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Friday, July 31, 2009

Taking a break.

There won't be anything going on here behind the curtain for a while. I'll be posting again in a week or so.

See you then.

Trivia - Music for Friday

The gifted, extremely popular singer who originally bore the name Virginia Patterson Hensley was killed by a tragic plane crash while on tour. What was her stage/recording name?

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Trivia for Thirty Thursday

What number of gunshots is fired for the arrival of the president?
BONUS: How about for the vice president?
DOUBLE BONUS: For an admiral or general?

How testing works

Let's repost this, shall we?

Dear Parents: What happens in the testing room?
Heather Wolpert-Gawron / tweenteacher blog
07/24/2009

Dear Parents,

I’m going to walk you through what happens in a testing room to help demystify your child’s test taking experience.

First off, I’m told to take down anything from my walls that might help kids out. That means they are now emerged in a neutral testing environment. No Word Walls, no prompts, no student work. The room is either stripped to the bare walls or paper is stapled up over everything. This is so every school and every class has the same disadvantages. It’s also very depressing.

OK, so the day of the test, I walk down to the farthest place on the other side of the world and pick up a box that has all my testing materials in it, signing away my firstborn should I lose a pencil. I walk into my classroom, and at the bell there soon appears my testing group that consists of 36 students I’ve never seen before. Students, you see, are not necessarily assigned to classrooms they’ve ever been in. I don’t know them, and they don’t me. Kinda uncomfortable all around.

I notice there’s a girl crying. Her friend leans over and whispers that her boyfriend just broke up with her. I thank the friend for the gossip and ask the unfortunate casualty of tween-dom if she needs a tissue. She sniffs and shakes her head in the negative, suggesting she’s trying to be strong for the test for which she’s about to receive. I have no doubt this test is very high on her priority list right now.

I distribute the question booklet as I read a script word-for-word of directions and cautionary phrases. Profound ones like, ‘Read directions,” and such. The script keeps me in line. No unauthorized humor allowed on a testing day. The directions are mind numbing, and I can’t help but wish the testing company could hire some real writers for this thing, say, from 30 Rock or something? The script continues with monotonous instructions on where to put your name, how to write the number of the test on the answer sheet, where to write the name of our school, and where to write the school district’s name.

At this time, the students who just entered the school only a week ago from some other state or district raise their hands and in unison call out, “What district is this?” You tell them and hope their previous teachers covered the material that they are now being tested on in your room. bubble-test

I continue: “Everyone open to page 12 to begin the Language Arts portion of the test. This is represented by a picture of a #2 pencil. Now go to your answer sheet and find the picture of the #2 pencil. (pause for students to find the pencil) Now look at sample question A…” and so on. You ask for the answer for the Language Arts sample question A, and it is when someone answers ½ that you realize that he was on the Math section of the test. You ask them politely to please turn to page 12 as previously requested.

“When you see the stop sign at the end of page 32, you must close your book. Do not go to any other page.” (Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.) You say this with some skepticism knowing that at least 2 students will plow ahead simply because they are not paying attention to stop signs. We call this a California Stop and a cop can pull you over for just slowing down before accelerating ahead. It is a part of my job as test police to catch these students before they pull ahead of the class while in the test taking zone.

“You may begin.” And now starts the process of walking around the classroom and not saying anything, because I am not allowed.

The phone rings. The front office forgot we were testing and sent a call through with apologies.

A student raises her hand. ”I don’t understand this word,” she says. You look at the word and remind yourself that a certain percentage of the tests are meant to be above most kids’ heads, so you bite your tongue and don’t say anything. Perhaps you say something encouraging or suggest that she skip the question and return to it later, rather than sit and struggle with it now.

The phone rings again. This will happen two more times.

A student raises his hand and I ask him what he needs. He looks at me blankly and I realize he’s been placed in the wrong classroom. He doesn’t speak English. I send him to the appropriate room.

3/4 of the way into the testing period, the student who never shows up to school…does. He sits down and looks around realizing that he has appeared on one of the testing days rather than the assembly day schedule he had originally planned. He will spell out “This Sucks” on his bubble sheet with his #2 pencil.

