Sunday, November 19, 2006

...Sunday night!

Well, it's over and done with.

The Harvard talk seemed to go over very well. It was an interested audience to which I spoke, a small group of preceptors and graduate students in the Harvard Department of Mathematics. They asked good questions, and they most definitely kept me on my toes.

After we got the ball rolling with the Markov Dance, I described the basic philosophy of the course, and then got into the nitty-gritty details of the way the course is put together. Much of the time we had a hearty dialogue going, in which we engaged in a discussion of the course and its design. They were really interested in finding out more about the team quizzes, the nature of the worksheets we work through, the source of our applications, the dynamics of the group work we've encountered, and how the size of the class has affected the way it's been run. I gave honest answers, often aided by the 11 pages of comments (from which I quoted heavily) you all gave me in your last journal entries. (Thank you all, thank you, thank you, thank you!)

I had a much-needed rest on Saturday, hanging out with Bedelia and her honey, Eugenia, and their beautiful daughter, Isadora. We hung out in their Somerville apartment, ate crepes, and joined them in a walk to the Cambridge Public Library. Good times!

I'm tired. Very tired.

I hope that all went well with all of you this week, and that you've had a chance to look over each others' preliminary reports before revamping them along lines penciled in lightly by your colleagues. We'll all be back together again tomorrow afternoon, when we'll consider Fibonacci-like applications that arose in my own research this past spring, and are arising again as a consequence of the conversations I had with my colleagues in Tennessee this past week.

To be continued!...

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