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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What's wrong with UMass?
Many — probably most — of my Weston students look down on UMass Amherst. Certainly it’s not the choice of our most successful students. I heard one junior disparaging it to the extent that he would consider his life ruined… Read More ›
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Such a well-qualified ambassador
It’s nice to know that our president appoints such well-informed ambassadors, isn’t it? Here is an excerpt from a CBC interview with our new ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins: Q: Have you ever been to Canada before? A: Ah, many… Read More ›
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Neurological benefits of blogging?
Neurologists Fernette and Brock Eide analyze the Brain of the Blogger. Here are some of their claims: …our mental activities actually cause changes in the structures of our brains — not only what we think, but how we think as… Read More ›
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Blogs in the math classroom?
Blogs are public writing. We want our students to publish their work — to take ownership of it, to take personal responsibility for it, to take pride in it. These goals apply not only to English class but also in… Read More ›
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Radians
From Trigonometry for Dummies, by Mary Jane Sterling: Measuring angles in degrees is easier, but measuring angles in radians is preferable when doing computations. The radian is more exact because the radius, circumference, or area of the circle is involved…. Read More ›
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Adequate Yearly Progress
A Boston Globe article on October 3, 2004, included Weston High School among the schools cited by the Department of Education for failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress on the No Child Too Far Ahead Act. Sorry, I mean the… Read More ›
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The Achievement Gap
Yesterday I wrote about the pressure to take honors math, but I didn’t even consider the reasons for this pressure. The implied one — which I tried to debunk — was that honors math is necessary in order to get… Read More ›
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Misanalyzing textbooks
The Washington Monthly publishes an interesting example of the lies about incorrect analysis of math textbooks by right-wing zealots. Not that I’m a fan of very many textbooks, but a little truth would help.
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Honors math courses
Weston, of course, is really Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average®. Weston’s only public high school has just two levels of math courses: the higher level is called honors, the lower level college-prep. Everyone is above average…. Read More ›
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Casual Fridays
David Allen rants about Casual Fridays. Many of his readers’ comments concern seeing clients in business settings on Mondays through Thursdays. But what about school settings? At Weston High School we’ve had Casual Fridays for many years (though there have… Read More ›
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Intellectual growth
I’m examining an Algebra II book that looks really good so far (Discovering Advanced Algebra: An Investigative Approach, by Murdock, Kamischke, and Kamischke — if you’re interested). But a statement in the Note to Teachers got me thinking: Students will… Read More ›
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Listlessly
It has been so hot and muggy that the cats are just lounging around listlessly. Which means…well, the word seems to suggest that they don’t have any lists. I’ll admit that cats aren’t big list-makers (though they are otherwise fine… Read More ›
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Phys Ed online?
OK, we’ve heard of online math courses and writing courses, but phys ed???? Even as I type this, I’m listening to a report on NPR about the online phys ed option for students in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Hmmm….
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Comfort levels, parties, & structure
Ordinarily I don’t feel very comfortable at parties if most of people are unknown to me. When most of the attendees are friends of mine, I’ll enjoy the party, but my comfort level goes down as the number of strangers… Read More ›
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Helpful volunteers
Three of my sophomore students have volunteered to set up a website for use by our Math Team. They’re designing a database to contain Math Team problems and answers collected from the last n years, typing many hundreds of problems… Read More ›
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Notes on a textbook
This note, written by a junior, was attached to the precalculus book she was returning: Dear Mr. Davidson, Here is my book. I have enjoyed it thoroughly. I read it when I was feeling down, and it raised my spirits…. Read More ›
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Distribution of U.S. incomes
Check out this interesting visual representation of U.S. income distribution. Try zooming out and out and out…
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Life after exams
It’s tough to keep kids focused and engaged after they’ve finished their final exams. As I blogged earlier, our math exams were on the 14th… but school continues until the 23rd! Everyone knows that tests and grades are all that… Read More ›
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Fermat's Last Theorem limericks
Weston High School held a math haiku contest, but maybe we should have had a math limerick contest instead. Here are some math limericks about the proof of Fermat’s last theorem (from a contest held at the University of Illinois… Read More ›
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Cantor's proofs
A lot of my precalculus students today didn’t like and/or didn’t believe Cantor’s proofs of the denumerability of the rationals and the non-denumerability of the reals. A few articulated their disbelief; most were quiet and attentive, but how many of… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 