I continue to walk around the classroom and hear a scream and a cry of alarm. A student has just realized that when she skipped #4, her bubbling had derailed for the remainder of the 46 questions. She has 5 minutes left to erase and re-bubble. I realize that these kids are really being tested on their ability to bubble.

We’ve been sitting there for 3 hours of testing. The kids are fried. I’m fried. The bell rings and the kids make a break for it. I wave to them knowing that we’ll be doing this all over again the next day. I pack up the supplies: count each pencil, eraser, scratch paper, alphabetize the answer sheets and booklets, and schlep them back down to the room on the other side of the world.

The materials will go into some locked-down Hazmet unit to await their release on the morrow.

And now here’s the LA Times with a report that California is having funding threatened if it can’t use test scores for their teacher evaluations.

Here are the facts:

1. A certain percentage of questions from standardized tests are meant to be too challenging (meaning, there’s only a small sliver of student pie who are meant to be able to answer those questions).

2. Questions that too many students get right are dumped from the test as being too easy. In other words, if every teacher did their job well, and teach the standards such that the kids can all answer a particular question, that question is deemed not challenging enough. So if too many teachers do their job well according to test scores, the test must be the problem, not the teachers who are the solution.

3. Taking funding away from failing schools will not lead to anything but more failing schools.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Trivia for Wednesday the 29th

The name for this animal comes from the Afrikaans words meaning "Earth Pig". Nearly six feet long and the size of a wild pig, this creature has little hair and a long rat-like tail.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Two for Tuesday the 28th

Two Literature Questions
  1. Boris Pasternak's greatest work was suppressed and could not be published in the Soviet Union; it was finally released in Italy in 1959. Name the classic the Soviets banned.
  2. “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” This is the first line of a book that includes the Cliffs of Insanity, Rodents Of Unusual Size, and a sword made for a six fingered man. Name this novel supposedly written by S. Morgenstern, but whose “Good Parts” version was written by William Goldman.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Trivia for Monday the 27th

Who is this 1927 passage about?
"Suddenly and softly there slipped out of the darkness a gray-white airplane as 25,000 pairs of eyes strained toward it. Lines of policemen and stout steel fences went down before the rush of Parisians."

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Enough Said

From Dave Marain at Math Notations comes word of this CNN Money article:
Most lucrative college degrees

By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
July 24, 2009: 04:39 AM EDT

Math majors don't always get much respect on college campuses, but fat post-grad wallets should be enough to give them a boost.

The top 15 highest-earning college degrees all have one thing in common -- math skills. That's according to a recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks college graduates' job offers.

"Math is at the crux of who gets paid," said Ed Koc, director of research at NACE. "If you have those skills, you are an extremely valuable asset. We don't generate enough people like that in this country."

This year Rochester Institute of Technology hosted recruiters from defense-industry firms like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as well as other big companies like Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson.

"The tech fields are what's driving salaries and offers, and the top students are faring quite well," said Emanuel Contomanolis, who runs RIT's career center.

Specifically, engineering diplomas account for 12 of the 15 the top-paying majors. NACE collects its data by surveying 200 college career centers.

Energy is the key. Petroleum engineering was by far highest-paying degree, with an average starting offer of $83,121, thanks to that resource's growing scarcity. Graduates with these degrees generally find work locating oil and gas reservoirs, or in developing ways to bring those resources to the Earth's surface.

"Exploration for new energy sources is high," Koc said. "The oil and gas industry has done relatively well the past year, even though oil prices are off right now."

Other highly-paid engineering majors include chemical engineers, who employ their skills to make everything from plastics to fuel cells and have an average starting offer of $64,902.

Mining engineers start at $64,404 on average, while computer engineers, who have an expertise in both coding and electrical engineering, pocket roughly $61,738 their first year out of school.

Left behind. Of course, not every student with an engineering degree will score a fat paycheck. RIT's Contomanolis noted that "average" graduates are feeling the pinch of fewer job offers. Still, in a tough job market, graduates with technology degrees have an advantage.

"It's a tech-driven world, and demand [for engineers] is only going to grow," said Farnoosh Torabi, employment expert and Quicken blog editor. "You can't say that about many fields, especially in a recession."

