Thinking about a Carnival of Mathematics
That’s #39 – hosted by It’s the Thought that Counts. Clever name, huh?
It’s a new blog to me. The authors are A (computer science) and Z (physics). Subtitle: “critical analysis and interesting ideas.” Self-description of content: “commentary on all manner of topics — politics, society, science, morality, religion, and whatever else comes to mind.” So, the writing’s good. While your looking at the Carnival, and trying the puzzle, you might take an extra peek around.
Puzzle? Yup. Just for fun, he (she? they?) leads off with a combinatorial poser (39 people sitting around a circular table, none in the right place…) (Looks combinatorial, but might bend quicker to algebra).
Reminds me of this old problem, that appears never to have gotten a general solution on this blog. I’ll repost, soon.
Unchartered what?
Schools can be chartered (ugh). Companies can be chartered. Boats can be chartered. Helicopters can be chartered. Flights can be chartered. Companies can be chartered.
A course can be charted. Land can be charted. Water can be charted. The skies can be charted.
These are different words. A chart is a map. To chart something is to make a map of it. Mapped land. A mapped out course. By extension, to chart can mean to make a plan. Uncharted means unmapped or unplanned.
A charter is a contract, a guarantee of rights, something like a constitution for a club or company, or a lease of a vessel (boat, helicopter, airplane, etc). Unchartered means unleased, or operating without a charter (constitution) or without a charter (grant of rights).
Waters can be uncharted. That means unmapped.
A boat can be unchartered. That means unleased.
But unchartered waters? Huh? Can you make sense of that?
I wince when I hear my president mangle the phrases together. But it showed up in today’s Jay Cost analysis of the election. And a google search reveals one hit for the mangled version for every ten hits for the one that makes sense. Ugh. Don’t we think about what the words mean?
(is this called a malapropism?)
New math blog: f(t)
A nice addition to the links here: f(t) is a new (from July) high school math teacher blog. Kate teaches in Syracuse, New York. (I’ve been there!)
So far she’s posted problems, lesson ideas, and a little bit about her work. Nicely written, easy to read.
Best of luck!
Summer books
Not summer reading. Summer books. Summer reading has been a little more than half of Mike and Sue Klonsky’s small schools book, and a few slow chapters of First Farmers, The Origins of Agricultural Society (which may be just a tad too technical for me, but it is fascinating when I force myself to struggle with it). I also snagged a copy of The Atlas of Changing South Africa (revised 2001, I once skimmed the original 1994 edition), but I have more dipped in to read maps than actually read text.
Ah, but summer books! I picked up a buttload of birthday presents last month (half a year late on the pickup):
- Bad Blood (Linda Fairstein). I have no idea what it is, but she was a District Attorney here in New York? I think I have to read this.
- Phillip’s Atlas of World History. For the collection. I have quite a few old maps and atlases, and current atlases, and historical atlases. And this one is new to me (not just the binding, the individual maps as well.
- A People’s History of American Empire (Howard Zinn). Nope, I didn’t already have this. I will dip into it here and there, but I don’t plan to read it straight through.
- cartographica extraordinaire. The Historical Map Transformed. (Rumsey and Punt) Wow. True coffee table book. The publisher, ESRI, is a major GIS vendor. This 13″ x 14″ hardcover blends historical maps with modern data via GIS and related computer mapping. The results are gorgeous. Stunning.
(other late-pickup presents were a set of wooden dominoes, hetian rose — it’s a tea, but what is it? who knows? — and two teas, one white, one green, labeled only in Chinese)
My reading to do list:
- Read Bad Blood
- Finish Collapse (I got done with the fun stuff, but bogged down in Jared Diamond’s conclusions)
- Finish Klonsky, and write a review.
- Finish First Farmers? Nah, I think I will restart next summer. Or over a vacation.
- I saw a review in The New Yorker for a new book called Traffic – Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt . I think I want to read it.
- Find and read a readable math book (read no math this summer. Boo. Hiss. Maybe H.A. Thurston’s The Number System?)
