Author Archives
In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.
I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).
Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com
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Trees and rocks
How tall is a tree? What color is a rock? These may sound like silly questions, but they have thrown themselves in my face as I build my model railroad. In the process, I’ve discovered a couple of facts that… Read More ›
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Dorchester Open Studios
Delayed post (originally written 10/28): I highly recommend visiting Dorchester Open Studios when it comes around again next year. This year’s event was well worth seeing, though Barbara and I only got to visit a fraction of the over-100 studios… Read More ›
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Harry Potter movie #5
Delayed post (originally written 8/24): Sigh. The movie of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix turned out to be a disappointing mess. I had carefully avoided all reviews beforehand, but maybe they would have warned me. Usually I… Read More ›
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Is 85% a B? Grading by percentages is not the way to go
In a strictly non-scientific survey, 89% of all students and teachers indicated that they believe in traditional percentage-based grading, where an 85% would be a middling B, a 75% a middling C, and so forth. Actually, I just made up… Read More ›
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Some Like it Hot-buttered
Some Like it Hot-buttered, by Jeffrey Cohen, is an amusing and well-written mystery about popcorn. Well, no…though the title correctly suggests popcorn and old movie comedies, the popcorn is actually quite peripheral — merely a vehicle for delivering poison to… Read More ›
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Musicophilia
I just finished reading Musicophilia, by the well-known neurologist and author, Oliver Sacks. The Wikipedia page on Sacks includes the following observation: Sacks considers that his literary style follows the tradition of 19th-century “clinical anecdotes”, a literary-style [sic] that included… Read More ›
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Too many applications, too little time
One of my colleagues returned from her first-period class this morning, Dec. 17, to find a very thick manila envelope on her desk. There was a note on top: Dear Ms. Jones, Here are my recommendation forms. I am applying… Read More ›
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Model railroading at museums
Is model railroading an art, or is it a craft? Or is it just a hobby, as most people believe? Surely some would admit that it’s not only a hobby but also a craft, and perhaps there’s someone somewhere who… Read More ›
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Helvetica
How nerdy can you get? A movie about typography? About a font??? (Well, actually, it’s a typeface, but the ubiquity of Windows and Macs has trained people to call typefaces “fonts”; I’m sure I’ll slip up and do so here.)… Read More ›
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Restless Virgins
There has been a lot of buzz in recent years about Milton Academy — at least in certain circles. Sex scandals, drugs, computer break-ins, and an attempt to abolish the Lower School have all threatened to tarnish the high reputation… Read More ›
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De-Lovely
The first time I saw De-Lovely, the 2004 biography of Cole Porter starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, I thought it was an interesting but not particularly impressive movie. At least, unlike the 1946 movie about Porter (Cary Grant’s Night… Read More ›
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What do we truly "need to know"?
According to the tenets of standards-based education, any teacher should focus primarily on what is “essential to know” and only secondarily on what is “nice to know.” It’s hard to disagree with this idea. But I’m going to try. The… Read More ›
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Gardner at the dealership
So I’m waiting at the car dealership in Dorchester while my car is being serviced, and I don’t want to stay in the Service Department’s waiting room because the television is blaring some stupid show and I would like to… Read More ›
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Labyrinth of Languages
On May 5, as you will recall, I posted an article about a proposed new class for the Saturday Course, temporarily code-named Geolinguistics. Well, that course has indeed come into existence, and I am just finishing teaching it for the… Read More ›
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Books about high school: The Physics of the Buffyverse, Prep, & The Kings of NY
I really wanted to like these books. I really did. And in some ways I suppose I liked all three of them. But not enough. All three are deeply flawed. First, let’s consider The Physics of the Buffyverse, by Jennifer… Read More ›
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Veterans' Day Assembly
Delayed post (originally written 11/10): This was the first year in my memory that Weston High School held a Veterans’ Day Assembly. It was extraordinarily well done, and a truly moving experience to boot. Second World War veterans and their… Read More ›
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Visiting Pittsfield (…Who would visit Pittsfield?)
Delayed post (originally written 9/10): If you say you’re going to the Berkshires for vacation, nobody bats an eye. But say that you’re going to Pittsfield, you get some very odd looks. Who ever vacations in Pittsfield? It can simply… Read More ›
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A mostly vegetarian (and slightly Chinese) Thanksgiving
Delayed post (originally written 11/25): I guess it’s appropriate to follow a review of a play called An Absolute Turkey with a review of a Thanksgiving dinner that was entirely turkey-free. As usual, Barbara and I participated in Thanksgiving dinner… Read More ›
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An Absolute Turkey
Delayed post (originally written 11/18): The Theater Company at Weston High School put on a hilarious performance of Georges Feydeau’s 1896 farce, An Absolute Turkey this weekend. Director and theater teacher John Minigan reports that “the French mother of a… Read More ›
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Switzerland is not Sweden
An overheard conversation: “Where’s Ms. Shields this year?” one sophomore asked. Before I could reply, one of her classmates gave her the answer: “Don’t you remember? She got married and moved to Philadelphia.” “Oh, yes,” recalled the first student. “She… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 