Perhaps that's why more and more college students are picking their majors based on a field's earning power, ultimately "choosing a major that pays," Torabi said.

Top non-engineering fields. Only three of the 15 top paying degrees were outside the field of engineering -- but they each still require math skills.

For computer science majors, who specialize in programming and software, the average salary was $61,407. Graduates with degrees in actuarial science took home about $56,320; and jobs for students in construction management paid about $53,199. Each of these fields has paid well throughout the years, Koc said.

What happened to well-rounded? There are far fewer people graduating with math-based majors, compared to their liberal-arts counterparts, which is why they are paid at such a premium. The fields of engineering and computer science each make up about 4% of all college graduates, while social science and history each comprise 16%, Koc noted.

As a result, salaries for graduates who studied fields like social work command tiny paychecks, somewhere in the vicinity of $29,000. English, foreign language and communications majors make about $35,000, Koc said.

"It's a supply and demand issue," he added. "So few grads offer math skills, and those who can are rewarded."

Trivia for Sunday the 26th

The Arc de Triomphe was erected to commemorate the victories of Napoleon Bonaparte. It is at the end of what street in Paris?
BONUS: What illuminating nickname is given to Paris?
BONUS2: What race ends with a stage down the Champs Elysees?
BONUS3: Who has won the race the greatest number of times?

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Lightning Round Saturday the 25th - Vocabulary !

I'll give the animal, you give the collective noun. For example, if I were to say "antelope", your response would be a "herd of antelope". Seagulls would be in a "flock" and so on.

Ready?
  1. _______ of ants
  2. _______ of bacteria
  3. _______ of bears
  4. _______ of bees
  5. _______ of buffalo
  6. _______ of cats
  7. _______ of crows
  8. _______ of dogs
  9. _______ of dolphins / whales
  10. _______ of lions
  11. _______ of penguins

Friday, July 24, 2009

Trivia - Flowers for Friday the 24th

These flowers bloom for a very short time, yet their petals are highly prized for making perfume. This flower grows from bulbs. Primarily associated with Holland, this flower has been the subject of price wars, economic crashes and the occasional time when one bulb could be purchased for the equivalent of $500 - $1000 apiece.

BONUS: The most expensive was Semper Augustus, extraordinarily beautiful with midnight-blue petals - that topped by a band of pure white, and accented with crimson flares. In 1624, a man owned the only 12 that existed. He was offered 3,000 ________ for one bulb, roughly equal to the annual income of a wealthy merchant. What Dutch monetary unit was this?

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Trivia for Thursday the 23rd - Egyptology

The discovery of this piece of stone made the translation of the mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphics possible because it contained a passage of hieroglyphics that was also written in two known languages. Give the name of this stone.
BONUS: In what city was it discovered?
BONUS2: The soldiers who found the stone were part of whose army?
BONUS3: Give one of the other two languages that appeared on the stone.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Trivia for Wednesday the 22nd - Change is good.

What movement began on the evening of October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Wittenberg church?
BONUS: How many theses were there?
What nation is Wittenberg in?
What branch of Christianity came out of this movement?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Trivia - Two for Tuesday

Bread gets its light and fluffy texture from what gas produced when Saccharomyces ferments the carbohydrates in bread dough?

BONUS: What is the common name for Saccharomyces?

Monday, July 20, 2009

Multi-tasking.

When are we going to learn?
Texting (and phoning, and blogging) take attention and focus. You cannot multitask. Just because you are a "digital native" and you feel like texting doesn't mean you have the slightest clue about your own capabilities.

All of you educlowns who want to have cellphones and texting and blogging and computers and "engaged students" in the classroom? If they are engaged in the technology, they are not engaged in learning or listening to you or their classmates or anything. You hear them "I am a digital native. I can multi-task."

Um, no.

Actually:
"His life has been shattered."
Quinn has been fired from his MBTA job.
Sent a text message, missed a red light, slammed into a stopped trolley.
Caused $9 million in property damage.
Quinn was among 60-plus people injured.

His defense? "The law was meant for choo-choo trains." How pathetic and childish is that?

When are we going to learn?