Searching your way here
WordPress kindly includes all kinds of stats for us bloggers. I like the search engine stats. They show that most people come looking for salary info, and then by mistake (circus tents, dice, sea monsters), and finally for NYC public school info or for math problems and math ed related discussion.
I don’t know if the numbers are right, but they are consistent. Here are the top searches from today, so far:
more below fold: Read more…
Discussion on proposed CUNY-PSC contract
The City University of New York and the Professional Staff Congress (AFT Local 2334) reached a tentative contract settlement. The proposal gives back very little, makes some gains, but fails to make some key gains for adjuncts and part-timers.
The Delegate Assembly recommended the agreement by 92-13-7 (yes-no-abstentions), but in the immediate discussion afterwards the PSC leadership agreed to open a “contract bulletin” where views of some delegates could be shared.
Over thirty delegates responded with statements of up to 500 words. You can read them all here. You can read a summary of the contract proposal here.
Barbara Bowen is the president of the PSC. Sándor John is the most outspoken opponent of the agreement. Alex Vitale wrote a statement that captures the complexity of the issue.
Once more on Devlin (but not on teaching)
Keith Devlin, mathematics commentator, wrote: that “Stopping teachers saying that multiplication is repeated addition” would be a good thing. He sharpened it (“I wished schoolteachers would stop telling pupils that multiplication is repeated addition“), and repeated it (“a plea to mathematics teachers to stop telling students that multiplication is repeated addition.”)
Now Josh has an interview with Devlin, and has opened up the comments section.
Denise at Let’s Play Math took it seriously, and wrote. The subsequent storm got covered by Denise, Mark, and many others, including me. Josh at TextSavvy wrote a bunch, but without allowing comments.
Now Josh has an interview with Devlin, and has opened up the comments section. I think the discussion there may become interesting.
For the record, I don’t question Devlin’s math (although there is wiggle room there), but his approach, once engaged with teachers, was irresponsibly inflammatory. And, for the record, the ‘error’ he picks on is certainly not universal.
Devlin’s strawman
These last two weeks I have been in and out of elementary and middle schools. Great chance to peek at math texts. And you know what? I am not finding the books that say that multiplication is repeated addition.
Today I look at some (Scott Foresman?) whatevers, maybe 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. The book discussed “meanings” with an “s” of multiplication, and ran through several sections that covered repeated addition, skip counting, arrays, and cartesian product.
The arrays, by the way, were of relatively fat dots, meaning, I hope, that half rows or quarter rows could be introduced at some point in the future.
This whole brouhaha about “stop telling kids multiplication is repeated addition” — do we know that this happens everywhere and all the time? Are there textbooks that get it wrong?
Or was Devlin just jousting with imaginary opponents?
New Orleans AFT volunteer update
So here I am, almost two weeks in New Orleans, and I’ve written almost nothing. What have we (ten of us from NY, Chi, Philly, and SF, just today joined by a similar number from mostly the same places) been doing?
We knock on doors of teachers who are not members of the union. Patient, slow, we find a few who want to join now. We keep up visibility and know that more will join in time.
We helped publicize a Back to School event where school information, free school supplies, immunization, games, food, and an insectorium were all available. Road signs, flyers door to door. We assembled and sorted the book bags and supplies and books. And then we worked the tables at the event, helped with set up, clean up, etc. (The insectorium was cool)
We go into schools where teachers are overwhelned, and help set up a few classrooms, straighten, discard, rearrange, assemble, and just try to make ourselves available to teachers who could use help.
And then in the evenings we go for dinner. Lots of New Orleans food. Tonight was Voodoo barbeque. Emeril’s Delmonico on Sunday. The steakhouse in Harrah’s one night. Some Italian another. But mostly gumbo and more gumbo. Crawfish etouffe. Jambalaya. Po-boys for lunch. Or soul food. Food is important here. Food fills the gaps between work.
