Author: AMH

One Thing, Two Thing, Red Thing, Blue Thing

By AMH

Things I learned this week to keep up with change: How to use trackpad gestures to scroll (because scrolling with the arrow keys is disabled in our CMS). How to enable NFC on my phone (because we can now use our phones as access cards). How to use the new elliptical machines at the gym (because now you need to start using it to get it to turn on). The need to use my trackpad to scroll – or worse my mouse when working at my desk – is the small bit of friction I am hating the most. We … Continue reading One Thing, Two Thing, Red Thing, Blue Thing

Pandemic teaching, round four, now with the Delta variant

By AMH

I have lots of thoughts about today, our first day into a semester that we’re hoping will be “back to normal” and yet very clearly isn’t. But my main feeling, at the end of it all, is that I actually feel like a teacher again. I suspect that if we had gone all-in on remote teaching, I might feel differently about the past year. But hybrid teaching, with its demands to provide both in person and remote students an equal experience, and the compromises that meant on both sides, left me feeling like I spent as much energy each class … Continue reading Pandemic teaching, round four, now with the Delta variant

Knit Lace Sampler: Patterns Eleven and Twelve

By AMH

The next two patterns in the sampler are done, and I definitely like one more than the other – you can probably guess which looking at the photo (eleven is on the bottom, twelve above it). Pattern eleven was, frankly, an absolute pain to knit. I’m not entirely sure I ever got the combination of cast-offs, yo twice, and then k1,p1,k1 in the double yo correct and I had more issues being off a stitch in the repeats with this pattern than any other in the sampler so far. The end result is very open and the heavier, filled-in knit … Continue reading Knit Lace Sampler: Patterns Eleven and Twelve

Limitations of the Fall, Possibly by Design

By AMH

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot, reflecting back on the Fall term, is a conversation I’ve heard both at my own institution and in a number of online settings. It boils down to the observation that in a hybrid course setting, many students who in theory should be coming to class in person (are living on campus or have indicated they will be attending in-person in some manner) have settled into attending remotely as the semester progresses. A question that arises is: does this bode ill for in-person learning in the future? My opinion is – no. Or, at … Continue reading Limitations of the Fall, Possibly by Design

Knit Lace Sampler: Pattern Ten

By AMH

Getting back into lace knitting is going slowly, but I liked this pattern a lot. It had a simple 12 row repeat over 11 stitches and straight forward stitch-work. The large diamonds look great and the tiny little diamonds in the middle of the open work area will probably stand out more after blocking. Attractive and easy to follow – a good combination! I meant to stop at ten patterns and take a photo of the whole sampler unrolled for perspective, but I forgot so I’m now thinking of doing this after pattern twelve. Pattern eleven is turning out a … Continue reading Knit Lace Sampler: Pattern Ten

Knit Lace Sampler: Pattern Nine

By AMH

With the cold weather arriving, I got back into knitting my sampler last week. This time, we have a nice solid diamond pattern with small eyelets in the middle. Working this pattern, it didn’t look at all like it was coming together as I knit it. I expected I wouldn’t like it very much. But the end product is very nice. I feel like my center eyelets are a bit lower than they should be, and I’m thinking about why that might be. Perhaps I am doing my yarn-overs wrong? I’ll have to review what the book suggests is the … Continue reading Knit Lace Sampler: Pattern Nine

Getting back into the flow of the school year

By AMH

Tomorrow is the start of our Fall 2020 schedule, pushed back a week from our original plan and now fully online for the first two weeks before transitioning to in-person instruction for those students who have returned to campus (or, from an instructor perspective, hybrid instruction as essentially all of us have some number of students studying remotely). I am, on paper, prepared. My CMS is loaded up with day-by-day details about what we’ll be doing so everyone can follow along. I’ve met individually with each student in my intermediate-level course to make sure they have the needed software installed … Continue reading Getting back into the flow of the school year

Wrapping up 19-20, launching into 20-21

By AMH

As of today, we are one day out from Virtual Commencement 2020, 14 days out from our annual faculty retreat (format TBA!), 16 days out from Matriculation, and 17 days out from the first day of the Fall semester. My to-do list is getting increasingly specific “Revise HW1”, “Add video sharing policy to syllabus”, though with some terrifyingly broad items still remaining like “Determine tutoring format” and “Create lab access policy”. But I did my last trip to campus today to make sure all of the seating and tables in our open social/study spaces are appropriately distanced and hung some … Continue reading Wrapping up 19-20, launching into 20-21

Planning for HyFlex – Initial Thoughts

By AMH

The announcement was made a couple of days ago that we’ll be back “in person” in the fall, for a revised definition of “in person” that includes knowing some students will still be remote and off campus entirely and some may need to be remote at times, either because they are exposed to the virus or because our classrooms simply cannot accommodate a full class all at once. While this isn’t surprising – it’s the sort of HyFlex model many schools are pursuing right now – now that it is known, we can start digging into the details and making … Continue reading Planning for HyFlex – Initial Thoughts

Knit Lace Sampler: Patterns Seven and Eight

By AMH

Knitting has slowed down as the days are my recreation time turns more into sitting outside reading in the evening than knitting while watching TV. But since my last update I have two more patterns completed in my sampler. Pattern seven has a subtle diamond shape formed by four small clusters in the middle of a diamond of eyelets. This didn’t turn out very distinct for me. The end fabric has a nice balance of openness and bulk though. I could imagine this pattern even scaling up to a fingering or sport weight yarn nicely. Pattern eight is a very … Continue reading Knit Lace Sampler: Patterns Seven and Eight