Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 62

• Welcome, Flicka!

  By ljd42 on January 21, 2019

  

  Please welcome the newest member of the Davidson-Bean household. Flicka was an abandoned cat who has lived on our front porch for two years now, and today’s weather report was enough to convince Barbara and me that it was time… Read More ›

• Three cats

  By ljd42 on January 18, 2019

  

  Three of our cats cuddled up together: do they love each other, or are they just heat-seeking mammals?

• All the King’s Men

  By ljd42 on January 16, 2019

  

  For some reason I had never seen the classic film All the King’s Men (nor have I read the novel, for that matter, although I’ve owned a used copy of it for decades). But I finally got around to watching… Read More ›

• Shell Game

  By ljd42 on January 14, 2019

  

  If you like Donald Trump, don’t bother reading Shell Game, Sara Paretsky’s newest mystery novel: it will only irritate you. For the rest of us, it’s definitely worth reading. For a long time I always read every Paretsky book, but… Read More ›

• Am I related to George R.R. Martin? What does Skip Gates say?

  By ljd42 on January 12, 2019

  

  George R.R. Martin Larry Davidson People have often claimed that I look like George R.R. Martin. I always thought that they were just paying attention to the beard, the suspenders, and the physique — but now I know of another… Read More ›

• Can an introverted teacher thrive?

  By ljd42 on January 10, 2019

  

  John Spencer writes: My dog is also an introvert. I didn’t realize that was possible with dogs, but it is. She likes to have “me time.” If things get too loud and crazy, she will walk into the other room…. Read More ›

• William thinks he’s a hamburger.

  By ljd42 on January 9, 2019

  

  William thinks he’s a hamburger:

• Murder to Scale

  By ljd42 on January 8, 2019

  

  A mystery novel in a model railroading setting? Who could resist? Not I! Murder to Scale, by Debra B. Schiff “with” Mike Blumensaadt, is a good enough story in which the setting plays a major role, not just a background part. When… Read More ›

• Better dead than coed?

  By ljd42 on January 5, 2019

  

  “Andover will go coed over my dead body!” That’s what my AP Latin teacher told us at least three or four times during my senior year. His prediction didn’t quite come true, but it was close: in 1973, the year… Read More ›

• What a nice warm location!

  By ljd42 on January 2, 2019

  

  Douglas thanked me for moving his purple mat so that it’s right next to the space heater: William says it’s not fair for Douglas to be in so many photos, so he wanted to make sure that I got a… Read More ›

• Lethal White

  By ljd42 on January 1, 2019

  

  As everyone knows — everyone, that is, except certain cats — Robert Galbraith is the pseudonym that J.K. Rowling adopted for her Cormoran Strike series of detective novels for adults. Lethal White is the fourth in this series. This is a long… Read More ›

• Happy New Year!

  By ljd42 on December 31, 2018

  

  How many of these languages can you identify?  

• Should you pay attention to what your English teacher says?

  By ljd42 on December 29, 2018

  

  I could answer by saying “no, you shouldn’t” — but my colleagues and friends who teach English would be up in arms. Instead, I can say “yes, but question authority” — i.e., ask for evidence, not just rules that are… Read More ›

• In Prior’s Wood

  By ljd42 on December 27, 2018

  

  Wasn’t it Alan Kay who had said the best way to predict the future was to create it? Yes, it was. Having worked briefly for computer scientist Alan Kay at Atari 35 years ago, I was rather startled to see… Read More ›

• The Kosher Wok

  By ljd42 on December 25, 2018

  

  Yesterday, as is traditional on Christmas Eve, I had lunch with a friend, a colleague, two of her sons, and two former students at The Kosher Wok in Brookline. The four of us — yes, I said four, not seven… Read More ›

• Weird uses of food

  By ljd42 on December 23, 2018

  

  “When my very hairy German shepherd dog got tree sap in his fur we couldn’t get it out. I tried rubbing the sap covered hair with olive oil and the sap came off. Saved a trip to the groomers.” That’s… Read More ›

• A Quaker Christmas Carol

  By ljd42 on December 22, 2018

  

  I can’t resist reposting this Quaker Christmas Carol:  

• Bury the Lead… or is it the lede?

  By ljd42 on December 21, 2018

  

  It’s been nine years since I’ve reviewed an Archer Mayor novel! And my November 2009 review was none too enthusiastic. So I am pleased to report that I am definitely enthusiastic about Bury the Lead, even though the correct phrase should be… Read More ›

• The Reckoning

  By ljd42 on December 19, 2018

  

  “But this isn’t a courtroom thriller!” That’s what I heard you say, and then you threw it aside because you are a certain type of reader. Maybe you’re that type of reader, maybe you’re not. But you’re right that The Reckoning is… Read More ›

• A beautiful concert

  By ljd42 on December 17, 2018

  

  Three of my students — Laura Sullivan, Thea Schwallie, and Mimi Gotbetter — joined a dozen other young people in a beautifully inspiring multilingual and multicultural concert yesterday afternoon by the group Youth pro Musica at the Second Church in Newton…. Read More ›

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