended, and then I thought I would wait until registration ended); I will explain this in a later post. I am blogging slightly earlier than I expected (registration ends next […]
Background: My son plays soccer, and I want him to avoid concussions if possible. Virginia Tech has done a lot of research into how effective various headgear are at preventing concussions. My son has been wearing a headband to reduce the risk of concussions for the last couple of years. He recently started complaining about […]
I somehow came across the paper “The Learning Theory We Have Is Not the Ungrading Learning Theory We Need” by Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh. I love the title, and I read the paper. Here are the bullet points. The main point of the paper is that the learning theory undergirding Ungrading is Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), which is […]
Welcome back! I accepted an offer to be an assistant coach for a high school soccer team, which means that this month is really busy. I had to make a plan to manage my time. Here are the big ideas. I haven’t left early either of the two school days we have had, so it […]
I stumbled into something that I like to pair with Ungrading: giving them their final exam grades early. Here is the process. I say “mostly” above a couple of times because this is not perfect. My students have deadlines tomorrow, and some of them are scrambling to get their work done. If they don’t get […]
Tomorrow is my school’s Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (CSC Day), which is one of my favorite days of the year. We don’t have classes, but rather spend the day on presentations of undergraduate research. It is a lot of fun, and it is a great way to end the year. I am doing a […]