The other math geeky comic
Blig Blug has it all. Math. Geekiness. A conscience. Some pro-union stuff.
Go, read. Groan. Read more.
Singing CIA agent in town
DAVE LIPPMAN AND GEORGE SHRUB:
COMING UP
In addition to new songs about cars, candidates, God, and Jena, Louisiana, Dave brings a collaboration with Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Martin Niemoller that neither of them ever heard about.
Friday July 18
New York, New York
House Concert
368 W. 117th Street at Morningside Ave
7pm $10/$7 students
Take C or B to 116th, walk west
Benefits Iraq Moratorium
AFT volunteer organizer?
This is the appeal that I am thinking of responding to:
Volunteer Organizers Needed for 2008 Back-to-School Organizing Campaign
—John L. Lewis
From July 28 to August 30, in school districts from New Orleans to St. Louis, and from Austin, Texas, to Taos, N.M., volunteer organizers are needed to help our union reach out to teachers and support staff in the 2008 Back-to-School Organizing Campaign.
AFT locals in the South face a tough anti-union environment, hostile labor laws, and stiff competition from administrator-dominated, anti-collective bargaining organizations. The AFT is a voice for teachers and PSRPs as they fight for strong public schools, adequate resources and fair compensation.
This is your chance to make a real difference in a place where our colleagues need the help. As a volunteer organizer, you will be on the front lines, talking with potential members, explaining the values and vision of the union, and starting to build the relationship between potential members and the union.
You’ll receive comprehensive, high-quality training on basic organizing skills. For the more experienced volunteer organizers, this will be just a refresher course, but we will ensure that no one is sent out unprepared for the task at hand.
Summer options
So it’s really not too late to make summer plans, but summer has started and there’s only seven weeks left, so planning time is overdue.
There are already obligations. I must schedule my school. I started, but there’s a lot left. At least three 3-day weeks, maybe more (I handle the ‘more’ by extending the length of the weeks… I would try not to extend the number of weeks). Visiting family (a few days here and there. “Here” is a southern New England beach town with wild parrots. “There” is a small inland southern New England town with nice hills for walking). Reaching Fellows (if you read this blog, you probably already knew I was doing this).
What else? There are options.
- Alaska. A former colleague moved there. Says I can come visit, hike, fish. But it’s a long flight and this may be a tough summer for company (as there’s other company on the way…) And the flight cost is high (but that’s true everywhere.)
- Union Summer. The American Federation of Teachers is organizing a “union summer” where members go south and help organize. Sites are in Houoston, south Texas, Albuquerque, New Orleans, St. Louis, but you don’t choose. You just sign up for dates. Looks like 11 or 12 days (Aug 3 – 15 or 11 – 22). if I did it, might be conflicting with AMTNYS. Not really a vacation, but going away, and doing good. The weather, though. And I am already doing good Fellows stuff here. Why do more? Plus, I don’t know if they would take me at this late date. But I tried last year, and couldn’t. Maybe this is my chance?
- AMTNYS. The Association of Mathematics Teachers of NY State has a one week summer thing outside of Syracuse (Onondaga CC, Aug 3 – 7). Tempting. Not too pricey. Vacation? Hmm. Not really. But it would get me back on the math horse (which I fell off of a while back).
- Atlantic Canada. Commenter Sarai suggested visiting Atlantic Canada (she’s a math grad student who lives very very calmly in Nova Scotia). I looked at photos – gorgeous. There are some cool eco-hiking-very comfortable tours… but pricy! And I would need to plan more to do it on my own. Still tempting, for a bit a less than a week… But the money. Don’t know. Could try to figure out how to do it on my own, but I think that might be tricky on short notice.
- Course here. I still need to earn some post-Masters credits to qualify for the last differential. If I’m stuck in the city, why not get 3 or 6 credits in. Good thing, right? More money later. But going this route feels like admitting defeat, quitting on the idea of vacation.
- Extend southern New England. Can spend longer visiting family. Wander off to parts of southern New England I haven’t spent as much time in. Even up to Vermont. Easy. But feels like bailing on real vacation. Could extend the beach and hills?
So, I really should decide in the next few days. No decision means 5 and 6 just creep up on me with maybe 3 thrown in.
Too late to make summer plans?
