Category Archives: Uncategorized

I recently received a very sincere email by an acquaintance who was interested in my recommendations for a math program that would be used in a charter school that was to be opened by a friend of said correspondent. My … Continue reading →

Everybody loves a good bandwagon, and the “love” being showered on Khan Academy is one that initially elicited a shrug from me. Of course, when Bill Gates tells us that Khan is the “best teacher he’s ever seen” (and if … Continue reading →

We all have heard about Michael Lewis’ economic take-down of Major League baseball through the development of “sabermetrics,” the practice of using objective statistical information to optimize a team’s performance at the lowest possible cost. Lewis concluded that this was … Continue reading →

I’m thrilled Andrew Cuomo is governor of this great state, because it means that I can publish the above question and, being the public figure he is, I can totally get away with it. I can also ask “Is it … Continue reading →

In my previous rant, I went on and on about the cruddiness of math workbooks and how teachers come to rely on them for exercises for their students. However, the truth behind these workbooks is that they are rarely written … Continue reading →

10 Reasons Why I Am Opposed to Workbooks A Pedagogical Manifesto by R. M. Berkman  1. Workbooks do not promote interactions between children. Instead, the child works silently by him/herself, with no one to share ideas.  2. Workbooks do not … Continue reading →

In which the author, a 54 year old with 30 years in the field of mathematics education, takes the GREs, his first attempt at taking a standardized test in almost 30 years. To see the first post of this series, … Continue reading →

I don’t blog all that often, and my subjects are usually very specific, so it was oddly coincidental when two of my favorite targets, Scabs for America, er, “Teach for America,” AND a misguided online content provider known as Conceptual … Continue reading →

Education Reform has been around as long as there has been education, but today’s brand of “reformers” are a heck of a lot different than John Dewey, Carolyn Pratt, Maria Montessori or Herbert Kohl. No, today’s “reformer” is a loudmouth, … Continue reading →