Learning Strategies » Weston

Closer connections with students?

Larry Davidson — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:56:10 +0000

In our department meeting today, we had a guest speaker from the Wellness Department* who talked with us about building closer connections with students, an atmosphere of trust, and greater engagement by our students. All good things, certainly. Part of the pitch was that the few minutes spent on such tasks in each lesson would more than pay off in increased learning, and I do believe that.

So why do I feel uncomfortable about the whole idea? I suppose it’s because it just doesn’t feel like me. Even the initial idea, shaking hands with each student on entering the classroom, feels unnatural; I’m not at all convinced that I could carry it off. The speaker says that his students not only welcome this practice but explicitly ask for it if he forgets. Maybe so, but I can’t see myself doing it.

On the other hand, I don’t want to rule out the idea, either in detail or in the big picture, and I’m willing to try. I’m even willing to sign up for a proposed summer workshop on the subject, if the calendar permits.

* Yes, I know…

More thoughts on grading

Larry Davidson — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:13:19 +0000

What are grades supposed to represent? What is the appropriate connection between assessments (whether formative or summative) and grades?

I’ve recently been reading some interesting discussions about these questions in several math teachers’ blogs (including those of Matt Townsley, Karl Fisch, David Cox, and Dan Meyer), all sparked by Shawn Cornally’s fascinating blog, Think Thank Thunk. Cornally poses the problem like this:

The Message Grades Send:

Problem: Kids want to play games to get points in order to get an ‘A’. This is a problem because it puts emphasis on accumulat ing points and not on what the points are supposed to represent: learning. You must migrate your system of grading away from grading every single assignment summatively (that is assigning a static grade for everything a kid does), and towards grades that are indexed by content.

Students could not care less about their score on “Quiz 5″ from last month; they don’t even know what was on that quiz. Don’t put that in your grade book. Put the individual ideas that that quiz assessed in your grade book, so that the students know what it is you care about. I do this, and my grade book has ballooned to about three times its previous size. Oh well.

Reporting Should Be Dynamic:

Let’s say you really care about a certain bit of knowledge, so much so that you’re going to put in on a test. In other words, you want students to know it really badly. Like, say, the Pythagorean Theorem, and you consider your class worthless if the student hasn’t learned that piece of knowledge, then your grading system should be set up to help students remediate their misunderstandings, not screw them over for not getting it the first time.

It’s hard to disagree with that, and I’m not going to try; I merely want to consider three of the reasons why it won’t work, according to us skeptics (but of course we could be wrong). Do read the entire article in order to get the full context, since I’m focusing only on a few specific issues. If you have time, also read the many articles on the subject in Cornally’s blog.

Here are my objections:

The first reason why it won’t work is that kids and their parents won’t buy into it. Cornally does address this point: “I’ve had kids cry over this, but I have to hold my ground. Parent emails be damned; Johnny didn’t improve from a 8/10 to a 9/10. He just didn’t, sorry.” It’s hard for me to see this point-of-view succeeding in Weston, but of course I could be wrong.
The second reason is that it’s too time-consuming. We’re already too busy with all the demands on our time, so how can we keep track of all these finely itemized skills and concepts? But of course I could be wrong.
The third reason is that I fear that it would inevitably lead to a de-emphasis on concepts and big ideas, because atomized skills are so much easier to measure. But of course I could be wrong.

I would like to be proved wrong. I would like to see if this concept of standards-based grading could fly in a place like Weston. Maybe it can.

Sixteenth in the state

Larry Davidson — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:59:21 +0000

No, Weston teachers do not have the highest salaries in the state. According to today’s Boston Globe, Weston ranks only 16th in the state in average teacher salaries! At $73,338, we can be compared to a high of $79,444 (Old Colony), though we’re still well above the state median of $61,800. If you look at the alphabetical district-by-district listings, you can compare us to five of our immediately neighboring communities, and we’re higher than any of them:

Weston	$73,338
Wayland	$73,015
Wellesley	$71,128
Newton	$70,961
Lincoln	$69,778
Waltham	$65,017

The real problem is that statistics can be so misleading. The really relevant criterion is the salary scale, since these figures probably reflect more about the average age and teaching experience of the faculty than they tell you about the minimum or maximum salaries in any particular district.

Professional Learning Communities

Larry Davidson — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:32:51 +0000

Apparently this is becoming more and more common in Massachusetts. Our students got a four-day weekend in January, but the faculty only had a three-day weekend, in order to schedule a day of professional development. Not that that’s a bad thing. Just saying.

