Annual Review Self Evaluation (1999-2000)
Dr. Kris H. Green
Math, Science and Technology Department
St. John Fisher College
This document is a self-assessment for the fall semester, 1999, and the beginning of the spring semester,
2000. Although it is meant to be an annual review of my work at St. John Fisher College, I have only been
here since September (one semester).
Teaching Effectiveness (fall 1999)
The table below provides a summary of my teaching evaluations for the fall of 1999. This table shows my
performance, the departmental average and the college average for two questions. The number in
parentheses by the college average is the standard deviation for the college-wide score. Students assign
each question a score from one to seven. In all cases, my performance is well within one standard deviation
of the average. Although, as discussed below, I believe that these numbers cannot possibly reflect my
teaching in its entirety.
Question
Instructor encouraged active learning?
Instructor promoted an atmosphere
conducive to working and learning?
Instructor displayed a clear
understanding of course topics?
GMST
500
Dept
6.6
6.6
6.0
6.0
MATH
120
Dept
5.9
5.7
5.6
5.9
MSTE
211
Dept
6.2
6.4
6.1
6.2
College Average
(Std. Dev.)
5.9 (1.4)
6.0 (1.3)
6.3
6.1
6.1
6.3 (1.1)
6.3
6.1
6.0
It is also important to note that the scores from students in GMST 500 are actually a combination of scores,
since this course was team-taught with Doug Llewellyn. I feel it is also important for me to point out that
reducing an analysis of teaching to a set of numbers, while appealing to the mathematical side of me, does
not reflect a complete picture of the semester. The calculus course (MATH 120) included more students
than I was led to expect and the diverse background and needs of these students made it difficult to reach
them as a group without a lot of preparation. Many of the students were not comfortable with instruction
driven by work in small groups. This required a change in my approach and probably led to some confusion
at the beginning of the semester. A similar situation occurred in the MSTE 211 class. This course is
designed for elementary education majors and is a mathematics content course, not a methods of teaching
mathematics course. Many of the students are weak in mathematics and were frustrated with entire
approach (problem-solving) of the course. Many of the students felt that my responsibility was to teach the
material to them and they were supposed to listen. This is in direct opposition to my philosophy that it is
the students’ responsibility to learn. My role, as the instructor, is to guide them and to provide opportunities
for them to discover, synthesize and apply knowledge. The class roughly split down the middle as to which
students enjoyed the class and which did not. The student evaluations of my teaching reflect this split rather
shockingly. Although the numbers in the table above represent the average, as a general rule, students
either rated my instructional techniques with sixes and sevens or they rated the techniques with twos and
threes. Several students were stubborn in their refusal to try new approaches to problems or to search for
information on their own. No simple average can possibly be expected to represent this information.
For more teaching details about the calculus course (MATH 120) there is an appendix attached which
includes my course portfolio. This portfolio includes detailed information on the on the course. The student
make-up of the course (both at the beginning and at the end of the semester) and information about how the
course progressed through the semester appears in this portfolio. A similar portfolio is available for MSTE
211. I believe it is also significant that many of the MSTE 211 students have changed their majors from
elementary education/psychology to elementary education/MST. Approximately seven students from a
class of twenty-four made the switch.
In addition, I worked on developing a plan for the MSTE 310 course (Dynamics of the Physical World)
which is essentially a physics course for educators. I have been directing John Negro, a physically disabled
student who also suffers from a learning disability, in an independent study in the mathematical topic of
functions. Due to the nature of his condition, this project will be completed this spring, although he will
only receive a single semester of credit. The focus of this independent study is on developing an
understanding of functions – both from the mathematical perspective and from the mathematics education
perspective.
Academic Advising
I have begun advising some of the undergraduate MSTE students in the last semester and have helped
several of the graduate students. I will be taking on a number of advisees during the spring semester. In
addition, I have represented the department at several orientation sessions for the Graduate College.
Scholarship and Professional Development
During the fall and spring semesters, I have tried to pursue my research interests. I have been working on
several papers and projects in various aspects of the mathematics discipline, ranging from a continuation of
my dissertation work to projects in mathematics education. Some of these projects are listed below.
 “A Solution to Einstein’s Field Equations for a Tachyonic Gas: Possible Astrophysical Applications”
with W. John Cocke is currently undergoing review for publication in Physical Review D.
 I am working on paper for math education research based on vector calculus quizzes administered at
the University of Arizona in spring 1999. This paper was almost complete – then my laptop was stolen.
I am starting over on the paper. I anticipate possible submission of this paper to the Journal for
Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education.
 I am working on paper in global differential geometry. This is a modification of some work on
differential equations by S. S. Chern.
 I am working with other Project NExT fellows to develop an online database of student-centered
mathematics projects. Essentially, I have become the head of this group and we are currently searching
for grant opportunities.
 After a conversation with Dr. G. Wildenberg, I began studying the dynamics of a one-dimensional gas
to look for signs/symptoms of chaos. This may lead to a paper, but has mostly been just a series of
interesting questions and investigations to date.
 I am working with Allen Emerson on developing a graphical organizer method that will be effective
for teaching geometry. Currently, there seems to be no information on effectively organizing the ideas
of geometry without using the traditional “two-column proof”. Therefore, this paper could be of major
assistance to instructors of the newer style of teaching geometry and we expect to publish a paper.
I have also participated in several conferences over the last year and have made several presentations.
These have been mostly informative presentations on different aspects of the MSTE/GMST programs at
Fisher. I have presented the results of my research at a poster session in Washington, DC at the annual joint
meetings of the MAA/AMS. Conferences that I have attended in the last year include the following.
 The Annual Joint Meeting of the MAA/AMS in Washington, DC: I participated in many sessions as a
1999-2000 Project NExT fellow. I also made two presentations.
 Meeting of the seven colleges CCLI consortium at SUNY Oswego in October: Dr. Carol Freeman and
I presented information on the progress of the MST Department in implementing the grant here at
Fisher.
 MathFest, the annual meeting of the MAA at Brown University in Rhode Island: I participated as a
1999-2000 Project NExT fellow.
 First Annual Mathematics Graduate Day at University of Arizona: I helped organize the conference,
presented a poster, and organized the panel discussion on issues in mathematics teaching.
Beth Napoli and I have been organizing and running some workshops through the Tech Prep program at
MCC for local high school teachers. These workshops help the teachers become familiar with ways to use
technology in their classrooms. By the end of the series of workshops, the teachers will have produced an
online “WebQuest” activity for the delivery of math, science and/or technology content.
I have been participating in the Eisenhower grant dinners sponsored by the MST Department. The theme
for these dinners is “Partners in Structuring Student Centered Learning in MST”.
Service to the College
I am currently serving on the Instructional Technology Steering Committee (ITSC) and its subcommittee
on Office of Information Technology (OIT) Support. We have generated proposals regarding the hiring of a
webmaster at Fisher and on instituting a “computer competency” requirement for Fisher students. In
addition, I served as one of the evaluators for the BlackBoard CourseInfo system that the college has
recently adopted. I also reviewed several of the online computer tutorials prior to the college adopting the
“LearnItOnline” product. The OIT Support subcommittee has been investigating the relationship between
Collegis and Fisher. We are in the process of generating a proposal to address many of the problems with
this relationship.
I serve on the steering committee for the GMST program. In addition, I have sat on the committees that are
evaluating the research proposals from our graduate students who are ready to graduate at the end of the
spring 2000 semester.