Chatting about Charters
The topic of charter schools has been coming up a lot. The majority of schools in New Orleans are charters, and that is where the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) has had the least success to this point in organizing, where much of their effort is currently directed.
(As an aside, UTNO is the AFT affiliate here, and the “United” comes from their history – the teachers unions in New Orleans were segregated until UTNO joined Black teachers and white teachers into a single union, and I’ll double check the dates, but I seem to recall, less than 40 years ago.)
Anyhow, charters are a constant topic. Also, the volunteers, from New York, Philly, Chicago – all places where charters are issues.
But get this: the active people outside of New York think that charters are a problem, are used to break or weaken the union, etc, except, they keep saying, in New York, where you guys have good relations with charters, have organized the charters, etc.
Now, I know the UFT has two charter schools, and has organized several more. But aren’t the majority of charter schools in New York non-union? Didn’t the UFT’s (director? coordinator? I don’t know his title) of charter schools, Jonathan Gyurko, indicate support of the right rather than the need to organize charter schools in NYC?
Somehow AFT members out of New York have been given some awfully funny impressions. That should be fixed.
There are over 60 charter schools in NYC, including the UFT charter schools in Brooklyn, and the new Green Dot/Bronx charter school in the Bronx. Of those, about 50 are non-union.
New Orleans so far
No photos yet. Probably not until my return.
Most of our work (it seems) will be visiting charter school teachers and asking them to join the teachers union. Yesterday was our first day. It is long, slow work. People are afraid for their jobs, angry about how much they lost. Some are not sure if charter school teachers can be unionized. Some are concerned about dues. Plus, Louisiana is a “right to work” state.
And then there were teachers not home. Yesterday was the first day of school (no kids) for most charter school teachers in New Orleans. We spoke with husbands, wives, kids, parents, sisters, friends. Most people are willing to talk, happy to talk, even if it’s only about how long they’ve been back (since they storm. That’s what everyone seems to say, “the storm.”)
This morning another volunteer who’d been here before drove us through the lower 9th ward to see some of the recovery/non-recovery. It was mostly non-recovery. More about that later.
And it’s time for this blog to say some things about charter schools. Has to be done.
But now it’s time to meet my team for Day 2.
jd2718 on Teaching Fellows
Just a list of posts:
What Kind of Recruitment for NYC Public School Teachers?
What to do about Teaching Fellows?
Teaching Fellows or the Teaching Fellows?
Am I a Fellow?
Teaching Fellows are new teachers
Using Fellows for what they weren’t intended
Organizing Teaching Fellows as teachers
Does signing a card make you a UFT member?
What issues matter to new teachers?
Do Not Apply
NYC Teacher Turnover Rates to be Published
In New York State, each school gets a “report card” each year, full of data about the school. This year’s is late (maybe by two months). But principals have embargoed versions, and this year’s report cards, when issued, will include teacher turnover rates for each school.
How calculated? Total teachers who don’t return, divided by total teachers in the new school year. It’s about as simple as it gets.
What good is it? It tells us which schools teachers leave. Sure there can be blips (a bunch of teachers get pregnant in the same year, for example), but when we look at several years, we can get a sense of what is going on. Turnover rates of 30, 40, 50% are red flags.
How old? Several years behind. Maybe 2003 – 04, 2004 – 05, and 2005 – 06? I wish I knew for sure.
How can we use them? They will help us target schools that are abusing teachers or otherwise providing lousy work environments. They will inform new teachers about places that are bad to apply. The fact that they are being published may give principals pause before U’ing new teachers without trying to improve them first.
What else? Once teacher turnover numbers are out there, we will need to work to update the data. Two or three year old numbers have limited use in a rapidly changing system.
Avant!
Onward to New Orleans. Blogging may wait for my return? Who knows? But I would like to know what I will be doing. And when I find out, I’ll be sure to write some of it down.
Before I go, tomorrow morning, I have good news for NY teachers and future teachers (just a bit). I’ll publish on the way out the door.