Our focus today (as in all of Weston’s professional development this year) was Professional Learning Communities, usually known as PLCs. You may be wondering what this latest piece of jargon means. Google produces thousands of hits (172,000 as of this moment, or so it claims), but let’s look at allthingsplc.info, which sounds like (and is) a good source. Although I labeled this as the “latest piece of jargon,” in fact it‘s not particularly knew. For instance, the site includes an article from six years ago by Richard DuFour. Here is an excerpt from it:

The idea of improving schools by developing professional learning communities is currently in vogue. People use this term to describe every imaginable combination of individuals with an interest in education… The term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning.

…

The professional learning community model flows from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that students are taught but to ensure that they learn. This simple shift — from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning — has profound implications for schools… Every professional in the building must engage with colleagues in the ongoing exploration of three crucial questions that drive the work of those within a professional learning community:

What do we want each student to learn?

How will we know when each student has learned it?

How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

This emphasis, of course, fits in perfectly with the current national obsession with No Child Left Behind, statewide standardized testing, and other related initiatives. But it’s much more reasonable than No Child Left Behind or statewide standardized testing, since the three questions are clearly important and don’t suggest a dumbed-down or cookie-cutter approach, leading to teaching-to-the-test.

To my mind, however, the issue isn’t the three questions. The real issue is buried within the quotation above — a simple three-word phrase: engage with colleagues. Throughout my entire teaching career of 36 years I have enjoyed working with colleagues and have considered it to be an essential ingredient of our success. This observation flies in the face of the common (mis)perception that the teacher closes the classroom door and is a solo practitioner in charge of a group of students, but I’ve never believed in that model. Everywhere I’ve taught, the math department shares a common office and works together on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. For whatever reason, not all departments have operated like this, but it is always a major plus for math teachers. What hasn’t always happened is an emphasis on any of the three questions above. I look forward to further work in this area.

Yes, teens really can write literate email messages

Larry Davidson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:48:48 +0000

A lot of adults are complaining that teens are “illiterate” in their writing, especially in email messages — you know, “kids these days…” and all that — but that’s not what I’m seeing. The abysmal level of teenage writing is usually attributed to their addiction to text messaging, a.k.a. texting. For example:

The youth of Ireland are becoming increasingly poor spellers and writers, and their love of text messaging on cellphones is a major reason why, according to the Education Department.

In a report published Wednesday on national test results in English for about 37,000 students aged 15 and 16, the department’s Examination Commission said cutting-edge communications technology has encouraged poor literacy and a blunt, choppy style at odds with academic rigor.

“Text messaging, with its use of phonetic spelling and little or no punctuation, seems to pose a threat to traditional conventions in writing,” said the report written by the department’s chief examiner, whose identity is kept confidential to safeguard the integrity of tests.

The report branded today’s teens “unduly reliant on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary.”

…

Ireland is among the world leaders in cell-phone use — in part because of traditionally high costs for conventional phone lines — and surveys indicate that a majority of children have their own mobile phone by age 12, with the most enthusiastic texters sending more than 250 a week.

Yes, that happens to be Ireland. But we hear the same kind of complaints in this country as well. However, as I said above, that’s not what I’m seeing. Of course I may have a very skewed sample, consisting primarily of Weston students, but since I’m not pretending to be doing a statistically valid survey I’ll go ahead with my observations, skewed though they may be. Here’s what I see. I’ll stick to email, since that’s where we’re most likely to see overly informal writing:

Most students know how to address adults (teachers, at least) in their writing, even when using email. The big exception is the capitalization of the pronoun “I,” which often appears uncapitalized. Otherwise their grammar, style, punctuation, and spelling are all pretty reasonable. I’m not claiming that we have works of literature here — merely that the quality of writing is close to that of adults.

To gather my evidence, I looked at 20 consecutive email messages written by my students in October. (As I say, it’s certainly not a rigorous survey, nor was it meant to be.) Here they are in their entirety; I have omitted no messages, nor have I edited anything beyond adding message numbers and altering students’ names. Judge for yourself.

1 Hey Mr. Davidson,

I hope that i could get a recommendation from you. I’m sorry i couldn’t get to you earlier about the recommendation letter.
To make it easier for you, i’ll be sending the info you need over email. However since i do not have the finalized list of the colleges that i would like to apply to, is it possible to hold onto the the rec. till i can get you the list of colleges? After i’ve narrowed my list down i’ll be able to give you the letters that you need to send them off in. Thanks a lot.

