Ability To Withstand The Strain of Teaching

Hello!

1. I blogged. Quoth me, “good teaching sometimes involves turning long ideas into a series of shorter ones.”
2. I liked Marilyn Burns’ reflections on how to have deeper mathematical conversations with kids. “Treat attention as all or nothing,” she says. Another: “Find the reasoning under the explanation.”
3. From Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: Suppose you have to win two tennis matches in a row to win the game. Suppose that your choice is playing Serena Williams or me. Would you rather play Michael-GOAT-Michael or GOAT-Michael-GOAT?
4. Reading: We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson. It’s about an ostracized family and a not-so-mysterious murder. It’s the perfect summer read.
5. I’m still feeling unsettled about college admissions, private schools, elites, and how all the pieces of this weird educational system fit together. What I learned this week: about 6% of US students are in private school; about 1.5% are in non-religious private; they spend less time on math and reading instruction; they probably learn less math as a result.
6. I have a humorish story that I still like in issue #19 of The American Bystander. It’s not impossible that someone here wants to spend $5 to read a PDF of MAD Magazine for grownups.
7. Not gonna think about next year yet. Not gonna think about next year yet. Not gonna think about next year yet. But when I do, I’ll tuck these strategy comparison tasks away for my algebra students.
8. For the first time in years I do not have a job this summer and WHY DIDN’T YOU ALL TELL ME IT FELT LIKE THIS? LIKE YOU HAVE WINGS? GOLDEN WINGS?
9. I am not listening to any good music lately so please send me some. Also I just remembered to give some money to charity, maybe you also had forgotten to give lately. You can always give well.
10. Here’s something I wrote down in my journal a few days ago that my daughter said: “I have a question. If we have a long drive, I’m going to throw up.”

Happy Juneteenth,

Michael