2024 JEDI -Day 2 Check in and Reflection by Aris Winger

Math part?

2024-08-09 10:20:51 UTC

The workshop said Math JEDI. I was a little disappointed to find that I did not learn any new skill to take to my Math class.

Students come with so much Math phobia. How do I help them overcome that?
How can I help them visit and talk to me fearlessly (in and out of the class)
How can I identify the student who need my help most but put up a facade among peers that they are fine.
Humans are inherently trying to minimize energy expenditure and choose optimum paths: how can I encourage students to take up the hard task of learning when the tendency is to do minimal work.

2024-08-09 14:10:36 UTC

There was a lot of introspection. It is very important but can be draining.

Sometimes it can also be demoralizing to see how uphill the battle can be.

2024-08-09 14:12:29 UTC

Day 1 was great because I did get to hear a lot of different ideas when it came to scenarios. These things do not come to me naturally so it was very beneficial to see the diversity of thought.

2024-08-09 14:16:10 UTC

I’ve been mulling over the portion of our conversation where we were talking about how diversity of identities leads to diversity of ideas which is good for the field. I don’t disagree. I do worry though that when we frame these issues in these terms, we reduce people to their utility to us/the discipline.

Even if everyone brought exactly the same mathematical/professional/interpersonal skills to the table, discrepancies like the ones we see in representation among math faculty would still be indicative of a problem. So, to me, our working definitions are incomplete (which, of course! that’s the nature of trying to define non-mathematical things)

2024-08-09 14:17:42 UTC

The reality of trying to challenge all of my students during a 14 week semester while trying to do all of the parts of my job. The other panels were a bit more honest about how to approach and address the challenges. In this session I felt the typical unrealistic pressure to be attempting to remediate every single student who comes into my classroom. This is the direct path to burnout for me.