Complete article:

Boston Herald
Accused texting T driver rails against charge
By Laura Crimaldi
Monday, July 20, 2009

The accused texting T driver railed against prosecutors today for slapping him with a charge that was used more than a century ago to prosecute “choo-choo train” engineers.

Aiden Quinn, 24, pleaded not guilty today in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston to a single charge of gross negligence while in control of a train. He was set free on personal recognizance.

His lawyer, James Sultan, said the charge should have remained in the history books and not back in a modern-day court.

“I think they picked the wrong statute,” said Sultan today on the steps of the court as he draped his arm around Quinn. “His life has been shattered.”

Quinn is due back in court July 27 when a permanent defense attorney will be assigned the case. Quinn, who has been fired from his MBTA job, claims he is flat broke and can’t afford a lawyer.

Quinn faces up to three years in prison for allegedly sending his girlfriend a text message when he missed a red light and slammed into a stopped trolley in the subway tunnel near Government Center on May 8, causing $9 million in property damage.

The crash prompted the T to order all employees to stop carrying cell phones while on duty.

Quinn, dressed in a dark suit, let his lawyer do all the talking today.

Sultan said the charge against Quinn has not been used for 135 years – when it was put to use primarily in the enforcement of “choo-choo trains.”

Quinn, who broke his wrist in the crash, was among 60-plus people injured.

The T and the National Transportation Safety Board blamed the accident on human error.

Trivia for Monday the 20th

Military Science
This plane holds several records, including New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes and Los Angeles to Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C., in 1 hour 4 minutes 20 seconds. Built for reconnaissance, it relied on speed instead of weapons for safety. Operational from 1964 to 1990, this spy plane could fly three times the speed of sound. Name the plane.

BONUS: If the distance is roughly 2600 miles, what was the average speed from LA to Dulles?

DOUBLE BONUS: If the speed of sound is 770 mph, what Mach Number did the plane average?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

PETA

"This is a fight for liberation no different that the fight for the liberation of slaves, of women or any other oppressed group in the past. We have to equate our movement with those movements." - PETA supporter.

"The foolishness of that comment is so deep I can only ascribe it to higher education. You have to have gone to college to say something that stupid." - talk show host's response.

Health Care in the Education Model

Of course, I've got really good health care because I'm a teacher, but that's not where I'm going with this. The conservative wings are up in arms because of a clause they've found in one of the new bills. If I can trust their transcription skills and trust that it says what they say it says, the new law would prohibit many types of private care.

The health care system should run like many other social systems in this country. I think the most appropriate one would be similar to the education system. Everyone has a right to care, just as every kid has a right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Anyone who wants to enroll in a private school is welcome to do so, but still has to pay school taxes. Likewise, anyone who wants to buy separate health insurance (to cover anything that the main plan doesn't) would be free to do so.

I know, the screamers are going to insist that education isn't run properly and shouldn't be the model for anything, but I disagree. When not playing games with the statistics, people can see that public schools do a good job with most of their students, most of the time. If you want much more than that, or want a specialist education, you are free to purchase that.

Just a thought.

Trivia for Sunday the 19th - Another Lightning Round

Again, I give you the nickname and you supply the State. 1 Minute!

14. The Tar Heel or Old North State?
15. The Buckeye State.
16. The Mountain State?
17. The Evergreen State.
18. The Granite State.
19. The Magnolia State.
20. The Sunshine State.
21. The Land of Opportunity or The Natural State?
22. The Treasure State or Big Sky Country?
23. The Palmetto State.
24. The Centennial State (became a state in 1876)
25. The Bluegrass State?
26. The Pine Tree State.

Comments will be hidden to allow folks to answer without seeing other responses.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

In the Bucket

Rick Reilly's Bucket List of Sporting Events to see:
7. Yankees vs. Red Sox at Fenway -- There's no better place in baseball than Fenway, which is like playing in your grandmother's attic. The Green Monster isn't an architect's precious quirk; it was the only way to shoehorn the place onto the available land. And Fenway is filled with people who don't need giant clapping hands on the scoreboard to know when to cheer.

Oh Yeah.

