It’s made me think about a few things:

First, without a certain level of comfort with the subject, it’s difficult for me to make intuitive leaps that allow me to succeed at difficult homework problems (examples: this class, Quantum, Albstract Algebra). This is particularly frustrating because my intuition is usually pretty good. I’d probably do better with more, smaller homework to build the level of comfort. Probably a learning style issue, too. So, in designing a homework set to accommodate both styles (quick pick up, able to make intuitive leaps to solve hard homework and slower learners who need more, smaller exercises), one could just have a list of problems with different point values, then let students pick their own style, as long as they did, say, 100 points per week (lots of little ones, or a few big ones).

Second, this being a challenging class, and given my propensity to (pointlessly?) pursue challenges for their own sake, I’ve returned to the usual anxiety about what I’m best at, what I want to do, what I have to show for my professional life so far, etc. It’s a familiar, frustrating process that doesn’t really ever seem to proceed towards a resolution. A new thought today, though – it may be useful to examine the courses I’ve really enjoyed, and to think about what has appealed about them (as opposed to those I feel like I want to retake to prove I can succeed at the challenge).

So, here’s a list of classes (or subjects within classes) that I’ve really enjoyed (that I intend to work on more):

LHS:

• Horticulture – I liked working in the greenhouse, learning propagation methods and plant ID
• Ms. Duncan’s Sr. Lit – just a really kickass teacher
• Field trips – Astronomy, Biology II (living desert)
• Chamber Orchestra – big fish in small pond

UPS:

• Calc III – I got it, Bryan Smith a great prof
• Relativity – geometry neat, Alan Thorndyke

CU:

• studying sustainable small scale wastewater treatment in Amadei’s class
• Angie’s haz waste class (the single most useful class I’ve taken)

Cornell:

• Prof. Ely’s bio lab class (again, very useful – challenging, but I found good resources to bring me up to speed)
• Genetics – hard, and not so fun at the time, but I learned a lot

And more generally:

Africa University:

• People/culture/travel
• independence in work (though I ended up doing a different job)

ArsDigita:

• Working in a group on projects we could accomplish. Great people.

Dammit, I like linear algebra. Why am I doing so poorly in this class?