tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post6744245391711842953..comments2024-03-26T04:19:38.862-07:00Comments on kitchen table math, the sequel: education historianCatherine Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-52958176822291586262008-01-22T07:38:00.000-08:002008-01-22T07:38:00.000-08:00I just talked to the Director of Admissions at Hac...I just talked to the Director of Admissions at Hackley.<BR/><BR/>They have a famous calculus teacher -- he's been there 29 years, I think.<BR/><BR/>These figures are roughly correct.<BR/><BR/>The senior class has around 90 kids, of whom approximately 80% are taking calculus. They don't give AP courses but the kids all take the AP tests. The Hackley calculus course is equivalent to the AP BC course & students take the BC test.<BR/><BR/>They score 4s and 5s.<BR/><BR/>She said they've had kids who didn't think they could do calculus at all take calculus from this teacher and end up with 5s on the AP.<BR/><BR/>I've just requested our figures here for AP calculus.<BR/><BR/>What I've heard from parents is "No one takes BC; that course is so hard."<BR/><BR/>I've also heard that kids are dropping out of precalc because it's hard.<BR/><BR/>And so far the parents I know whose kids took calculus here knew calculus themselves and were able to "help with homework."Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-21320952619239678662008-01-22T05:46:00.000-08:002008-01-22T05:46:00.000-08:00Steve,I was skeptical about my school, too, since ...Steve,<BR/><BR/>I was skeptical about my school, too, since they are also very anti-competition. They did seem to to allow for some science parents to help out which I thought was great for my son. Rarely does the school take advantage of the expertise of the parents. <BR/><BR/>My son was new to it last year, also, so he seemed to get the less fun events to compete in. (I think one was Food Science or something.) However, there was enough variety in all of the events to keep his interest, even when he wasn't on that particular team. <BR/><BR/>Even though my son has a phobia about being called a geek, I also felt it helped him to work with more kids like himself.<BR/><BR/>The balloon racer event was a race with balloons rising, but they couldn't rise too fast, so the team had to figure out how to control the ascent. Something like that. Anyway, they also have to "show their work" which was some math to scribble down (You can see how closely I was paying attention). <BR/><BR/>Later, my son called me from the state competition to say that he was sure they had lost. However, it turned out that they had snagged a silver. <BR/><BR/>He is convinced that some of the teams simply forgot to show their work. He almost forgot except his teammate reminded him right before they turned in their sheet.<BR/><BR/>SusanSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-27483821390704871952008-01-21T19:36:00.000-08:002008-01-21T19:36:00.000-08:00SusanS,Thank you for the feedback. My son is going...SusanS,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for the feedback. My son is going into this quite clueless, but I don't think his school is very aggressive about it. As far as I know, it's just once a week.<BR/><BR/>I looked out at their site and saw an example having to do with circuits. My son has a circuit kit and knows something about serial and parallel circuits, batteries, and resistors, but not much else. I don't expect they will do much teaching once a week. They will probably match up different areas of science with each child and the kids will have to teach themselves.<BR/><BR/>I've had enough of this sort of thing with the First Lego League that I was a coach for last year, but if it inspires my son, it's worth a try.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-6201066279222504312008-01-21T19:25:00.000-08:002008-01-21T19:25:00.000-08:00"This is Honors English in one of the top 100 high..."This is Honors English in one of the top 100 high schools in the country."<BR/><BR/>And some would like to get rid of the SAT.<BR/><BR/>In our area, high schools (and their honors courses) vary greatly. It can also vary within the program, based on the teachers.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-63946488044286324892008-01-21T19:21:00.000-08:002008-01-21T19:21:00.000-08:00"C. desperately needed the 10 points he would have..."C. desperately needed the 10 points he would have earned for having the egg make it to the ground in one piece. It was 10 points or nothing, so he got nothing."<BR/><BR/>This is obscene!<BR/><BR/>Isn't this constructivism, where the process is more important than the result? We did this at Michigan 35 years ago from the 4th floor fire escape at the West Engineering Building ... for fun.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-36119792664251515722008-01-21T15:58:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:58:00.000-08:00Hi Kathy!Thanks so much for the reference -- I'm g...Hi Kathy!<BR/><BR/>Thanks so much for the reference -- I'm going to order that right away.