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+\usepackage[parfill]{parskip} % unindented paragraphs with parskips
+
+\usepackage{amsmath} % \text and other useful math stuff
+
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+\hypersetup{urlcolor=[rgb]{0, 0, 0.7}}
+
+\usepackage[super,sort&compress,comma]{natbib}
+% super selects citations in superscript mode
+% sort&compress automatically sorts and compresses compound citations (\citep{a,b,...})
+% comma seperates multiple citations with commas rather than the default semicolons.
+\bibliographystyle{unsrtnat} % number citations in the order referenced
\title{Teaching Philosophy}
\date{\today}
\maketitle
-Aloha!
+In high school, I initially wanted to be a marine biologist. The goal
+lasted until my first physics course during my senior year, when Tom
+Hoch introduced me to the idea that the kinetic behavior of the world
+around us can be described with a handful of simple laws. How far
+will this trebuchet launch a baseball? What would you redesign to
+make it go farther? How should you build a wheel to win a race down a
+5 foot ramp? Besides the joy of attacking the problems themselves, I
+enjoyed arguing about them with my classmates. If you pull on a
+thread coming from underneath a spool sitting on the table, will the
+spool roll toward you or away from you? Physics gives you the feeling
+that you can figure out \emph{anything} (to a first approximation),
+and if you're not sure you're right, you can usually design and build
+a simple experiment to test your understanding. In order to do any of
+this quantitatively, you need to know some \emph{math}.
+
+Since that high school course, I have enjoyed honing my skills in
+physics, mathematics, and related disciplines, but no task has been as
+satisfying as introducing new students to the discipline and sharing
+my enthusiasm for the material, elegance, and philosophy. I have been
+lucky to have almost a decade of teaching experience from a range of
+teaching assistant-ships covering the classic introductory courses
+(with recitations and labs of 20 students in classes of up to 700) as
+well as some more advanced numerical methods courses (with as few as
+five students). The range of formats allows me to experiment with a
+number of teaching styles, from modeling recitation problem solutions
+to more Socratic approaches for helping students design and
+troubleshoot software.
+
+While I have not yet been in a position to design my own courses, I
+have enjoyed building some supportive tools. Over the past several
+years, I have developed an open source
+\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/}{course website
+ framework} and
+\href{http://git.tremily.us/?p=course.git;a=tree;f=asymptote;hb=HEAD}{graphics
+ libraries} for illustrating
+\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/Mechanics-test.svg}{mechanics},
+\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/ElectroMag-test.svg}{electricity
+ and magnetism},
+\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/Circ-test.svg}{circuits},
+and
+\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/stickfigure-test.svg}{stick
+ figures}. I've also designed the
+\href{https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pygrader}{pygrader} framework for
+collecting and grading homework assignments that students submit via
+email and the \href{https://pypi.python.org/pypi/quizzer}{quizzer}
+framework for managing online quizzes and surveys. These tools will
+make it easier for me to maintain class notes, homework, tests, and
+lecture material, which gives me more time to focus on engaging
+students directly. Downloadable class notes also give students more
+time to focus on the concepts and applications instead of focusing on
+transcription. I look forward to tying these pieces together and
+building cohesive courses to introduce new students to math and the
+sciences. While I generally prefer to host my own websites, I also
+understand the benefit of working within an institution-wide system,
+and I have had the chance to work with Blackboard and SiteCore at
+Drexel.
+
+As a scientist, I feel that teaching itself can be improved through
+the scientific method. By testing the effect of different classroom
+approaches---and by building on the research of my peers---I intend to
+gradually refine my teaching to improve student engagement, critical
+thinking, and content retention. I am especially excited to try
+active learning approaches\citep{hake98,crouch01,prince04}, especially
+thinking-aloud pair problem solving
+(TAPPS\citep{lochhead87,felder09}), which has been shown to increase
+student performance\citep{johnson99}. Besides improving teaching
+strategies, an experiment-based approach to teaching is a chance to
+practice what I preach, which should help convince students of the
+efficacy of the scientific method. Of course, not \emph{everything}
+can be measured with sufficient clarity to support this approach.
+Developing quantitative evaluations of student learning is tricky,
+but---at least at a basic level---it is possible. Mentioning these
+difficulties when discussing course organization with students will
+provide jumping-off points for discussing the limitations of
+statistics, the scientific approach, and the flavor of scientific
+progress, while avoiding confusion about the well-understood
+fundamentals covered in the content of the course itself.
+
+I look forward to guiding students through the early stages of their
+exposure to mathematics, while at the same time engaging in higher
+level discussions about applications and the roll of science. I hope
+that this experience is as transformative for my students as my early
+mathematics and physics courses were for me, teaching them how to
+break down problems into manageable chunks and encouraging them to
+make use of analytical reasoning and evidenced-based inquiry in their
+chosen profession, regardless of whether it is directly related to
+mathematics.
+
+{\footnotesize\bibliography{ts}}
\end{document}
projects / teaching-statement.git / blobdiff