Mid-Summer catch-up: Accounting and presenting on BTC

 Lots of personal and professional things swirling in my world, and I thought I'd reflect on a few of them here. 

  • I am taking an accounting class through my institution. It is online and I just finished my first quiz with a 98%. Being a student I am noticing a few things;
    • I really appreciate the well-defined nature of the course. Reading the textbook, completing a few assignments, struggling through some ideas, and taking a quiz every two weeks. It feels very doable and I don't feel overwhelmed. I wonder about this in my own courses, where I have quite a few components and parts, and wonder if their utility in helping students understand math is discounted by student confusion about what to do and when. 
    • Being an educator it feels that I am trading my cognitive, social, and mathematical knowledge for money. That's the job, right? In accounting though it seems clear that you are trading a specific skill you have developed, like a craftsperson or an artisan. for money I know this might seem obvious, but it is refreshing to see a profession that doesn't have to consume your entire being.
    • I am taking the class because I am going to be the Treasurer for my kid's PTA next year. It has been helpful to use this specific example to put a lot of the accounting ideas in context. How am I going to record purchases for a fundraiser? What reports will I need to generate? 
    • While I could read a book about accounting, I am taking a class for a few reasons;
      • With my state employee benefits the tuition is only $5, along with paying for books. 
      • It gives me a  way to be accountable, and pushes me to sit down and do the work. 
      • I get to be a student again, something I loved. 
      • I also get to experience what students experience at my institution, and that is really helpful as an educator. 
  • Today I am heading to Kennewick Washington to present at the BEdA Biennial Conference on Building Thinking Classrooms. This is the first time I have been invited to speak at a conference and am looking forward to hearing how others outside the math community will react to BTC.
That's it. I still have quite a few summer plans, work I'd like to complete ahead of the next academic year. I'll be sure to share some of those ideas here as they happen. 


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