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-21568415453447670282008-01-21T15:55:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:55:00.000-08:00I couldn't get the link to format properly on here...I couldn't get the link to format properly on here, but available when you search "Google Books" is a 2004 book called "Catholic Schools Then and Now." Especially of interest to me is Ch. 9 (Just Teaching-the Meat and Potatoes Method) all about my alma mater, St. Matthias Grade School in Milwaukee where it appears things haven't changed since the 1970's when I attended (or even the 50's). One quote, "Teachers don't indulge much in educational theories such as inquiry based learning, constructivism, multiple intelligences. They just teach."KathyIggyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699911427332930599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-70340392393568675842008-01-21T15:46:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:46:00.000-08:00Steve,My son did Science Olympiad last year and re...Steve,<BR/><BR/>My son did Science Olympiad last year and really enjoyed it. He medaled at state and got to go the the University for the competition, but even if he hadn't, I think he learned a lot of science that year. The competitions have some academic contests, as well as building and racing stuff.<BR/><BR/>I wasn't in on the day to day workings, but he had to meet for "academic" practice once a week and then another day for "building" stuff. I just think the hands-on quality along with the competition was a good thing.<BR/><BR/>I did notice at region and state that the killer schools also had math teams. He got to see how others approached what he had been working on all year and he found that exciting. <BR/><BR/>They have some fun contests around building things including a catapult. One of my son's was a balloon racer. There are a couple of other racing type contests. <BR/><BR/>One of the academic tests was called "Metric Mastery" or something like that. I only remember that because he was picked to be in that. He probably was in that because of his processing speed. I still am not totally sure what he did, but he did well. I think one of the websites goes into all of the events.<BR/><BR/>He never complained about going in the morning or staying in the afternoon, so he must have found it interesting and/or challenging or I would have heard about it.<BR/><BR/>SusanSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-57864012738406645582008-01-21T15:34:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:34:00.000-08:00I also believe that the closer you are to Columbia...I also believe that the closer you are to Columbia Teachers College the worse off you are. <BR/><BR/>Obviously we're close; we're right next door; we hire from there. <BR/><BR/>Just hired a "specialist" in "balanced literacy" from Columbia!<BR/><BR/>Woo hoo!<BR/><BR/>I assume that California is next-closest to CTC.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-47591592078517276352008-01-21T15:32:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:32:00.000-08:00Ed and I think the story on private schools is pro...Ed and I think the story on private schools is <I>probably</I> that you find some superb private schools in NYC, San Francisco, Boston, LA, and presumably Chicago.<BR/><BR/>(I don't know which major cities in the south would have terrific private schools.)<BR/><BR/>The reason why you can have fantastic private schools in these places is that you have quite a few people with Ph.Ds from local universities who don't want to take jobs in the heartland or in the south. So they take jobs in private schools.<BR/><BR/>Our friends from La Jolla, both college professors, pulled their son out of public school & put him in private school. <BR/><BR/>The private school was so bad they brought him back to public school.<BR/><BR/>They said the Catholic schools there weren't good, either -- and I know for a fact that LA has several superb Catholic high schools.<BR/><BR/>As far as we can tell, private school quality is heavily dependent on having a rich supply of highly educated people to hire.<BR/><BR/>One more thing: I've looked at the faculty lists of all the schools around here and routinely the one subject where you see ed school degrees is math.<BR/><BR/>That makes sense.<BR/><BR/>A person with a Ph.D. in math or a math-related field is probably more employable here in the NY area than a person with a Ph.D. in history or literature.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-55002578400369048812008-01-21T15:28:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:28:00.000-08:00High school honors tracks are extremely problemati...High school honors tracks are <I>extremely</I> problematic.<BR/><BR/>David Klein filled me in on that quite awhile back....and I can tell you that in the freshman Honors English class here the kids are drawing pictures.<BR/><BR/>My friend's son drew a bunch of pictures then had to re-draw them because he hadn't put them on the right-sized paper.<BR/><BR/>She sent him to school with poster board and crayons.<BR/><BR/>This is Honors English in one of the top 100 high schools in the country.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-27847989981178690032008-01-21T15:27:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:27:00.000-08:00No, she's young. I assume she has her Ph.D., but s...No, she's young. I assume she has her Ph.D., but she's young. <BR/><BR/>Maybe 30?<BR/><BR/>(I'll check with Ed, though.)Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-55305497307167826842008-01-21T15:26:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:26:00.000-08:00I don't know what she was comparing today's public...I don't know what she was comparing today's public schools to -- either to public schools in the first half of the 20th century or to public schools as they could be if they used direct instruction & taught the liberal arts.