LSO derby – middle schools
I posted some quick counts last week. (Look here). I also posted separate high school numbers and separate elementary school numbers. The last group, the middle schools, are below.
Middle schools? What happened to k- 8 schools? Or 6 – 12? I don’t know. I probably was not consistent. Still, we get an idea of what happened.
No analysis here – too many schools are misassigned. Some boroughs’ numbers look more like their elementary numbers, some look more like their high school numbers. Empowerment is 2 thirds of Manahattan; Chin took 60% of Queens; The PSO’s did best in the Bronx.(Detailed numbers are beneath the fold —>) Read more…
LSO derby – elementary schools
Yesterday I posted the LSO results for high schools. Today? Elementary schools. (Totals for all schools are here). Patrick suggested that separating the levels was important, and so I am trying to do that.
Most elementary schools are called PSxxx where those x’s are numbers. For named schools, I went by the name as best I could, then the codes based on the old districts (10×008 is PS8, Bronx in old District 10) assuming 0xx’s and 1xx’s were elementary. I know, plenty wrong. But mostly right.
Few elementary schools chose PSOs (some were MS/HS only). Empowerment numbers are under 30%, (vs 44% among high schools). Proportionately far more elementary schools than high schools chose LSO’s: 66% vs. 36%. By borough: Bronx – 47% elem, 26% hs; Man – 57% elem, 33% hs; Bklyn – 69% elem, 38% hs; Qns – 85% elem, 59% hs; SI – 62% elem, 22% hs.
One LSO, Judith Chin’s “Integrated Curriculum,” did especially well at the elementary level. Chin was first at the high school level (15%, vs 12%, 6% and 4% for the others) but at the elementary level a whopping 36% of schools signed on with her, including 70% in Queens, 60% in Staten Island, and 33% in Manhattan, where she once worked.
(Detailed numbers are beneath the fold —>) Read more…
LSO derby – high schools
The LSO derby is over, and the numbers are in. I posted some quick counts last week. (Look here). Now I’ve separated out the high school numbers, as reader Patrick suggested.
I made mistakes. I quickly decided which schools were high schools, which were middle schools, without checking carefully. In most cases I knew, and I was right. Lots of good guesses. I think I counted most 6 – 12 schools as middle schools, but I must have slipped. I omitted D75 schools since I was hopeless at determining the grade level.
The PSOs as a whole did best in the Bronx, by far. A third of Bronx schools went with a non-DoE support organization, compared to 13% in the rest of the City. As with the current generation of small schools, and with various iffy curricular initiatives, and with a disproportionate number of Leadership Academy incompetents, this reflects a sense that it is ok to use the children in the poorest, weakest borough as guinea pigs.
The empowerment numbers are nearly 50%, but they don’t include the larger high schools, which were much more likely to stay with an LSO. New Visions also has significant numbers of small schools.
(Detailed numbers are beneath the fold —>) Read more…
Puzzle: another boat
The previous question seemed so easy. Let’s modify it, just a bit:
On a lake, with a very straight shore, you are 4 miles out in a small boat. You can row at 4mph, but once you reach land, you need to get to a friend who is 12 miles up the shore. You have your skateboard with you , and can ride at 12 mph. (in other words, the perpendicular boat-shore and the shore itself create a right triangle). What’s the least amount of time it would take you to reach your friend?
LSO, PSOs, and worse – some quick counts
The LSO derby is over, and the numbers are in.
A couple of things jump out. Each borough was fairly different. Empowerment took 50% of Manhattan, but under 20% in Queens and Staten Island. The PSO’s as a group were more successful in the Bronx than in any other borough.
Queens and Staten Island were dominated by one LSO: Chin. The Bronx and Brooklyn were more divided.
I’ll produce percents, but anyone can figure them out now. In addition, I will work on a separate high school listing. If there’s any other way you want the data split up, let me know.
(Detailed numbers are beneath the fold —>) Read more…
Ellipse question
A student asks: is a circle an ellipse.
Certainly a square is a (special) rhombus, so I know what she’s getting at; the analogy is tempting.
But I also know that in the US, a parallelogram is (usually) not a trapezoid.
Anyway, can you help me answer the girl’s question?
Puzzle: a little boat problem
A friend asks:
On a lake, with a very straight shore, you are 6 miles out in a small boat. The boat can make 6mph, but once you reach land, you need to get to a friend who is 2 miles up the shore. You can walk 2 mph. (in other words, the perpendicular boat-shore and the shore itself create a right triangle). What’s the least amount of time it would take you to reach your friend?
United Federation of Teachers website
If you haven’t gone there in a while, stop by the UFT website. Over the last few months there have been improvements.
