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…
Puzzle – the dinner introduction
At a dinner party, Alec, Barney, Cathy, Delia, Edgar, Francine, Greta, and Harold, 8 people who have not previously met, sit at one square table.
“Let’s shake hands” says one, and all eight reach out, grasp another hand, and shake.
“Four handshakes, and no arms crossing! Can we do that another way?” And they did. Again, and again, and again…. until there were no more new patterns.
Each time all eight shook hands. While some individual handshakes repeated, the overall pattern was different each time. How many times did they shake? If they are sitting in alphabetical order, how many times does Francine shake the hand of each other guest?
Carnival of Ed at Homeslice
A union blogger has this week’s Carnival of Education. #117.
While I have mixed feelings about the Carnival in general, got to love that Dr. Homeslice is the host.
This week’s has a quick tempo one-liner feel to it.
And I am almost at the top… item #2… another Good Thing
A tale of two streets
My school is mixed. Ethnically, racially, socio-economically. We enroll students from across the City.
Saturday I was walking in Manhattan, long walk from the Upper East Side to Houston. Looking a bit scruffy. In a fancy-ish neighborhood I see the mother of a student. She’s dressed up. As we near each other I try to make eye contact, and say her name (and notice that her husband is next to her), and… And? And nothing. She looks right through me, like I’m invisible.
Yesterday I’m on the street by the subway, near my apartment, here in the Bronx, on my cell, outside a diner, waiting for an order. “Mr. 2718!” I look up at a woman, and realize it is a student. From the first class I ever taught. (That was at a large, regular Bronx high school). We talk about people from that class – I know where a few are, she knows many more. She’s off to teach English in Japan next year, and then high school social studies here in NY the year after that.
We are interrupted “2718!” It’s a neighborhood kid. When I was a new teacher I spent time hanging out with young college-age students on the corner, and sometimes their younger friends and siblings. This kid was younger. Anyway, he finally finished high school and is working supervising concessions at the Stadium, waiting to be called by Sanitation…
It’s nice when people say hi.
Open market transfers – practical items
The open market transfer period opened early last week. To view the site: 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. The DoE says you need Internet Explorer or Netscape, but Firefox worked fine (social security got spread onto three lines. Big deal).
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.
(more beneath the fold —->) Read more…
Reorganization agreement – transfers
When the City announced its reorganization plan, it threw poison into an already problematic transfer process.
We may lose more rounds. But we are answering. Our answers should be public and involve our members directly. Collective response, even if it is weak at first, is an important step towards restoring our strength, towards more effective responses down the line.
Seniority transfers once held sway. Half of a school’s vacancies had to be filled by seniority transfers, and the positions of unlicensed teachers were considered vacancies. That’s how it was when I started working for the NYC Board of Education in the late 90’s.
(more beneath the fold —>) Read more…
Reorganization agreement – what now?
A few days ago I wrote:
Bloomberg and his Chancellor are targetting public education in NYC. This is bad for teachers, among others, but the teachers are not the primary target. (post is here)
I was disappointed that the agreement the UFT (and a parent/community coalition) wrested from the Mayor did not address the one item aimed directly at teachers (a funding formula that will make it hard for senior teachers to transfer – and those in closing schools must transfer). Arguably the only real gain was a related piece of funding that keeps many schools from taking hits the first two years.
(read more beneath the fold –>) Read more…
New Principal’s Contract
Press release available here. It looks like they got hit as bad as we did a year and a half ago, except they got a smidge more $$$.
Interesting for us: APs who can’t find work can end up being 3-period teachers with 2-period admin assignments. IOW, the DoE is creating a level of teacher-administrator, which they already do, de facto, in some schools.
Do parents have tenure?
I read the New York Post. Occasionally. But I read it. It’s a childhood thing. My father used to bring it home every evening. Cost extra, too, since we were 75 miles from the City. He still does, AFAIK. It’s a habit he picked up back when he was at school in University Heights and the Post was Dorothy Schiff’s liberal afternoon tabloid. I know what it is today. But when I see a copy, I still grab it.
Q: What’s the difference between the New York Post and the Weekly World News?
Anyhow, today’s Post says, and I kid you not, that Bloomberg’s Chancellor wants to give principals the power to expel parents from PTAs. Read this:
The city Department of Education is mulling a stunning policy change that would allow principals to ban parents from the volunteer panels for patterns of “negative behavior.”
“It’s just too much gray area,” said Suzanne Windland, treasurer of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council. …
(more below the fold –>) Read more…
Spitzer and mayoral control
While we were distracted last week, with the announcement about the restructuring of the restructuring of the NYC Dept of Education (itself the restructured NYC Board of Education…)… So now you must be so dizzy from all those “restructurings” that you might not notice this:
- on thursday new york state governor eliot spitzer announced he would veto any attempt to end mayoral control.
Really?
Reorganization agreement – a comment
At the March Delegate Assembly, Randi Weingarten spelled out at length the problems with the proposed reorganization. Two days earlier, Joe Colletti gave a perhaps more detailed description of the effect the changes would have on funding.