2 Hey Mr. Davidson,

I am doing a lot better today, yesterday and Tuesday were truly awful though, so although i’m not 100%, I feel “relatively GREAT” and it was very nice to get back to school today. I stopped by your desk after school to talk about what I missed and you weren’t there, but luckily I’ve been getting filled in pretty well from classmates, and borrowed a textbook, so i’m not behind, and just may need some help completing tonights assignment. I noticed a note on your desk that said you will miss tomorrows class, is this true?

Thanks for the check-in, I appreciate it, and I hope to see you soon!

3 Hi Mr. Davidson,

This is Stu Dent in your H block Geometry class. I’m just wondering
what days you free after or before school this week before the 18th?
Thanks alot!

4

On the westonmath website for #6 on tonight’s homework I’m not sure what the &ndash means. Should I assume the question is for (X+2)^2?

5 Hi Mr. Davidson,

I was wondering if there was a possibility I could meet with you tomorrow morning regarding proofs as I am confused going about proving them especially with word problems such as the one with the bus and railroad for example. I’m willing to come whenever you are available (except maybe not 3:00 AM in the morning!).

6 Hi Mr. Davidson

I’m having some trouble with the domain and range part of tonight’s homework, as well as the Dr. scheme questions. Could I meet with you at 7:15 tomorrow morning to go over it?

7 Hi Mr. Davidson

I’m in your Honors Geometry class Block F. I just have one question. For the sample problems you gave in the book, I’m not quite sure what method I should use to solve the last question, number 43. I usually use guess and check, but I know there could be an equation to solve it, but I’m not quite sure what the equation is.

8 Hello Mr. Davidson,
I have registered onto the math blog site and I was wondering how to do I actually post a blog since I have not been able to find the button that allows me to actually make a post.

9 Hi Mr. Davidson,

Tomorrow I have a study hall first and last block. I was wondering if you were free either of those blocks so that I could go over the test with you.

Thanks!

10 Hi Mr.Davidson,
I went over the clock problems with a friend and now I understand it so I don’t need to meet with you! Thanks

11 Hi Mr Davidson,
Could i see you tommorow morning before school starts to go over some test questions and concepts? Thanks

12 Hi Mr. Davidson,

I’m in your F Block Honors Geometry class. I just have one question. On the test, on problem 3, for the collinear points question, I think it was the last one. I got that question wrong because I said the points were collinear. I don’t know why, though, its wrong. Can you please explain it to me so I don’t make the same mistake on future test or quizzes?

Thanks,

13 Hello,

I just submitted the post that I created on the blog website.
I did not remember how to make the math look like math.
Also, when I try to preview it, it says “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.”
I probably did something wrong and I’m not really sure how I can fix it.

Thanks,

14 Hi Mr. Davidson,

I think I may have left my math book in your class on Friday. If you have it could you please let me know and I can get it on Tuesday.

Thank you very much and have a good long weekend!

15 It is Stu Dent. I have contacted you because i finished my blog, and saved it, but then logged out, and it seems now that the website could be messed up, because when i try, it says “Cheatin’ Uh.” I will continue to try, but could you please respond, because i would like to have my post up.

16 Hi Mr. Davidson,
This seems like forever ago, but at the end of last year you said you could help me out by writing my college recommendation. I have the form from the school and the forms from CommonApp.org almost ready to give you, so I thought I should let you know where I am/remind you. I am applying to one school Early (November 1), so I also have an envelope from that school, and then I will bring the rest later when I decide what schools I am going to apply to Regular (January 1).
Would you like to meet with me before you write it? Or can I just drop off the packet of papers with you?
I only have one free, so if we met it would probably have to be either in the morning, during lunch, or quickly after school.
Thanks for all your help,

17 Hi Mr.Davidson,
My parents and I discussed my last quiz and test grades we thought
that maybe I should consider taking the CP geometry course. Do you
have any input on this and is there an F block CP geometry class?
Please let me know.
Thank you,

18 Mr. Davidson
So i know it’s been a while since we’ve talked but I was wondering if you need anything from me for teacher recs. I will have the envelopes and teacher rec form to you for Thursday. May I drop it off Thursday after school? I am actually just giving you the info (envelope, due date) for the school that I am applying early to because I still have to finalize my other schools. I will tell you the rest of the schools as soon as I finish my list. I hope that’s okay.
Thanks,

19 hi mr. davidson!
its Matilda. well i was talking to Stu Dent and he tried helping me with the blogging but it wouldnt work. and he said that i had the same problem as him and the admin messed up the account or something like that. i couldnt write the blog! let me know how to fix it. see you tomorrow!