No. But getting there. Europe is not in the cards (first time in a few years).
I’ll sort out some choices today. Work in NYC, hang out in NYC? That could be, but it would be nice to do something more…
CUNY PSC Contract
From time to time I attend Professional Staff Congress Delegate Assemblies. I belong to two AFT locals: Local 2 is the UFT, and local 2334 is the PSC (represents professors and adjuncts and higher education officers and a lot more titles at the City University of New York’s various campuses and non-campus locations).
This week, they brought a contract agreement to the DA, to be recommended back to the membership. It was striking that the expectations of the PSC are so different from those of the UFT. They hotly debated what is 95% a non-concessionary contract, and debated it hard and angry, because it did not make much progress addressing past inequities.
The past inequities are historic, not the result of union concessions. I believe (need to research a bit) that this leadership was voted in with a mandate to address exactly these issues, and that they made a dent in them in the previous agreement (I believe the first they negotiated). So the debate I heard was over not making enough progress.
I will dig, learn more, and post more. This all seems quite foreign to a UFTer.
Year end 2008 (3) Final Day
It’s a week late, but there needs to be one last post to wrap up the school side of the school year.
Thursday June 26 was the last day of school in New York City. Even though it was a non-attendance day in high schools, our school had a barbecue and had the kids in. Report cards, summer school notices, student government elections, awards. It gave us an extra day to correct grades; it meant that most regents scores were on the report cards (even though regents only ended the day before). Plus, food.
We do some version of this every year. Last year all the old seniors showed up once more, delaying the day that the class of 2008 could be called seniors. At the end of the day, after they left, I missed them. I went for a walk. It was brutally hot, and through the heat the semi-stifled smells of linden blooms and mulberries, both ripe and mashed on the ground, seeped through.
This year it rained mid-morning, through most of the barbecue. The lindens were stronger, much stronger. Cloying, suffocating, too sweet, and unpleasant. And most seniors (class of 2008 ) didn’t show up. I wasn’t upset as I didn’t feel attached to them anyhow…
(more, and one final story, beneath the fold –> ) Read more…
Do Not Apply – 4 – Discovery HS
There are good schools, bad schools, mediocre schools. But in New York City we have a handful of schools that are so poorly run, so out of control, with administrations that are so incompetent, mean, arbitrary, or vindictive, that getting a job in these schools often means ending your career before it starts.
- Bronx Aerospace HS (+)
- Eximius College Prep HS
- Bronx Theater HS
- DIscovery HS
Discovery is in the Walton Campus. There was a vision when Discovery was founded – but it is not clear how much of that vision ever passed from the founding principal’s thoughts into reality. In any case, that is no longer possible, as he spent the last year in Nepal 1) cleansing his thoughts, then 2) meditating and then 3) sightseeing.
For teachers at Discovery there is no time for sightseeing. Administration is arbitrary, demanding, vindictive, and has gotten worse over time. I don’t know this year’s numbers, but for the previous two over half the staff from September didn’t last until the next September.
It’s not the kids, for the most part. Teachers speak well of most of the kids. But a poisonous administration can cut careers short.
Please, take care of yourself, and do not apply to Discovery HS.
I’ll be adding to this list, but you can help. If you know a school that is a career-ender, e-mail me at “this blog name” at gmail dot com. Explain how the school ends careers, and if possible, share some anecdotes. If you save even one new teacher from ending up at a hell hole, it will have been well worth it.
Number theory for the young?
I’m thinking of a number, and one more than its square is a prime number. What can you tell me for certain about the number?
I’m thinking of a number, and one less than its square is a prime number. What can you tell me for certain about that number?
Imagine a group of young students, but old enough to play with these questions. How would you guide them?
And, oh yeah, what answers would you expect?
How far could you go with kids who don’t work with variables for the second question?
Should they know what’s on the test?
Sounds silly, right? Of course they should. But I mean, should they know the questions in advance?
But that’s a real question in mathematics education, apparently. SKoolBoy over at Eduwonkette’s place says that repeating questions (same form, different numbers) inflates scores. But what’s wrong with kids studying particular math for particular situations? As they get better and more comfortable, they can extend that math into new places.
