Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 32

• Remember the ’60s and the ’70s? WBCN and the American Revolution

  By ljd42 on July 31, 2021

  The ’60s and the the ’70s were formative years for many of us. A must-see film recently illuminated these decades through the lens of the story of WBCN, a.k.a. The American Revolution. Perhaps I need to point out a couple… Read More ›

• No, it’s not Lupin. It’s Hannah LeBaron’s Adventure Cats!

  By ljd42 on July 29, 2021

  Some say you can’t train a cat. My former student Hannah LeBaron and her cat Lily beg to differ. Go read the interview with them on the Community Cats podcast! Apparently Hannah is now an influencer on social media—or so… Read More ›

• The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn

  By ljd42 on July 26, 2021

  Heartfelt thanks to my friend and colleague Leah Gordon for recommending this wonderful novel! The Rose Code is a remarkable work of historical fiction, focusing primarily on three invented characters—together with a supporting cast of real-life ones, such as Alan… Read More ›

• An excessively large box for Flicka

  By ljd42 on July 24, 2021

  

  For some reason Flicka likes this excessively large box. Apparently she doesn’t understand that cats are supposed to sit in boxes that are slightly too small for them!

• Osteria Madre

  By ljd42 on July 22, 2021

  Another new restaurant in the Lower Mills area! This time it’s the “mother restaurant,” Osteria Madre, on the Milton side of the river but just “a stone’s throw from Dorchester.” Since it has only been open for two weeks so… Read More ›

• William loves to watch television!

  By ljd42 on July 18, 2021

  William had to get really, really close to the TV so that he could enjoy watching the promo of The Last Pig:

• A dinner fit for a king—with prices to match—at Pearl in Dorchester

  By ljd42 on July 15, 2021

  Last night Barbara and I tried out The Pearl, a new seafood restaurant in Dorchester’s growing South Bay development. Barbara had grilled oysters and chilled king crab legs. I had Caesar salad (with anchovies: yum!) and a grilled lobster. I… Read More ›

• “The Student as Citizen”

  By ljd42 on July 12, 2021

  Going all the way back to its conception in 2003, the Crimson Summer Academy (CSA) has had a theme for the summer: “The Student as Citizen.” If you look at its public-facing webpage, you will see this statement: “The curriculum… Read More ›

• The Suicide House, by Charlie Donlea

  By ljd42 on July 9, 2021

  Don’t let the title scare you away. Without committing any spoilers, I can tell you that it’s a bit misleading. This is another book about a boarding school—but it’s one that is totally different from the Atwater School in All… Read More ›

• Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, By Shankar Vedantam (and Bill Mesler)

  By ljd42 on July 6, 2021

  Podcast listeners are—or certainly should be—familiar with Hidden Brain, a fascinating podcast filled with lots of interesting info. Useful Delusions, as you might guess from the subtitle, The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, is Vedantam’s distillation of ideas… Read More ›

• Your neighbors have a right to shoot off fireworks, don’t they?

  By ljd42 on July 4, 2021

  Well, no. Aside from being illegal in Massachusetts, they are dangerous and traumatic everywhere. This satirical episode of the always great Breaking Cat News captures all the issues, especially if you read the fine print:

• Should “exam schools” exist?

  By ljd42 on July 1, 2021

  Boston Latin School. Stuyvesant High School. Two of the very finest public schools in the nation. Should they exist? 50 years ago I would have been taken aback by the very question. Of course they should exist! Who would doubt… Read More ›

• Should we be teaching applied math in high school?

  By ljd42 on June 28, 2021

  “Of course we should,” I hear you say. “What good is math if it doesn’t have any read-world applications?” Let me unpack your reply. In one short paragraph it brings up at least half a dozen responses. We’ll discuss a… Read More ›

• Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir, by Ruth Reichl

  By ljd42 on June 26, 2021

  Are you old enough to have heard of Ruth Reichl, former restaurant critic for the New York Times and former editor-in-chief for Gourmet Magazine? If you haven’t read her work—which now includes a whole bunch of memoirs, a couple of… Read More ›

• What language do they speak in Scotland?

  By ljd42 on June 24, 2021

  Scottish, you say? English? Gaelic? Scots? All of the above? Sounds like a simple question…but it isn’t. In the newly elected Scottish Parliament, where members were allowed to take their oaths in the language of their choice, the following languages… Read More ›

• The Burglar in Short Order, by Lawrence Block…plus a comment about reviewers

  By ljd42 on June 22, 2021

  Perhaps you are familiar with Lawrence Block’s oeuvre. If so, you’ll think you know what the title of this book means: it must be the latest in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, and Bernie must be taking a job in a… Read More ›

• Looking forward (mostly) to another summer of teaching remotely

  By ljd42 on June 20, 2021

  Tomorrow I will meet my teaching assistants, and two days later I will meet the students in my class. I am looking forward to both. Actually, there are several errors in that short paragraph: My teaching assistants are actually called… Read More ›

• The Art of Violence, by S.J. Rozan

  By ljd42 on June 18, 2021

  Unusually so for an S.J. Rozan novel, there’s not a whole lot about Chinese-American culture in this one. But it’s fascinating nonetheless. Rather than Chinese-American culture, this time it’s the New York City art world that the reader learns something… Read More ›

• All the Devils are Here, by Louise Penny

  By ljd42 on June 16, 2021

  Maybe you’re not a Louise Penny fan, though I don’t know why you aren’t. If you aren’t, why aren’t you? It’s possible, of course, that you subscribe to the snobby belief that any New York Times bestseller can’t possibly be… Read More ›

• The “Ich bin ein Berliner” myth. Admit it, you’ve always believed this urban legend, haven’t you?

  By ljd42 on June 14, 2021

  You know JFK’s famous speech in 1963, where he said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” where the American pedants and English-language German books all claim that it really means “I am a jelly donut,” not “I am a Berliner” as Kennedy… Read More ›

• ‹ Older Entries
• Newer Entries ›