State of Education

Mamacita speaks her mind before posting 50 education Quotes on Quotation Saturday:
"The state of education in America fills me with shame, and yet I know that we have always had and WILL always have a population of students desperate to learn, thirsty for knowledge, hungry for opportunities to try their intellectual wings. . . . Why do our schools do nothing for these students any more? Why do we cater to the lowest possible common denominator and pretty much ignore the cream?"
Because we are not forced to. Because we are focused on bringing up the level 2's to Level 3-passing. Because every time you set up an honors class, the helicopter parents get their dunderheads transferred into it. Because "track" is a dirty word and "drill" and "practice" are no longer "best practice." Because mainstreaming is done improperly.
"Why have we allowed petty politics to rule our school systems? Why do we put up with secretaries who don’t do computers, janitors who don’t do vomit; counselors who don’t do controversy, principals who don’t do discipline, superintendents who don’t do ethics, coaches who don’t do grade checks, parents who don’t discipline, and school boards who don’t even know what’s going on?"
Lawsuits, unions, OSHA, "feelings", job market, New Age - PETA thinking, it's a PITA, and for the School Boards at least, an over-reaction to the fear of micro-managing. The reasons are many.

It's simple, really. The reason that many charter school succeed is because they do not have the restrictions that the public schools do.

Trivia for Saturday the 18th - Lightning Round

Lightning Round - 1 minute!

I give you the nickname, you give me the State.

1. The "Heart of Dixie," "Yellowhammer State"
2. The "Garden State"?
3. The "Battle Born State," "Sagebrush State" or "Silver State.".
4. The "Green Mountain State"?
5. The "Lone Star State"?
6. The "Beehive State."
7. The "Old Dominion"?
8. The "Volunteer State"?
9. The "Hawkeye State"?
10. The "Grand Canyon State"?
11. The "Badger State."
12. The "Last Frontier" or "Land of The Midnight Sun."
13. The "Free State" or "Old Line State?"


Answer from Friday:
Ginger Rogers

Friday, July 17, 2009

Trivia for Friday the 17th

Dance

It has been said that she performed all of the same steps as her partner, Fred Astaire, only she danced hers backwards and in high heels. Who was she?

Answer from Thursday
Knight of the British Empire
Sir Rudolph, indeed.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Trivia for Thursday the 16th

Culture

Although he is not entitled to call himself "Sir Rudolph," New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was honored by Britain's Prince Andrew to be able to include the letters "KBE" following his name. What does the KBE mean?

Answers from Wednesday:
Franklin on the $100
Hamilton on the $10

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wednesday Trivia

Civics
Since 1969, the only paper money issued to the public has been those bills from $1 to $100, amounting to seven denominations. Only two of those depicted on these bills were not presidents. Who?

Answer from Tuesday:
Vinegar
Acetic acid
CH3COOH

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Presentations

"Failure to spend the [presentation] time wisely and well, failure to educate, entertain, elucidate, enlighten, and most important of all, failure to maintain attention and interest should be punishable by stoning. There is no excuse for tedium." — Jay H. Lehr

Tuesday Trivia

Chemistry

Name a common dilute acid used in the home as a cleanser and in salad dressings.
BONUS: What type of acid is this?
DOUBLE BONUS: give the chemical formula for this acid.

Answer from Monday:
Hans Christian Andersen, no less.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Clueless on Cheating

from eSchoolNews:
"A recent report commissioned by Common Sense Media about the use of cell phones and the Internet for cheating (see story) is representative of how students and adults can look at the same behavior or activity and have very different perceptions of technology's impact."
This should not surprise anyone. Teenagers are fundamentally different in how they perceive the world, assess needs and risks, and how they apportion time and manage their resources. They have always been different from the adults. Adults have always had to be the responsible ones, though the roles do sometimes get mixed. (I have no intention of talking about those parents at this time.)

Not everyone seems to understand this, however, and they are increasingly making excuses for teenagers and basing these excuses on "digital nativism."

This is a joke. I am just as capable as my students in using all these digital tools and I started on a PDP-8 with a punch-tape reader, for criss-sakes. Digital familiarity is not a psychological difference nearly as large as that driven by age and experience. I can use all of it. I just don't want to.