Salary schedule, teachers contract, secretary contract, counselor contract, para contract, all linked directly from the front page (lower right hand links).
Trouble transfering? There’s a link for you as well (though I firmly believe that putting the burden on the individual member is squarely not what a union should be doing.)
“Know Your Rights” is on the right. A membership application is on the left. So is Edwize, the NY Teacher newspaper, the Welfare Fund, and a dozen other useful, one-click links. Getting to anything else, though, can be a maze of clicking, back-arrows, and confusion. Can’t fix everything, all at once.
But the good stuff is good. Just goes to show you, a functional website is more important than a pretty one.
Much new teacher stuff is now first paged, but for some useful info, try the NY Teacher’s current Newer Teacher columns (good) and Newer Teacher archives (tons). Someone needs to go through, though, and make certain that nothing is outdated by newer contracts or agreements.
New links: Klonsky and Klonsky
I had to reread and recheck about a half-dozen times to be certain. But the two links I added today? Both were Klonskys.
Mike, pictured with cap, is a small schools advocate. I am not in love with small schools, but they do have a place in our system, including a mix of large and small. Alternative schools must be small, but there is room for other small schools, as well. What makes Mike worth linking is that he wants good small schools, not necessarily lots of small schools. Of particular interest to me is that Mike has been critical of the small schools recently set up (and still being set up!) in NYC. For example, in this post.
Now, is this Mike’s brother? (Picture is at top, I can’t grab it, don’t know why) That link is to his old site. Here is his new one (he migrated to WordPress). Fred Klonsky is a 20+ year veteran teacher (art) and the president of his local union in Park Ridge Illinois. And he blogs on issues I want to read about, and he’s thoughtful and worth reading. While they are both good writers, my heart (and more of my clicks) go to Fred, the union Klonsky.
[Update! Sloppy reading on my part. Mike’s most recent post mentions his brother, Fred. So they are brothers.]
A Spring trip
Not my usual. Yesterday I led an excursion to theater and dinner for a group of my students.
The play was Spring Awakening. Written over 100 years ago in Germany, it’s pretty standard adolescent coming of age stuff, though a bit surprising from the 1890’s… The story was, eeyaaah, more like a few intertwined vignettes, and some was a bit hard for my students to follow.
I sent a letter home, special permission slip, for the adult themes and brief nudity. It was almost besides the point – SVU deals with tougher themes, and the nudity consisted of about 15 seconds of an undraped right breast, and two 30 second scenes with exposed buttocks. I did have a student a bit unnerved by (I assume) a violent scene between a boy and a girl.
The cast was strong. I know that we will see young adults, mid 20’s, playing teenagers… it was nice that there was at least one role taken by a real high school student.
Music. Choreography. Superb. Worth seeing just for them.
(dinner below the fold –>) Read more…
Green Dot?
Reading assignment:
- Dr. Homeslice first post, (read the next to last comment closely – from an UTLA insider)
- and follow up.
- Green Dot board member (on Fox, of course).
- Leo Casey on Edwize. Read the comments and updates as well.
- NYC Educator.
- Eduwonk.
Comments to follow.
[update] Let’s add to the list:
- Fred Klonsky. (the situation is contradictory. I am glad someone says so.)
Carnival of Mathematics VIII
Is over at Geomblog. Take a look. Suresh has managed to organize the carnival around “explanations.” Did he contact contributors in advance? I don’t know. But it’s nice to see an overall theme.
Not only does Mark Chu-Carrol have his regular excellent and clear explanation of a topic in undergraduate mathematics (this week: Cantor’s diagonalization), but it seems that the majority of contributors have explanations of topics for this edition. Michi, a grad student in mathematics, visits a high school once a week, and describes the super-challenging problems he does with an advanced group there. Andy translates computability problems into cats and dogs and sewage and mine shafts, for the benefit and amusement of, I assume, his peers and us, Leo discusses the work of his undergraduates, and of course there’s me and Dave Marain, Dan Greene, and more and more and more.
(I will be hosting one of these math carnivals, soon…)
Quick square anagram challenges
441 and 144 are anagrams of each other. 441 is 
Try as many of these anagram-related questions as you like.
- Can you find another 3-digit perfect square anagram?
- Can you find a longer perfect square anagram? Should we count 210 and 120?
- 21 and 12 are reversals of one another. Are all perfect square anagrams based on such reversals?
- What’s the greatest perfect square anagram you can find that is not a simple extension of a smaller perfect square anagram?
Teachers’ business
Last week’s UFT Delegate Assembly had an interesting agenda. Given the recently called and cancelled demonstration, and the shuffling of DA dates, this wasn’t exactly shocking. Plus we recently approved, en masse, some resolutions that had been sitting, unmoved, on the agenda for months.