20 Hi Mr. Davidson, I’m finishing up the teacher recommendation package that I plan to give to you tomorrow in school. There are a few things that I can include if you feel that you need or want them: my activity list, parent brag sheet, the teacher rec Basic Questionnaire, etc. Would you like me to include any of these in your package?

How many applications?

Larry Davidson — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:44:17 +0000

I’ve just sent off my final college recommendations — for a couple of schools that have surprisingly late deadlines of January 10 or January 15. My spreadsheet shows that the students who asked me to write recommendations for them this year altogether applied to an average of 7.5 colleges apiece (ranging from 2 to 14). Last year’s seniors applied to an average of 10.4 colleges apiece (ranging from 5 to 16).

What accounts for this dramatic drop? Of course we’re talking about only a small subset of the senior class at Weston, so it might not be statistically significant. But I do wonder whether there is finally a reaction to the excessive number of applications that the Common App has encouraged, or whether this year’s senior class includes a lot more students admitted early (under Early Decision or Early Action), so they are less likely to apply to a lot of schools in round two, or whether there’s some other explanation I haven’t thought of.

Requiring algebra in eighth grade

Larry Davidson — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:55:00 +0000

Ten years ago, the highly respected mathematician Lynn Arthur Steen wrote an article entitled, “Algebra for All in Eighth Grade: What’s the Rush?” Well, now we know what the rush is…or do we? Steen sets up the issue with a couple of rhetorical questions:

How can a subject that for many adults serves as a metaphor for frustration suddenly be the top priority for soccer moms and internet dads? And why do so many parents suddenly demand of their schools and their children something they themselves neither mastered nor loved?

He then proceeds to give several arguments in favor of algebra: it provides access to higher education and jobs, it is the language of the information age, it is the mark of a rigorous education… in short, it is “the key to access in our technological society.”

But then come the counterarguments:

Relatively few students finish seventh grade prepared to study algebra. At this age students’ readiness for algebra — their maturity, motivation, and preparation — is as varied as their height, weight, and sexual maturity. Premature immersion in the abstraction of algebra is a leading source of math anxiety among adults.

Even fewer eighth grade teachers are prepared to teach algebra. Most eighth grade teachers, having migrated upwards from an elementary license, are barely qualified to teach the mix of advanced arithmetic and pre-algebra topics found in traditional eighth grade mathematics. Practically nothing is worse for students’ mathematical growth than instruction by a teacher who is uncomfortable with algebra and insecure about mathematics.

Few algebra courses or textbooks offer sufficient immersion in the kind of concrete, authentic problems that many students require as a bridge from numbers to variables and from arithmetic to algebra. Indeed, despite revolutionary changes in technology and in the practice of mathematics, most algebra courses are still filled with mindless exercises in symbol manipulation that require extraordinary motivation to master.

Most teachers don’t believe that all students can learn algebra in eighth grade. Many studies show that teachers’ beliefs about children and about mathematics significantly influence student learning. Algebra in eighth grade cannot succeed unless teachers believe that all their students can learn it.

So, where does this leave us? Steen’s conclusion is a sensible one: everyone should take algebra, but not necessarily in eighth grade. As the title of his article asks, What’s the rush?

The rush is that many states, including California and Massachusetts, are now mandating algebra in eighth grade, which moves the argument from whether we should implement this to how we should implement it; Steen’s four bullet points are real, and passing laws won’t wash them away. This is not to say that all eighth-graders really do study algebra, but Weston is surely not the only system in which Algebra I is simply not even offered at the high school: we expect all incoming ninth-graders to enter with an Algebra I background. I don’t know about other school systems, but Weston has attempted to address all four of Steen’s points, though the frst three are of course easier to remedy than the fourth. Nationwide about one third of eighth-graders study algebra, for better or for worse. Weston, of course, is Lake Wobegon, so all of our students are capable of learning algebra in eighth grade.

For much more depth of this question, read Tom Loveless’s article, “The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra,” or his full report from the Brown Center of the Brookings Institution. Here are a few interesting excerpts from this 16-page document:

At first glance, this appears to be good news… Research also suggests that students who take algebra earlier rather than later subsequently have higher math skills. These findings, however, are clouded by selection effects — by the presence of unmeasured factors influencing who takes algebra early and who takes it late…

The push for universal eighth-grade algebra is based on an argument for equity, not on empirical evidence. By completing algebra in eighth grade… students are able to take calculus in the senior year of high school… From this point of view, expanding eighth-grade algebra to include all students opens up opportunities for advancement to students who previously had not been afforded them, in particular students of color and from poor families. Democratizing eighth-grade algebra promotes social justice.

