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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Another Sunday with the Common Core
Three more perspectives on the Common Core State Standards: For all my doubts and negative reactions to the Common Core, I start feeling sympathetic to it when I read articles with headlines like “Common Core is Indoctrinating Kids with Socialism”: if right-wing… Read More ›
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Douglas on the world's stage
Douglas is world-famous now: he has just appeared on TUAW, and he is very excited about this exposure.
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What we value in students
Always interesting Tina Barseghian, a blogger for KQED, wrote a recent post about what we should value in our students (beyond test scores, as she explicitly points out). She included a great infographic (by Jackie Gerstein), quoted below. Reading it… Read More ›
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When Desmos fails
I have become a great fan of Desmos, a free web-based graphing calculator app. It is easy to use and remarkably powerful, providing evaluations, graphs, tables, and probably a lot of other things that I haven’t learned yet. What’s especially… Read More ›
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Turmoil and Transition in Boston: A Political Memoir from the Busing Era
This is an engaging memoir by Boston politico Larry DiCara, former City Councillor and former mayoral candidate. Part political history, part personal, it provides a convincing insider’s account of Boston politics in the ’70s and ’80s, focusing on the busing… Read More ›
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More on the Common Core
Right when I’m writing several posts about the Common Core, it’s not entirely coincidental that the Boston Globe had a big article about it this morning. Focusing on teacher training (a.k.a. professional development, or PD), the first few paragraphs of Alexandria… Read More ›
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First math meet of 2014–2015
Congratulations to the Weston High School Math Team for an outstanding performance in the first math meet of the year. We consider 100 points to be a good score — yesterday the team scored a total of 125, including a… Read More ›
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What works in education (revisited)
How do we know what works in education? Educational experiments are always suspect, since it’s impossible to control all the variables. There are also ethical issues involved in experimenting on students. So how can we possibly measure the effectiveness of… Read More ›
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Only in Georgia? The Atlanta teacher scandal
Why isn’t there more outrage about this? Yes, teachers are human, so we make mistakes. Mistakes in math are excusable, as long as they aren’t too frequent or too egregious. But mistakes in ethics and law are inexcusable. Teachers who… Read More ›
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The Triple Package
It doesn’t feel that long, but it turns out that it was three and half years ago that I reviewed Amy Chua’s previous book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Her new book, written in collaboration with her husband, Jed Rubenfeld, is… Read More ›
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Common Core State Standards: Ten colossal errors?
How can I possibly digest the gigantic amount of material that has been written about the controversial Common Core State Standards (CCSS)? Like it or not, these standards are about to have a big impact on my professional life, so… Read More ›
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The Year of Living Biblically
I approached this book with some trepidation. The premise was intriguing: A.J. Jacobs, a moderately well-known writer for Esquire, would attempt to go for a year literally following all the rules in the Bible. I knew that Jacobs wasn’t a… Read More ›
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Mollie and Vincent
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Free haircuts for straight A’s?
I don’t know why this sign on a barber shop in Dorchester Lower Mills rubs me the wrong way, but it does:
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Mimi, Cole, & Abby
In early June, Barbara and I decided to celebrate our upcoming June 23 anniversary by having dinner at Abby Park, since Barbara’s friend Mimi McCaffrey would be performing with her band, The Blue Hotel. The dinner was surprisingly good (after three… Read More ›
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Beauty Queens
Why do so many people have trouble with satire? I guess it’s because you have to approach it on two levels at once: the literal and the figurative. That can be difficult. So don’t read Libba Bray’s novel, Beauty Queens, if you… Read More ›
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iPhone 6
Do I want an iPhone 6 (or 6 Plus)? Do I need an iPhone 6 (or 6 Plus)?
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Why?
Several of my colleagues are wearing buttons that say “Why?” — and you may well wonder why. No, they’re not disaffected teachers who are questioning authority. Au contraire, they are the authority…and they want us to help each kid understand why s/he is doing what… Read More ›
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Can math skills arise from a brain injury?
“A man became a math wiz after suffering brain injuries,” claimed the Washington Post. Hard to believe, isn’t it? We all know that brain injury can have a harmful effect on one’s mathematical abilities, but how could it possibility turn someone with… Read More ›
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Explore mathematics
Sam Shah is always worth reading. (I think I’ve said that before. That’s OK. It’s still true.) Back on February 12 he published a post called “Explore Mathematics” — a good title, since isn’t that what we all want our… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 