3/7/2007

Hello Professor Gerard-Prendergast,

I just wanted to send you a little note to let you know how much I appreciate your teaching style. When I took statistics for my AA degree at Merced JC, I struggled and it left a bitter taste in my desire to ever want to do stats/analysis again. Ultimately, I have procrastinated until this semester, literally backed in a corner in having to take it to fullfill a requirement for my graduation. Drudging this (analysis) course during sign-ups in December, I practiced “psyching myself out, saying, “I can make it through this.” I undoubtedly was completely intimidated and was bracing myself for a struggling semester.

I find your style refreshing and easy to comprehend when you take the analysis terminology and apply it to everyday life and symbols. My particular favorite was the recent one about driving a car. You had explained it’s like driving a car: the motor skills get learned first, (through the computer lab), then the textbook material starts to apply. This holds very true in my case, I start to “connect the dots” as I do the hands-on learning, review the material again, and then the Friday class with review notes and power-points that help bring all the terminology and parts together.

I now actually look forward to class, something I never thought I would! Thanks for your humor and light-hearted approach to something that could easily become a strain on the brain.

Sincerely,
Monika Villasenor
SOC 4030-003