…

One catch. Course-taking is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Students take math courses to learn mathematics. Will policies mandating algebra for all eighth graders mean that the nation’s students learn more math? Not necessarily…

Loveless then goes on to cite statistics that show that “the typical eighth grader in an advanced math course knows less today than in 2000.” Hmmm…

…Any teacher who stops to teach misplaced students fractions shortchanges the well-prepared students who sit in that algebra class… There will be advocates, despite the data presented here, who will continue to argue for placing low-performing eighth graders in algebra classes. They believe that a more rigorous course is always preferable to a less rigorous one. Many do not believe that students must learn basic mathematics in order to successfully tackle higher-level mathematics… Algebra teachers already feel the strain of such unrealistic expectations.

Anyway, do read the entire article.

Here are some excerpts from Loveless’s conclusion:

One hundred twenty thousand students are misplaced in their eighth-grade math classes. They have not been prepared to learn the mathematics that they are expected to learn… Two groups of students pay a price. The misplaced eighth-graders waste a year of mathematics, lost in a curriculum of advanced math when they have not yet learned elementary arithmetic… Their clasmates also lose — students who are good at math and ready for algebra. These well-prepared but ill-served students also tend to be black and Hispanic and to come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Teachers report that classes of students with widely diverse mathematics preparation impede effective teaching, that too many students arrive in algebra classes unmotivated to learn… Universal eighth-grade algebra is creating more problems than it solves, with 120,000 students not learning the mathematics that they need to know and hundreds of thousands of their classmates paying an educational price along with them.

Fortunately Weston is different. But read the whole article, as I said above.

On a slightly different but closely related matter, I need to mention a comment I overheard at the next table at Tavolo: “I don’t understand why kids have so much trouble with algebra. It’s nothing but finding the value of x.” No, that’s not what algebra is about. Sigh.

Paper clip update

Larry Davidson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:06:34 +0000

Paper clips are up to 25 now:

Getting closer to donuts.

Finally, The Lion King

Larry Davidson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:47:40 +0000

Somehow this post got delayed from earlier in the year. Oh, well…hakuna matata.

Anyway, earlier in this calendar year — but it was last academic year — two of my Weston sophomores were aghast to hear that I had never seen The Lion King. After a great deal of persuasion, both from them and from my niece, I agreed to see it. One of my Weston colleagues had warned me that it was offensive and patriarchal, so I was wary. Also, I’m not into Disney films.

My verdict: I definitely enjoyed it — though not with anything like my students’ level of enthusiasm — and I didn’t find it the least patriarchal or offensive. Mostly I found it folkloric, and of course there are patriarchal elements involved in folklore. I liked the animation and the wit. The songs weren’t bad. Although I’m still puzzled why my niece named her cat Zazu, I found the various animals cute and/or captivating, and the actors were effective in reading their voices. All in all, it will never be one of my favorite movies, but I’m definitely glad that I saw it. I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions about Weston students or teachers from my tiny sample on this matter.

An interview in Wildcat Tracks

Larry Davidson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:15:58 +0000

Junior Lauren Avery, one of the editors of Weston High School’s student newspaper, Wildcat Tracks, asked if she could interview me. Of course I said yes, and the result was a half-page article that focused on my transition from linguistics to teaching math. I was pleased with the depth and breadth of the writing, as well as by its unusually high degree of accuracy. “It’s much more accurate than Fox News,” I said to one of my colleagues.

“That’s not a very high bar,” she replied. She’s right, of course. This article was probably 99% accurate, which is as much as anyone could ask for — and I was just kidding about Fox News.

Here are a few excerpts from Lauren’s article:

Davidson’s smooth switch between two seemingly incompatible fields often surprises his students. Despite this, Davidson sees a great deal of similarities between linguistics and mathematics, and to this day he continues to pursue both subjects.

…

A linguist is a person who studies the origins and usage of ancient and modern languages…. By studying multiple languages instead of focusing on a single language, Davidson was able to begin to identify trends and patterns between languages, a concept that played a major role in his interest in mathematics later on.

…

To his current and former students, Davidson’s ability to switch between two fields has given them a new perspective about choosing a career in the future. “It lets me think that it’s not really too late to change what you are passionate about,” said junior Mir Bokhari.