I’ll be back for the second half of August…
Multiplication? Addition? Comments?
Keith Devlin wrote “stop telling your pupils that multiplication is repeated addition” and all hell broke loose.
There was a storm at Let’s Play Math, and then Denise wrote a second post. There is still a storm raging at Good Math Bad Math. And a bunch of places I don’t normally go. And then Josh at Text Savvy has written 11 posts (they start here) – but he disabled commenting, which turns the conversation into an echo chamber. (Josh, it looks bad if you complain about your comments not being published if you run a site where comments are not allowed)
So, my two cents.
Multiplication is not repeated addition.
Multiplication can represent repeated addition.
Devlin’s point was directed to how we teach little kids math, and he blew it. So we stop telling kids that x = + (rep) and we tell them what exactly instead? Don’t ask Devlin. He devoted a second column to the issue, and never got there.
Doubling back, what was his objection? That we say “math is repeated addition” and that somehow this ruins kids’ ability to handle arithmetic: “Multiplication simply is not repeated addition, and telling young pupils it is inevitably leads to problems when they subsequently learn that it is not.” He’s wrong.
What should we do?
Teach multiplication through repeated addition, skip counting, counting arrays, finding unit areas of rectangles, Cartesian product, scaling… That’s too many to start, isn’t it? Pick one, then one more. And tell the kids that multiplication will manifest itself in many other ways as well… Add more… and remind them… No big deal here.
By the way, congratulations to Denise for handling this in an intelligent way. And for, ever so briefly, becoming the central blog in a math ed tempest.
XA2 no longer welcome
One of the anonymous Eximius posters crossed too many lines, too many times. I asked her to remove herself from conversations here.
XA2 posted over the last two weeks as Anonymous, concerned blogger, ex- teacher from Eximius, veteran teacher, and now with no name at all. Eventually I put XA2 in front so all the other readers could tell.
I found a dozen comments from this user. Bad behavior included bullying, lying, insulting. When she told us she was thinking of applying to Eximius, after she wrote she just left Eximius, that was the time for a ban. And insulting kids for spelling mistakes was the last straw.
I apologize to readers for not acting sooner.
NYC teachers, they are watching your scores
Well, not yours. Your students. The New York City Department of Education intends to rate you based on your students’ test scores. But getting the data is not as easy as they had hoped. You see, in each school, you can look up what Mr. Hooper’s kids did. But Mr. Hooper is not part of some database – labeling a class “Mr. Hooper” doesn’t link it with his other classes, or with him.
So they want his e-mail. They want it linked to class lists. And they are threatening and bullying and lying to principals and programmers to get it done.
Last year they pushed and cajoled the programmers to link class lists to teacher employee id numbers (through their DoE e-mails), through something called the “Teacher Reference Screen” or “Teacher Reference Table.” They claimed this would help teachers track their kids. Stop giggling. They forgot we have gradebooks.
But they were serious. The UFT had to fight off their attempt to evaluate teachers using test scores.
But apparently last Fall’s cajoling was insufficient. This summer they sent a new round of demands, this time to principals:
To ensure accurate data for accountability and instructional tools like periodic assessments and ARIS, HSST will now require that you complete the linking of teachers, courses, and students via the “Teacher Reference” screen… Instructions for completing the process are available …. Please share these instructions with your program chair, data specialist, or school staff member in charge of scheduling in HSST…. If you do not complete this step, you may not be able to finalize your schedule and enter marks or grades in HSST.
OK, we don’t laugh, because they are serious and dangerous.
- Periodic assessments need students. Why should teachers need to be linked? (we know)
- Courses and students don’t get linked to each other at the “Teacher Reference” screen (duh)
- “…you may not be able to finalize…” (doubtful, and only if they block schools intentionally. Has nothing to do with function)
- “…and enter marks or grades…” (we know this is made up)
UFT Central knows, and shouldn’t be caught napping on this one. As long as we assume bad faith from Tweed, conniving, scheming, and a general hatred of teachers, then we won’t be unprepared.
