FALL 2023 SECTION NEXT workshop
September 23rd, 9am-4pm, Washington and Jefferson College
9:00-9:40 Breakfast
9:45-10:45 Writing Letters of Recommendation That Make a Difference, Lyn Miller
11:00-12:30 SOS Classroom: Panel Discussion, Faun Doherty, Lyn Miller, and John W Thompson
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Getting Started with Desmos Activities, Debbie Gaydos
2:45-3:45 Lightning Round
4:00-5:00 After meeting social hour at the President’s Pub
“Please Pick My Student” – Writing Letters of Recommendation that Make a Difference (9:45-10:45)
Lyn Miller, Slippery Rock University
Writing letters of recommendation for students is a small but important task that most faculty get little direct mentoring in. But what’s to mentor when we have tools such as grammar-correcting software, document templates, and even AI bots to support good writing structure and style? Ah, but our letter’s CONTENT is key, and especially how we frame that content in the story our letter tells about the student. This workshop focuses on content-related issues that can help our writing—and by extension, our students—to stand out in a sea of otherwise fairly similar letters.
Participants in this workshop will share ideas about:
What information/qualities to discuss in a letter for a student, depending on the letter’s purpose
How to support or illustrate the info/qualities for clarity, context, and emphasis
How to address potential red flags in the student’s record
What involvement to require of the student when they ask for a letter
When—and how—to say no
We’ll also actively write some examples – or remediate bad ones – to practice some of our ideas. And if time remains, we can expand our discussion to other aspects of supporting our students’ applications or nominations.
Panel: SOS Classroom (11:00-12:30)
Faun Doherty, Washington and Jefferson College; Lyn Miller, Slippery Rock University; John W Thompson, University of Pittsburgh Johnstown
Panelists will weigh in on how they would handle common classroom calamities that can be stressful. Situations they will give advice on include an entire class bombing an exam, interpersonal conflict among students and/or with you, and students asking for "remote accommodations" excessively etc.
Getting Started with Desmos Activities in the College Mathematics Classroom (1:30-2:30)
Debbie Gaydos, Penn State Greater Allegheny
With Desmos Activities, students can go beyond the textbook to explore mathematical concepts at all levels in an interactive, dynamic, and visual way. As an instructor, Desmos Activities allow you to gauge students' understanding of specific concepts in real-time and adjust instruction accordingly. In this workshop, learn how to get started with Desmos Activities and incorporate customizable and engaging content into your college mathematics classroom. Topics include: creating an activity from scratch; finding, using, and customizing existing activities; ways to use Desmos Activities both asynchronously and synchronously; using the Teacher Dashboard; setting up a Desmos class; and resources for learning more.
Lightning Round (2:45-3:45)
Participants
Would you like to share something from your teaching or professional life? Participants are invited to give 5-7 minute presentations. It could be an activity, an explanation, an app that is making life easier, a new way of grading... whatever you'd like to share!