Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 43

• Can’t have too much Tavolo!

  By ljd42 on September 9, 2020

  

  Excellent dinner on the patio at Tavolo last night, all supported by server extraordinaire Michaela Collins. Barbara started with an enormous Chef’s Burrata (burrata, mixed greens, candied walnuts, gala apples, vincotto, evoo) accompanied by a Summer Lemonade cocktail (it is… Read More ›

• Popularizers III: George Gamow

  By ljd42 on September 8, 2020

  

  What? Why was I reading without my eyeglasses? That’s easy. This photo, my semi-official portrait at age 11, was taken just before I got glasses. And that was all because of a substitute teacher! My regular teacher always had always… Read More ›

• A Cat

  By ljd42 on September 6, 2020

  

  Why had I never heard of this book before? Well, at least I’m not alone. A Cat is a little-known 1995 work written by Leonard Michaels and illustrated by Frances Lerner. I read the 2018 Tin House hardcover version, which I… Read More ›

• Hebrew Script Hacking

  By ljd42 on September 4, 2020

  

  How is this book different from all other books in the series? I’m referring to Teach Yourself Library’s Script Hacking series, which teaches you several alphabetical writing systems — a limited objective, and the series does a good job with it. Little… Read More ›

• Is this box small enough for you?

  By ljd42 on September 2, 2020

  

  William says “Where I fits, I sits.” But does he fit?

• Facts, truth, math, and Donald Trump

  By ljd42 on September 1, 2020

  

  Given Donald Trump’s uneasy relationship with facts (and a few other flaws), we all wonder how he has managed to maintain rock-steady approval from about 40% of Americans for the past four years. I was unwillingly forced to think about… Read More ›

• Popularizers II: the amazing Martin Gardner

  By ljd42 on August 30, 2020

  

  A few days ago I wrote about Isaac Asimov in his role as a popularizer of math and science. Today I will turn to another important popularizer, Martin Gardner. But first I return to make a few more remarks about… Read More ›

• Quite a bicycle!

  By ljd42 on August 29, 2020

  

  Well, it does have two wheels, but I’m still skeptical. At least it says it’s “low emission.” Legal definition of bicycle, anyone?

• Ashmont Grill patio under the tent

  By ljd42 on August 28, 2020

  

  Barbara and I had a yummy dinner on the patio under the tent at Ashmont Grill last night: grilled asparagus; confit pork belly lettuce cups (which unfortunately disappeared somehow before I could take a photo); hot buttered lobster roll with… Read More ›

• Murder on Lexington Avenue

  By ljd42 on August 27, 2020

  

  Signing or lip-reading? If you’re Deaf, which should you be taught? That is the question. And if you are in upper-class turn-of-the-century New York, no less, that is ultimately the core issue in Victoria Thompson’s Murder on Lexington Avenue. I… Read More ›

• Popularizers I: Asimov on Numbers

  By ljd42 on August 25, 2020

  

  Many popularizers are unjustly looked down upon by professional academic scientists and mathematicians. I learned about that as an early age, and I also learned to reject those snobby attitudes. That’s mostly because of my dad’s influence: even though he… Read More ›

• Agoraphobia and other pronunciation conundra

  By ljd42 on August 23, 2020

  

  Quick! How do you pronounce agoraphobia (a word we hear too much these days)? In particular, do you stress the first syllable and have a short /o/ in the second, or stress the first syllable but have a silent /o/ in the… Read More ›

• Hid from our Eyes

  By ljd42 on August 21, 2020

  

  It was over eleven years ago that I read and reviewed the fourth book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series of upstate New York novels, and now we’re onto book #9. This averages out to only about one book every two years, a… Read More ›

• A walk in JP

  By ljd42 on August 20, 2020

  

  Today I took my walk in JP rather than Dorchester. (That’s because I was on my way to Wegman’s for my first experience with their contactless curbside pickup, which I rated five stars without question.) Take a look at this… Read More ›

• Pronouns again!

  By ljd42 on August 19, 2020

  

  Pronouns — as well as other linguistic tidbits — continue to be an issue far beyond what one might expect. Linguist Dennis Baron continues to be the primary authority on the topic of pronouns, and only partly because of their… Read More ›

• RIP, Douglas (2004-2020)

  By ljd42 on August 17, 2020

  He was a very good cat. He helped me build my model railroad, and he loved to sit on my lap. He was so affectionate that we often called him Huggie Dougie. He will be missed.

• Buffy and Star Trek — and the Jews

  By ljd42 on August 16, 2020

  

  Until recently I hadn’t thought about any connections between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek, nor about any connections between Star Trek and the Jews. So what happened recently to update that pluperfect verb “hadn’t realized”? Well, as I’ve mentioned before, one of my… Read More ›

• Looking back over a summer of teaching remotely with Zoom and Canvas

  By ljd42 on August 15, 2020

  

  So my course is over now, and I’m in the midst of final grading, which means I have a little perspective about how this new experience went. Twice this summer I’ve written about Zoom-based teaching and learning, first on July 3… Read More ›

• Sigh, Gone

  By ljd42 on August 13, 2020

  

  A coming-of-age memoir by a Vietnamese refugee. That’s a flat, factual description of this powerful book. It doesn’t capture much of what it is like. The full title — Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the… Read More ›

• Should everyone in your class be able to earn an A?

  By ljd42 on August 12, 2020

  

  This question was inspired by a very interesting post in Computing Education Research Blog (anonymous, but probably by Mark Guzdial). There are (at least) three ways in which you might be interpreting it: Is it OK if everyone in the class… Read More ›

• ‹ Older Entries
• Newer Entries ›