Comments on: The Yellow Pages Are My PLC

By: Jason Buell

Jason Buell — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:22:06 +0000

This also works in ed research too. I’ve emailed at least a dozen different professors asking for copies of journal articles that would normally cost me something ridiculous. All but 1 have emailed me back promptly with a pdf and most are willing to answer questions and talk implementation or implications. Well, except for a few guys in Israel who only had them in Hebrew but they were kind enough to provide me with the overview.

By: Mike L.

Mike L. — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:35:09 +0000

The reason they will talk to you for a not insignificant amount of time is because they are eager to share with someone that is outside of their business that has an interest. I made a similar revelation with graduate students doing research. They were all very eager to share what they were researching and what they have learned so far.

By: Numbat

Numbat — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 21:23:23 +0000

My school library used to have a book for Math called something like “where will I ever use this” but it went walkabout. I’ve tried finding a site on the net that might be as useful and although this one is interesting it’s not as good as the book was. Does anyone have any other sites that could be as useful?

http://www.whenwilliusemath.com/

Cheers,
Chris.

By: Mylene DiPenta

Mylene DiPenta — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:21:12 +0000

Alby — that’s what I’m discovering…

Sue, I just started teaching 51 weeks ago :) so until a month back, I did absolutely nothing but run from the classroom to the electronics shop to my office (trying to plan interesting content for tomorrow), then sleep. Now that I’ve discovered the blogosphere, I don’t sleep anymore (curse you Dan!). No blog (I’ll write to you via yours).

By: dy/dan » Blog Archive » [WCYDWT] Pure Performance

dy/dan » Blog Archive » [WCYDWT] Pure Performance — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:11:19 +0000

[…] that had anything to do with the ad, asking them for information. Everyone was extremely helpful (why is this such a revelation?) and eventually my query was routed to Peter McAuley, the visual effects supervisor, who dropped a […]

By: Alby

Alby — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:34:14 +0000

Exactly the same thing happens if you replace “math” with “physics”.

By: Sue VanHattum

Sue VanHattum — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:10:31 +0000

Mylene DiPenta, do you have a blog? I’d love to hear more about the work you’re doing with whales.

By: Stacey Strong

Stacey Strong — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:02:53 +0000

So true!

My favorite example is getting the police department to tell me how they figure out how fast a speeding car was going from the length of the car’s skid marks. (Saw the formula in a textbook and wanted to verify it to see if it was pseudo context or not…)

Or for the same police department to give me statistics on ANYTHING involving drinking and driving. It was a way that I could tie my math class legitimately to the character education course the school was running.

By: Daniel Schaben

Daniel Schaben — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:00:56 +0000

Yes . . . please post on the fruits of these phone calls. Josh G mentions that teachers ignore questions “When are we going to use this” Many times my answer, sadly, is . . . “to get you ready for, the ACT, SAT, college Algebra or Calculus.” This is not a very satisfying answer for me or my students. Honestly, where is factoring the polynomial in many ways useful besides the ACT, SAT, or other state and federal exams. Most of my students are not going to be professional mathematicians. They are going to be doctors, nurses, farmers, ranchers, home owners. All of these things involve high levels of math competence. It frustrates me to teach some of the concepts I teach without the real answer of why. Maybe I am way off base here, but we including me in the math teaching world need to do some serious sole searching. Thank goodness that Dan is getting the ball rolling and keeping it rolling. Great post, Dan!!!!

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:54:14 +0000

This cracks me up. Wasn’t there another WCYDWT where you called a company and they bent over backwards for you? It’s on the tip of my tongue….maybe the parking meter thing? Who knows.

I love this. And I love that you have six attempts under your belt. Many “normal” people would stop after one and feel pretty good about life.