Activities, Writings, and Videos by Debra K. Borkovitz
Three years ago I wrote a post about my transition to Boston University when I joined the Math/Stats department after Wheelock College, where I’d taught for 25 years, merged with BU. That post focused especially on the assessment system in … Read More
Pandemic Teaching Fragment #2 Over the summer I read a lot about teaching online, and one consistent theme was that it’s a different medium than teaching in person — some things we do in person don’t work online, but there … Read More
Over the years many students have made good friendships in my classes: working on challenging math problems together is a great way to bond. I’ve always been careful to call such relationships a pleasant byproduct of the pedagogy, not the … Read More
I have never rehearsed the first five minutes of class as many times as I did last summer. Wheelock College, where I’d taught for twenty-five years, had just merged with Boston University. At Wheelock I led the math program and … Read More
Last year I wanted to incorporate more quizzes and individual feedback into my college mathematics courses. My classes are inquiry-based, where students often work in groups solving challenging problems in a variety of ways. Most of my students were prospective … Read More
Note: Spoiler free, and you don’t have to have watched the series to read the post. I just finished watching Last Chance U, a new documentary series screening on Netflix, which follows the 2015 football season of the East Mississippi … Read More
As I write, my partner is most of the way across the country helping care for her mother, who is gravely ill; a week ago someone from hospice said she had a week or two to live. My partner’s daughter … Read More
Last week I read an excerpt in the Boston Globe from the blog post, “How to Improve Boston Public Schools,” by Nicholas C. Donohue, president of the Nellie Mae Educational foundation. The post focused on four items – increasing expectations, … Read More
Fifth in a Series. First one is here. When I was at MIT, it seemed like hardly anyone there was interested in teaching. My advisor told me that mathematicians viewed teaching as akin to golf: an unrelated side-interest. The teaching … Read More
Fourth in a series. First one is here. In yesterday’s post, I wrote about how the Creative Programming MOOC helped me realize that I really like programming. To my students, colleagues, and others in my life, this revelation must come as “kind … Read More