Multicultural approach to polar coordinates

Real world math at its best.

back to the future

West Ashley High ninth-grader Erika Wesolek works on a grammar lesson Thursday.

A reading program given a trial run last year at West Ashley High School has been so successful that other Charleston County and neighboring Dorchester 2 high schools have taken notice and may begin using it.

In Charleston, the curriculum had been used exclusively with special education students. School Principal Mary Runyon saw those students' reading scores improving and decided to experiment and see whether it also would work for students who didn't have a disability.

The research-based curriculum, Language!, teaches English as if it were a foreign language; it breaks down its rules and explains them to students. The class focuses on the five components of reading -- from identifying sounds in words to developing vocabulary -- and the goal is to give students the foundation they need to become better readers.

[snip]

Dorchester 2 Deputy Superintendent Barbara Stroble took a group of her high school teachers to West Ashley High last week to observe the program and get a better understanding of the way it works. Although Dorchester 2, which includes Summerville area schools, is one of the state's higher-performing districts, nearly 13 percent of its freshmen can't read better than a fourth-grader, according to an analysis requested by The Post and Courier.

[snip]

"It's the old way we used to teach English," Stroble said. "A kid who's having difficulty in reading and he or she doesn't know the rules of the game, they get lost."

Freshman Amber Armstrong is in the West Ashley High program this year. She always thought her reading was fine, but after being in this class, she said she feels more confident because she's learning skills that none of her previous schools taught her.

She used to skip words she didn't know, but now she tries to figure out what they mean. It's easier for her to skim through notes and pick out important points, and vocabulary isn't as much of a challenge, she said. She doesn't use slang and she uses correct verbs when speaking. She said she'd like to take the course again next year.

Giant strides
by Diette Courrege
The Post and Courier
Monday, February 22, 2010

Here in my town, it's common knowledge that the kids are gaining all their knowledge of grammar from foreign language classes.

Not from "ELA."

Australian school answering machine

Making the email circuit ----- no idea whether this is real. As much as I should disapprove of this message, I have to say: it's pretty funny.

I would be the person pressing '5.'

snow day

No math on the picnic table today. But soon.

thinner

Speaking of Randi Weingarten and the Campaign to Combat Childhood Obesity, I weighed myself the other morning and the scale said 125.5. Since September 25, I have lost 11 pounds.

11

That's a lot.

That's more than I've lost on any diet, ever, and I lost it during the fall & winter, which is to say I lost 11 pounds at the same time of year (the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's-Valentine's Day time of year) when normally I'm regaining the 5 or 6 pounds I managed to lose by dint of determined calorie counting & food logging in the spring and summer.

So, doing my bit for the Campaign, here's my story:

• the diet: plant-based, whole-food, no added fat, sugar, or salt
  
• and: calorie counting via LoseIt (see: "Dose This Pencil Skirt Have an App?")
• not essential but terrifically helpful: Get Running - I have kept up a running program through the depths of winter, thanks entirely to this app along with iAchieve
• still working on incorporating the glycemic index
  
  

The diet is almost bizarrely easy. Most of what people say about it was true for me, e.g.:

• you lose your taste for meat &, to a much lesser degree, fat, over time (but see below)
• minimal hunger
  
• more energy
• so far, going back on the wagon has been as easy as going off the wagon, knock on wood
• sounds dreadful going in but your tastes change
  

I deviated from the true path in two respects: I eased into the diet instead of going cold turkey, and I calorie-counted. Thanks to Magic iTouch, I plan to carry on calorie counting. Fuhrman, Barnard, and Esselstyn all say there's no need to count - or restrict - calories if you're following the diet closely, but given that I'm not following it as closely as I ought, I count calories. Also, I'm guessing that calorie restriction in and of itself is probably going to be as good for me as it is for yeast cells and mice (haven't read that article, fyi).

The hitch: I ended up having problems with the no-added-fat part. First I got cranky, then I started waking up in the middle of the night feeling despairing and grim. So now. . . now, I'm not sure. My plan at the moment is to a) add some walnuts & avocados to my salads and b) cheat more.

We'll see how that goes. Maybe Gerald Reavan is right that what some of us need is a relatively high-fat diet? Dunno.


other:

• apples & soup
• apparently, vegetables actually do consume more calories than they contain
  
• plant foods plants seem to increase metabolism (that may not be the right way to put it: Campbell found that rural Chinese peasants, who are essentially vegetarian, consume more calories than we do but weigh less - see here)
• Campbell also found that animal protein promotes cancer growth (terrific summary)
  

I came across my cholesterol reading from 2006: 190.