…

Davidson’s switch between two fields has affected him both as a teacher and as a person, and it reflects some valuable lessons concerning education. “You never know if sometimes something you’re interested in can come back. My jobs make use of all the linguistics I had done 20 years earlier in new contexts. My linguistics training helped in math,” Davidson said. “There are surprising connections. Nothing you learn is ever wasted.”

The Good Woman of Setzuan

Larry Davidson — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:24:41 +0000

Congratulations to the Weston High School Theater Company for another first-rate production! The last time I saw Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan must have been at least 20 years ago, so I didn’t remember much about it except for some bits of plot and theme. In particular, I didn’t remember — or, more likely, I had never known — that this 1938–1943 play was so influential on subsequent 20th-century dramatic literature. Non-Aristotelian drama seems routine to us today, but it was revolutionary at the time, as director John Minigan points out in his program notes. Political and moral issues in this play are evident and often unresolved, making it a good choice for high-school performers and audiences. Several memes common throughout folklore and literature pervade the play: anonymous visits by the gods, the search for a good person à la Diogenes, and cross-dressing by a woman who needs to pretend to be a man.

Several actors stood out in Friday’s performance. At the top of the list must be Ben Heath, whose enthusiastic portrayal of airplane pilot Yang Sun grabbed the audience’s attention and held it throughout the play. Only slightly less vivid was Katherine Donahue, who gave an unexpectedly nuanced performance as prostitute Shen Te and her alter ego Shui Ta. I say “unexpectedly” because Katherine’s roles in past productions have always given her the opportunity to be larger than life — even over the top. I knew that she excelled in those conditions, but I hadn’t known that she could so successfully represent both the sweet Shen Te and the ruthless Shui Ta. (These roles had to be played by the same person, as Shui Ta is merely the male disguise that Shen Te adopts whenever she needs to be fierce.) I also have to mention the three gods, who serve in a dual capacity as both a Greek chorus and the instigators of the plot. But, unlike the typical chorus, actors Mikey Bullister, Laurel Kulow, and Diana Flanagan created three contrasting roles: to my mind Mikey came across as a politican, Laurel as a whiny teenager, and Diana as a demanding boss. The combination was effective and amusing, as was Reid Gilbard’s portrayal of Wong, the water seller. All of the rest of the large cast — Eric Doyle, Luc Pomerance, Matthew Chernick, Nike Power, Peter Birren, Halle O’Conor, Lucy Hastings, Tara Kulas, Geoffrey Binney, Jamie Goulart, Katelyn Engler, Jessica Ober, Lexie Burkus, Gabe Nelson, Haley Knapp, Hannah Dodson, Cailin McCormack, Kimmie Remis, Erica Kwiatkowski, Alessandra Haley, Grace Harper, Daniel Donahue, and Athina Kalemos — also deserve recognition, as the entire performance was strong and convincing.

The small pit orchestra — Tommy Fitzgerald, Myles McMann, Nike Power, and Odin Enzmann — was outstanding in their supporting role in this play, which was definitely not a musical although it contained songs and other musical accompaniment. Lighting and sound must have been flawless, as they were unobtrusively perfect, just the way they should be. Finally, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the production was the amazing set, which was gorgeous and dramatic from my seat in the second row.

And now for a few linguistic points. As I said in the first graf above, I saw a performance of this play at least 20 years ago. But I had already known the work, since I had read it — in the original German — as a college freshman over 40 years ago. Needless to say, I don’t really remember that experience. But I do remember a couple of peculiarities in the standard translation by the well-known Eric Bentley, who had been a professor at Harvard just a year or two before I arrived there as a student. Actually, all I really remember is the title, which contains both of these peculiarities. Brecht’s title for the play is Der gute Mensch von Sezuan, and the alert reader surely notices the two surprises. First, why does Bentley translate “Mensch” as “woman”, when it really means “person”? My guess is that it’s because the person in question is in fact a woman, but it seems to me that this translation dulls the impact of the opening, when the gods are looking for a good person, not specifically for a good woman. Second, how does “Sezuan” become “Setzuan” rather than “Szechwan”? I’m not claiming that “Szechwan” is in any way a reasonable transliteration of the Chinese word, but merely that it’s the standard English one. The rendition “Setzuan” is neither German nor English! My best guess here is that the interpolated “t” is meant to help us pronounce the German word, since German “z” is pronounced “ts.” In any case, Bentley’s translation is the one that was used in the Weston production, and it is (title aside) a seamless and as far as I can tell accurate translation. It certainly worked well in this performance.

