Mathematics without calculators!

This is about Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church, Virginia and a teacher who has the courage to fight the system and others who have authority and teach without computers. Instead he makes his students think. He uses old text books because they have better examples and are not confusing with irrelevant material. Interesting, I have thought that mathematics has gotten off track the past number of years. Sadly, I am often thought of as a Luddite because I oppose the use of computers and calculators without considering why they are being used.
It seems that the tools that some teachers are using are interesting toys but do not really teach the students. Wonder when teachers will accept that sometimes the old ways are actually relevant and work.
When will this leap to technology stop and when will educators and their superiors stop and reflect what is going on?
If you can access the article: Why your Kids can't add without a calculator, do. It is very revealing.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day.
Time to celebrate Canada and what we have. Interesting watching the United States they have a health care programme but it is not as good as ours. People still have to purchase plans and as we know not all plans are a like. There are fewer restrictions on medical conditions which is good.
This is not all that is good about Canada.
Enjoy the day and remember to appreciate what we have.

Summer is here

Summer is finally here and after the long wait, I am already getting organized for the fall. One tennis membership has been submitted and now another one came by e-mail. Amazing how you are in one season and getting ready for the next. I am also booking chamber music performances.
Supposed to be very warm today but so far it is good. Not complaining. Hopefully, this will be the last of the really warm weather for a bit.
Enjoy summer.

Music Exams

The next 3 days will be filled with music exams. I will be listening to playing exams starting at about 10:30 this morning. I must stay focused on what student plays. It will be hard but I can do it. Hard to stay focused on exams this long. I have to admire examiners at institutions like the Royal Conservatory. They have to do weeks of examining.
Some of the students who I will be listening to will be tested by me for the first time which is unusual. I have not taught them but they are on my list of classes. Oh well, we will manage.

Time to get on with life

Now that I have 2 1/2 days off, I remember what it is like to enjoy some time off. Yesterday, I had a gig in the middle of the day. I only managed that a couple times recently and that was because the performances were planned before I was asked to work and I could not reschedule. It is nice to have a minute to relax and go and visit some important people. Going to visit my 93 year old friend. Have not seen her since I started working. That is two months now. Hard to believe that time has passed so quickly. My next thing is to get some errands done. Going to the car wash at the car dealership this morning. That will be different. Have never done that but it is time that I tried. I am becoming braver with time. Parked in underground parking yesterday, again for me a strange thing. I don't like underground parking. Seen too many movies where bad things happen.
Two more weeks and I am off for the summer.

High School versus Elementary

Having had a chance to experience elementary school for 30 years and then high school for 5, I will take high school any day. The differences are incredible. High school during exams that is all you do and if you have a day or part of a day when you are not teaching you do not have to stay in school. That is why I have time today to post on the blog. I do not have exams until Monday when I start for three intense days. If I were in elementary, there would be no time off and the teaching loads are very different. The first issue is that you do not teach more than 175 students. I often had over 400 students and I taught everyone, there was no choice on the part of students or me.
Teaching load in terms of classes is very different as well. High school, you have a period off and this period is 70 minutes and a lunch, elementary you were lucky if you had a period off each day and it would not be 70 minutes. Lunch was not 70 minutes and sometimes you had lunch duty. All of this a challenge. Band, choir and any other groups are not part of the teaching load in elementary, in high school they count as part of the teaching load.
The report cards are also an issue. I completed two classes in about 10 minutes. In elementary it would take about an hour at least and generally more. Why are they not using the same systems, it does not make sense.
If elementary understood the differences, I am not sure that people would be so eager to teach the young. It can be fun but the loads are not equitable.

Ray Bradbury has passed

It was with surprise that I read that Ray Bradbury passed away yesterday. I read some of his work many years ago. Little did I realize that he was still writing at the time. What a science fiction icon! He lived through interesting times and will be missed.
Time to reread some of his work.