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A Mathematics Professor’s Perspective and Practice Rosalie Dance, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Mathematics University of the Virgin Islands March 2010 1. Its beauty 2. Its power and efficacy as a problem solving tool. If you want to make the world a better place, it helps to have mathematics on your side. 3. To enable you to empower others by teaching mathematics. 2 Mathematics is held in high regard for good reasons: its beauty and its problem solving efficacy. But there is a corresponding notion in our society: that mathematics is so difficult that only an elite few will be able to master it. 3 4 Anxiety Self-doubt Stress Deal with suffering Transform trials into wisdom Discover our path and our purpose Interpret our personal connectedness to our community and our world. 5 Network of educators, kindergarten to university, who practice and discuss mindfulness and its practice in our profession: www.mindfuled.org 6 …about 70,000 five-minute intervals (awake) every year. …multiply the number of stressful thoughts, anxieties, self-doubts you have in a five-minute period by 70,000…. Looks like something we might want to correct! 7 Sit erect, shoulders relaxed, both feet on floor Focus on your breath Coordinate your in and out breaths with the phrases of the meditation verse: In/Out Deep/Slow Calm/Ease Smile/Release Present moment/Wonderful moment 8 Create a beautiful sense of calm; Recreate self-confidence; Re-establish belief in self. 9 Students: Learning blocks Exams So many things! Professors: Troubled student Anxious class Self Hold stress in the Light to let it be transformed. 10