teena_dragonfly ([info]teena_dragonfly) wrote,
@ 2006-08-13 11:46:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
That is one heavy book!
The prius has a sensor in the front passenger seat to tell it whether or not someone is sitting there, so it can turn the airbag on and off as needed. Hermes often sits in the front seat, but doesn't activate the air bag. However:

Hermes + Precalculus Text Book = airbag

I will be teaching Precalculus at Tech in the fall. From the stories I have heard it is going to be an interesting ride... I had a dream last night that I decided to bake their first quiz inside pancakes. But of course, as is the case with dreams, the letters on the quiz all ran together, I didn't have enough for everyone to have one AND the students thought it was really corny!

(Post a new comment)


[info]the_red_i
2006-08-15 04:04 pm UTC (link)
I remember my calculus professor saying that our textbook at least used to be a about a third of the size that it is now, but then the publisher decided that they could jack up the price by adding a bunch of useless charts, graphs and diagrams.

I think the same could be said of the Precalculus textbook we used, for a three credit course that thing is massive and overpriced.

Jeremy

(Reply to this)


[info]samiis
2006-08-16 06:15 am UTC (link)
That dream was probably God telling you that your pancake idea is really corny. :)
-Sam

(Reply to this)


[info]jumperlass
2007-06-14 01:05 am UTC (link)
Dunno about your dream, but I expect I'll be having a few of those myself this autumn. Thermodynamics, here I come.

I'm trying to pick a textbook for my class. Did you have to do this, or did you use a department-chosen text?

Anyway. Bags of groceries...how irritating is it that the Prius beeps at me to fasten the seatbelt for my milk and pop purchases?

hmph.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
book choosing
[info]teena_dragonfly
2007-06-14 03:28 am UTC (link)
Though theoretically I am allowed to chose my own book any time I teach a class I have never done it. It is a lot more work (and it I go with a different one it makes it so the students can't as easily buy used books). However I was on the textbook choosing committee for a class. We took advantage of a publisher's ability to let you put together chapters from different books in a custom binding.

I like having a book I believe in, you know, one that uses the same notation as the rest of the world, standard definitions, good order for the material. Is there someone that you can ask what book they used before? The publisher will send you a free copy if you ask them.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: book choosing
[info]jumperlass
2007-08-09 03:15 am UTC (link)
I got a bunch of books from different publishers, but in the end I decided to stick with the previous prof's book for another year. The students can get used copies, and I can use his lectures as starting points for my own. The book I loved is a much better text in some ways, but...
a) it might well be too advanced for an intro therm class here, and
b) it teaches thermo and quantum in the opposite order from what is promised in the course descriptions the students used for choosing the courses. (Since some of the students will take only one semester of the class, this is significant.)

maybe next year I can do it differently.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: book choosing
[info]jumperlass
2007-08-09 02:23 pm UTC (link)
I got a bunch of books from different publishers, but in the end I decided to stick with the previous prof's book for another year. The students can get used copies, and I can use his lectures as starting points for my own. The book I loved is a much better text in some ways, but...
a) it might well be too advanced for an intro therm class here, and
b) it teaches thermo and quantum in the opposite order from what is promised in the course descriptions the students used for choosing the courses. (Since some of the students will take only one semester of the class, this is significant.)

maybe next year I can do it differently.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…