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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Anathem
You don’t mind spending an hour or two on a Neal Stephenson novel, do you? OK, so Anathem is slightly over a thousand pages long…but it’s not much over a thousand. I mean, it’s not as long as Cryptonomicon, which clocks in at 1168 pages. Anathem is… Read More ›
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Real Talk for Real Teachers
The full title of Rafe Esquith’s latest inspiring book is Real Talk for Real Teachers: Advice for Teachers from Rookies to Veterans: “No Retreat, No Surrender!” There’s rarely any need for a three-tiered title, but in this case I think it’s… Read More ›
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Kill the apostrophe!
Youve got to read James Harbecks essay, “Kill the Apostrophe!,” appearing in The Week this week. (“The Week this week”? That certainly sounds odd. Oh, well.) After reading it, youll be convinced, as I was, that apostrophes should just go away. Many of… Read More ›
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Tricks? Not here!
My colleague Donna Gonzalez and I have discovered that we often have similar points of view. One pet peeve we have in common is that we sometimes hear students (or even teachers!) talk about “tricks” for solving math problems. Making… Read More ›
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Is memorization necessary, evil, both, or neither?
Ben Orlin has written a fine article for the Atlantic called “When Memorization Gets in the Way of Learning: A teacher’s quest to discourage his students from mindlessly reciting information,” along with an accompanying blog post called “Is memorization necessary, evil,… Read More ›
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The Autistic Brain
An absorbing and fascinating book, The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum should be read by anyone in education. The latest work of the famous Temple Grandin, a well-known autistic biology professor, explores not only autism as a disorder of the mind but… Read More ›
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Linguistics, math, and second chances
What a terrific speech! It was delivered in 2008 by the distinguished Stanford linguist Ivan Sag, who died too young just five days ago. It manages to take the reader all the way from youthful indiscretions to problems with college… Read More ›
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Computer programming in English class?
How is it possible to persuade English teachers to teach computer programming (or “coding,” as people say today)? Maybe it can happen only in a private school? Why would anyone even want to insist that English teachers should teach programming? These are… Read More ›
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27 new trig functions…and no more factoring
My juniors will be excited to hear that there are now 27 new trig functions for them to learn, and that factoring will no longer be taught. It must be true, since I read it on the Internet. And it’s surely… Read More ›
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The real advantage of wealthier schools
This title is stolen directly from an excellent piece by John Spencer, whose blog is always worth reading. It’s clear from context that Spencer lives in a middle-class district and teaches in a low-income one. This combination is of course… Read More ›
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On Looking
“How do you like my new hairstyle?” “Um…what new hairstyle?” OK, I’m not the most observant person in the world, to put it mildly. But I’d like to get better. And I’m really interested in cities, and in psychology, and… Read More ›
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Cryptography and the NSA
Everyone knows the big splash of news about the NSA revealed by Edward Snowden: “the NSA Is Breaking Most Encryption on the Internet,” in the words of foremost security/cryptography expert Bruce Schneier. This was a matter of great interest here… Read More ›
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The Golden Egg
The Golden Egg is another fine novel by Donna Leon. This thoughtful novel rewards slow, careful reading — don’t expect a fast-paced thriller here. As is usual in Leon’s books, the city of Venice (where Leon lives) is one of the… Read More ›
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The Big Ideas of Algebra, Part Three
Four or five years ago, I wrote a couple of posts on the Big Ideas of algebra: Part One was published on November 30, 2008; Part Two on January 7, 2009. It’s time for Part Three, isn’t it? Fortunately, the… Read More ›
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What does an IT department do?
Speaking of the Math Curmudgeon, I’m glad I don’t teach where he teaches. At least we don’t have these problems. (Just don’t get me started on Infinite Campus…)
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What’s wrong with group work?
I have truly mixed feelings about group work. In general, people learn more and get more done when collaborating with colleagues (or fellow students) than when they try to go it alone. And working with others is unquestionably a valuable… Read More ›
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The Child’s Child
There’s no such thing as a bad book by Ruth Rendell. The Child’s Child, written under Rendell’s Barbara Vine pseudonym, must therefore be a good book. It’s the only possible logical deduction. Is The Child’s Child a mystery novel? Not really…. Read More ›
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“Geometry is the glue between statistics and computer science.”
A provocative quotation: “Geometry is the glue between statistics and computer science.” Say what? Well, that’s what Michael Jordan claims. No, not that Michael Jordan. This one is a computer scientist from UC Berkeley. But what on earth does his… Read More ›
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The four pillars of high-school mathematics
What do we teach in high-school math? If we look at the big picture —not at specific topics in specific courses — what do we teach? Numbers? Formulas? Algorithms? Taking standardized tests? All of the above? None of the above? There’s… Read More ›
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The Last Samurai
What a fascinating story! There are several books by this title, but I’m talking about the first novel by Helen DeWitt, published in the year 2000. If you know me, you won’t wonder which half of the story I liked… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 