But what caught my attention? Not the unscheduled debate on putting a demonstration discussion on June’s agenda. (good idea, defeated about 3:1). Not the endless parade of LSO and PSO shills and “Empowerment” hucksters. Some Principals kept their Chapter Leaders and Delegates in the dark about these “choices” and there were plenty of teachers who stayed to the bitter end (an hour late!) to get this valuable (?) (ha!) information.
This is a genuine multipartisan sentiment. …Supporters of every caucus walking out angry. Regular Chapter Leaders and Delegates deserve to be treated with respect. Respect our commitment to the UFT.
But with half an hour left to the regular agenda, the United Federation of Teachers Delegate Assembly was handed over to Daniel Doctoroff. Now, this was not the first thing that has been handed over to Mr. Doctoroff. Deputy Mayor Doctoroff. (Who gave him that job?)
(more beneath the fold) —> Read more…
Open market transfers, update
Principals have begun putting vacancies on Galaxy. The open market picks them up. As of this morning almost 1000 vacancies were posted, almost 100 in math (the only subject I bothered checking). There’s about 25 guidance counselor slots, 20 paras, maybe 30+ school secretaries. (click on “Title” twice to sort these jobs towards the front). Note: the search utility does not function.
Getting on: https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/dhr/transferplane/
Click “sign in” to proceed: https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/dhr/transferplane/apps/login.aspx
If it is your first time, you will need to register. Your user id is ABBBXXXX where A is your first initial, B is the first 3 letters of your last name, and XXXX is the last four digits of your social security number.
There are listings. Are there jobs? It will be interesting to learn what groups of teachers have difficulty transfering. If you make over 50k and you are having problems getting interviews or actually landing a position, assume salary discrimination (against your age or level of experience). Contact the union.
Erdős and me? N(e)(me) = 5 (extended)
Did you read this post where I connected my students to Pierre Fermat (in 5 awkward steps)? That sort of game is familiar.
You know Six Degrees of Separation? (eg, I know someone, who knows someone, who… and I get to almost anyone within six steps.)
How about Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? (Elvis Presley was in Change of Habit with Ed Asner, who was in JFK with Kevin Bacon…)
Well the mathematics world has an answer to them: The Erdős Number. Paul Erdős was a totally kooky (seriously!) 20th century mathematician. He was prolific: it is likely that no other mathematician has written or co-written so many papers (over 1500), or worked with so many collaborators (over 500 co-authors).
So how do Erdős numbers work? Erdős himself has an Erdős number of 0. Anyone who wrote a paper with him has an Erdős number of 1. Anyone who wrote a paper with someone who wrote a paper with… You get the idea.
(and me? –>) Read more…
An expanded high school logic unit
Hey you wanna be a total pal and outline (as briefly as you need to) how you handle a logic unit? It’s the end of the year and I’ve been kind of bouncing around between argument and vocabulary without an exit strategy. Any help would be great.
Sure, and you (or anyone else), feel free to ask me to expand on my sometimes cryptic shorthand. What you do depends on how far you want to go, and in what direction.
(the good stuff’s beneath the fold –>) Read more…
Fermat and you
Last week I showed the Nova segment about proving Fermat’s Last Theorem to my freshman algebra class. At the end we briefly spoke about it. The kids stated the theorem, recapped some of the highlights of steps towards a proof. I made them point out that ideas sometimes look good, but don’t work out, and they got it, they got that it’s like when we double back in our own problem solving. They recognized some of the fancy mathematical symbols. And finally, I made them name as many names as they could recall, made them recognize both the collective and the individual activity that brought about the proof.
I then added a name to the board and began speaking rapidly.
“Fermat proposed the theorem. Eventually Andrew Wiles proved it. One of his grad students who helped out” (and here I pointed to the board) “was named Conrad, one of two twin mathematicians. His father, Steve Conrad, was a math teacher on Long Island. Steve Conrad has a neat way of factoring trinomials, which he taught to me. And I taught it to you.”
Ok, those are some pretty tenuous links. And maybe the details aren’t quite right. But for an instant my little students thought they were connected to Pierre Fermat, and quietly oohed and aahed.
Logical symbols
I finally got to the math-y part of my logic elective. On the first day we symbolized simple English language statements, and learned about “not,” “or,” “and,” “if… then… ,” and logical equivalence. But there are so many symbols floating around for those five items! I could have stuck with those in my text book (Hurley). Or I could have used the “standard” New York State symbols (ideosyncratic and non-standard, I believe). Are there best symbols for those 5?
Later today or tomorrow I will put up a (prettified) version of the table I put on the board: it included multiple symbols, and the corresponding symbols from arithmetic or set theory, as appropriate.
