tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288865811708987253.post181067123485471486..comments2024-01-25T03:16:56.260-05:00Comments on sumidiot: A Confused Teachersumidiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14998929191458452400noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288865811708987253.post-82984401420641173062010-01-20T10:09:33.638-05:002010-01-20T10:09:33.638-05:00Thanks @Seabrook! Looks like I'll be heading t...Thanks @Seabrook! Looks like I'll be heading to the library soon.sumidiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14998929191458452400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288865811708987253.post-39513485704257510562010-01-20T07:07:12.317-05:002010-01-20T07:07:12.317-05:00I was researching this sort of topic for a program...I was researching this sort of topic for a programme that runs here in Au where people who use maths in their work talk with high school students. One book I found useful was "The Two Headed Quarter - How To See Through Deceptive Numbers & Save Money on Everything You Do" by Joseph Ganem. On the one hand are the formulas / equations, on the other hand (and this is why I liked the book) is the context you might use the equation in.Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13753503494242735958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288865811708987253.post-74143168339637673482010-01-19T21:58:03.338-05:002010-01-19T21:58:03.338-05:00@RobertTalbert Thank you very much for all of the ...@RobertTalbert Thank you very much for all of the thoughts and advice and... everything. And for being so quick about it too! Only one more full day before the class starts (EEK)!sumidiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14998929191458452400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288865811708987253.post-45720017699518054812010-01-19T21:49:01.893-05:002010-01-19T21:49:01.893-05:00About 15 years ago I was in the exact same situati...About 15 years ago I was in the exact same situation as you. I was teaching a Business Math course at a community college at night (moonlighting from my "day job" as a PhD student) and knew basically zilch about money matters. That turned out to be one of my favorite classes I've ever taught. Some things I learned: <br /><br />(1) Don't overestimate the financial knowledge of your students. You'd be shocked at how financially illiterate most people are these days. The concept of interest will probably be totally new to a plurality of them. <br /><br />(2) The audience for "financial mathematics" is a lot different than that for calculus. You will pick up a lot more people who are quite literally scared of math. You will have to prepare to be a calming influence on them regarding their exposure to math. And many of the pedagogical approaches that work fine in calculus will be DOA in this class. <br /><br />(3) The combination of students who do know a nontrivial amount about finance but not much about math, and a professor who's the opposite, can be very rewarding and productive for everybody if you approach the class as a sort of partnership. <br /><br />As for learning how to learn, I believe this is the main reason people should go to college and maybe the thing people carry with them the longest once they're out. I recently read that any time somebody begins a new job or career, there are only two questions about that person: Can they learn on the job? And, How fast? The demonstrated ability to acquire new information on one's own and put it to use is more powerful than the degree they are earning in terms of predicting success later in life. (And I mean that not only in career terms but in terms of being a parent, keeping your mind active as you grow older, etc.)<br /><br />To a more practical point: You might consider structuring your class time so that students are working on mini-case studies or some kind of extended problem in groups. These kinds of large open-ended problems tend to lead students to better discussion questions than simple reading assignments, although your plan for reading assignments seems good too. For example, when I taught mortgages in a recent class, I gave students the assignment of shopping for houses online using a realtor's web site and doing different kinds of mortgage calculations to answer certain questions. (If my current rent is $700/month, how much house would that buy? What if I put 20% down first? etc.) The material is so practical that these case studies practically write themselves. <br /><br />Looking forward to further blog posts on this stuff. <br /><br />PS: I'd also recommend reading through some popular finance books for background, like Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover".Robert Talberthttp://castingoutnines.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com