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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

  • College-prep? City council candidates and math education!

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    City council candidates and math education? Those are two utterly unrelated topics, aren’t they? But there turns out to be a connection. First of all, this afternoon I had already been intending to comment on an op-ed piece from this morning’s… Read More ›

  • The age of distraction?

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    A recent article in Salon opens with the conventional view of “kids today”: They live in a state of perpetual, endless distraction, and, for many parents and educators, it’s a source of real concern. Will future generations be able to… Read More ›

  • Marcia Muller

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    Over the years I’ve read many books (more than two dozen) by the great mystery writer, Marcia Muller, who actually has a website now. Why is that surprising? Well, here’s the explanation in her own words: For those of you… Read More ›

  • Favorite numbers

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    On yesterday’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” on NPR, there was a five-minute segment on “What’s Your Favorite Number and Why?” The interview with British mathematician Alex Bellos is definitely worth listening to; you can find a listen-to-the-story link on that webpage…. Read More ›

  • Inverting the classroom

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    Several different threads have recently been coming together under the heading of “inverting the classroom.” The basic idea is that modern technology has let some of us come to the conclusion that the traditional model of the classroom has it… Read More ›

  • The helpful RMV

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    My inspection sticker expires this month, so I took the car to our dealer this morning (in case any work was needed) and discovered that our registration had expired two months ago! The current registration was nowhere to be found…. Read More ›

  • Please do not poster on this gate

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    Apparently poster has become a verb. If Harvard says so, it must be true. This sign appears on the gate of the fence that separates Harvard Yard on the south from the Science Center and Memorial Hall on the north:

  • Ashmont Grill (for the nth time)

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    After a hiatus of more than three months, it seems fitting for me to resume blogging with a post about the Ashmont Grill. For Barbara and me it has become our go-to restaurant at least twice a month. It probably… Read More ›

  • A Slight Trick of the Mind

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    You’ll recall that a month ago I wrote a few words about Mitch Cullin’s novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind: I can’t yet review A Slight Trick of the Mind, by Mitch Cullin, as I am only halfway through… Read More ›

  • Dorchester/Roxbury/Mattapan Community Seder

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    Yesterday another successful Dorchester/Roxbury/Mattapan Community Seder was held at First Parish Church in Dorchester. There were only 40 attendees — half of last year’s number — probably because Passover managed to overlap with both Easter weekend and school vacation week… Read More ›

  • High School Quiz Show Quarterfinals

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    Be sure to watch Weston vs. Hamilton-Wenham in the quarterfinals of High School Quiz show, to be broadcast tomorrow night, 4/24, at 7:00 PM on Channel 2!

  • March of the Penguins

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    I finally saw the March of the Penguins. It’s unquestionably informative and beautifully photographed. Almost everything in it was new to me, and I couldn’t help being astonished and moved by what these birds do in Antarctica. (They’re very different… Read More ›

  • A beautiful fractal project

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    In last month’s post about our Fractal Fair, I made the following promise: Stay tuned for a post on one project in particular, a spectacular children’s book on fractals. So here’s the follow-up, or at least a preliminary follow-up. I… Read More ›

  • LEDs as street lights?

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    The City of Boston is installing new lights on the sides of the streets in my neighborhood and others. But there’s a lot of controversy about these LED bulbs. On April 14 the Dorchester Reporter published an article under the… Read More ›

  • Sea Breeze Mexican Grill

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    Yay, a real restaurant has opened in my neighborhood! Until this point all we’ve had has been two pizza-and-sub places and a café. There are real restaurants one neighborhood over — take your pick of directions, a couple to the… Read More ›

  • Making the Grades

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    Everyone who has any connection with education — teacher, student, parent, administrator — needs to read Todd Farley’s Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry. Yes, the book is a bit repetitive, and of course it reflects… Read More ›

  • Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

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    I’m sure you’re familiar with all the controversy surrounding Amy Chua’s memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Some of the controversy is well-deserved, but much is not. This book came to the world’s attention through an excerpt published in… Read More ›

  • The big cat-drawing contest

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    My D Block class was even more hyper and less focused than usual today, since it was the afternoon of the last day before vacation. Some of them really wanted to have a cat-drawing contest, so I gave in and… Read More ›

  • Massachusetts State Math Playoffs

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    Congratulations to the Weston High School Math Team for coming in fifth in the state at the Massachusetts State Math Playoffs in Shrewsbury on Monday! We have just learned that those results have qualified us to enter the New England… Read More ›

  • Lost in Lexicon, but not lost in Brookline

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    A terrific turnout last night at the Driscoll School in Brookline. More than half (!) of the fourth- and fifth-graders (and their parents) showed up for an evening event revolving around Penny Noyce’s Lost in Lexicon. My role was to… Read More ›