conversations elsewhere

The real blog action is going on in the neighborhood.

1. My brother links to a Darymple smackdown of Mr. Language Instinct. While I find its elitism stodgy and its analysis oversimplified, it's certainly better than Pinker's pop-evo-psycho-linguo-babbling and laissez-faire approach to language development. Hasn't Pinker read Piaget? Left untutored, cognitive and linguistic development goes only so far. I don't teach English and coach speech and debate for nothing.

2. Mark Olson asks Two Dumb Questions.

3. Peter Wall, agent provocateur, tries to shoehorn the law into a social harms paradigm.

the Nintendo Wii is no longer cool

In the midst of a conversation over coffee, chewing on a chocolate chip cookie, I nearly spat it all over the tablecloth when, unprovoked, my mother blurted out, "That Nintendo Wii is soooo much fun!"

I checked my Apocalypse Calendar as she continued, "Never mind the oogly-boogly games--Zelda and whatnot--there's bowling and baseball and tennis!"

Yes, friends: my mom has played with a Nintendo Wii, and pronounced it good. Hope you kept your receipt.

a tacky tie for finals week

I have stacks of journals to plow through, essays to mark, vocabulary tests to bleed red upon, Emerson to read, parents to see, tournament details to prepare, lessons to plan, recommendations to write, and obligations I won't make public. Carry on.

Cross-posted at that haven of rest, Mr. A's world of tacky ties.

Capital High School debate makes the pages of The Olympian

The coach--me--ends up sounding a little doofy.

Bolstered by the new growth, Anderson said he wants to build the Capital team into a powerhouse such as traditionally strong teams from Federal Way and Gig Harbor.

"They've been good for a long time, but they weren't always that way," he said. "We will be that sort of program."

Anderson said that passion stems in part from his participation as a teenager on his own high school debate team. It's an experience that builds up skills students can use throughout their lifetimes, such as how to be articulate, think critically and have confidence when speaking publicly, he said.

"That is powerful," Anderson said.

The students, though, are just fine.

Anyone can do it.

That's how Capital High School junior Joseph San Miguel described getting involved with the school's debate team.

"It's not just for people who want to be politicians or lawyers," the 17-year-old said.

"It's really fun to be part of the growth," said Gabriella Guilfoil, 14, a freshman. "I really like learning more about the world, and it's low key. It's really comfortable and open."

"There are events that play to almost anyone's strengths," said Leanne Nicholas-Monk, 16, a junior.

"If you get good at debate, you can get good at all of your assignments," said Ian Nordstrom, 16, a junior. "You can do all of your homework twice as fast."

David Goldstein takes on the WASL

While we're on a WASL kick, here are Goldy's unfiltered thoughts on Washington's high-stakes test:

The point is, the one thing these standardized tests are truly capable of evaluating is the ability of the student to take these standardized tests. They do not necessarily test the student’s grasp on the material, and they do not necessarily predict the student’s future performance in college or the real world. Hell… look at me: according to the SATs I’m a fucking genius, yet here I am blogging for free while my thermostat’s set to 58 and I’m struggling to pay my mortgage. How smart is that?

So when I read all these editorials and columns lamenting our student’s poor performance on the WASL, it absolutely infuriates me that nobody ever questions the performance of the WASL. I mean, did it ever occur to anybody that when it comes to measuring the ability of a typical high school student to grasp and apply a body of knowledge, that perhaps the WASL sucks? Is it so outside the realm of possibility to even consider the notion that the very same educators who are constantly being accused of failing to teach our children might also have devised a crappy means of measuring a student’s progress?

Actually, David, you're not alone--there are a lot of people who question the WASL. They're just not named Bergeson or Gregoire, and they're too busy teaching to the test as though their jobs depended on it. Soon they will.

teacher, may I be excused from the WASL?

I have to barf.

Some errors apparently were accidental, such as useful posters hanging in classrooms, providing the wrong kind of pencils and teachers who misread test directions or had students start the wrong sections at the wrong time.

Irregularities also included fire alarms, nosebleeds and other illnesses. A booklet from Eatonville was returned to the testing company in a plastic bag because a student had vomited on it.

I've always thought proctoring the WASL is as dull as watching public television. Maybe not.

Some tests were invalidated due to teacher idiocy and student mischief:

An Everett teacher gave students definitions of acute and obtuse angles and how many meters are in a kilometer.

"This departure from test protocol destroys the validity of these four test items and significantly impacts the credibility of the score results for these students," Paul Dugger, the state assessment coordinator, wrote in a report. OSPI invalidated the tests. A complaint against the teacher is still being investigated....

A Lakewood High School 10th grader got in trouble for using his cell phone during the test to send a text message after finishing his exam and turning it in. Another student had his test recommended for invalidation because he received a text message.

800 pages of issues, in sum. Makes you wonder how many anomalies go unreported when the pressure's on.

Adam Morrison and J. J. Redick Watch: Day 29

Morrison scored only 6, and the 'Cats lost by 9 to the Hawks, thanks to poor shooting all around. Morrison's non-defense didn't exactly help.

