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

• Bruno, Chief of Police

  By ljd42 on April 22, 2010

  You’ve heard Martin Walker on NPR. His peaceful mystery — Bruno, Chief of Police — is well worth reading if you want to bathe in a mixture of French politics, small-town French life, and a host of interesting characters. Despite some… Read More ›

• Baltimore

  By ljd42 on April 21, 2010

  

  For April vacation we decided to visit Baltimore — partly because we wanted to see the city, partly because we knew a couple of people there, and partly because it was an excuse to ride on the high-speed Acela Express…. Read More ›

• Dirty Blonde

  By ljd42 on April 19, 2010

  In my previous reviews of two of Lisa Scottoline’s legal thrillers (Daddy’s Girl and Lady Killer) I wrote about Scottoline’s treatment of the world of Italian Catholic working-class South Philadelphia, families, law, and justice. Dirty Blonde (notice a theme here… Read More ›

• More thoughts on grading

  By ljd42 on April 18, 2010

  What are grades supposed to represent? What is the appropriate connection between assessments (whether formative or summative) and grades? I’ve recently been reading some interesting discussions about these questions in several math teachers’ blogs (including those of Matt Townsley, Karl Fisch,… Read More ›

• Alice I Have Been and Dreamchild

  By ljd42 on April 17, 2010

  I suppose you would have to label it historical fiction, as the novel Alice I Have Been is actually a fictionalized autobiography or memoir. Like all historical fiction, it is faithful to the letter and the spirit of the known… Read More ›

• Friday cat blogging

  By ljd42 on April 16, 2010

  

  Sasha just loves going to the vet:

• Sixteenth in the state

  By ljd42 on April 15, 2010

  No, Weston teachers do not have the highest salaries in the state. According to today’s Boston Globe, Weston ranks only 16th in the state in average teacher salaries! At $73,338, we can be compared to a high of $79,444 (Old… Read More ›

• This coupon is valid for how many days?

  By ljd42 on April 14, 2010

  

• Professional Learning Communities

  By ljd42 on April 13, 2010

  Apparently this is becoming more and more common in Massachusetts. Our students got a four-day weekend in January, but the faculty only had a three-day weekend, in order to schedule a day of professional development. Not that that’s a bad… Read More ›

• Open enrollment

  By ljd42 on April 12, 2010

  In recent days I’ve talked with several colleagues and a couple of students concerning overrides into honors-level math classes. All high schools have to face the question of what to do when a student and his or her math teacher… Read More ›

• Welcome back.

  By ljd42 on April 11, 2010

  Yikes! I see that it’s been almost three months since my last post. There’s no particular reason for this — I just got overtaken by events. So… welcome back, and I’ll try to resume regular blogging right now. I have… Read More ›

• Avatar

  By ljd42 on January 18, 2010

  What more can I add to all the chatter about James Cameron’s Avatar? Not much, except to share my opinions. You probably already know all that you need to know about this movie, and I certainly don’t want to include any… Read More ›

• Linguistics, mathematics, and mysteries

  By ljd42 on January 15, 2010

  “I make order out of chaos.” This is how an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in years explains her transition from linguistics to statistics, when people think it’s a complete change of field. It’s how she explains it to… Read More ›

• The King of Lies

  By ljd42 on January 12, 2010

  During the last few months I read two interesting novels by John Hart: The Last Child, which I believe is his newest, and The King of Lies, which is definitely his first. It’s not really clear why I read them… Read More ›

• Yes, teens really can write literate email messages

  By ljd42 on January 10, 2010

  A lot of adults are complaining that teens are “illiterate” in their writing, especially in email messages — you know, “kids these days…” and all that — but that’s not what I’m seeing. The abysmal level of teenage writing is… Read More ›

• Friday cat blogging

  By ljd42 on January 8, 2010

  

  (For those who don’t know what Friday Cat Blogging is all about, see here or here or especially here.) Today’s observation is that chairs are for humans. William doesn’t agree:

• How many applications????

  By ljd42 on January 7, 2010

  I’ve just sent off my final college recommendations — for a couple of schools that have surprisingly late deadlines of January 10 or January 15. My spreadsheet shows that the students who asked me to write recommendations for them this… Read More ›

• Harry Potter at the Museum of Science

  By ljd42 on January 6, 2010

  After spending a totally absorbing 90 minutes at Harry Potter: The Exhibition, I still don’t know why it’s at the Museum of Science of all places — what’s the connection with science? — but I highly recommend it nonetheless. The… Read More ›

• Julie and Julia

  By ljd42 on January 2, 2010

  Julie and Julia has gotten so much publicity that I’m not sure I have much to add. It was a good movie to watch on New Year’s Eve — but watch it anyway if you haven’t seen it yet, New… Read More ›

• Friday cat blogging

  By ljd42 on January 1, 2010

  Vincent likes the riverboat too: