One of the many things that math teachers and linguists have in common is that we are usually misunderstood by the general public. The great David Crystal has written an excellent piece on this subject in the context of being interviewed for an… Read More ›
Month: October 2015
Linguistics blogs
So here’s the dilemma, and it’s not an unusual one in the Internet of the current decade. Suppose you’re interested in linguistics, but you can’t devote your whole life to it. Your dilemma is that either you can pick two or… Read More ›
Extreme photojournalism
Famed New York Times/freelance photojournalist Lynsey Addario gave an intense presentation to students and faculty of Weston High School yesterday afternoon. “Intense” is definitely the word. Never before have I heard eight hundred high-school students sit so quietly and attentively for… Read More ›
How do you organize a binder?
Let’s suppose you have to keep a physical notebook (or binder) for a course you’re taking (or teaching, for that matter). Most people seem to prefer using tabs to give themselves the illusion of organization (oops — that shows my… Read More ›
“I can’t do math!”
In its essence this is a familiar story, but it bears reexamination. We’ll end with the Indian girl who gave up on math at age 15, but we start with the observation that American and Indian kids alike classify themselves… Read More ›
Yay! (maybe)
Good news and bad news here. The good news is that the Obama Administration seems to have softened its stand on mandatory standardized testing, which has resulted in vastly excessive time spent in many schools and totally inappropriate teacher evaluation… Read More ›
JEB @PA
They tell us that students should get to know their teachers. So, every year I show my classes excerpts from Kevin Rafferty’s movie, Regular Guys. This is partly so that my students can get a better picture of my own high-school experience and partly… Read More ›
Marauder’s Map
Harry would be jealous. Look at this: it’s a real-life Marauder’s Map! But instead of showing where people are, it shows where MBTA subway trains are — right now, in real time. How cool is that?
Rails across Canada?
For the second time, Barbara and I are planning to take the train from Boston to Chicago this April to visit the in-laws…and to enjoy the journey, of course. But that’s less than half the distance across the continent. At… Read More ›
The so-called Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
What an annoying book! How did it become a New York Times best-seller??? In the words of H.L. Mencken, “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people,” so maybe that’s the explanation. In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie… Read More ›
Why crypto in high school?
So I was out to dinner this evening with some old friends — no, not “old” friends in that sense, but “old friends” if you know what I mean — and one of them was surprised that cryptography is effectively… Read More ›
X
The last time I wrote about Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mystery series was two and a half years ago. At that point I was up to V. Then came W — and now, of course, X. But this one breaks… Read More ›
Hello Ruby
Can young kids really learn about coding (which we used to call “programming”)? If so, do they need a computer, or can they learn it better through reading and playing board games? Linda Llukas is betting on “yes” and “the… Read More ›
Oliver Sacks redux
I’m gradually working my way through most of the oeuvre of the late Oliver Sacks. Two months ago I wrote about Uncle Tungsten, On the Move, and Hallucinations. Now it’s time for The Island of the Colorblind, Cycad Island, and Awakenings. Once again, all three are fascinating and worth… Read More ›
Why he stopped doing interviews for Yale
Ben Orlin hits the nail on the head in his brief essay titled “Why I’ve Stopped Doing Interviews for Yale.” The whole admissions process for highly selective colleges has become an unpredictable mess, as many of my recent high-school students will tell… Read More ›
Copenhagen
So…it’s hard to avoid telling a bad joke about uncertainty…you know, “Heisenberg and Bohr walk into a bar…” But I’m going to try hard to stay away from such jokes, Not that the play isn’t amusing. In fact it has… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 