Call me old-fashioned. Call me old.

Tech toys are not an excuse for cheating and the availability of technology is not an excuse for not thinking. Students still need to think. As Dan Willingham put it in his terrific book Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom, schools ask students to think and thinking is HARD. This fact is never going to change. Pretending that wikipedia copy-and-paste is ethical and desirable simply because technology makes it easy is itself a simplistic and ultimately incorrect argument.

Claiming that students who text each other for the answers to a test or quiz are somehow being digitally masterful is missing the obvious insight that 40 years ago it was a high-tech Bic pen and a piece of paper.
eSchoolNews:
At the root of this digital disconnect is a fundamental difference of perception. Our students, who are not only digitally native, but increasingly mobile, view the world through a new lens that has been framed by a myriad of emerging technology devices and the use of such tools for increased communication, collaboration, content development, and connectedness. Their parents, teachers, and many other digital "immigrants" in education policy and media spheres are startled by the speed with which students are not only adopting these new tools, but adapting them to new, previously unforeseen uses. And quite often, the context of this adaptation is misunderstood by the adults whose lenses are not quite as digitally focused.
Context, my foot. New lens, my eyeball. "Previously unforeseen uses?" 99% of what kids use technology for is chatting. Just as we oldtimers used the high-technology of our time, the telephone, so much that our parents had to install a second line? How many of you had a sister? How many parents had to scream daily "Get off the phone, I need to make a call!"

Nothing new is really new, it's just packaged differently. The technological icing on the cake is sweet and not too sustaining. We'll adapt to different ways of doing things but we'll also come to understand how desperately wrong folks like eSchoolNews and the Techno-philiacs really are.

Cheating is wrong not because of my hurt feelings. Cheating is wrong because it's easy and doesn't lead to anything meaningful. Not every kid understands this but I've never let a kid decide things for me. I'm still the adult in the room, I hope.

If only I can get this damn blog thing working.

(Exit, muttering.)

I'm on the mailing list for Mayoral Candidate Avella

I've now received 3 emails from this guy.
"Since Tony spoke to the Working Families Party on July 2, we’ve received some incredible support from the education community. Because you write about education, we thought you might find the following story interesting."
"Does Mike Bloomberg even believe in democracy? That's one question you'll never have to ask about City Councilmember Tony Avella. Let's stand together. Tony Avella for Mayor."
"City Councilmember and Mayoral candidate Tony Avella joined with parents and teachers from PS 123 this morning to resist the downsizing of their school and the expansion of the charter school Harlem Success Academy II."
If you say my name three times, do I get to vote?

Word to Mayoral candidates ... I would be happy to blog for you. Email and we can discuss terms. I would not do this without disclosure and, since I don't live in New York or even close to it, my position on this can't be personal but only mercenary.

Thanks for the request. Hope to speak to you soon.

Trivia for Monday the 13th

Authors
He died as a result of falling out of bed. Viewed as a lunatic in his early years, he was so ashamed of his body that he would pad his shirt with newspapers to make it appear more muscular. Yet, his writings became immortal and he was beloved by children everywhere for his fanciful tales. Who was this Danish writer, the author of such tales as “The Little Mermaid” and “The Nightingale”?


Answer from Sunday
Star-Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key
"free, and the home of the brave"
"Play Ball!"

Math in the Crosshairs again, this time Maryland

"... many graduates do not have a grasp of the basics."
"... schools have deemphasized drilling students."
"... taught too early to rely on calculators."

A calculator is a tool. It should be used as a tool. As soon as it replaces thought, it should itself be replaced.

I have decided to make a new slogan, signifying my reluctance to rely on the thrilling new technology of calculators because of the very real effects on the kids' development.

"Thrill and Kill."

"... ninety-eight percent had to pay for remedial classes." Okay, it's a community college and you expect that many of the attendees would be looking to improve their math skills. But 98% ??

"Across the nation, slightly more than one-third enroll in remedial classes." That's bad, people.

The report gets specific but, in my view, misses the mark. " ... particularly critical of the Algebra I standards, saying that they are watered down because educators must teach material for the High School Assessments, which includes data analysis. It is not what any mathematician would consider an algebra course."

No, I think the algebra I course is watered down because, (A) it is taught to eighth graders and they had to water it down so they could pass more easily and (B) mainstreaming and the refusal to place students in an appropriate class means that every room has kids who slow down the group. This insistence on placing kids in a course based on emotion, faulty pedagogy, self-delusion and parental desire instead of mathematical ability will ruin your classrooms every time.

Anyway, the article that started this train of thought appears below the fold.

A failing grade for Md. math
What is taught in high schools seen as insufficient for college
By Liz Bowie | Baltimore (MD) Sun
July 12, 2009

Maryland's public schools are teaching mathematics in such a way that many graduates cannot be placed in entry-level college math classes because they do not have a grasp of the basics, according to education experts and professors.

College math professors say there is a gap between what is taught in the state's high schools and what is needed in college. Many schools have de-emphasized drilling students in basic math, such as multiplication and division, they say.

"We have hordes of students who come in and have forgotten their basic arithmetic," said Donna McKusick, dean for developmental education at the Community College of Baltimore County. College professors say students are taught too early to rely on calculators. "You say, 'What is seven times seven?' and they don't know," McKusick said.

Ninety-eight percent of Baltimore students signing up for classes at Baltimore City Community College had to pay for remedial classes to learn the material that should have been covered in high school. Across Maryland, 49 percent of the state's high school graduates take remedial classes in college before they can take classes for credit.

And the problem has been getting worse. The need for remedial math classes among Maryland high school graduates who had taken a college preparatory curriculum and went on to one of the state's two- or four-year colleges rose from 23 percent in 1997 to 32 percent in 2007, according to an Abell Foundation report released this spring.

While the problem is worse at community colleges, 15 percent of the freshmen at the University of Maryland, College Park must take a remedial math class before being able to move into college-level classes, said Denny Gullick, a math professor there. Some of those students come from out of state.

For Gabrielle Martino, holder of a doctorate in math from the Johns Hopkins University and a co-author of the Abell Foundation report, the bottom line is that students are being harmed because they have to pay for the remedial classes. When they get to college, "they are uniformly shocked that they were put into remedial math," she said.

The report recommends that the Maryland State Department of Education revamp its math standards and curriculum. The standards and curriculum determine what is tested on the Maryland School Assessments and, therefore, the material teachers are told to cover in their classes. And each year, the number of students passing the math MSAs has gone up, even as graduates are increasingly in need of remedial classes.

State education officials do not believe that major changes to the standards are needed.

"Obviously, we want our students to be successful when they go to college, but we also know that a number of the students who go to university haven't taken the math preparation that would enable them to be prepared," said Dixie Stack, director of curriculum at the state education department.

The call for change comes at a crucial time. The state is reviewing its five-year-old standards, and the National Governors Association is expected to release its common core standards in a few months. Maryland is one of 46 states that have agreed to support the development of those standards, essentially setting a national curriculum and testing in the core subjects of reading and math.

The question of how math is taught and what should be emphasized has been the subject of a long-running debate across the nation. Some math teachers have advocated giving students a deeper understanding of how math works while de-emphasizing the drill of solving many problems and learning math facts. On the other side, teachers say students need to be well grounded in the basics in order to move on to higher-level math.

State school board member Kate Walsh does not believe the state is alone. "Maryland has as much of a problem on its hands as any other state," she said.

Across the country, slightly more than one-third of college students enroll in remedial courses.

"This is really a national problem. States are working hard to address it, but the fact is that too many students require remediation when they enter college. The problem is more severe in math," said Danette Howard, director of research at the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has argued that no matter how math is taught, students should be focusing on fewer concepts each year. The group said students have knowledge that is a mile wide and an inch deep, and that school districts should teach fewer concepts each year and in greater depth. Presumably, that would enable students to master each concept and move on so that yearly review would be unnecessary.

Maryland public schools seem to be doing a better job in teaching math to top students, Gullick said. More students have been given the opportunity to take higher-level classes during their elementary, middle and high school years, and they end up not only having completed calculus, but often having taken the rigorous Advanced Placement calculus and scored at the top level on the exam.

