Common Core and Common Sense
I admit I learned math the old-school way. Rote memorization of multiplication and division. I still know that 15 times 15 = 225 without any effort, or that 25 times 25 = 625. 13 times 13 = 169 and so on. Had that stuff pounded into me by the various math teachers whose classrooms I once occupied. I never got much beyond the quadratic equation, although if pressed I might be able to do some simple ones. But I can solve word problems all day long. Better still, I can do math with large numbers by hand. I doubt the students of today could find the cube root of 493,039 without a computer or calculator. FYI, it is 79. There's a trick to knowing how to calculate cube roots in your head. Just like there is a trick that will enable you to do the following. Tell a friend to think of a number between 1 and 9. Now have them multiply it by the following number: 12345679. Then have them multiply the result by 9. This is what will result:
1 * 12345679 = 12345679 12345679 * 9 = 111111111
2 * 12345679 = 24691358 24691358 * 9 = 222222222
3 * 12345679 = 37037037 37037037 * 9 = 333333333
4 * 12345679 = 49382716 49382716 * 9 = 444444444
5 * 12345679 = 61728395 61728395 * 9 = 555555555
It works for all values 1 through 9.
In other words, you can make the process of learning math "fun."
Now we have the Common Core standards and there is a lot of stuff being put out by proponents and critics. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle; however, after going through and reading a number of the math standards myself, I think the bulk of the blame is on the teachers implementing these standards in ineffective, confusing ways. Here is one of the 6th grade math standards:
1 * 12345679 = 12345679 12345679 * 9 = 111111111
2 * 12345679 = 24691358 24691358 * 9 = 222222222
3 * 12345679 = 37037037 37037037 * 9 = 333333333
4 * 12345679 = 49382716 49382716 * 9 = 444444444
5 * 12345679 = 61728395 61728395 * 9 = 555555555
It works for all values 1 through 9.
In other words, you can make the process of learning math "fun."
Now we have the Common Core standards and there is a lot of stuff being put out by proponents and critics. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle; however, after going through and reading a number of the math standards myself, I think the bulk of the blame is on the teachers implementing these standards in ineffective, confusing ways. Here is one of the 6th grade math standards:
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to divide fractions by fractions.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.A.1
Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, create a story context for (2/3) ÷ (3/4) and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient; use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that (2/3) ÷ (3/4) = 8/9 because 3/4 of 8/9 is 2/3. (In general, (a/b) ÷ (c/d) = ad/bc.) How much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share 1/2 lb of chocolate equally? How many 3/4-cup servings are in 2/3 of a cup of yogurt? How wide is a rectangular strip of land with length 3/4 mi and area 1/2 square mi?.
Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, create a story context for (2/3) ÷ (3/4) and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient; use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that (2/3) ÷ (3/4) = 8/9 because 3/4 of 8/9 is 2/3. (In general, (a/b) ÷ (c/d) = ad/bc.) How much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share 1/2 lb of chocolate equally? How many 3/4-cup servings are in 2/3 of a cup of yogurt? How wide is a rectangular strip of land with length 3/4 mi and area 1/2 square mi?.
Compute fluently with multi-digit numbers and find common factors and multiples.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.B.2
Fluently divide multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.
Fluently divide multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.B.3
Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.
Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.
Now these could have been stated in plainer language, but anyone who is qualified to teach 6th graders should have no trouble understanding the standard. I chose 6th grade math standards because I have taught 6th grade math.
I'm now pretty sure the problem isn't the Common Core standards, but how individual teachers, school districts, curriculum designers and the like are implementing them.
* * *
Is it worth it to risk your freedom for $28? To put your entire future at risk, when you're only 19 years old? Apparently it was worth it for Felishia Bridges and her 25 year dinner companion Daniel Humphrey.
They went to an Applebee's and did the "dine and dash" bit. Problem is, as they were fleeing, an employee chased them. Bridges, according to witness statements, deliberately ran the employee down with the car she was driving.
Now she's in jail. Charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and theft of services. Mr. Humphrey is also behind bars, charged with theft of service and violating a court order. Seems there was an order of protection requiring Humphrey to stay away from Bridges.
We can argue over studies showing arrest rates among people under 25 and whether or not the rate is climbing or declining. That isn't the issue. The issue is that they were too high as far back as 1995 and they are still too high.
How many of these people ever got a "heart to heart" with their parents to make them understand how damaging just one arrest and conviction, even for a minor misdemeanor can be? If Felicia Bridges is convicted of the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge, she will live with a felony on her record for the rest of her life. Her ability to get jobs will be severely limited.
