Serendipity would have no magic if it did not sneak up on you and lovingly whack you on the side of your normality.
On a beautiful Saturday when I ought to be outside playing in the fresh snow, I am instead pounding away at this #%$*@ keyboard working on web sites. Finally, after getting a little bit done, I peek into the twitter screen, and get maybe the best possible message a teacher can get.
@cogdog i was in your class (as @krisavball08). I made a video using my #ds106 skills for my class & hope ull share! https://t.co/FA0oIZKfOJ
— Karissa Barnes (@BarnesITRT) January 9, 2016
Watch her video first.
Karissa was a student in the last DS106 course I taught at University of Mary Washington – an online section I taught in the Spring of 2013. She was a memorable student; studying to be a math teacher she came in with a lot of talent and energy.
Her blog (now retired, but because of Feed WordPress we have an archive of her work) had a clever title and theme (and URL) Confessions of a Future Disney Princess
Internet Archive Capture of Karissa’s DS106 nblog
She wove her love of math with the unlikely pairing of her love of Disney Princesses, naming herself Princess Karissa. I recall even then her audio and video work showed her talents that have gone even farther as shown in the video she shared today.
There was a Calculus song she did for the Audio unit, and like the great students she was, a full writeup on the production.
In someways I’ve felt the worst time to assess what a student learned is right at the end of the course- what you get is a short term memory / experience dump. To me, the most important assessment is something teachers cannot do; it falls on students. And that is to find out later in life what they are doing with their education.
So it’s 3 years now since Karissa started as a student in my ds106 class, and she felt motivated to (a) remember by twitter name and (b) share the creative work she is doing now in her role as a teacher herself.
There’s only a bit I can take as a credit. Karissa was a great student, motivated, creative, and she took what I gave, but that’s as much, or more, credit to her than me (as if we can ever figure out that complex function).
Has y=mx+b been so clearly explained?
Thanks Karissa, for reaching out, and for using your talent and energy for your math students. This is totally +memorable and the best gift I could have gotten.
Top / Featured Image Credit : Screen capture of former ds106 student Karissa from her new video Slope “Hello” Parody found on YouTube
well expressed for all of us who have been in the teacher role – having this kind of affirmation is ultimately rewarding, but never an expectation. Speaks of two very unique and outstanding individuals.
and AWESOME Video!!
I adore this woman! I have absolutely no idea what she was singing about, but the video was so passionately and creatively conceived. I love the whole genre of teacher parodies, such as this anti-plagiarism video “Think Before He Cheats”:
http://youtu.be/5NvA4hCOfjU
It really is great to hear from students down through the ages–it’s a kind of wonderful time travel.
Thanks for sharing, Professor Levine!
Wonderful Alan, this is indeed why we teach. It is interesting how some days when I’m struggling I get one of these messages. Is it chance or is it me looking into the ether to find that nugget of inspiration and motivation?
You truly are inspirational and I appreciate you.