Recent Posts - page 125

  • The Bookman’s Promise

    By on

    I’m currently reading The Bookman’s Promise, another Cliff Janeway mystery by John Dunning. If you don’t know this series, run to the nearest library or bookstore — at least if you love books. Dunning’s protagonist is a bookman, defined in… Read More ›

  • Throwing money at it

    By on

    How we can solve the dismal state of so many of our schools that are educationally inadequate? We all know that throwing money at the problem won’t help, don’t we? “Throwing money at the problem isn’t going to help,” says… Read More ›

  • Bill Gates Redux

    By on

    We don’t have to like Bill Gates, and we certainly don’t have to like Microsoft, but we do have to admit that Gates has changed. He’s making an impact by doing fine work as a philanthropist, and occasionally he’s even… Read More ›

  • The Anglo-Irish Murders

    By on

    I’ve just finished listening to an audiobook, The Anglo-Irish Murders, by the Irish author Ruth Dudley Edwards. Rates a cautious thumbs-up from where I stand. But I learned from a former boss that where you stand depends on where you… Read More ›

  • Bush & Barbie

    By on

    On February 3, President Bush was addressing a crowd at Intel concerning the importance of studying math and science: A lot of people probably think math and science isn’t meant for me — you know, it seems a little hard,… Read More ›

  • Personal responsibility

    By on

    An interesting resonance among four recent but different news and/or entertainment items: Last month, students in a certain well-regarded suburban high school report that “other kids” (of course it’s always other kids) have been selling or giving Ritalin to their… Read More ›

  • Diversity in Weston

    By on

    The other day I turned on the radio to hear someone say, “Sure, there’s diversity in Weston. They have doctors and lawyers.” But now we have a more convincing sign of diversity: a black principal! The Superintendent of Schools just… Read More ›

  • North, East, South, and West

    By on

    The day before yesterday, it was getting to be too late to cook dinner after I picked up Barbara in Watertown…and we would have had to defrost something anyway, or go grocery shopping on the way home…which would have made… Read More ›

  • More APs! More APs!

    By on

    High-school students want to take more and more Advanced Placement courses these days. And we’re encouraging them. At Weston we have altogether too many students who want to skip the second half of precalculus and take AP Statistics instead —… Read More ›

  • Sudoku challenges and championships

    By on

    On February 15, Weston High School will be holding a Sudoku challenge in the Library for the first 30 students to sign up. On March 10-11, the first World Sudoku Championship will be held in Lucca, Italy.

  • The Year of the Dog

    By on

    You may have heard that dogs have masters but cats have staff. It’s true. Even though Barbara and I are privileged to share our house with five cats — well, actually six at the moment, since we have temporary custody… Read More ›

  • Quantitative literacy in college students

    By on

    According to the National Survey of America’s College Students (NSACS) — a study conducted by the American Institutes for Research and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts — American college students know even less math than we had thought: Approximately… Read More ›

  • Can exams reduce stress and be otherwise helpful?

    By on

    There’s a possibility that Weston may return to a traditional exam schedule after a decade or so of not having one. There have been many justifications for not having a final exam week: An emphasis on exams increases stress. Students… Read More ›

  • Educator-in-chief

    By on

    President Bush (on CBS today): My job is not only Commander-In-Chief but educator-in-chief. And I needed to say to the people, you bet it’s tough. George W. Bush as educator-in-chief? Hmmm…

  • The Sudoku/Systems connection

    By on

    Epiphany: A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization (definition 3b in the American Heritage Dictionary) So I guess I was visited by an epiphany this weekend: I realized that Sudoku has a surprising connection… Read More ›

  • Security through obscurity

    By on

    So how do you hide a password in plain sight when it doesn’t need to be particularly secret? For instance, imagine that you are using a hard-copy textbook for which the publisher also provides an online version. And the online… Read More ›

  • Static or dynamic systems

    By on

    How do we think about systems of equations (or inequalities)? I know, most of us don’t think about them at all. But teachers and students of algebra certainly do. Whether we call them systems of equations or simultaneous equations, we… Read More ›

  • Back from the show

    By on

    Just got back from the Amherst Railway Society’s annual model railroad show, which is held in…no, not Amherst…Springfield, MA. Barbara wasn’t interested in going, so Meredith accompanied me. Although she isn’t a model railroader, her interests in crafts and technology… Read More ›

  • Law and order and suicide

    By on

    Catching up on last week’s television shows with the wonders of the VCR — soon to be replaced by the greater wonders of TiVo — I just watched the excellent January 18 episode of Law & Order, Heart of Darkness…. Read More ›

  • What's in a name?

    By on

    Does the name of a course matter? At Weston High School we recently renamed our two-year college-prep precalculus sequence. The first course, taken primarily by juniors but always including a few seniors, used to be called Math 4. What does… Read More ›