Mathematics, for kids, can be first a series of skills, perhaps abstracted from a physical situation, and then the application of each skill to one particular situation, and then, and this is the hard part, the ability to look at new situations and decide which skill that is.
There are some who insist that the application of the skill and the skill be learned together, or that the application somehow precede the skill, or at the extreme, that the skill as a skill never be studied at all.
During the height of the math wars the worst texts were organized by non-mathematical topics, with the mathematical skills scattered throughout. I think there is one called ARISE that starts with a unit on elections, cobbling together lots of election math from bits and pieces from probably 10 separate topics. I read that unit and enjoyed it – but only because I already knew most of the math. What a bizarre way to teach the skills though!
The skills we teach are challenging – it’s the nature of teaching a fully abstract subject. They are hard enough without surprises. Whoever decided that we should use “authentic assessment” in grade school mathematics, “performance standards,” “mathematics in context,” they just don’t understand how difficult the math itself is. Those kinds of tests can help separate the top of the students from the rest, but they fail to test what is most important: skill acquisition.
One of my favorite algebra tests that I give, the one on systems of equations, each year I tell my students exactly what they will encounter, the day before the test.
- “One system that you must solve with substitution, set up to make the substitution easy for you.
- One system that you must solve by linear combination, set up to be straightforward.
- One system that you must solve graphically, the answer will probably fall between the lines.
- Three more systems, not set up for a particular method, where you can chose the method of solution. One or two of these will have no solution, and in that case instead of checking your answer, you’ll need to attempt the question using a second method, showing that that also leads to no solution.
- One word problem that leads directly to a system of two linear equations.
- And a wind or current problem.”
You know what? I know what is being measured. The kids know what’s being measured. It’s the material that was taught. And they are real and valuable skills. What’s so bad about knowing what’s going to be on the test?
Do Not Apply – 3 – Bronx Theater
An inconsistent discipline code and arbitrary retaliation against teachers mark, unfortunately, Bronx Theater High School (in the JFK building).
I spoke to 4 current and former teachers, all go straight to the administration when explaining what’s wrong here. But bad enough to put on the Do Not Apply list?
I put the question to a Bronx Theater teacher last month: “What should I tell new teachers?” Now, I was asking a teacher who is staying put, who will survive. But they’ve seen teachers driven out, berated, sent to the rubber room. My question provoked a stare off into space, and then a pause. “Tell them not to come. Tell them not to apply.”
Year end 2008 (2) Graduation
As connected as I was to graduation last year (I spoke, was mentioned by kids, got caught up in congratulations and picture taking afterwards), I was just as disconnected this year. I applauded for all the kids, extra loud for a handful, but was mostly a distant spectator. For weeks I had already been referring to the current juniors as “seniors.”
Things had been moving in this direction. Last year I participated in senior events (dodgeball, skating trip, prom), this year in none. Last year the yearbook was dedicated to all the teachers, but I was singled out, my senior electives (combinatorics and logic) were favorite classes, senior service aides bonded, seniors spent extra time talking, asking advice about the future, discussing friends, politics, hopes. This year, none of that.
It’s funny, in a small school how easy it is to have different feelings for different classes.
Last year I steadied myself during graduation by doing long division in my head. This year, no need for math.
Do Not Apply – 2 – Eximius College Prep
Two anonymous commenters below have chosen multiple names in ways that may confuse readers. I have identified them as XA1 and XA2 so that readers can fairly understand how many voices are present.
With one of the lowest staff retention rates in the city, Eximius is another career-ender. Stay away.
Safety and discipline are top issues at the 6 – 12 school in the Bronx, from classroom phones not working, to kids not being disciplined for serious infractions, to reports not being filed for serious incidents. In some cases arbitrary rules are enforced, such as the ban on water bottles in classrooms during the recent heatwave (classrooms are not air conditioned, though the principal’s office is)
Here are some comments by Eximius teachers:
The major issue is safety/discipline, to the point of regular food fights in the cafeteria nearly causing riots, weapons, out of control water fights, teachers shoved and pushed, and rampant disrespect and disorderliness, often right in front of the principal. Clearly they do not respect her and often complain about her in brutally honest terms. Consequences feel arbitrary and unfair, and most often the teacher is blamed for “faulty classroom management” even when they have received no support all year, and the school is spinning out of control generally. 25% of the staff received U-ratings! Schedules and class rosters changed three times this year (a disaster for MS students who need the stability and routines). Concerned parents are stonewalled by administration and the PTA is actively undermined (flyers “disappearing”, etc.) and there’s no parent coordinator.
