DAVID.SEFF.

This was an example of how Mat 155 class should look like. Seff's teaching was perfect and students seemed ready and willing to learn from him. Mr. Seff first went over the homework from last class. The homework was about evaluation of functions at several points using simple programming in Maple, derivatives of functions and applications. Students enjoyed the presentation and it seems they are quickly learning Maple and also improving their knowledge in Calculus. The applications done in class helped students to understand better difficult concepts in Calculus like velocity, maximal height, tangent to a curve, comparison between a curve and its tangent etc. This was an impressive presentation of derivatives in Maple setup.

 

After the homework, Seff started a new lecture on increasing and decreasing functions. He went over comparison between a function and its derivative in Maple. After that students learned about applications to maxima and minima of functions, intervals of increasing and

decreasing etc.

Overall, Seff gets my highest possible grade as an instructor 

— Anonymous

 

“I am writing this letter so that you may be aware of how lucky you and your department are to have a such a womderful professor teaching math. Professor Seff has been a blessing to myself as well as to the other students in our 5.2 core class. The more professor Seff spoke, the more the more I began to think hey maybe I could do this after all. I can tell you that in a little over two weeks, my entire outlook on mathematics has drastically changed .”

— Nancy, Former Student

 

“Professor Davide Seff was my math teacher. Never have I had a math teacher like Professor Seff. As a matter of fact, I've never met anyone  that thoroughly enjoyed mathematics like Professor Seff. He is so passionate about math that his passion comes through in his teaching. Perhaps if I had a teacher life Professor Seff years ago, I would have never developed math anxiety.”

— Rena, Former Student

 

“David Seff is one of the most amazing math instructors I know.  He has a firm grasp of many areas of math and the ability to articulate complex concepts in a way that students can understand.  His method of teaching is innovative in many ways.  One key part of his methodology is he explains important concepts by presenting slowly a well-chosen set of examples and stories that:

 

• Rely on simple ideas that are already well –understood by the students

• Make the concepts crystal clear

• Make the ideas so interesting that students actually comment out loud, “Hey this is really fun!”

• Use humor and get the students to laugh, thereby easing tension

• Motivate the students to listen, study, and understand.

 

By relating math laws and examples to everyday experiences, Mr. Seff is able to impart a deeper understanding of the material to the students as well as maintain their interest."

 

— Colleague