Tom,
Ok so why you do teach a few classes, and only teach part time. ; )


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:03:37 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not
my real name. wrote:

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?

I'm retired.

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:45:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible - the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20 professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Having undergone the same circumstance, multiple times, I would guess it's because they thought they
learned more from you. The question is, why did they think that? It could be because you taught the
subject in a way that was more understandable for them. It could be that you were something new, and
therefore they paid more attention. It could be that the teacher, knowing you were a sub, left you a
little less material to cover than would normally have been covered, and therefore you could get
into more depth with the material.

There are undoubtedly other explanations.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:54:16 GMT, "Doug Kanter" wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Your students are not alone in their desire. Last year, my son and some of
his AP math class pals decided that the teacher was awful, compared to those
they'd had in the past. These kids would stay after school for extra help,
and the teacher was unable to explain things any better than during the
class. So, they created a petition to bring to the principal. The principal
wasn't too keen on that method of changing things, but even so, a couple of
days later, it was as if somebody had stuck new batteries into that teacher.


A few phone calls from parents can work wonders!
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:10:58 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not my real name. wrote:

Tom,
Ok so why you do teach a few classes, and only teach part time. ; )


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:03:37 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not
my real name. wrote:

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?

I'm retired.


There's no such thing as 'part time' teaching. You just devote all your time to fewer students!
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

It's kind of like drills in sports, an effort to get muscle memory working
so you don't have to be totally conscious of how to swing a bat.

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:54:16 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
m...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material
for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their
bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Your students are not alone in their desire. Last year, my son and some of
his AP math class pals decided that the teacher was awful, compared to
those
they'd had in the past. These kids would stay after school for extra help,
and the teacher was unable to explain things any better than during the
class. So, they created a petition to bring to the principal. The
principal
wasn't too keen on that method of changing things, but even so, a couple
of
days later, it was as if somebody had stuck new batteries into that
teacher.


A few phone calls from parents can work wonders!
--
John H

I guess, but I thought it was pretty cool what the kids did. These were all
high achievers, too. They were basically saying they liked the difficult
course work, but wanted the help that would "always be available", according
to the nice speech from the principal at the beginning of the year.

On the other hand, my son's balanced enough to know when a teacher's trying
hard, but isn't quite cutting it. That's the deal with his AP physics
teacher now. The guy's 2 years out of college and he doesn't know enough
tricks for explaining things. The kids like him, but the whole class got 60s
on the first exam, and they were appalled.

I ended up spending 3 weeks on the phone looking for a tutor, at my son's
request. I ended up getting him with a physics professor from the Rochester
Institute of Technology. The guy's web page says he's interested in "Plasma
Surface Modification of Polymers (polyimide, Teflon) to Enhance Adhesion
with Vacuum Deposited (sputtering, evaporation) Metals (copper)". (WHAT???)
But, he offered to tutor my son, for free, with the understanding that he
pass along the knowledge to another kid in the future, if the opportunity
arose. The prof's actually enjoying it - he hadn't taught things like
conservation of energy in quite some time.

"DSK" wrote in message
...
And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

DSK


Some bias by the Brits also. The British are expanding their waist lines as
well as a lot of the other EU countries. Maybe it is the KFC, McD's etc, we
have exported, or their kids are sitting around playing xbox's also. Also,
how can we have so many fat kids, when according to the same EU people, we
are starving our poor. There is almost no PE in schools anymore, and
you do not see the kids out in the streets playing ball, or kick the can.
Very little physical exercise.
Also, the definition of obese is a little strange. It is weight to height.
According to the charts, Gov. Arnold is obese.

Tom,
Is that your story and you are sticking to it?


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:21:01 -0500, JohnH wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:10:58 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not my
real name. wrote:

Tom,
Ok so why you do teach a few classes, and only teach part time. ; )


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:03:37 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not
my real name. wrote:

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?

I'm retired.

There's no such thing as 'part time' teaching. You just devote all your
time to fewer students!

I'm retired.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:25:59 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

It's kind of like drills in sports, an effort to get muscle memory working
so you don't have to be totally conscious of how to swing a bat.

Perfect explanation.

I done figgered it out by mahself.

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:17:42 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:47:11 -0500, JohnH wrote:

What is causing the decrease in the work ethic of students?

Parents. Because of the nature of my wife's work with her Union,
local, state and national, she's out a lot of evenings and I sometimes
field the calls from parents who like to bitch and moan about too much
homework or why do they have to teach math - that's what they make
calculators for. It's got so bad at one point last year that I just
didn't answer the house phone at night. It's way too much work for
the parents to observe, orient and help the kids even if they do
understand the material.

I swear to god this is a true incident. Wife was out and I caught the
call accidentally - it was a parent who wanted to know why there was
all this homework about the structure of government - her daughter was
going to be a Irish Dancer and really didn't need to know all this
sort of thing.

I swear that's true. There is another parent of one of my wife's
students who truly believes that "exploration" of the child's
environment is much more important than structured teaching.

Your last sentence is especially true of math books. I wonder why the county spends so much money on
them.

Math is math and everybody who doesn't understand math wants to make
it understandable.

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

Another true one:

I had some kids (8th grade) at the board doing problems. A girl had to multiply 6 x 7 as part of her
problem. She asked if she could go to her desk to get her calculator. I said no. She said she didn't
know what 6 x 7 was, so I told her to write seven sixes and add them up. At his point, she got teary
-eyed and someone else said, "42".

That evening her dad called and proceeded to jump all over me for 'embarrassing his daughter'. I
told him it wasn't my fault she couldn't multiply, and *he* should be embarrassed. I suggested he
get some flash cards and use them in the car next time they went to Kings Dominion. He said he was
going to talk to my principal.

I never heard any more about it.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****