Tuesday, March 31st

Hi everyone,
Teaching today was interesting. I taught the students how to enter their data into EXCEL and then make bar charts. They were amazed that beautiful charts can be made without so little effort. They loved the point-and-click options for changing the colors of each bar. Prior to today's lesson, they were still using graph paper and colored pencils. After this excitement, I gave them one more learning thrill. I took half the class (n=11) to the computer lab and showed them how to use Google Maps to find their own homes. I did not think that I could top the excitement of EXCEL charts, but Google Maps did the trick!! After the first batch, I took the other half. They asked me to type in my address of our condo in Tampa. They were so excited to see "the actual place where you live in the U.S." I have rarely seen students so thrilled with learning a new skill. I should have spaced the surprises over two days. I have no more tricks left for tomorrow's lecture. Later in the day, I overheard some of them talking to the junior-level students. I did not understand most of the Hindi conversation, but the junior students did not look like they believed the magical story about what the American professor was teaching. I have the junior students tomorrow, so I'll try to impress them also.

Tomorrow is April 1st!! Happy Birthday to my cousin, Barb!! It also means that we have 30 days in April and 10 days in May prior to coming home = 40 days.