I took a few things away from their remarks: Bloomberg and his Chancellor are targetting public education in NYC. This is bad for teachers, among others, but the teachers are not the primary target. In response to a question, Joe talked about the teachers who might be directly affected, and identified this as a small group. I was not convinced that he was completely correct, but his answers were certainly thoughtful and well-reasoned. He was quite concerned with the damage they would inflict with their version of weighted student funding.
Randi’s remarks two days later were broader in scope. She ran through the different aspects of the reorganization, and asked the Delegate Assembly to approve a rally (May 9) to oppose it. Her speech was wonkish, and drew weak applause. She regrouped, tried again with more emotion, and got a rousing endorsement for May 9.
Did we get the DoE to include us in decision making, and then forget about the threat to public education, and the creeping privatization of our school system?
(More, beneath the fold –>) Read more…
Puzzle – How many rectangles on a chess board? – Solutions
This is the place for solutions to the rectangles on the chess board problem. The original problem is here.
Puzzle – How many rectangles on a chess board?
A favorite problem-solving problem among middle school and high school mathematics teachers is “How many squares are on a chessboard?” There is a nice twist for understanding (squares can be different sizes), some room for technique differences (counting by drawing, by reasoning, by laying a cut-out over actual squares, etc), and two major plans that work: an organized count, working with different-sized squares, and a solution by a pattern hunt: solve the problem for a 1×1 chessboard, then 2×2, then 3×3, and so on.
[update: Image (and nice solution) from Nigel.]
I have a third (lovely) solution: For each little square on the board, count how many squares it is the northwest corner of. So, each of 15 squares on the south or east edge is the nw corner of only one square. The 13 adjacent squares are the nw corner of two squares each… We end up with 15×1 + 13×2 + 11×3 + 9×4 + 7×5 + 5×6 + 3×7 + 1×8…. This is nice with a fast class for use during the final “looking back” phase. Can the kids explain the relationships between the three methods of solution.
Anyway, today’s problem is, imo, richer. Use the space below for questions/comments, and click here to share various answers. There is wider variety of solutions with today’s problem than with the squares, and more room for discussion up front.
Reorganization Agreement – some details
Some agreement was reached yesterday. Leo Casey posted some details on Edwize late this morning. I am especially concerned about the “hold harmless” language. It reads like a slippery proposition to me.
Here’s what Leo wrote:
Here are the agreement’s key components:
CHANGES IN FUNDING FORMULAS
No school will have its budget cut as a result of the new funding formulas for the next two school years [2007-08, 2008-09]. Schools with large numbers of high needs students will receive additional funding, without a reduction of funding to other schools.
(continues below the fold–> Read more…
Reorganization agreement?
I came home this evening to find that there is some sort of agreement about reorganization. First, here’s the text I found:
Union, parents, city reach agreement on reorganization
Apr 19, 2007 7:32 PM
New York City teachers, parents and students have finally been heard.
The UFT and our coalition partners have come to an agreement with the city on some of the most troubling issues in the DOE’s latest reorganization plan, including school funding, tenure, class size, parent engagement, ELL funding and a middle school strategy.
We believe the agreement, which was announced at a Thursday (April 19) afternoon press conference, will protect members and avert the destabilizing effect of the new funding formula on schools.
In addition, the agreement will give educators, parents and others a continuing voice in decision-making through several new central committees and revitalized School Leadership Teams.
UFT President Randi Weingarten said she still has qualms about some aspects of the reorganization. She said, “We believe in additional funds for the kids traditionally left behind, but not at the expense of schools that work. This agreement eliminates all the economic incentives to destabilize good schools.”
(continued beneath the fold —>) Read more…
Spring Break is over
Actually, during our real spring break, I kept posting, but was out of steam last week. Sorry for disappearing without a word, but I am back.
Mismatch
The NYC Dept of Education has lots of ways to get excited about failure. Just a few weeks ago they boasted about high school admissions this year. Do I exaggerate? Was it a boast? You decide:
Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein Announces That More Than 80% of Students Received One of Their Top Five Choices in the High School Admissions Process for Second Consecutive Year
Click the link. It’s a real article. They are delighted. But the details don’t seem so delightful. 90,000 students, almost 10% didn’t get into any of their top 12 choices.
12 choices! And that’s not counting the specialized high schools (Stuyvesant etc) What kind of system is this?
And look at the numbers. Only 60% got one of their top two (non-specialized) choices. And 20% got none of their top 5 choices. 17,000 students? And these people are boasting?
- There is something wrong with the system.
- Twelve choices (plus specialized) is ridiculous.
- 8000 kids without placement and 9000 more with placement in their 7th or 10th or 12th choice is unacceptable.
- Even with their lousy system, a better algorithm would place more kids in a reasonable choice.
- Even with their lousy system, I suspect that they are monkeying with placement (paying out favors, etc) downtown.
