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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Still Life
What a beautiful collection of locally grown early-Autumn produce provided by one of my colleagues (looks like a still life, doesn’t it?)
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“Why are more American teenagers than ever suffering from anxiety?”
The cover article in the New York Times Magazine from 10/15 (yes, I’m just now catching up) asks, “Why are more American teenagers than ever suffering from severe anxiety?” The author, Benoit Denizen-Lewis, continues with this observation: “Parents, therapists and schools are… Read More ›
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Y is for Yesterday
So we’re down to Y. Just one more to go. As I’ve previously reviewed some of the other novels in Sue Grafton’s alphabet series, I should write something about this one as well. I listened to the audiobook this time,… Read More ›
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Introverts and group work
I hear that you hate group work (and other collaborative work)? Why? Perhaps it’s because you’re an introvert. Or perhaps not. There are three other reasons why some of my students hate group work; I identify with all three reasons… Read More ›
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Should you take the math course you want to take?
A brief anecdote posted by The Math Curmudgeon and a comment from a reader a couple of days ago raise two different but interlocking issues: how do you take school administrators seriously when they directly contradict themselves, and should students… Read More ›
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Happy Hangul Day!
Happy Hangul Day — five days late. Sorry that I missed it! “What’s Hangul Day?” you ask. You mean you didn’t follow the link in the previous paragraph???? Or perhaps you do know what Hangul is but you don’t know… Read More ›
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It’s Complicated
I almost never write about a book that I didn’t or couldn’t finish, unless there’s just something egregious about it. Some people, of course, feel a sort of moral obligation to finish reading any book they’ve started, but life is… Read More ›
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The Puffin of Death
Puffins? OK, I guess, but I’m not really into birds, though my colleague from Newfoundland probably approves of puffins. Despite the usual connection with Newfoundland, the puffins in this mystery are actually in Iceland. And therein lies most of the… Read More ›
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Caption, anyone?
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The Late Show (no, not that one)
This Late Show is the newest police procedural by Michael Connelly, famous for his intertwined Harry Bosch series and Lincoln Lawyer series. Although they say you can’t tell a book by its cover, this cover clearly reveals that The Late Show is the first… Read More ›
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Couldn’t happen to me!
Or could it?
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Weston in first place!
After Thursday’s meet (first meet of the year), Weston is currently in first place among medium-sized schools in the Massachusetts Math League, even beating Canton! Here are totals for the top five schools so far: 5 Tewksbury 34 4 Lynnfield… Read More ›
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Lexicon Valley (and a bit of Freakonomics)
And now we come to my fourth and last post about linguistics podcasts, which I promised almost two weeks ago. You get two for the price of one here — well, more like 2¼ for the price of one, as we… Read More ›
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Very Bad Words
Now for the third installment of posts about linguistics podcasts: Very Bad Words. Yes, it’s what you’re thinking. But it’s a podcast, not a broadcast, so they can get away with it without being bothered by the FCC. It’s the creation… Read More ›
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The World in Words
As the title suggests, The World in Words is an offshoot of Public Radio International’s The World. It’s a linguistic podcast that focuses on…well…the world. And words. It’s also the subject of this second review of linguistics podcasts, as promised in… Read More ›
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Lingthusiasm
OK, yes, I know that on September 26 I wrote that “My next four posts will deal with four different linguistics podcasts.” But then I was overtaken by events and just had to write a post about the noxious and… Read More ›
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Aren’t we supposed to be promoting STEM?
This is disgusting. A leading member of Congress, Republican Dave Schweikert of Arizona, spent all day yesterday talking about the new Republican tax plan — yikes! numbers! — and had this to say about it on NPR’s All Things Considered this… Read More ›
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Linguistic Podcasts
My next four posts will deal with four different linguistics podcasts — a new medium that has recently come to my attention. I’m sure you’ve been listening to podcasts for years, but I became aware of them only six months… Read More ›
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Camino Island
It’s John Grisham, so I never expected it to be great literature. But I was still disappointed. The beginning was absorbing, and I liked the premise. The novel is all about booksellers and novelists — well, more like a bookseller and a novelist —… Read More ›
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Homework and Causation
As this academic year ramps up, it’s worth recalling a conversation overheard by a colleague a couple of years ago: At the beginning of the third quarter, two sophomores were talking about their second-quarter report cards. “I got a C… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 