A friend of mine who is a bit older than these two people has been convicted twice for DUI. He had been a bartender and manager for bars. He won't get that kind of job again anytime soon. He did find work and it's good work, but he was lucky. There are a lot of people out there who are essentially unemployable due to their criminal records.
When we are not yet 25 years old, we feel invulnerable. Nothing can harm us, nothing will go wrong. I was not yet 16 when I put my future at risk. I joined friends atop the parking structure in Santa Monica that was closest to the old Bob Burns restaurant. As cars would make the right turn onto Second Street going South, we would lob eggs at their windshields. Just my luck that when I finally hit one smack dab in the middle, it was a police cruiser. I'd launched the egg before seeing anything other than the headlights of the car.
Now had I been caught and arrested, it would have been a minor thing. There's a good chance the cops would have called my folks and I'd have gone home without an arrest record. Then again, the cops might have been pissed off and wanted to make an example of me. Depending on what I'd been charged with, I might not have been able to enlist in the military the following year.
As a society we need to sit the children down at an early age and make them understand that all it takes is one arrest to ruin a life.
I'll wager that Felishia Bridges and Daniel Humphrey knew before they went into the Applebee's that they were going to dine and dash. They assumed they'd never get caught. Do you think that if they'd known what would happen, they would still have done what they did? I don't think so.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Chris Martin and Gwynneth Paltrow are separating. Pardon me, they are "consciously uncoupling" which at least sounds different. Was there a message when in 2013 Martin was asked to name his favorite Rolling Stones song and he said "she's so cold?"
People with Bitcoins have a new problem and it won't be going away soon. The IRS says the virtual currency is property and not currency. Thusly, if you bought a Bitcoin for $100 and then use it to pay for $750 worth of goods/services, you've just recognized a capital gain of $650 that has to be reported on your next tax return. As Scooby Doo might have said "rut roh."
A Secret Service agent drunk on duty? Doesn't bode well for his future.
I don't think Lady Gaga meant she lets her boyfriend handcuff her, or tie her up, or anything else like that, when she said he's in charge at home. On the other hand, who cares if that is exactly what it means?
Maybe it's just me, but nothing about this photo says "MMA fighter."
Did basketball coach Steve Masiello really think he'd get away with lying on his resume about being a college graduate?
Allowing college/university athletes to unionize might benefit those who play men's basketball and football, but it will hurt athletes in sports that don't generate positive revenue for those schools.
Now here's something ironic. The IRS says it will take years to produce all the documents subpoenaed by Congress in the investigation into how the agency handled applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party groups. Funny, if an individual taxpayer being audited said it would take months, let alone years, to gather required documents the IRS wanted, they'd get laughed at.
All the talent in the world won't make a difference in the value of Yasiel Puig to the Dodgers if his attitude doesn't change.
I don't care what Edward Snowden thinks about anything, including proposed NSA reforms.
The best Monopoly rule that no one pays attention to is that if a player lands on a property that isn't owned by another player; and they don't purchase it, it goes up for auction. Never played the game with anyone who follows that rule.
President Obama's visit to Flanders Fields is an excellent opportunity to remind Russia's Vladimir Putin of the risks involved in his present course of action.
Props to University of Texas football coach Charlie Strong for using the "hook'em horns" hand signal as a motivational tool.
Working for CNN does not give one license to breach security at any location, just to show how weak said security is.
Breastfeeding while drinking alcohol may not be illegal, but it is probably risky and should be avoided.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld needs to remove the phrase "untrained ape" from his vocabulary.
Shame on the City of Boston for trying to collect a 1987 excise tax bill from a senior citizen when they can't prove she owes the money.
* * *
March 26th in History:
590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1027 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
1169 – Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt.
1344 – The Siege of Algeciras, one of the first European military engagements where gunpowder was used, comes to an end.
1351 – Combat of the Thirty : Thirty Breton Knights call out and defeat thirty English Knights.
1484 – William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables.
1552 – Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru.
1636 – Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands.
1812 – An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela.
1812 – A political cartoon in the Boston Gazette coins the term "gerrymander" to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.
1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.
1839 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.
1881 – Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again.
1885 – The Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel begin the North-West Rebellion against Canada.
1913 – Balkan War: Bulgarian forces capture Adrianople.
1915 – Ice Hockey: The Vancouver Millionaires sweep the Ottawa Senators three-games-to-none to win the 1915 Stanley Cup Finals, the first championship played between the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the National Hockey Association.
1917 – World War I: First Battle of Gaza – British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
1931 – SwissAir is founded as the national airline of Switzerland.
1931 – Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union is founded in Vietnam.
1934 – The driving test is introduced in the United Kingdom.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists begin their final offensive of the war.
