Two Hours - Ed Caesar (Book - Read in 2016)

This book explores the quest to run the impossible marathon. Up to this point, no one has been able to run a marathon in under two hours. Caesar writes about the lives of several Kenyan long distance runners. I enjoyed the read as it contained both sports and science. I find the idea of pushing the human physical and mental limits very interesting

Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for my family, friends, and food. Also, I am grateful for all of the teachers that I have had as a student and have had worked with over the years. 

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (Book - Read in 2016)

It is a story of success. It is a common misconception, I think, that people accredit Gladwell with the ten thousand hour rule. While Gladwell discusses the rule in his book, I think his tenant is that success is much more than just practice by the individual. Social and circumstantial settings contribution much to a person's chance of having success. It is an influential book and I strive to read Gladwell's other books.

Trivia: Malcolm Gladwell is an excellent distance runner. He has a very impressive mile time at well under 5-minutes by some accounts.

CMC 2016 - Palm Springs

It was another fruitful trip to Palm Springs's annual CMC Math Conference. I attended the following sessions and noted these takeaways.

Friday
10:30a - Square Progression by Anna Kwak (Azusa USD)
The progression of the concepts of squares was modeled through the vertically alignment of the content strand from elementary to high school. 

1:30p - Making Sense of Inference for Sampling & Experiments by Daren Starnes (The Lawrenceville School, NJ)
Through both digital and hands-on simulations, we examined deeper understanding of inference questions on the AP Statistics exam.

3:30p - Knocking Down Barriers w/ Technology by Eli Luberoff (Desmos)
Eli, the founder of Desmos, showed how technology in education can be a double edged sword. We interacted with outstanding Desmos activities called Marble Slides and Point Collector.

Saturday
8:30a - Principles for Building & Using Effective Digital Tasks by Michael Fenton (Desmos)
Using a variety of Desmos activities, teachers learned ways to promote learning that is easy to begin and difficult to finish. (Low floor, high ceiling.) Vary the verbs and the nouns, don't just solve, solve, solve.

10:30a - Sparking Deeper Understanding w/ Simulations in Statistics by Douglas Tyson (Central York, PA)
Two very interesting and relevant activities were introduced. (1) Can you smell Parkinson's and (2) Spin that penny.

12:15p - AP Statistics Luncheon
Guest speaker Roxy Peck showed us a new statistics website for high school students and parents who may be interested in the field. (ThisIsStatistics.org)

1:15p - Significance Test Are More Than Juat a P-Value by Luke Wilcox (Kentwood, MI)
We used simulation to discuss the problem: Can yawning be contagious?

3:15p - Math is Power, Not Punishment by Dan Meyer (Desmos)
We need to offer students an opportunity to feel the need for mathematics. Teachers should allow math to be a tool for empowerment and not punishment.

Thank you cards.

Two of my top students gave me these thank you cards. Eric thanked me for a letter of recommendation that I had the pleasure of writing for him.  James thanked me for my recent recognition of his awesomeness.

My Year of Running Dangerously - Tom Foreman (Book - Read in 2016)

In this biographical story, the author tells the story of his transformation from a working dad to an ultra-marathon runner. It was a great read. I found the book to be both charming and humorous.

Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (Book - Read in 2016)

I listened to this audio book during my drives to work or to my workouts. It was a wonderful story of ultra distance running along with some science behind running. I don't agree with the book's main tenants, including that running barefoot is the way to go, but I still enjoy the story.