Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 96

• Shanghai dumplings and the gas tank

  By ljd42 on November 27, 2010

  

  Just got back from another excellent dim sum at the Dorchester branch of Chau Chow. If you live anywhere near Dorchester, come here for dim sum! Unlike Chinatown, parking is easy in their own lot and the overflow lot across the… Read More ›

• An international Thanksgiving

  By ljd42 on November 25, 2010

  It was another international Thanksgiving at my sister’s house this year — nine Americans and nine visitors from abroad. I counted three from Germany, one from France, one from Korea, three from Taiwan, and apparently one from somewhere Spanish-speaking, but… Read More ›

• Capitol Betrayal and Inside Out

  By ljd42 on November 24, 2010

  Because I have such a large backlog of reading material, I often put print books and audiobooks on a queue; I get to them whenever I get to them. It could easily be months later, so I no longer remember… Read More ›

• “Solving” the Rubik’s Cube

  By ljd42 on November 22, 2010

  Why is it that the phrase “solving the Rubik’s cube” has such a different meaning to me than it does to others? For a long time I was quite puzzled by people who made the implausible claim that they had… Read More ›

• Why 1 is not prime

  By ljd42 on November 20, 2010

  At Saturday Course we were working with prime numbers, and one fifth-grader asked his classmates a question: Student A: Is 1 a prime number? Student B: No. Student A: So it’s composite? Student B: No, it isn’t prime and it… Read More ›

• The Corrections

  By ljd42 on November 18, 2010

  Too often I expect to like a certain book and then I’m disappointed. Occasionally the opposite situation happens to me; such is the case with Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections. I tend to read so much genre fiction and non-fiction that… Read More ›

• Feeling like a community

  By ljd42 on November 15, 2010

  A class ought to feel like a community. (Mathematically speaking, that’s what make it a class, rather than a set. Yes, it’s a slightly different meaning of the word “class,” but the resemblance is not a coincidence.) We’ve all been… Read More ›

• Weston’s Math Department on nation-wide TV

  By ljd42 on November 11, 2010

  The Math Department of Weston High School & Middle School was featured in a report on last night’s NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams! Be sure to watch all the way to the end (it’s only two and half minutes), not… Read More ›

• Sel de la Terre (Back Bay)

  By ljd42 on November 10, 2010

  As we had an about-to-expire Groupon for the Back Bay location of Sel de la Terre, Barbara and I had dinner there this evening. We’ve been to the original Long Wharf location many times, so it seemed appropriate to try… Read More ›

• Lost in Lexicon Launch Party

  By ljd42 on November 8, 2010

  Yesterday I wrote about Penny Noyce’s new book, Lost in Lexicon. What prompted that post was that I was on my way to the official launch party for the book. It was a great success, and I saw a couple… Read More ›

• Lost in Lexicon

  By ljd42 on November 7, 2010

  If you regularly see my Facebook status in your News Feed, you may have noticed that it said “I’m lost in Lexicon right now…” on October 17. This status confused some of my students. One of them asked, “How did… Read More ›

• Daylight saving time

  By ljd42 on November 6, 2010

  Why is it that so many people say “daylight savings time” when the correct phrase so clearly is “daylight saving time”???? Do they think it’s like a savings account, where you put an hour of daylight in at one time… Read More ›

• Facebook “friends”

  By ljd42 on November 5, 2010

  Listen in on this conversation: Teacher 1: I hear that you friend your students on Facebook. Teacher 2: Not exactly. I accept friend requests from current and former students. But I never initiate them. Teacher 1: Even so, it’s a… Read More ›

• Congratulations to the Math Team

  By ljd42 on November 4, 2010

  Well done, Weston High School Math Team! Congratulations to Alexandra R., Andrew H., Andy Y., Blake W., Caleb T., Daniel P., Jason M., Jonathan B., Julia B., and Pravina S. for a fine performance at this afternoon’s meet at Lexington… Read More ›

• Get out the vote!

  By ljd42 on November 1, 2010

  If you’re 18 or over, be sure to vote tomorrow! There’s a lot at stake. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.

• 224 Boston St. restaurant

  By ljd42 on October 31, 2010

  Barbara and I used to go to 224 a lot, but we haven’t been there very often in recent years. This is partly because of a couple of meals that were only OK (but overpriced), and partly because Ashmont Grill… Read More ›

• Why do we have to learn proofs?

  By ljd42 on October 28, 2010

  Yes, some students enjoy writing proofs. They accept the task as a challenging puzzle, one that provides an agreeable sense of completion once you’ve successfully threaded a path from the given information to the conclusion. I was one of those… Read More ›

• Model railroad pix

  By ljd42 on October 25, 2010

  I know, it’s been six months. Several of my sophomores persuaded me to post photos of my model railroad (in progress). So I did so (linked from my home page), but they’re photographically not very good. In particular, they’re too… Read More ›

• After a long hiatus…

  By ljd42 on October 24, 2010

  …I am once again resuming posting in my blog…

• Closer connections with students?

  By ljd42 on April 28, 2010

  In our department meeting today, we had a guest speaker from the Wellness Department* who talked with us about building closer connections with students, an atmosphere of trust, and greater engagement by our students. All good things, certainly. Part of… Read More ›

• ‹ Older Entries
• Newer Entries ›