Introduction

The How to Talk Mathematics Seminar is designed for graduate students who want to improve their communication skills across all areas of academic life. Whether you are learning how to give good talks at conferences or in seminars, preparing to teach math classes, or working on writing clear and effective math papers, this seminar provides helpful strategies and feedback.

We host sessions where experienced speakers and faculty members share their tips and strategies for delivering engaging presentations, structuring a course, and writing clearly.

Details

• When: Tuesday 4pm, sometimes Monday 4pm, typically biweekly.
• Where: AB114
• Description: This seminar strives to cover the following 3 directions:
  • Teaching (math) classes
  • Giving good math talks
  • Good math writing

  with the emphasis on the first one.

Talks this semester

• Feb 10 – Boris Khesin – Welcome to the How to Talk Mathematics Seminar!; Slides of the talk
• Feb 23 – Dror Bar-Natan – The Hardest Math I’ve Ever Really Used; Webpage of the talk
• Mar 3 – Mary Pugh – Some Thoughts on Test Design
• Mar 17 – Almut Burchard – Joys of Teaching Mathematics
  • What is the role of teaching, within our life in Mathematics? What motivates us, what are the challenges, and how does our teaching practice intersect with other goals and demands?
• Mar 23 – Elden Elmanto – Working class mathematics
  • I want to explain the joy, perils, importance and art of doing “abstract” mathematics.
• April 7 – Stan Yoshinobu – A brief overview of “big tent” inquiry-based learning
  • In this talk, I’ll discuss what is meant by “big tent” inquiry-based learning (IBL) via the four pillars of IBL and share a core (historical) example as a starting point. I’ll share some background information, research related to inquiry-based learning in North America and efforts in teaching professional development, and lastly “riffs” off of the core example that have been applied in large class settings. This talk is focused on the historical roots and broader themes in inquiry-based learning in undergraduate math education.
• This is the last talk of the semester. Stay tuned for the next semester!

Useful Resources

• Paul Halmos: How to Talk Mathematics
• Paul Halmos: How to Write Mathematics
• Terry Tao’s Blog: Advice on giving talks

Organizers

• Boris Khesin
• Tara Stojimirovic
• Grisha Taroyan

If you are interested to see a particular speaker or a topic in this seminar, please reach out to the organizers!