Last month I had total cholesterol of 131, LDL (bad cholesterol) 62, HDL (good cholesterol) 60. (I know those figures don't add up.) Triglycerides: 43 (normal is below 150).

So that's it.

For me, adopting a don't-get-diabetes diet means placing a bet -- or, at this point, placing a bet on plant-based/whole foods/no added fat, sugar, or salt and hedging it with plant-based/whole foods/somewhat more fat & somewhat less carb. I don't know and can't guess which expert is right.

But there's no question this works brilliantly for weight loss.


books & blogs

blog: Happy Healthy Long Life

Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman (for diabetes: "beans and greens")
blog: diseaseproof
Emily's Postmodern Transformation

The China Study by Thomas M. Campbell
20-year study of Chinese diet & health – “this project eventually produced more than 8000 statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease...”
Introduction (pdf file)

Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselsstyn - all plant food all the time, "not one drop of added fat"
Chapter One

The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds by Rip Esselsstyn (haven't read - Rip Esselstyn is Caldwell Esselstyn's son - 28-day before & after photos!)

Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes by Neal D. Barnard
Neal D. Barnard

The Calorie Restriction Experiment by Jon Gertner New York Times October 7, 2009 - people undereating for two years straight
Calerie study: Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Energy Intake
The "i" Diet by Susan Roberts (haven't read but it sounds great - Roberts is part of the Calerie study)

Just to confuse everyone: Syndrome X: The Silent Killer by Gerald Reaven, Terry Kirsten Strom, and Barry Fox

Anticancer: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber "All of us have cancer cells in our body. But not all of us will develop cancer."
David Servan-Schreiber

Volumetrics Eating Plan by Barbara Rolls - "Eat big food."
Barbara Rolls

And: Younger Next Year

scared straight
the Ed diet
Barney adopts a healthy new eating style

the decision - full text

The Honorable Julie Spector

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON IN AND FOR KING COUNTRY

DA-ZANNE PORTER, MARTHA MCLAREN, and CLIFFORD MASS,

Plaintiffs,

v.

SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, IN KING COUNTRY, STATE OF WASHINGTON, BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, and MARIA GOODLOE-JOHNSON, Superintendent and Secretary of the Board,

Defendants.


NO. 09-2-21771-8 SEA



FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER


THIS MATTER having come on for hearing, and the Court having considered the pleadings, administrative record, and argument in this matter, the Court hereby enters the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order:


FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On May 6, 2009, in a 4-3 vote, the Seattle School District Board of Directors chose the Discovering Series as the District’s high school basic math materials.

2. In making its decision, the Board considered:

a. A recommendation from the District’s Selection Committee;

b. A January, 2009 report from the Washington State Office of Public Instruction ranking High School math textbooks, listing a series by the Holt Company as number one, and the Discovering Series as number two;

c. A March 11, 2009, report from the Washington State Board of Education finding that the Discovering Series was “mathematically unsound”;

d. An April 8, 2009 School Board Action Report authored by the Superintendent;

e. The May 6, 2009 recommendation of the OSPI recommending only the Holt Series, and not recommending the Discovering Series;

f. WASL scores showing an achievement gap between racial groups;

g. WASL scores from an experiment with a different inquiry-based math text at Cleveland and Garfield High Schools, showing that WASL scores overall declined using the inquiry-based math texts, and dropped significantly for English Language Learners, including a 0% pass rate at one high school;

h. The National Math Achievement Panel (NMAP) Report;

i. Citizen comments and expert reports criticizing the effectiveness of inquiry-based math and the Discovering Series;

j. Parent reports of difficulty teaching their children using the Discovering Series and inquiry-based math;

k. Other evidence in the Administrative Record;

l. One Board member also considered the ability of her own child to learn math using the Discovering Series.


FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER - 2

3. The court finds that the Discovering Series is an inquiry-based math program.

4. The court finds, based upon a review of the entire administrative record that there is insufficient evidence for any reasonable Board member to approve the selection of the Discovering Series.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The court has jurisdiction under RCW 28A.645.010 to evaluate the Board’s decision for whether it is arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law;

2. The Board’s selection of the Discovering Series was arbitrary;

3. The Board’s selection of the Discovering Series was capricious;

4. This court has the authority to remand the Board’s decision for further review;

5. Any Conclusion of Law which is more appropriately characterized as a Finding of Fact is adopted as such, and any Finding of Fact more appropriately characterized as a Conclusion of Law is adopted as such.


ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
The decision of the Board to adopt the Discovering Series is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Dated this 4th day of February, 2010

THE HONORABLE JULIE SPECTOR
KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE

full text of ruling (pdf file)
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