(This table is actually an image that comes from a site promoting totally new notation (the far right column). It’s an interesting link to follow.)
Coalition credit
Credit where credit is due. The UFT’s leaders did little to protect teachers when they renegotiated the reorganization. The changes that affect transfers are ugly, and even if they do not produce immediate negative results (but they very well may), even so, in the long run they cede control that we had gained through the SBO (School based option) transfer, cede it from teacher/admin joint control back to unilateral principal control.
The UFT’s negotiating led to changes in funding that essentially delay for 2 years one of the more destructive aspects of the reorg.
But, credit where credit is due. The UFT put together a coalition, a real coalition, of community-based groups, parent groups, activist groups, advocacy groups.
NYC teacher open market: opening soon?
And here we are, May 8, the open market has been open for going on two weeks, and as of yesterday evening Galaxy was still not allowing principals to post vacancies. So there are just a handful of jobs listed, sitting there, getting stale.
Under the old SBO transfers we had a definite date that transfers would be listed by. I know that they changed it last minute once or twice, but the information was available. This time, we just don’t know. How can anyone believe these people?
A little math magic
“Think of a number” I tell the kids, “and don’t tell me it. Make sure it’s not too big, because you need to do some math with it.”
“Now square your number. You have a result?” I give them a moment, actually after each step. There’s no sense in leaving anyone behind, even the easily distracted. “Take your whole result, and throw it out, except for the rightmost digit, the units digit. Everyone should have a one digit number.”
“Now take that one digit number (everyone has a one digit number?) and square that. Once again, throw it all out, except the rightmost digit. Now, take that last one digit number, and multiply it by your original number.” Fussing with paper, a few calculators… And I ask them one by one what their final result is, and tell them one by one what their original number was.
- “71” “Your number was 71”
- “72” “Your number was 12”
- “75” “Your number was 15”
(more below the fold –>) Read more…
This week in blogging, here
What’s been going on?
- On Edwize there have been two serious discussions about the modifications to the Bloomberg Department of Ed reorganization, first about the agreement and then about teachers transfers.
- I have been involved in a discussion with a (soon to be) local teacher union leader in a state where only some of the teachers belong to the union. See Educator on the Edge for more.
- The NY Post has an article about a charter school in the Bronx where four teachers were fired over the course of the year, and the other four have just quit. That’s the whole teaching staff. (NYC Educator found this article).
- I put stuff into two carnivals: Education (because Dr. Homeslice, as pro-union as they come, was the host) and Mathematics (because, well, you know)
- I got linked by Manhattan User’s Guide (Charlie
DougSuissman’s) and had (for me) a nice spike in visits (thank you Charlie. Edit –Doug– Charlie wondered why I used his brother’s name. Probably I picked up the “UG” from MUG). If you are here from MUG, welcome, though it really is a strange little place (and what’s not snappy about 2718?) - Two of my favorite teacher/bloggers have news:
- A third of the way to his eleventy-first year, Dave Marain announced his retirement. Busy man. Big family. But he’ll keep doing math and keep blogging, at least for now. There are policy issues that he is committed to addressing or correcting.
- Pissed Off Teacher’s mom
is dying(update) died today. Even if you don’t leave a comment, visiting her site would be a nice thing to do. The first post about her mom from a month ago is here, and there are a bunch more, up throughthis post from Friday. today’s note about her passing.
As always, links come and go.
- xkcd has some great geek cartoons (sample here –>)
- jennifer spates is preachy, but about issues I agree with.
- Goodbye Quadratic Queen, we hardly knew you.
n0noscience hosts Carnival of Mathematics #7
The 4th prime, 4th odd carnival of mathematics is just this click away.
The Carnival now seems to be well-established, though founder, Alon Levy, announced over a month ago that he was leaving blogging. Check out for yourself, but it sounds like he didn’t think his traffic justified his existence. Good thing I employ no such standard!
I don’t know the rules for this sort of stuff, but the image to the right is from Cool Math for Kids. It’s part of a neat little puzzle.
(Even if I am breaking rules by grabbing it, I figure making it small, plugging their site, and giving them credit, that’s probably enough to cover me.)
f(time) at dy/dan
Dan at dy/dan has a neat intro lesson on graphing. In short, he gets the kiddies to graph elevation vs time for a series of events that he has videotaped. He has rewind, and slow motion, and it sounds like they get it….
He has offered to send the neat materials to the first 20 bloggers who link the post. Let’s see if I make it under the wire.
Me? I graph street vs time (using 2nd Avenue, and pretending its not one way, since we need a 1st Street.) We graph a cab’s story (lights, stops, traffic), and then graph some linear motion.
(more below the fold —>) Read more…
JD2718 