Teachers Choice reduced, saved
Teachers Choice is a NYC Department of Education program that gives each teacher, secretary, etc, a chunk of cash to spend under fairly flexible rules. No budgeting categories, less red tape, just make sure the item belongs to some allowable category, make sure it is for classroom use, and attach the receipts.
Last year’s allocation was $220 $260 ($220 the year before – jd 8/5/08) per teacher (different amounts for different titles). This year’s budget cuts (how big are they, really?) threatened the program. In the end, the UFT negotiated a reduction: $150 per teacher.
Now I’ve always had mixed feelings about Teachers Choice. Shouldn’t schools be buying school supplies if they are needed? I know, I know, things work badly in many schools, including purchasing. But aren’t we just letting them off the hook? They are so lousy at doing what they should, that we will do it for them?
On the other hand, Teachers Choice money is often very useful. And why be such a purist – it is money being put to good use. And isn’t that what really counts?
The text of the notice I received is beneath the fold. — > Read more…
Second place
I have been participating, on and off, in Monday Math Madness. It is a contest alternating between Wild About Math (Sol) and Blinkdagger. So they are up to #11, I have submitted correct entries to maybe half of them, but so far, not chosen.
#11 asked about rearranging the digits 123456 to create multiples of 11. How many can you make? OK, nice question. I submit a nice statement of solution. Once again, someone else chosen.
(neat note, below the fold –> ) Read more…
Photos question – Please help
Flickr just told me that if I upload a few dozen more photos, that I’ll have to upgrade and pay actually money… What options do I have?
(Here’s a question I asked a long time ago, same subject, sort of)
Something small to make me smile
Gotham Schools
Gotham Schools is a new NY education news source. Formula looks simple:
- each day a listing of 5 – 10 ed news stories, a few from local news (Times, Post, News, sometimes Sun, etc) and the last few from a wider net (WashPost, SF Chronicle, Hartford Current, BBC, etc)
- and each day one or two feature stories.
Gotham Schools intends to be
a news source and online community for teachers, parents, policy makers, and journalists interested in learning about what works and what doesn’t in the nation’s largest school district.
I get “news source” – I don’t see the community – jd
… to provide a clearinghouse for New York City school news and commentary, connect teachers and parents with resources, highlight effective practices in policy and pedagogy, and build a participatory knowledge base about education in New York City.
reasonable – jd
By offering a critical eye on education research and reporting, and by creating a forum for conversation, GothamSchools is helping New Yorkers create better schools.
wishful thinking, but at least a nice wish. I’m not sure how neutral commentators create things. We’ll see. – jd
The authors are a former Inside Schools reviewer, and a former Bronx TFA teacher/blogger. The look is light and clean. And the number of interesting linked stories and the amount of content is enough to justify making it a regular (probably daily for me) visit.
Coolidge Reservation and Ocean Lawn (pix)
In Massachusetts, north of Boston, on Cape Ann, near Manchester by the Sea (used to be plain Manchester, but they fancified themselves), there’s a little parcel of land: woods, cuts through a little pond/marsh, opens onto a magnificent lawn looking over a small island and the Atlantic. It was a nice visit.
I played with the camera, with mixed results. You can see for yourself, and if you are curious, you can click and see the rest. (more pix below the fold — > ) Read more…
Another annoying little dice puzzle
Yesterday I asked:
Which is more likely, rolling three normal dice, and having one be the sum of the other two? or rolling three normal dice, and having one be the product of the other two?
In addition to your regular work, try to find a (good!) explanation that appeals to intuition.
And we got nice answers, and addition won. Fairly easily, actually (just read the comments)
Annoying little dice product vs sum puzzle
Which is more likely, rolling three normal dice, and having one be the sum of the other two? or rolling three normal dice, and having one be the product of the other two?
In addition to your regular work, try to find a (good!) explanation that appeals to intuition.
JD2718 