2048

2048 is a simple game where players slide pairs of matching numbered tiles together to create new higher numbered tiles and continue this process until they create a tile with the value 2,048.  You can play it on your phone or computer.  Here's a version. 

One of our enterprising students decided to make a new version where the numbers were replaced by pictures of our faculty. Check it out.  We thought it was awesome.  You can make your own version here.

OK, but wrong...

Image Credit

So a quick question for my mathy friends.  I often hear from students these words. 

"I got it wrong, but I know how to do the problem." 

The student has mastered the procedure or understands what is being asked, but makes a mistake or several in the process and the result is an incorrect answer.

This is very common in my advanced classes where students are asked to understand and solve complex, multistep questions.  They often know the solution in theory, but cannot execute the later, simpler algebra or arithmetic of the problem accurately.  My response is to circle the error and write, "OK, but wrong."

As we think about the teaching, learning, and using of mathematics, is it enough to know how to do the problem, even if you can't get the right answer?

Where is the line between understanding in principle and correct solutions? What do you think?   

happy

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I'm sitting in our cafeteria, The Grille, during my off period, working on some grading.  Music plays softly through the speakers.  A Great Big World's current hit, "Say Something (I'm Giving Up on You)" featuring Christina Aguilera starts and suddenly three boys working in the corner burst into song.  It's not quiet singing under their breath.  They loudly and happily sing along.  And that's just it.  In that moment, they're happy...  working...  in school...

You know that's the goal, right?      

 

 

improving student performance

If you want to change student performance, change teacher expectations. 

This isn't news to a teacher.  As a former psychology teacher I am more than familiar with Rosenthal's 1964 study in which he told teachers that some of their students were very bright.  The catch was that the kids were randomly selected.  The results were that kids identified as bright improved their I.Q. scores more than their unselected peers.  This was incredible work, now routinely called the Pygmalion Effect. 

A recent story at NPR and a blog post and from Mind/Shift at KQED looks at how a newer study by Robert Pianta took Rosenthal's work to the next level.  The study examines what can be done to get teachers to expect more from kids.  Two plans were attempted, talking and doing.  Some teachers were taught to mentally have higher expectations through discussion.  Others were taught behaviors that indicated that they had higher expectations, regardless of their thoughts.

The outcome, unsurprisingly, was that behaviors worked better.  Teachers that acted like they had high expectations got better results.  Doing trumps saying. 

So the real question is, what are the behaviors that teachers can DO to show kids they have high expectations?  What do you think? 

senior skip day

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Once upon a time, more that twenty years ago, when my school was much smaller, seniors used to band together and skip a day of school.  I don't know who had this brilliant idea, but on a random day, a day they chose, the entire senior class simply didn't show up.  I can almost hear the wheels turning.  "What are they going to do if everyone skips?"

I had the same conversation with my peers at a swim practice in high school.  We were swimming a  set of 100 yard repeats and a tired someone wondered, "What can Coach do if we ALL swim slow?"  And so we all swam slow.  Coach decided we should do a VERY long set of mile repeats instead.  In our rebellion, we traded discomfort for genuine pain.   We never tried to rebel again. 

My school took a different route.  We simply gave the seniors a Senior Skip Day.  Rather than allow the chaos of student led rebellion, someone must have negotiated a deal where the Monday after prom became Senior Skip Day.  It's now a planned day on our calendar, one senior privilege among several others.  A lot of schools have handled it this way. 

Once in a while I hear a senior say that they should skip another day (never a different day, just an additional day.)  I always give them a stern look and the idea dies a quick death. 

It reminds me how fortunate I am to work at a place where the kids are pretty darn good.

prom

Last Saturday night was Prom, an annual rite of spring in high schools across the nation.  This year's theme was 1920s, a Gatsbyesque celebration of a time long gone.  Students raved about the lovely décor, the delicious food, and the remarkable saxophonist that played so well.  Our students were decked out in their finest gowns and sharp tuxedos.  I don't have permission to post their pictures here, but the costuming was indeed lovely. 

Our school has a no tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol at prom.  Each car is met by chaperones.  Students are expected to arrive and remain sober during the event.  Cars, limos, and party buses are searched as needed. Students are very well supervised.  Any student that leaves the event is not allowed to return.

Post prom parties are another matter.  Some parents believe

that they should host the party and allow drinking in their homes on the grounds that at least the kids are supervised.  Other parents take a no tolerance stance, letting their own children know that underage drinking and drug use are unacceptable under any circumstances. 

What are your thoughts?  How do you think we should handle underage drinking and drug use with our own children and in our culture as a whole?  What are the best means to keep our teens safe?  I welcome your comments below. 

headmaster's day

Photo Credit:  Lane Epps
 

A favorite tradition at our school, Headmaster's Day is called each spring by the headmaster and is an unabashed field day of fun.  Students sleep in, play games, hang out with friends, and enjoy the beautiful weather.  The day begins with a rocket launch and then the games commence.  A dozen competitions follow ranging from relays to ultimate frisbee, balloon tosses to dodge ball. The smell of sweat, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat fill the air.  Free Italian ice is available to all morning, cooling sweaty bodies and crushed spirits.  The day concludes with the junior-senior rope pull across our canal.  The juniors get wet swimming across the canal and the seniors almost always win.  School closes at noon and we all head out for an afternoon of rest. 

This is a wonderful day, one that even in the rain remains a tradition worth preserving.  Today we had spectacular weather with a high at noon of 80 degrees.  It never gets better than this.