The last few weeks have been pretty smooth.
The Putnam Competition went well this year. We had at least twice as many participants this year compared to last year. I'm not sure if we will score more points as a result, but the experience is good for the students even when they have no idea how to do any of the problems. I'm pessimistic about any of the students scoring a positive score this year, but I could end up being surprised.
All of my classes closed up nicely, though there was clearly a measurable amount of burnout that happened in a couple of my classes. It happens sometimes. I'm a little disappointed because overall scores ended up dropping by half a grade or so.
On the other hand, the 10 sections of remedial classes went very well. Everything remained organized through semester, with only a couple minor hiccups. One of those hiccups was that there was a rise in cheating, as we have been using the same tests for a couple semesters now. (It doesn't seem like a lot, but since we run three modules per semester, it's equivalent to using the same set of tests for several years.) The good news is that I was able to get some funds to pay one of the part time instructors to create more versions of the test, which is work that I wasn't going to be able to do until the summer.
The textbook has started to move forward again. I finished the text of the second of three textbooks, and I'm in the middle of the second chapter (out of five) in the last textbook. There's a chance I might completely finish the writing part before the end of the break. The student workers who are writing problems and solutions are moving forward again (they have more time now that the semester is over), which is helping things move even faster.
There's also a math search going on, which is getting ready for the on-campus interviews towards the end of January. But I don't really have much to say about that one for now.
I'll be in CA for the next week. I leave on a late flight out of Vegas and will be back here next Saturday. I'm anticipating 3 different Christmases during that time, with two in northern CA and one in southern CA. So it's going to be a fairly busy break. I've got the textbooks that I'm using next semester and my notes to check for errors and updates from the last time I taught these classes. It won't take that much time to go through them, so I'm hoping to find the time to do it in between the parties.
Outside of that, life has been gotten pretty quiet again. In fact, I spent most of the last couple days not doing much of anything. A few minor errands, a lot of watching TV, and some XBox. Over the last couple weeks, I played through Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which has been a fun diversion as well.
I also read through a book called "Generation Me" which was a very enjoyable read. It's a somewhat serious piece of academic literature, but written with a sarcastic tone. The basic observation is that the generation of Americans brought up in a self-esteem-centric worldview are now reaping the consequences of being semi-narcissistic. There's also a sense of deep internal contradiction in the outlook for this generation. The sense of self-confidence and self-reliance is squared off against a propensity to blame others when there are problems instead of taking responsibility.
The book was written before the start of the economic crisis, so it's kind of interesting to think about how the economy will impact the perspectives. I'm also interested in how the perspectives will play out theologically for the generically Protestant expressions of Christianity. I think we've already seen some elements of this appear, such as what I call the "Jesus and Me" theology, which is grounded in the belief that Christianity is merely a personal expression, and grounded in personal interpretations and personal applications of scripture (which are sometimes consequences of personal messages from God).
I seem to recall that several years ago (and my information may be off as I wasn't actually there), the worship pastor at our church told people in the choir who were living together while unmarried that they could not sing in the choir anymore. I think it had to do with presenting a faithful witness from up front, and the idea of maintaining accountability within the ministry. I seem to remember there being some push-back because that was somehow unfair, or something like that. I can see how the self-esteem described in the book ("It doesn't matter what you think of me") combined with a self-focused theology ("This is between me and God") would clash with the idea that someone who holds a position of spiritual and structural authority might play a corrective role in your life ("You ought to change this").
And if I'm way off, and in reality nothing remotely like this happened... then it would have been a great example if it *HAD* happened.
And with that, I'm done rambling. I have to do a little cleaning to do and a little eating of what might go bad in the fridge over the next week before I leave.
