Actually, privacy is a fine idea. But anyone who thinks we have it anymore is deluded. Basically, everything about you is available to anyone who looks hard enough. But that doesn’t mean that we should give it up voluntarily. The… Read More ›
Teaching & Learning
What is school for? Eight things in education that will change.
Set aside 17 minutes, and go watch this video by Seth Godin. Then watch it again. It’s not that I agree with all of Godin’s eight points — in fact, there’s a lot that I disagree with. Nevertheless, the 17… Read More ›
Sandy
Power just went out…then it came on…then it went out…then it came on…then it went out for a longer time…now it’s back on (obviously)…. So I’m sitting here grading geometry quizzes, while Douglas naps on my left side (when he… Read More ›
"Questions are more important than answers."
A new book by…Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana…, Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions, documents a step-by-step process to help students formulate and prioritize questions about nearly everything. So writes Katrina Schwartz. Not that the idea… Read More ›
Ex-Marine turned teacher: "Stop demonizing me and my profession."
That’s the pull quote that a recent Washington Post column uses as a headline for a link to a must-read piece. I love the juxtaposition of “ex-Marine” and “teacher,” so I’ve kept the headline. There are not very many teacher-haters… Read More ›
The travel(l)ing salesman: a movie?
If you’re into advanced discrete math, you know all about the Traveling (in the U.S.) or Travelling (in other English-speaking countries) Salesman Problem. If you aren’t, you don’t. I won’t attempt to summarize it here; just go read about it… Read More ›
What can goats teach us about problem solving?
A lot of people take their dogs along for a hike…but never before had I heard of taking one’s goats hiking. “What,” you may ask, “does this have to do with math?” Read Dan Finkel’s excellent post. And be particularly… Read More ›
BYOT
It seems that we will soon be following in the footsteps of other schools that have adopted a “bring your own technology” plan. Many of our students already bring MacBooks, PC laptops, or iPads to school, so the idea is… Read More ›
AP classes are a scam (says John Tierney).
In a recent article in The Atlantic, John Tierney claims that “Advanced Placement courses [are] one of the great frauds currently perpetrated on American high-school students… The AP classroom is where intellectual curiosity goes to die.” Like most other provocative essays, Tierney’s piece… Read More ›
Which is better? One point of view or two?
For many years we have taught an introduction to logic as one of the first two units in Honors Geometry. Typically we present a single set of symbols and a single set of rules of inference, keeping everything consistent so… Read More ›
Could it have anything to do with her gender?
I don’t quite know where to begin. It’s not just that a highly respected math educator (a professor at Stanford, no less) has been unfairly attacked by a couple of mathematicians. The shocking thing is that the attacks are so… Read More ›
What should a school smell like? What should it look like?
In an opinion piece in the Boston Globe a couple of days ago, Carlo Rotella writes about the newly renovated K-8 school in his neighborhood. “It’s lovely,” he observes, “but it’s too neat, and it smells wrong. Don’t get me wrong:… Read More ›
Honors Geometry opens with a challenging start.
It’s always hard to decide just how challenging the first month of Honors Geometry should be. Last year it was too easy. There were too many students who apparently said to themselves, “This course isn’t so hard.” As a result,… Read More ›
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
What a delicious novel! As a teacher in Lake Wobegon, I knew I was hooked from the first half page, which is a report card from a Seattle school that declares “Galer Street School is a place where compassion, academics,… Read More ›
Independent study
Every year there are quite a few students who want to learn more than the regular courses can offer them, so they find a faculty advisor and create an independent study. Sometimes it’s truly created by the student, with the… Read More ›
AP pressure and other topics in today's Boston Globe Magazine education issue
Normally I pay very little attention to the magazine section in the Boston Sunday Globe. It alway has a few interesting features — such as Dinner with Cupid (where I once detected a former student of mine as a participant!), Miss… Read More ›
Back-to-School Night…and what about reference materials?
Last night was another Back-to-School Night. As usual, I found it stimulating and enjoyable. By a strange quirk of the schedule, I was free the first two and the last two blocks, which left me with four “classes” in a… Read More ›
When will I ever use this in real life?
I suspect that it’s not only math teachers who are faced with the question, “When will I ever use this in real life?” But I can only answer it from the math teacher’s point of view. One of my freshmen… Read More ›
The myth of being required to teach yourself
There’s an unfortunate myth that is believed by many Weston students and their parents. Like all myths, it isn’t true. Like most myths, it does contain a grain of truth. The myth goes something like this: “In order to succeed… Read More ›
I'm glad I don't teach in Texas.
The final release of the Texas Republican Party platform includes the following plank: We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs… Since the government of Texas is controlled by the… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 