1942 – World War II: The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces.
1958 – The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
1958 – The African Regroupment Party is launched at a meeting in Paris.
1967 – Ten thousand people gather for one of many Central Park be-ins in New York City
1971 – East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form the People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Liberation War begins.
1974 – Gaura Devi leads a group of 27 women of Laata village, Henwalghati, Garhwal Himalayas, to form circles around trees to stop them being felled and giving rise to the Chipko Movement in India.
1975 – The Biological Weapons Convention comes into force.
1978 – Four days before the scheduled opening of Japan's Narita International Airport, a group of protestors destroys much of the equipment in the control tower with Molotov cocktails.
1979 – Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..
1982 – A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, D.C..
1991 – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing Mercosur, the South Common Market.
1991 – Five South Korean boys, nicknamed the Frog Boys, disappear while hunting for frogs and are murdered in a case that remains unsolved.
1991 – Local self-government is restored after three decades of centralized control in South Korea.
1995 – The Schengen Treaty comes into effect.
1997 – Thirty-nine bodies are found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.
1998 – Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: Fifty-two people are killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of two.
1999 – The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world.
1999 – A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
2005 – The Taiwanese government calls on one million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the demonstration.
2010 – The ROKS Cheonan sinks off the west coast of South Korea near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 seamen.
Famous Folk born on March 26th:
Malcolm III of Scotland
Fuad I of Egypt
A. E. Housman (http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/housm02.html)
Robert Frost (http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html)
Syngman Rhee
Guccio Gucci
Joseph Campbell
Rafael Mendez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUij8FCg0z8)
Emilio Fernandez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_b7gqWG-5k)
Toru Kumon
Sterling Hayden (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppjyB2MpxBU)
Strother Martin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuDDqU6n4o)
Bob Elliott (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWNOIb_RDQ8)
Sandra Day O'Connor
Leonard Nimoy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk57tQmRw70&list=PL0DE2C8C487ABE188 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5zD-BfFogs)
Alan Arkin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltrgs4bkR5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE_S7P0egzk)
James Caan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC-urnq3x2k)
Nancy Pelosi
Erica Jong
Bob Woodward
Diana Ross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx-7gwu3JM8)
Johnny Crawford (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo3o3catRjw)
Dar Robinson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUtzRGW_AVs)
Steven Tyler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_0UXRY_rY)
Vicki Lawrence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZlzh_PNpsE)
Fran Sheehan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR6ZzjDZ94)
Ernest Lee Thomas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkTiApYKwVA)
Teddy Pendergrass (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbaSh8i5eyE)
Martin Short (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5lsYCEgqDA)
Alan Silvestri
Lincoln Chafee
Curtis Sliwa
Leeza Gibbons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhjIQC1U_yo)
Paul Morley
Chris Hansen
Marcus Allen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQfU9KaRsvk)
Jennifer Grey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYa2MDhnPXc)
John Stockton
Michael Imperioli
Kenny Chesney
Leslie Mann (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1wQhnsBUtI)
T. R. Knight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5NfFIf7ON0)
Larry Page
Amy Smart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSkFP3SfKGU)
Kiera Knightley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOq1KXaGzeY)
A Secret Service agent drunk on duty? Doesn't bode well for his future.
I don't think Lady Gaga meant she lets her boyfriend handcuff her, or tie her up, or anything else like that, when she said he's in charge at home. On the other hand, who cares if that is exactly what it means?
Maybe it's just me, but nothing about this photo says "MMA fighter."
Did basketball coach Steve Masiello really think he'd get away with lying on his resume about being a college graduate?
Allowing college/university athletes to unionize might benefit those who play men's basketball and football, but it will hurt athletes in sports that don't generate positive revenue for those schools.
Now here's something ironic. The IRS says it will take years to produce all the documents subpoenaed by Congress in the investigation into how the agency handled applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party groups. Funny, if an individual taxpayer being audited said it would take months, let alone years, to gather required documents the IRS wanted, they'd get laughed at.
All the talent in the world won't make a difference in the value of Yasiel Puig to the Dodgers if his attitude doesn't change.
I don't care what Edward Snowden thinks about anything, including proposed NSA reforms.
The best Monopoly rule that no one pays attention to is that if a player lands on a property that isn't owned by another player; and they don't purchase it, it goes up for auction. Never played the game with anyone who follows that rule.
President Obama's visit to Flanders Fields is an excellent opportunity to remind Russia's Vladimir Putin of the risks involved in his present course of action.
Props to University of Texas football coach Charlie Strong for using the "hook'em horns" hand signal as a motivational tool.
