Well, I shocked and astounded those students, but in the end, I think they'd agree that they learned something. That's what was so surprising. My American methods were so strange at first that they just sat there with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Now, perhaps it was warranted. I did open with: "What is math?" They didn't answer. I asked again. Still crickets. One student actually looked back at the professor, who just shrugged. So, I treated them like American middle school students. I wrote the word "math" on the board and asked them what words came to mind if I said "math." They started giving me some terms: "numbers, theorem (they didn't know what this was, but knew it had something to do with math), infinity, etc."
It turns out the students responded very well to the "brainstorming" and from that point on, were more likely to answer my questions. So, I asked them fun questions. For example, when discussing a book called Exercices de style (which every French person has essentially read), I asked if they had skipped the mathematical variations. Then we tried to figure out why. When discussing a theorem, I asked what their last math class was, and why they stopped. I think they were surprised to realize that they don't know what math is, and that the math you do in high school is not real math at all. The longer I talked, the more they answered, and the more intelligent their answers became. In the end, they clapped and a few asked me if everyone in America teaches like that, if they can study in America, and thanked me for what they said was their "best class ever." The professor told me my research is original and asked me where I learned to teach like that. When I told her it was from teaching languages (that's clearly where the brainstorming web idea came from), she didn't really know how to respond.
Anyway, at 25 I taught a class at La Sorbonne. Not too bad at all! Next up, the Séminaire ALGORITM and the Séminaire Perec!
Also, this is where I taught. Right? I know!
No comments:
Post a Comment