Recent Posts - page 104

  • The Strontium-90 Scenario

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    In all six sections of college-prep Algebra II (taught by three teachers, with two sections apiece), we have just completed a project in which each student has to understand a scenario (written by one of my colleagues), complete some mathematics… Read More ›

  • I haven't seen any of these movies.

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    One of my sophomores is appalled at the list of movies that I haven’t seen. Whenever she mentions one or another of her favorite movies, it almost always happens that I haven’t seen it. So she gave me an assignment… Read More ›

  • Not thinking of YouTube

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    We’re studying some 20th-Century mathematics in Precalculus class these days. This situation is unusual in high-school math, where most of what we study goes back at least 300 years, not to mention 2300 in the case of most of our… Read More ›

  • What's wrong with a 92?

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    This story is completely true; only the names have been changed to…, etc., etc. So I’m handing back a test this morning, using my new system where the grade is written on the bottom of the last page rather than… Read More ›

  • National Heritage Museum

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    Barbara and I, along with my sister Ellen, spent the afternoon today at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington. There are two exhibits there that I can enthusiastically recommend, so go see them while you can! The first is entitled… Read More ›

  • The Global Achievement Gap

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    Think about this: The most important skill in the New World of work, learning, and citizenship today — the rigor that matters most — is the ability to ask the right questions. Old World rigor is still about having the… Read More ›

  • Take it easy, but take it.

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    It’s a cliché to say so, but this was certainly a day that I’ll remember for the rest of my life! Unlike most such days (the JFK assassination, 9/11, etc.) it was historic as a joyous occasion, not a tragedy…. Read More ›

  • The Wenham Museum

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    What an astonishing museum! “An undiscovered gem” was how the docent at the desk described it on our way out, and she is right. Barbara and I visited the Wenham Museum yesterday — our first time in Wenham for either… Read More ›

  • Why Facebook?

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    So, why do I have a Facebook account if I don’t do anything with it? That’s an easy question. I have a Facebook account because some of my students kept pestering me to set one up. Apparently Facebook is absolutely… Read More ›

  • To Darkness and to Death

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    I enjoyed reading To Darkness and to Death, the fourth book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series of upstate New York mysteries featuring a female Episcopal priest. Not that I know much about Episcopalians or their priests, but that only makes these… Read More ›

  • The Big Ideas of Algebra, Part Two

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    This post is a follow-up to my post of November 30, where I brought up two points that can illuminate one’s views on the big ideas of algebra: …we discussed the assignment of partial credit for work in solving a… Read More ›

  • The Likeness

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    Although it’s not quite as enthralling as her first book, Tana French’s sequel is well worth reading. In The Likeness, French continues her lyrical writing and fascinating characterization. Cassie Maddox continues from the prior novel, In the Woods, but this… Read More ›

  • The inexperienced waitress

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    The waitress at the Legal Seafoods branch in Harvard Square was nervous and very apologetic. “This is my first time opening a bottle of wine in front of a customer,” she confessed. Of course she wasn’t allowed to rest the… Read More ›

  • Thesauri & The Man Who Made Lists

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    I recently read Joshua Kendall’s biography of Peter Mark Roget, entitled The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus. While this book is fascinating, it’s also deeply flawed — especially for those of us… Read More ›

  • Juno

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    Last night’s New Year’s Eve festivities included watching Juno, which neither Barbara nor I had seen before, even though it was released over a year ago. On the basis of reviews and personal recommendations, I had expected to like this… Read More ›

  • Wordle

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    I just discovered a cool poster-creating applet called Wordle. In their own words: Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source… Read More ›

  • How many college recommendations?

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    I just finished sending off 104 college recommendations this week. How many? Yes, 104. And that was in addition to 21 “early action” recommendations that I sent out earlier in the fall. But before you conclude that that’s a ridiculously… Read More ›

  • In praise of Micci

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    A completely unsolicited testimonial: Barbara and I noticed that our 28-year-old gas furnace was behaving erratically, sometimes turning off and on in rapid intervals, and sometimes turning off altogether. We called Micci Fuel Co. to come look at it and… Read More ›

  • Dorchester Community Gardens

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    We tend to think of Dorchester as “inner city” — which indeed it is…or not, depending on one’s definition (see below). But most of us don’t think of urban gardens in connection with Dorchester. A useful antidote is Dorchester Community… Read More ›

  • Fred the Footrest

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    My major Hanukkah present from Barbara was a footstool in the shape of a genuine replica of a stuffed bear: We named him Fred the Footrest. You have noticed that William is loyally guarding Fred in case any hunters should… Read More ›