Working for CNN does not give one license to breach security at any location, just to show how weak said security is.
Breastfeeding while drinking alcohol may not be illegal, but it is probably risky and should be avoided.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld needs to remove the phrase "untrained ape" from his vocabulary.
Shame on the City of Boston for trying to collect a 1987 excise tax bill from a senior citizen when they can't prove she owes the money.
* * *
March 26th in History:
590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1027 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
1169 – Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt.
1344 – The Siege of Algeciras, one of the first European military engagements where gunpowder was used, comes to an end.
1351 – Combat of the Thirty : Thirty Breton Knights call out and defeat thirty English Knights.
1484 – William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables.
1552 – Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru.
1636 – Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands.
1812 – An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela.
1812 – A political cartoon in the Boston Gazette coins the term "gerrymander" to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.
1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.
1839 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.
1881 – Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again.
1885 – The Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel begin the North-West Rebellion against Canada.
1913 – Balkan War: Bulgarian forces capture Adrianople.
1915 – Ice Hockey: The Vancouver Millionaires sweep the Ottawa Senators three-games-to-none to win the 1915 Stanley Cup Finals, the first championship played between the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the National Hockey Association.
1917 – World War I: First Battle of Gaza – British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
1931 – SwissAir is founded as the national airline of Switzerland.
1931 – Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union is founded in Vietnam.
1934 – The driving test is introduced in the United Kingdom.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists begin their final offensive of the war.
1942 – World War II: The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces.
1958 – The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
1958 – The African Regroupment Party is launched at a meeting in Paris.
1967 – Ten thousand people gather for one of many Central Park be-ins in New York City
1971 – East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form the People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Liberation War begins.
1974 – Gaura Devi leads a group of 27 women of Laata village, Henwalghati, Garhwal Himalayas, to form circles around trees to stop them being felled and giving rise to the Chipko Movement in India.
1975 – The Biological Weapons Convention comes into force.
1978 – Four days before the scheduled opening of Japan's Narita International Airport, a group of protestors destroys much of the equipment in the control tower with Molotov cocktails.
1979 – Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..
1982 – A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, D.C..
1991 – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing Mercosur, the South Common Market.
1991 – Five South Korean boys, nicknamed the Frog Boys, disappear while hunting for frogs and are murdered in a case that remains unsolved.
1991 – Local self-government is restored after three decades of centralized control in South Korea.
1995 – The Schengen Treaty comes into effect.
1997 – Thirty-nine bodies are found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.
1998 – Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: Fifty-two people are killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of two.
1999 – The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world.
1999 – A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
2005 – The Taiwanese government calls on one million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the demonstration.
2010 – The ROKS Cheonan sinks off the west coast of South Korea near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 seamen.
Famous Folk born on March 26th:
Malcolm III of Scotland
Fuad I of Egypt
A. E. Housman (http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/housm02.html)
Robert Frost (http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html)
Syngman Rhee
Guccio Gucci
Joseph Campbell
Rafael Mendez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUij8FCg0z8)
Emilio Fernandez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_b7gqWG-5k)
Toru Kumon
Sterling Hayden (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppjyB2MpxBU)
Strother Martin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuDDqU6n4o)
Bob Elliott (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWNOIb_RDQ8)
Sandra Day O'Connor
Leonard Nimoy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk57tQmRw70&list=PL0DE2C8C487ABE188 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5zD-BfFogs)
Alan Arkin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltrgs4bkR5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE_S7P0egzk)
James Caan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC-urnq3x2k)
Nancy Pelosi
Erica Jong
Bob Woodward
Diana Ross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx-7gwu3JM8)
Johnny Crawford (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo3o3catRjw)
Dar Robinson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUtzRGW_AVs)
Steven Tyler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_0UXRY_rY)
Vicki Lawrence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZlzh_PNpsE)
Fran Sheehan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR6ZzjDZ94)
Ernest Lee Thomas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkTiApYKwVA)
Teddy Pendergrass (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbaSh8i5eyE)
Martin Short (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5lsYCEgqDA)
Alan Silvestri
Lincoln Chafee
Curtis Sliwa
Leeza Gibbons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhjIQC1U_yo)
Paul Morley
Chris Hansen
Marcus Allen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQfU9KaRsvk)
Jennifer Grey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYa2MDhnPXc)
John Stockton
Michael Imperioli
Kenny Chesney
Leslie Mann (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1wQhnsBUtI)
T. R. Knight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5NfFIf7ON0)
Larry Page
Amy Smart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSkFP3SfKGU)
Kiera Knightley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOq1KXaGzeY)
posted by me at 6:14 PM
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