- The themes of themed mini-schools are harmed if 20% of their students aren’t interested in the theme.
- A natural place for students without good matches to go is their zoned school – but the DoE has been shutting them down or making them unzoned.
- The number of vocational choices is far too low.
These folks should a) reorganize their collective heads out of their collective butts, b) drop the nonsensical reorganization they are trying to put over on teachers, parents and students, and c) reorganize something that can be fixed for once: the high school matching system.
But, oh yeah. These folks are interested in destroying the system and manufacturing failure, not in fixing anything.
New Carnival of Mathematics
Charles Daney at Science and Reason created the Carnival of Mathematics, Ordinal 5. This edition of the Carnival is more weighted towards serious math, but I am slowly picking through a few posts. Charles is especially skilled at identifying mathematics news (there really is such a thing), and offering some background links, as well as the carnival ones. It makes it possible for a novice to attempt to read….There is teaching stuff and computer, as well.
I’ll be hosting, right here, in a month and a half. It will be challenging to do a good one. And Dave Marain right after that. (He gets it easy, coming after me!)
An unpleasant game
Dan at dy/dan challenged a few of us:
Choose any of your sections. Now, before you hand out your next objective assessment, write down a quick prediction of every student’s exam grade. Grade them and compare the results.
I did it. Three classes. On the technical side, Dan was working with A, B, C, etc. My predictions were numbers: 74, 82, 97, etc. I arbitrarily decided that within 9 points is correct, 10 to 19 points is one grade off, etc.
My results and discussion come below the fold —> Read more…
Teacher Pay Scale – Stamford CT
As I find them, I will post teacher pay scales, concentrating on communities not so far from NYC. For the New York City Department of Education salary schedule, click current or future.
Stamford, Connecticut is a city on Long Island Sound, just east of Greenwich and west of Darien. It is about 70% white 15% Black, 15% Hispanic. The southern half of Stamford (closer to I-95) is poorer and less white; the northern half (closer to the Merritt Parkway is very rich. Motorists and train commuters may associate Stamford with its glitzy downtown, dominated by glass office towers. Several large companies have their corporate headquarters there.
Stamford’s salary schedule is below the fold ———–> Read more…
Acting against reorganization
The DoE’s reorganization is directed against us (NYC’s teachers) and against the system of public education as a whole. I am absolutely convinced. But is everyone?
Here’s why I ask: at last week’s delegate assembly, we voted to co-sponsor (with parent groups?) a demonstration against the reorg. Look, we have seen dedicated groups of parents show up at Bloomberg’s Chancellor’s town hall meetings to make their anti-reorganization feelings known. We had, what? 1500? show up at a small demonstration/meeting in the east 30’s.
But I would guess that most people in NYC don’t know what the reorganization will do. OK. It’s possible to take action in a way that helps educate them. I think most parents don’t know what the Chancellor is doing. Once again, not insurmountable.
Demonstrating is the right thing to do. So how do we convice our colleagues?
But I also think most teachers don’t know what’s at stake. Am I wrong? They don’t trust the DoE or the current administration. But do they object to specific provisions of the reorganization? Have they been convinced that there is something here worth demonstrating over? I am not too certain what the main talking points should be. When Randi spoke at the DA, she carefully laid out a fairly complicated argument, and was greeted with fairly tepid applause. She simplified the argument, and made it a bit louder, and then the crowd roared with her, for her.
So we need a refined message, and we need to start reaching folks with it, our own folks. We are building a demonstration. What are the 1, 2, 3, 4 points we are emphasizing?
And as we develop a more compact, more easily understandable argument, we need to tailor it to our own members first. Demonstrating is the right thing to do. It was the right decision. So how do we convice our colleagues?
Easter break Carnival of Education
…is up here at Getting Green. It’s a well-organized carnival. Check it out.
LSAT logic puzzles
My logic class gets every Friday off. Sort of. We meet Friday first period, bit for games and puzzles, not a regular class. It is part of my deal to con the kiddies into signing up for the class, and it lightens the work load by 25% or so.
Anyhow, class of over 30, and by far their favorite choice for Friday activities are LSAT logic puzzles. I hand out a regular section (4 groups) and the best paper gets a “homework pass.” Sometimes I like having geeky kids.
Puzzle: one over one plus one over one plus…
A month ago Dave Marain ran a discussion of 
I know this one has been done many many times before. But he generated a nice discussion.
In the same vein, what is the value of 
Once again I am preparing separate comment places for
- methods of solution and
- different versions of the problem, suitable for older/younger more advanced/less advanced students.
Questions belong in the comment space, right here.
What makes these two problems so similar?
Puzzle: one over one plus … – methods of solution
This is the place to offer methods of solutions for the puzzle below:
What is the value of
A month ago Dave Marain ran a discussion of
I know this one has been done many many times before. But he generated a nice discussion.
There are also places for:
- different versions of the problem, suitable for older/younger more advanced/less advanced students.
- Questions about the problem.
What makes these two problems so similar?
JD2718 