And finally, a job!

I received an email at about 4:00 pm yesterday that gave details about a few recitation leader openings for some math and stats classes. If you remember, my recitation leader for Stat 3000 this last spring was Xi, and she basically attended lecture and taught a kind of TA class where she helped us with homework and reviewed lecture material. Well, so I responded to the email at about 8:00 pm, just before Karen and I left the church building to go home from our meetings. And then this morning, maybe around noon, I received an email saying that I'd been hired!

Amazing, right? I definitely didn’t see that coming. Like any normal person, I expected an interview if I was to be considered, but instead I received an email stating that I was hired. Just like that!

The original email explained that they were looking for students who are senior math or stats majors, and I told Dr. Turner (the woman in charge) that I am a transfer student and that I have only 4000 and 5000 level courses left in my major, and I said something about how I hoped my having no concrete student status didn’t disqualify me.

I mentioned to Karen the possibility of being a recitation leader on the way to the church building yesterday evening, and Karen thought it was a great idea. She said that while I’m not a senior, maybe I’d have a chance, and that it doesn’t hurt to apply. So yes, we are very excited.

I have a job . . . for five days

I headed up to my advisor’s office this afternoon to pick her brain about undergraduate research. She was the only one there and we talked for a bit. Not too long after my arrival...

LINDA: What’s your job?

ME: I...don’t have one.

LINDA: Well then I have a job for you. It’s only a week and it pays ten bucks an hour, but we’re looking for students who can help with the math refresher course.

Of course, I was interested! She said that I can come in on Monday to get signed up for payroll and that she’ll give me a spot.

I took the math refresher course the week before spring semester started this year and it was very helpful. It’s for students who have been away from math for a while and need a reboot. It’s five hours a day for five days toward the end of August, which is a lot more than I have right now in terms of employment. And it’s math experience, which is a plus in any form. And it’ll pay for the new tires I bought at Sam’s Club today, so I’m all for it.

Basically, I'll help the professor during class when he or she takes breaks for students to work on sample exercises. I'm supposed to make myself available to answer questions and work out problems with people.

Probably the most unconventional yet time sensitive classroom instruction

Even though I’m struggling with some of the principles in my stats class, I do have a great TA. Her name is Xi (pronounced “she”), and she offers help during quiz time and clarifies problems as needed. Her English is wonderful, but she does have a heavy Chinese accent, which doesn’t affect my ability to understand her as much as her vocabulary affects her ability to explain concepts.

During our most recent quiz, I approached her twice to get some clarification on what was being asked in the problems, and she helped me see things much more clearly. I’m pretty sure the end result was a perfect score on the quiz (two problems, but not multiple choice, so...), but I’ll know for sure on Wednesday next week.