As far as turnover, for the 2007-08 school year, we had 31 teachers at the beginning of the year. I anticipate a 61% teacher turnover rate this year, against 52% last year and 30% the year before.
For more comments, see Inside Schools’ report, especially the parent comments at the end.
I’ll be adding to this list, but you can help. If you know a school that is a career-ender, e-mail me at “this blog name” at gmail dot com. Explain how the school ends careers, and if possible, share some anecdotes. If you save even one new teacher from ending up at a hell hole, it will have been well worth it.
Integrated Algebra, wtf?
I want to write about the cut score. 30 out of 87 is passing. That’s low.
And I sat on a committee that helped recommend a cut score. But I signed a confidentiality agreement, and neither the State of New York nor the vendor have given a clear response about what is covered and what is not covered by the agreement.
So I will restrict myself to what I know or could have figured out outside of the Measurement Review Committee meetings.
Short version (notes, not sentences):
- State expected higher scores, and was stuck. 30 out of 87 is embarrassingly low, means that a more normal number would have come with a high failure rate (politically unacceptable)
- Integrated Algebra – too many topics. Like a topic each day, every day.
- Integrated Algebra – mediocre/ lousy course. Algebra w/stats and probability? Some set theory? What holds it together? No cohesion.
- Integrated Algebra Standards – for a course? or for graduation? Huge problem. Can’t have the same standards for both, or they fail for both. (exam was way too easy for bright kids – the other side of the coin)
- Performance Standards – should only be content standards in mathematics. Deciding which math to use is hard, real hard. At college, engineering students show up with lots of mathematical skills, and the school teaches them how to decide which equation to use where.
My Recommendations:
- New standards. Algebra? Geometry? Trig? Maybe, maybe, maybe. But definitely a separate and clear list of graduation standards in math. We don’t have those today.
- Performance standards: No. Take them out. Test kids on skills and mathematical content. No more grilling on reading comprehension/vocabulary. That is part of other exams.
- Topics: Reduce the number of “indicators” (individual topics). Fewer, with some depth. Take out probability and statistics.
- In the meantime? Who knows? Keep a low cut score while fixing the mess?
Performance Standards in Mathematics (brief)
In mathematics, we have traditionally taught skills, and then taught applications or “word problems” that go along with those specific skills and use those skills in specific ways. For example, after learning subtraction, pupils read and answer “take away” problems. Later, after learning subtraction with decimals, students work on change problems. After learning percents, students will answer discount questions, or calculate tax or tips. At the level I teach, algebra, after learning to factor, students might solve area problems. After solving equations with fractions, my students apply the skill to “work” or “mixture” problems. Even knowing the skill, these problems are hard.
But performance standards encourage something else. They give the student an unfamiliar situation, and ask the student to identify and apply the correct mathematical skill. Now, at the “Integrated Algebra” level the range of mathematics is not that great, so this is not impossible. But it is far more difficult than the standards writers understand. It is what colleges do with engineers (come to us with a large mathematics skill set, and we will teach you how to choose the appropriate equations). Using performance standards means the mathematics assessments are littered with science, technology, and artificial and contrived context.
New York State introduced performance standards in mathematics with Math A and B ten years ago. They reduced their role with the switch to Integrated Algebra, Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry, but performance standards must be eliminated.
A bit more on Bronx Aerospace
(Bronx Aerospace is #1 on the Do Not Apply list). Last month the Daily News wrote:
The Bronx Aerospace Academy – which had one of the city’s highest graduation rates in 2006 and is a crown jewel of the small high school movement – was told by the Air Force last month that it had been placed on probation.
