Musings from Mrs. Galvan

I miss blogging. I enjoy writing and reflecting. It is how I think, learn and improve my practice. Given research projects for grad school, doing more admissions work and revamping curriculum, updating this blog has fallen to the bottom of my to do list. Sigh. So, quickly, here is my to blog list (that probably won't get done anytime soon): 1. The value of students reviewing homework in small groups over a student lead presentation 2. Game in geometry - Name that Congruent 3. Math talk in algebra for writing equations of lines 4. Add a presentations section to the blog navigation 5. Lego Space Shuttle Three Act I made up and used last week in geometry to introduce similarity. Space Dude is 4cm and the orbiter is 26 cm. Not to scale. 6. Oh, and write my personal mission statement for teaching, an updated philosophy of education that includes how and why I became a teacher linked to articles and research that informs my practice... (this has been on the list since I c...

My weekend was super productive, go me! Which means I didn't make time to blog.  The recap: Friday - Excellent Happy Hour with cohort (is it happy hour when it lasts for four hours), my voice is still hoarse from excellent conversations Saturday - Walked and walked around the UWS a bit in the morning (pictures below) and wrote a paper in the afternoon Sunday - had coffee and yoga with two new friends in the morning and read ethics all afternoon Today This morning's Ethics class was illuminating in a basic way for me - I realized that all  of the philosophers we had been reading believe(d) in Virtue Ethics, that the goal of thinking and questioning is in pursuit of the good life. I think my classmates understood that last week, but better late than never.  We also watched a movie on philosophy called Being In The World . It tried to explain Heidegger. Rather it did explain Heidegger and I tried to follow. Here is my attempt at a synopsis: One u...

The first two weeks of the six that I will be spending in New York this summer, are dedicated to Ethics and Negotiations. I don't think I am alone in feeling intimidated by the Ethics course. The pre-reading assignments were intense. Even in rereading Cora Diamond, Joseph Brodsky and about Quandary Ethics, I am struggling to make sense of the material. It was a relief that our Ethic class started with group discussions and a field trip. Our group discussed the point of writing, Is it to push society forward by any means possible? Is it to make complicated ideas seem simple? How should writers strike a balance between aesthetics, accessibility and action? I also took away a small, nagging apprehension about my own ability to write in an advanced form. Our field trip to Rodin's thinker, to the plaque denoting John Dewey's home and to Book Culture  was a welcome bit of exercise and opportunity to socialize. I think I have only met half of my cohort. I want to get to know e...