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-2179734374916372652008-01-21T15:25:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:25:00.000-08:00It raises the question whether one wealthy individ...<I>It raises the question whether one wealthy individual should be allowed to implement his fantasy and wreck high schools which after all are public entities.</I><BR/><BR/>That's for sure.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-59282793840065807882008-01-21T15:24:00.002-08:002008-01-21T15:24:00.002-08:00ummmm.... that's assuming I teach Earth Science he...ummmm.... that's assuming I teach Earth Science here at home.<BR/><BR/>Which I will do.<BR/><BR/>The school can count on me!Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-55411411524686061462008-01-21T15:24:00.001-08:002008-01-21T15:24:00.001-08:00The first grade on his Sacred High School Transcri...The first grade on his Sacred High School Transcript will be a B.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-82586095103864106312008-01-21T15:24:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:24:00.000-08:00I don't know much about Science Olympiad, but I'll...I don't know much about Science Olympiad, but I'll bet there's a huge amount of self-teaching going on.<BR/><BR/>Our entire school just had to do the egg-drop thing, which private schools also do, I gather.<BR/><BR/>Everyone had to make a contraption that would protect an egg from breaking when you drop it off a building. (Did I post this already?)<BR/><BR/>C's egg broke.<BR/><BR/>After hours invested in this project he learned that if you wrap an egg up in cotton and attach it to a parachute you can drop it from a building and have it not break.<BR/><BR/>Needless to say, the kids who had engineer dads were the ones who had unbroken eggs.<BR/><BR/>I refused to involve myself in this particular project even though C. desperately needed the 10 points he would have earned for having the egg make it to the ground in one piece.<BR/><BR/>It was 10 points or nothing, so he got nothing.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-49423079076358451022008-01-21T15:21:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:21:00.000-08:00Bottom line - wherever you have accreditation, tea...<I>Bottom line - wherever you have accreditation, teacher certification, and testing, you're going to have all the problems those things bring.</I><BR/><BR/>What do you think would happen if you got rid of accreditation & teacher certification but kept the testing?Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-14884759685777502362008-01-21T15:19:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:19:00.000-08:00Issues, Evidence and YouspeechlessIssues, Evidence and You<BR/><BR/>speechlessCatherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-12355485436377833632008-01-21T15:18:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:18:00.000-08:00This goes against human nature.This goes against human nature.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-50361517040544649292008-01-21T15:17:00.001-08:002008-01-21T15:17:00.001-08:00Remember that famous teacher at Columbia Medical S...Remember that famous teacher at Columbia Medical School? The one who trained a lot of major researchers?<BR/><BR/>He grilled into his brainiac medical students: <B>If what you're doing isn't working, try something else.</B>Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-1072313945793352002008-01-21T15:17:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:17:00.000-08:00If poison makes them sick, give them more poisonI'...<I>If poison makes them sick, give them more poison</I><BR/><BR/>I've got to find the behaviorist motto for this.<BR/><BR/>It's something like, "When something isn't working, do it more often and louder."Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-29922585889372628442008-01-21T15:16:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:16:00.000-08:00I taught for two years at Wofford college (in SC) ...<I>I taught for two years at Wofford college (in SC) a good liberal arts college, and most of our students were excellent, and many came from public schools.</I><BR/><BR/>That's encouraging.<BR/><BR/>These kids had gone to public schools in the south, I take it?<BR/><BR/>And what was the SES (if you know)?Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-70829989246688406282008-01-21T15:15:00.001-08:002008-01-21T15:15:00.001-08:00Does anyone know anything about Fordham Prep here ...Does anyone know anything about Fordham Prep here in the Bronx?Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-75111986272006582992008-01-21T15:15:00.000-08:002008-01-21T15:15:00.000-08:00it not only hit them in the pocketbook (the cost o...<I>it not only hit them in the pocketbook (the cost of a Catholic education has risen astronomically), but of a sudden Catholic schools were being operated by victims of ed school indoctrination. To make it worse, the vast majority of Catholic schools have bought into the accreditation scam, so even when they are staffed by nuns, they've all been to ed school</I><BR/><BR/>oh, no<BR/><BR/>well I have to say I'm not surprised <BR/><BR/>when I was thinking about sending C. to the Catholic school here I discovered that they were advertising, on their web site, a Lucy Calkins workshop approach to writing instructionCatherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.com