“If compliance with all requirements are not met, the program will be closed at the end of the 2008-2009 school year,” an Air Force letter warned. The probation comes as students, teachers and parents increasingly complain about harsh policies at the school…
“They’re under a lot of pressure,” said Dehala Morales, whose son, Jonathan, a school sophomore, hanged himself on April 10 after being suspended for his role in a violent fight and being stripped of his rank in the school’s Air Force ROTC program…
School Principal Barbara Kirkweg founded Aerospace in 2002 as an alternative to traditional public schools where every student would join ROTC and wear sharp military uniforms. She blames criticism on those not up to her high standards…
Other complaints – including 29 filed by parents with the city and scores of grievances from the teachers union – include issues like student cadets being given power to promote and demote their peers; one allegedly promoted his girlfriend. Other concerns include frequent sudden changes to class schedules and harsh discipline like the recent removal of dozens of students from the ROTC program. Those kids have been excluded from ROTC classes and are attending a separate “PM school” from noon to 6 p.m….
Here’s the Daily News link to the full story.
Do Not Apply – 1 – Bronx Aerospace
This blog has a new feature: a Do Not Apply list of NYC public schools. I will expand this list regularly.
Some schools are great. Some are good. Some are ok. Mediocre. Fair. Poor. All of this matters, but in some places the choice is not wide.
But there’s one category of school you need to know about: Career Enders.
New teachers, be careful not to end up in one of those places.
The Bronx Aerospace Academy HS is a career ender. It has one of the highest staff turnover rates in the city. It has sent teachers to the reassignment center (rubber room). There has been arbitrary discipline taken against staff. In one instance, an administrator collected lessons plans from teachers, and a bit later another came around asking for plans. Since the teachers had none, (already gave them up) they were disciplined. There are bad, arbitrary curricular decisions, and a great likelihood that they fake or ‘massage’ data to earn high marks from the City. There are more stories, and more stories, arbitrary dismissals, and tough stuff on kids. But I need people from Aerospace (or more likely formerly from Aerospace) to e-mail me at “this blog name” at gmail dot com. Any specific incidents you recall would be useful. And please, if anyone can fill in details linking the school to the suicide, please do.
I’ll be adding to this list, but you can help. If you know a school that is a career-ender, e-mail me at “this blog name” at gmail dot com. Explain how the school ends careers, and if possible, share some anecdotes. If you save even one new teacher from ending up at a hell hole, it will have been well worth it.
Year End 2008 (1) Congratulations
To all my colleagues in New York who Thursday completed another year.
And to all my colleagues around the country who finished up their school years in the last week, or two weeks, or even late May…
It’s a hard job, often an exhausting job, and the summer is a necessary break, a chance to rest, restore, revitalize.
For those of you working summer school, I hope your A/C is on. And think, next year, can you afford to forego the $$.
But for all of us, congratulations.
Reaching Fellows
Given that the Fellows, as a group, are indifferent or even hostile to the union, how could we possibly talk to them? Organize them?
Before the union meets the Fellows, they have already been carefully inoculated against us. That first summer is key.
And what happens in the first summer? They get bossed around by the Fellows and the DoE and their university. They face arbitrary decisions, rules that don’t make sense. They get assignments they don’t want. They work/study brutally long hours, with massive amounts of homework.
And they do it together, in groups of 25 or so.
Wouldn’t it be nice for us (current teachers and our union) to find ways to reach these small groups of fellows? to have conversations? to clear up misconceptions before they occur?
They are being badly treated. This is the moment when they may be first open to hearing from the union. This is the moment when the Do Not Apply list, if it existed, would be most useful.
And they are sitting together in groups. Can’t be that hard to find them, right?
Reaching fellows with a pro-union message, giving them advice, survival skills, saving them from signing up at career-ending schools, this can and should be done.
Integrated Algebra Conversion Chart – Later Today
Later today, if all goes well… Later this morning, if all goes very well, New York State Education Department will be posting a conversion chart for the Integrated Algebra.
The conversion chart will probably be here. Also, please complete the Teacher Evaluation of the Exam.
For previous posts on Integrated Algebra: General – Procedures – Scoring
For previous posts on the Regents in General: from me – from a retired NY State math guy
Finally, I was on the Integrated Algebra Measurement Review Committee. (In Albany in April, and then again Tuesday). Some of what we did remains confidential until after the score chart comes out. Trust me, I will have more to say, soon.
Do Not Apply
What New York City schools are so horrible, so career-ending, so abusive (esp of teachers, but also of students) that we should protect new members by advising them to stay away?
Yesterday I suggested that we (teachers and our unions) should make this information available to new teachers. But doing it is hard. The problems must be severe to make this list. But they are out there.
