The internets

Found out from the INTERNETS that my advisor applied to a job at another school. I'm not even sure if I have the right to be angry - maybe this is how it works in academia... advisor does whatever the hell he wants and the students find out when he needs them to. But I absolutely do have the right to freak the hell out. I may be moving to Utah next year.

On education 2

- feedback

The point is not to fire ineffective teachers. Teaching is hard... you'd fire everyone. The point is to set up systems which reliably make teachers good. (reflecting on...)

-data driven

Those systems can be discovered, monitored and maintained by honest thorough comprehensive data mining. Where we analyze data without unshakable hypotheses

- grit

But we do have one working hypothesis: that successful teaching is the successful teaching of perseverance.

On Education

"A Student should emerge from from such a general education with a knowledge of how problems, whether of life or science or art, have been treated, and with some insight therefore into how problems may be treated; and joined to that knowledge, he should possess and ability to understand positions other than his own, to present his own convictions relevantly, lucidly, and cogently, and finally to apply informed critical standards to his own arguments and those advances by others." 

-Richard McKeon, "Education and the Disciples," Ethics 47 (1937):377


I just started a Math Ed Course. I think this is gonna be fun.

Some essays defending math

What is Mathematics for?  & A Mathematician's Lament

Maybe, I'll give these to my students in the fall

Jamaican in China

My brother is over in China for a developing-nation energy seminar thingy right now. He was sent as Jamaica's representative, so I can kind of forgive him for missing my graduation. You can check out his blog at Verdego.

It's kind of cool that China is doing all these things. Of course, people are worried about their intent... pouring money into the Caribbean, Africa, South America.... But you have to appreciate them. They don't come and rape and pillage. They don't come just to take advantage. They come and they build. They transfer knowledge. Their business seems like good business for all.

Got my Masters

I am a Master of Science in Mathematics.

I.Feel.Awesome.

School's Out w/ girl talk

School's out, summer is here and I have been taking out the warm-weather clothes. I finally have to come to terms with how wide my ass has gotten over this winter :).

Time to exercise and prepare for my qualifying exams. Soon I'll officially be a svelte and sexy Math PhD candidate.

Oh, have you seen the Girl Talk Album HERE? I went to a concert of his a couple years ago (All Points 2008). Good times had by all.

The African American Male...

I have been doing some high-school algebra class observations, to learn more about the teaching experience. I'm tagging along with an old expert teacher and we often debrief with someone at the school to discuss what we saw and learned.

We've been recently watching this one teacher who seems to have complete control over the class (real impressive to watch) and in the debriefing the old expert teacher applauded his use of eye contact, and with one reference to one student interaction:

" We're told, the number one rule with African American males.... you have to look them in the eye, acknowledge them and honour their presence."

That seems like a good way to treat anybody really. But, do people really have a special rule book they use on how to interact with the African American male? Is what the African American male wants acknowledgement and honour?

How would I know... I'm not even American.