“Every good manager effectively threatens his players with professional extermination if they don’t give him the best effort that they are capable of giving; Casey Stengel, Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and Earl Weaver are masters at it, as was Durocher. They are not nice people. . . .” – Bill James, The Bill James Baseball […]
Grading and the Fear of God Read More »
I have taught many resistant students: gang members, drug dealers, disaffected kids with no direction, shy introverts, you name it. But the one thing I could always use to level the playing field was Shakespeare. You’d think something more in line with The Outsiders or some other gang-themed novel would have done the trick, but
Can Shakespeare Save Lives? Read More »
“The herdsmen wandering by the lonely rills, marks where they lie on the scarred mountain flanks. Remembering that mild morning when the hills shook to the roar of guns, and those wild Franks surged upward from the sea.”[1] –The ANZAC Book As morning broke on Sunday April 25th 1915, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
Blank Pages Along the Beach: Soldiers’ Diaries of the Gallipoli Campaign Read More »
People probably invented poetry to help them remember things they wanted to remember – what their gods and ancestors did, how to get from one place to another, what plants were good to eat and what plants were poisonous – all sorts of things that rhythmic patterns and regular rhyme schemes made easier to remember.
To Be or Not to Be? If someone asked me to tell the story of my life, I might begin like this: I was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1942. I have been told that my father came home from the hospital saying over and over, “It’s a boy! It’s a boy!” There is no
First Aid: The Bones of Freshman Composition Read More »
Okay, maybe saving the internet is a bit hyperbolic, but better math instruction could reduce some of the arguing that occurs. Internet trolls and pranksters are an internet hazard that most of us would like to see less of. Trolls are a separate issue. but there are certain pranksters that like to take advantage of
How Math Teachers Can Save the Internet from the PEMDAS Debate Read More »