"A third of the freshman class has taken AP calculus and placed out of calculus" at College Park, Gullick said, adding that the percentage of these high-level students has been growing.

On the other hand, he said, "we have seen a marked decline" in the skills of the students at College Park who are not considered in the "top caliber."

"We have an enormous number of students who have no arithmetic skills. This is a big issue," he said.

The Abell report is particularly critical of the Algebra I standards, saying that they are watered down because educators must teach material for the High School Assessments, which includes data analysis.

"It is not what any mathematician would consider an algebra course," said Stephen Wilson, a math professor at Hopkins and a co-author of the Abell report. "It is Maryland's image of what math is without consulting a mathematician."

Stack said the Algebra I High School Assessment is not intended to ensure that students are ready for college but to make sure they have the minimum skills needed to get a diploma. The standards that the test is based on are "intended to establish a floor for freshmen in high school, and by itself it does not constitute an Algebra I course," she said.

The fact that the state has a minimum standard does not mean a school system cannot teach at a higher level, she said.

Stack said she does not believe the state should make changes until after the release of the national standards being developed by a grass-roots coalition of 46 states. To do so would be a waste of time and taxpayer dollars, she said, because Maryland probably will adopt those standards.

However, Walsh said Maryland should alter its standards to meet mathematicians' concerns. She said she does not believe in waiting, because the process could take years.

"Maryland is taking a go-slow approach," the state school board member said. "I am afraid the push for national standards, while a good sign, will delay the equally important examination we need to take. ... I would prefer to move aggressively."

Frederick Chapple, an assistant professor of mathematics at Baltimore City Community College, said the city schools require students to take an Algebra II class before they can graduate, a requirement that is more stringent than the state's. But the level of the course, Chapple said, isn't Algebra II.

"There should be more collaboration with colleges to be sure that the Algebra II that is being taught in high school is on the same level as the Algebra II that we are teaching in remedial classes," Chapple said. He said high schools should provide all students with a college preparatory curriculum, so that if they decide in their last year of high school that they want to attend college they will be prepared.

Gullick and other professors say they want to work with public school teachers and administrators to determine what must be done to remedy the problem.

Students are being hurt by the current system, Gullick said, and changes should be made at high school and college levels.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Scholar's Bowl

The trivia questions I've been posting have been from an academic competition called Scholars' Bowl. Teams of 4-6 compete against each other in a three-round format.

Round one (10 minutes) has toss-up questions. The question is read and a player from either team can buzz-in and answer the question (hence "toss-up"). The questions will often have three to four sentences, the first being an obscure clue and the rest giving progressively more information. A good player will recognize the answer from the first sentence but has to weigh the 10 points for a correct answer against his uncertainty and the 5 point penalty for guessing early and incorrectly. A correct answer wins 10 points and first shot at 3 bonus questions. That's a fun part of the competition - do I guess early and risk the penalty, or wait and maybe I'm wrong but no penalty? What if the other team buzzes first? Typically, this round ends with scores of 50 to 60 or so.

Round Two is the lightning round. The trailing team gets one minute for 10 quick-answer questions, 5 points per. Any that they "pass" or answer incorrectly are then asked of the other team. Answer all ten and get 10 extra points. (total 60). Then team two has ten questions and any they miss are asked of team one. The scores are usually pretty close after the second round and usually close to 100 each.

Round Three is all toss-up questions, no bonuses. This round is fast and the points come quickly. A good reader can make or break a competition - read deliberately and the teams are antsy and jumping at straws. Read quickly and clearly and the teams settle into that zone you hear about. Very fun.

If you can get your school to sponsor a team, it's worth it.

This book is a good place to start your classes off:
Campbell's Potpourri III of Quiz Bowl Questions

Trivia - Sunday 12th

An easy one this time, for the musically inclined.

What somewhat famous song, set to the tune of an old English drinking song, was written by a prisoner on a British warship near Fort McHenry during the War of 1812?

BONUS:
(a) Name the prisoner.
(b) What are the last seven words of the song?
(c) According to the joke, what are the two words after that?


Answers from Saturday:
fertilizing
Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium
N P K