Struggle

Larry Davidson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:28:09 +0000

At this week’s Math Department meeting, we spent the first 15 minutes or so discussing what we do to help “struggling students” succeed in our courses — particularly what resources we provide. Something was bothering me about the whole discussion, so I waited a few minutes before I said anything. Then I realized what was bothering me: the participle “struggling” was apparently being used as a synonym for “unsuccessful.”

This usage has long seemed completely wrong to me. To my mind, I have some students who struggle and do well. I also have some students who are unsuccessful — precisely because they don’t struggle.

It all comes down, of course, to the meaning of the verb “struggle.” Let’s see what a couple of reputable dictionaries say about the matter. In each case I’ve selected the appropriate sense of the word:

to make strenuous…efforts in the face of difficulties… <struggling with the problem>

to proceed with difficulty or with great effort <struggled through the high grass> <struggling to make a living>

—Merriam-Webster

to be strenuously engaged with a problem, a task, or an undertaking

to progress with difficulty <struggled with calculus>

—American Heritage Dictionary

Linguists, of course, always insist on being descriptive rather than prescriptive, and yet they usually rely on introspection or on the use of a small number of informants. I suppose a more accurate technique in this context would be to survey a large number of people and find out how they use the word “struggle”; I have no idea what we would find, but at least the dictionary definitions make it absolutely clear to me that we should stop using this verb as a synonym for “be unsucessful.”

On another front, we spent the next 25 minutes of the department meeting discussing how to solve the equation x² = 2^x. I told my Algebra II class about this, since we’re currently transitioning from quadratic functions to exponential functions, and one of their homework problems called for a comparison between y = x² and y = 2^x. They found it an unlikely topic for a meeting — and they were especially surprised that we were so geeky that the meeting ran ten minutes over before anybody looked at the clock and noticed that we had gone past the announced end of the meeting.

By the way, there are three solutions to this equation. One solution, 2, is immediately obvious; a second solution, 4, is not at all obvious until you give it some considerable thought, at which point it “becomes obvious.” The third solution can be estimated by looking at a graph. Finding this solution is left as an exercise for the reader.

The early bird gets the…copies?

Larry Davidson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:01:04 +0000

You have to get up early in the morning to get ahead of the rest of the Weston faculty. (No slackers here!) I got to school at 6:30 this morning, figuring that I could use the photocopier without competition… but no. When I entered the copy room, I found that I was third in line.

Before and after

Larry Davidson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:18:48 +0000

A major topic of high-school math is the study of transformations. My colleague, Jim McLaughlin, wants you to know that his desk has somehow undergone a miraculous transformation:


Before	After

How can you lose a quiz while you’re taking it?

Larry Davidson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:56:27 +0000

It doesn’t seem possible for a student to lose his quiz while taking it. If it’s possible at all, it should surely be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

But no! For the second time in my years at Weston, this unlikely event has occurred. About eight years ago a sophomore managed to lose his quiz while taking an open-note quiz (it disappeared into a black hole in his notebook). And now, what do you know, a freshman has repeated the same feat, again causing his quiz to disappear into his notebook while he was taking it.

What are the odds?

Friday cat blogging & a geometry quiz

Larry Davidson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:24:49 +0000

One of my students asked me what Friday Cat Blogging is all about. You can read the answer here or here or especially here.

In other news, since today is Friday the 13th, we had to have a pop quiz in Honors Geometry. For only the second time in the past decade a Weston student managed to lose his quiz while taking it.

Anyway, back to Friday cat blogging: here is today’s picture, showing Timothy in one of his favorite spots: sitting atop Fred, the Footrest:

Trophy Wives Don’t Need Advanced Physics

Larry Davidson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:34:56 +0000

This is an unsolicited recommendation for the new book published by my colleague, Boris Korsunsky, Trophy Wives Don’t Need Advanced Physics: Dubious Words of Wisdom From Physics Students. Just now I almost said, “written by my colleague…,” but that would have been inaccurate. Perhaps “collected by…” would be best, as this book consists almost entirely of genuine quotations from Dr. Korsunsky’s students. Their unintentionally funny gems appeared on homework, tests, and so forth — and were then preserved for eternity by their teacher. The collection is illustrated effectively in the form of cartoons by another one of my colleagues, Alejandro Yegros.

Unfortunately, all the authors’ names have been removed to protect the innocent guilty, probably because Dr. Korsunsky’s lawyers have advised him that anonymity is the way to go. You’ll see why if you read through the generous collection of sample quotations provided on the About page of the book’s website. You’ll also see on that page that there is no need for you to know physics in order to enjoy 50.9% of the quotations. So go ahead and read them — and remember, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

Weston teens & Boston teens…polite or not?

