Pronouns again! There are (at least) two different issues swirling around pronouns: Singular they, which I wrote about in 2018 Calling someone by their preferred pronouns (in terms of gender), which I wrote about earlier this month Both of these issues… Read More ›
Don’t tell anyone: there’s a dirty little secret here! I have some bad news: people cheat. More specifically, students cheat on tests and other assessments. So, how do you give secure assessments in a remote teaching-and-learning setting? It’s all too… Read More ›
You say you didn’t learn cryptography in high school or college? And you didn’t learn it on your own, as some of us did? It isn’t too late! In that case you’ve probably never heard of the Vigenère Cipher, so… Read More ›
Vincent is ignoring William, who thinks that he’s resting his head on a comfortable pillow:
The Ashmont Grill has reopened! Barbara and I ate dinner last night on the spacious and beautiful back patio. Barbara had their special New England Lobster Dinner (steamers, lobster, chorizo, corn on the cob, potatoes), with Nanny Sheila’s renowned carrot… Read More ›
“Of course my last name comes last,” you reply! “That’s why it’s called my last name!” Well, no. Your surname is not always your “last” name. And I’m not talking about the “Doe, Jane” construction used in bibliographies and official class lists… Read More ›
I am overwhelmed! By unanimous consent, Jo Walton’s The Just City has now been added to my top-ten books list (which already had 12 books on it). There was no doubt about it. In a sense, this book is science fiction…. Read More ›
The Fractal Geometry of Nature may be Benoit Mandelbrot’s most famous book, but have you ever heard of the fractal geometry of history? I hadn’t either — until I watched the six-minute video “The Abandoned Hill with Two Members of… Read More ›
As we discussed a few days ago, a Pew poll showed that Americans don’t read very much. More specifically, it’s non-college-educated adults don’t read many books, but also reading in general is way down — reading of almost all types… Read More ›
Over the years I have taught many students with Spanish-language surnames, and I’m never sure how to alphabetize them, since it seems that there are multiple systems of doing so. It turns out that it not only seems that there are multiple… Read More ›
OK, so I slightly modified the headline on an NPR article from last week. Go read this short article to find out what I did, and to learn something. I will wait. … The problem is that the world is… Read More ›
According to Pew, the average adult reads — wait! median adult or mean adult?— OK, the median adult reads 12 books per year, whereas the mean is only 4. Ponder that discrepancy for a minute! We all know — though… Read More ›
A published book is a performance. A translation is a performance. Actually, I never used to think of either of them that way, but John Talbot and James Harbeck have convinced me. In JT’s case it was an oral conversation… Read More ›
Think of the veterans who are your neighbors. Think of the cats and dogs who are your pets and your neighbors’ pets. They are assailed by endless illegal fireworks every night. Fireworks can trigger PTSD in veterans, and they can… Read More ›
Justice Samuel Alito warns that Bostock not only opens up bathrooms and locker rooms to sexual predators, it runs afoul of the First Amendment by forcing people to use gender pronouns against their will. … Alito implies that somehow this deluge… Read More ›
It was so nice to be able to see our friends at Tavolo last night for the first time dining there (not just takeout!) since the pandemic began. We’re talking safe dining on the improvised outdoor patio on Dot Ave,… Read More ›
Everyone knows Zoom (the teleconferencing platform, that is, not the old PBS kids’ show). Everyone knows Zoom. Now, raise your hand if you know MCET. I thought so: everyone knows Zoom, but very few know MCET, which provided my first… Read More ›
In 1964, when Barry Goldwater was running for president, Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here came to my attention, so I promptly checked a copy out of the library and read it right away. In case you’ve never heard of… Read More ›
Today, on July 3, I am telling you that I survived my first week. Not my first week of teaching, of course: what I survived was my first week of teaching with Zoom — although sometimes it did feel like… Read More ›
In my previous blog post, I wrote about — and included a cartoon about — one aspect of math teaching. The cartoon asserted that “no one can impart perfect universal truths to their students,” with the punch line “…except math… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 