Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

As mentioned in my most recent post, my friend Tim Pope and I have restarted our education podcast, 180days.education . So far, under the direction of our producer/editor, Quinn Greenhaus , we have come up with a consistent schedule, which includes releasing our episodes on a regular basis (the 2nd and 4th Thursday's of every month), along with releasing a monthly Newsletter (the 2nd Thursday of each month) that gives some insight into what the episodes for the month hold. We already had show-notes, but we have now made them more of a blog-type post, where you can listen to the episode and also read more about the episode and find any resources or links that are mentioned in each episode. We also are using some better tools for our recordings that make it easier for Quinn to edit each episode.  We use to use Audacity for recording, which is a perfectly fine tool, however we had to send our interviewees directions for downloading and saving the audio files and it had more potentia

 I am embarrassed to see that the last time I posted on this personal blog was back in February, 2017.  That is quite the long hiatus.  No excuses other than I think I was hiding out until the DeVos era ended. I would love to say I have been hanging out at the beach and enjoying life, but in addition to that I have actually been working hard these last years. Teaching, supporting teachers, doing hundreds of presentations around the country and world (Italy, Germany, Japan, England to name a few), and working on new technologies for math ( ClassPad.net ) and doing webinars and creating lessons and how-to' s to support technology integration. Never a dull moment....with occasional beach days thrown in! Anyway, back in action on the blog. Going to try to be a bit more present in this personal blog. I've been blogging non-stop on the Casio Education blog , but it's time to get back to my individual voice and messages as well. I can do both!!  I am working on a couple things

I read an article this morning from Nira Dale  entitled "Why Instructional Design Must Focus on Learning Outcomes, Not Learning Activities" . While the article was focused on edtech tools and making sure the games, devices and activities used to engage students also focused on learning goals, the message actually pertains to all education activities, whether technology is involved or not. It reminded me of when I was working in Virginia Beach, where the whole district was working with creating lessons using the Understanding By Design framework from Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins.  The key message, that I have continued to utilize in all my work, is that engaging activities for the sake of having a 'fun' thing to do with students does NOT enhance student learning unless the activity chosen connects directly to the learning goals and desired student outcomes. Seems obvious of course - but, you would be surprised at how many teachers create wonderful, fun, engaging exp

Wow - can't believe I haven't posted since May.  Crazy.  Of course, I do post weekly on my other blog, so I am going to plead busy!! It has been busy these last few months.  I have been doing some very diverse things, all related to math education. It's one of the benefits of going out on my own and being "independent" - I get to try new things and do a variety of math and technology related activities which keeps me interested and on my toes.  Here's just a few things I have been doing since May: 1) Working for Casio - so blogging, Tweeting , Facebooking and doing research on technology, BYOD, testing etc. 2) Working for the Dana Center at UT, Texas and DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activities) as an International Fellow supporting their adoption of College and Career Ready Standards. I went to Austin, Tx for some training and just got back from England, doing training at LakenHeath Air Force Base.  Such a marvelous experience! Heading to

My daughter sent me this article, Parents are Freaking Out Because They Can't Answer a 7-year Olds Exam Question,  the other day concerning a Twitter posting about a math problem that was frustrating students, parents, and lots of people on Twitter obviously. Here's the problem: The issue is there are two answers that could be correct: 65, if you use the 'work backwards' method, subtracting out the 17 that just got on from the 63 and then adding back the 19 that got off.  The other answer is 46, which results from simply subtracting out the 17 that just got on from the 63 currently on the train.  The teachers exam rubric/'test key" stated the correct answer as 46.  Hence - all the confusion, because that would mean the 19 was an unneeded number. The real problem here, and it is NOT an isolated situation, is that this question is very poorly worded, and thus open to both interpretations. The work-backwards approach assumes that the question is asking

On my way to the gym this morning I listened to yet another story on NPR about the FBI/Apple controversy surrounding accessing the iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorists. Quick synopsis - Apple refused, FBI found a 3rd party who was able to create their own algorithm to hack into the phone, FBI dropped case against Apple. But - everyone is worried.  Will the FBI share this code-breaking algorithm with other law enforcement? Will we all be vulnerable now to some outside person accessing the privacy of our smartphones?! Legal issues aside, what I find interesting is the fact that an algorithm unlocked the information. Or algorithms created the 'locked phone' in the first place. As a math person, it's always  fascinating to think about how algorithms create so much of what is around us, and while I don't understand it myself, there are people out there who do.  People who can create a code to break into a locked phone. Or an algorithm to pick stocks or predict weather