Larry Davidson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:14:48 +0000

Earlier today I just happened to make a small remark to my junior class, complimenting them (and indirectly their parents) on how well brought up they were. The context was that two students had gone out of their way to apologize (for things that weren’t even their fault). So I said that it was great to see that Weston students knew how to behave and were typically polite, in contrast to the usual stereotype of teens as viewed by the general public. This kind of interaction always puts me in a good mood, the same as when students say thank-you as they leave the classroom. (There are always two or three who do this after any class — not just upperclassmen, not just honors students — a fact that astonishes my adult friends who remember their own high-school experiences.)

And now for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.

In my Honors Geometry class slightly later in the day, a freshman raises his hand and asks me in front of the whole class, “Do you live in the ghetto in Dorchester?” This offensive question demands an immediate response from me, and fortunately the rest of the class sits frozen; no one laughs or rewards this kid in any way. I tell him that I am offended by the question and that I prefer to say that I live in the inner city, not the ghetto…and then we return to geometry, since I don’t want to pursue this matter any further. Maybe I should….

But of course this ironic combination of incidents in two classes causes a flurry of thoughts in my head:

I remind myself that my generalization about polite Weston students was just that: a generalization. Of course there are exceptions. But I do believe that the exceptions are surprisingly rare. I’ll notice maybe a couple of incidents of rudeness a month. As I think I remarked in an earlier post, many students even say thank-you when I hand them a test. After all, it’s the right thing to do.
Then I think of my own experience back in my first year here. Weston High School is a remarkably tough school for new teachers — and I mean “new to Weston,” not merely new to teaching. With rare exceptions (like our new math teachers this year), teachers new to Weston find it initially very troubling to cope with the degree of entitlement among some Weston students — it’s definitely not a majority of students, but there are still too many. It took me about a year to adjust. Ater that year I’ve loved teaching here. I can’t quite untangle the apparent clash between this observation and the one in my first paragraph above. Have students changed since my first year at Weston? Maybe…but that wouldn’t explain why other new teachers in recent years have had experiences similar to the one I had 13 years ago. Have I changed? Maybe that’s more likely.
Next I wonder whether these observations are unique to Weston. I have only three groups that I can compare, or perhaps four if you subdivide the data in a certain way:
- kids who live in Weston and attend Weston High School
- those who live in Boston (or elsewhere) and attend Weston High School through the Metco program or because their parents are town employees
- those who live in Boston and attend various Boston public schools during the school year plus the Crimson Summer Academy in the summer
- those who live in Cambridge or elsewhere and attend Cambridge Rindge & Latin or various charter or parochial schools in the area during the school year plus the Crimson Summer Academy in the summer.
The bottom line is that all four groups are approximately equally polite, so my observations are not unique to Weston. At least among these four groups, rude remarks are notable for their scarcity. I can’t help but be reminded of the words of W.S. Gilbert in the immortal^* Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Princess Ida:

His wise remarks are valued by his court
As precious stones.

And for the self-same cause.
Like precious stones, his sensible remarks
Derive their value from their scarcity.

^*How can it be immortal when so few people in the general public have even heard of this operetta? Oh well, don’t get me started on the taste of the general public.

Congratulations to the Math Team!

Larry Davidson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:34:26 +0000

Please congratulate the Weston High School math team for a spectacular showing at today’s meet. There were three — count them, that’s three — students with perfect scores, an unprecedented event in my years at Weston. Kudos to Marco Alagna, Grace Huckins, and Rachael Naphtal for achieving perfect scores, and to everyone else for contributing to our excellent total score!

What’s wrong with a B+?

Larry Davidson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:55:51 +0000

Three different freshmen approached me at various times today with concerns about whether they should stay in Honors Geometry or drop down to College Prep. That’s OK. But for two of them the reason was that their current average is B+. Not D+, not even C+, but B+!

What’s wrong with a B+? B+ has always been above the average grade for Honors Geometry. It’s something for anyone to be proud of. So what’s the problem? Is it merely that they’ve always gotten an A in math? Are their parents pressuring them to get an A? Are we teachers inadvertently pressuring them this much? Are they already so worried about getting into college that they think a grade in first quarter of freshman year has to be an A? A B+ in Honors Geometry looks great — and term grades don’t go on the transcript anyway.

We all know about grade inflation. But we don’t know what to do about it. In an honors course I can live with the idea that everyone should get some sort of A or B (although I’ve known a number of students who learned a huge amount of math despite getting a C in honors math); what I can’t live with is the idea that everyone should get an A.