Does the school have assaults on teachers that go unreported? Do students get away with bad stuff without consequences, or minor consequences?
Does the principal get rid of people (plural) mid-year? Fabricate charges? Get their licenses lifted?
Do routine requests for help or repairs get ignored?
Do teachers walk around scared? Do you see adults getting yelled at by administrators on a regular basis?
Do most teachers talk about leaving? And do more than half leave each year?
Which schools, folks, which are so bad that no one should apply? I’ll name a few, in a few days. But I only really know high schools, and mostly up here in the Bronx. It would be great if you could supply the names of other schools at other levels and in other borough. E-mail me (this blogname at gmail dot com). Explain why the school belongs on the DNA list. Please be as specific as you feel comfortable.
(this is about the 12th in a series of posts this month on the relationship between NYC Teaching Fellows and other teachers in NYC and our union. Start reading at the beginning here or one post earlier, there.)
There are no neutrals
Over the last week or so I posted five YouTubes of “Which Side Are You On?” Now, this wasn’t random.
- I like the song.
- I was writing about treating signing up new members (and Fellows) like organizing, like real union work.
- Two weeks ago Jose Vilson asked for an identifying sign-off (it’s a matter of poetry), and I complied with the “only two sides” line.
But five versions?
I grew up with Pete Seeger’s.
The two women on the banjo and guitar, with the cat walking by, just sounds good.
Dropkick Murphys? I was worried, with the loud, shouted version, that the audience just liked the noise. But which line does the audience shout at the stage? “will you be a lousy scab or will you be a man?” Hard to argue with that.
Rebel Diaz is some hard political stuff. But they choose carefully, and while I’m not in love with everything they rap, the thing, the spirit is right. Very right. And don’t miss the “teachers and lunch ladies” or “a world without borders and a better tomorrow.” There’s a cleaner version, but with images only.
And then the Natalie Merchant version is just so pretty.
In the end, I was going to say that I grew up with Pete Seeger, that I like his the best, but I have replayed the song who knows how many times over the last week, and know what? The two women on the couch with the banjo, guitar and the cat? I can’t stop listening to them.
What issues matter to new teachers?
Lot’s of them. Here’s a few big ones that we (teachers and the United Federation of Teachers, our union) can seize:
(this post continues a series of posts on Teaching Fellows in NYC. Here is the link to the previous one, and the one before that.)
Schools. Where to work. We should tell them the opposite – where not to work. How about posting a list of schools that destroy, burn out, and throw away new teachers every year? (Responsibility: Central, website, New York Teacher newspaper)
- Make a list of schools not to apply to.
- Continue providing help/info on certification and pay.
- Combat bad treatment of Fellows by the NYCTF.
- Give new teachers lessons.
- Stand up to administrators who treat fellows badly; start with scheduling issues.
- Send a positive message, from all of us, that Fellows are part of our chapters and our union, and that we want to keep more of them teaching for longer.
Certification/Pay. We already do a lot of work. New teachers call for help all the time. (Responsibility: borough offices; central)
(continues below the fold) Read more…
Bad Math B questions (3)
The June 2008 Math B exam is available as a PDF from JMAP.
I already posted three bad problems, and then three more. There is ongoing math teacher discussion of individual questions at a Math A/B listserve run by the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State)
Here’s the last two that really bother me are 33 and 34, the 6 point free response questions, most valuable on the exam:
#33 Solve for x:
So here’s the deal:
That’s what the State expected (then solve the quadratic, reject the bad root. Talk about failure to anticipate!
Most kids seem to have done this, instead:
(more common answer, and the worst problem, below the fold) Read more…
Perimeter = Area?
I was thinking of asking for a square with perimeter = area, but that’s either silly or boring.
Give me a square, any square. I’ll bisect a side, then bisect that segment, call the result a unit, and the perimeter is 16 units, the area 16 square units. Works for any square. Boring.
So, readers, can we do something interesting with this? Different shapes? Different regular polygons?
The equilateral triangle has ugly irrational perimeter = area, but some of the other segments…
Concentrate on a side? an altitude? apothem? segment from center to vertex?
An interesting problem, dear readers, can we get an interesting problem out of this?
JD2718 