"There was nothing I could really do except try to make him miss, and that didn't work," Morrison said. "That's why he's an All-Star caliber player. He showed tonight he's definitely a star in this league, a superstar."

And that's why Morrison's not--yet. Potential. Kid's got potential. Gotta admit it.

(Redick update to follow at the conclusion of tonight's contest.)

Redick sat, and the Magic won again, this time over our hapless Sonics. (Those fond of the post hoc fallacy will see the connection.)

Update: According to the Orlando Sentinel,

Rookie SG J.J. Redick, who did not dress for Monday night's game against the Jazz in Salt Lake City, was activated Wednesday night against the SuperSonics. Second-year PG Travis Diener was deactivated. Coach Brian Hill said he likely will keep alternating between Redick and Diener until F Pat Garrity fully recovers from a strained right knee and is activated.

Meanwhile, in Main Street Newspapers:

It has been brutally tough and humbling for a cocksure kid who needs a trophy room to house the player-of-the-year awards he earned last season.

“It’s a new experience,” Redick said, in a grand understatement. “It’s definitely different. Any other season . . . .I’m out there.”

He had to heal from a herniated disc and plantar fascia before training camp, and the delay caused him to play catch-up. He played in two preseason games, scoring just zero points --- unfathomable for the ACC’s all-time leading scorer.

“We talked,” Magic Coach Brian Hill said. “I know the frustration J.J.’s going through coming off everything he accomplished in college.

“It’s going to be frustrating.”

I smell trade bait.

put a pitchfork in it

Slate deconstructs Pitchfork Media, the site that's trying its darndest to redefine music criticism. I don't hate 'em. A .4 rating for Weezer is worthy of admiration.

carnival ideas for your consideration

I'm thinking of starting a new carnival (I tried once before, and eventually failed, but never let failure deter you from future failure). I have three ideas.

1. A "carnival of questions."

Many searches that lead to my blog are questions that are perhaps unanswerable. For the first "carnival of questions," bloggers would submit their answers to those questions. The next host would collect her own list, and bloggers would submit new answers, ad infinitum.

2. A "carnival of search terms."

If you're a long-time reader, you know where this is going. Carnival participants would send in the post titled with an interesting (or even outrageous) search term that led to their blog, forging a creative, perhaps unexpected explanation or connection.

3. A "carnival of blog titles."

It wouldn't have to be a one-shot deal. Each week would have a theme: best animal-related title, best title from a work of fiction, cleverest pun, etc.

Your thoughts? Any one strike you as worthwhile, and, if so, would you participate, and encourage others to join the fun?

another snow day for CHS

Three late starts in a row. This time, though, the schedule's even more messed up. We were to have 45-minute classes, periods 1-5, and then a 110-minute 6th period final starting at 12:45. With a two hour delay, we'll have 28 minute periods (I'm guessing), with five minutes passing. It's going to be a great day.

I don't want to start next week with finals Monday, and a new trimester Tuesday. It'd better not snow tonight.

Update: Oh yeah, I forgot about lunch. Two, actually. We have 22-minute periods up 'til the final. Most excellent.

for WEA eyes only

Mr. Rain reads WE Magazine so you don't have to.

a WASL alternative to Gregoire's alternative

Gregoire says to the legislature, postpone the WASL requirement for three years. The state's Board of Education says, sure, but only if you adopt specific recommendations:

The math action plan calls for a clarification and revision of state math standards, a revision of the math WASL if necessary to properly test for these standards, a limited menu of math curriculum choices for school districts and improvements in teacher training and recruitment.

A "limited menu of math curriculum choices?" Ack! Next stop, France.

how to make a good first impression

Would you wear this tie to an interview?



I would.

(Note: the shirt doesn't trip out like that, actual size. The tie does, though.)

Cross-posted at that hacienda of hubris, Mr. A's world of tacky ties.

NewScientist at 50: Paul Broks on consciousness

Broks gives a whirlwind tour of the last fifty years of neurological research,

a Copernican revolution of the self; a historical shift from the age of solipsism, when we were all at the centre of the universe - self-loving, self-loathing, self-absorbed - to an era of self-dispersion when ego is deemed constrictive. I saw the science of selfhood figure increasingly in the great social and moral debates of the century, from age-old wrangles about euthanasia and free will to disputes over brain enhancement, cyberethics, and the fusion, fission and transposition of minds.

In his most interesting moments, Broks, much like Dr. Oliver Sacks, shows how the brain can break down to reveal its essences.

The neurological diseases that were then still prevalent tended to carve human nature at its joints in such ways, and one occasionally saw what appeared to be clear dissociations of the two "selves". I remember an epileptic patient telling me of her intermittent loss of identity, a condition known as transient epileptic amnesia. Her surroundings would suddenly feel unfamiliar, and then she would begin to feel unfamiliar to herself. Soon she had no idea who she was, where she was or what she was doing. She was stripped to the minimal self: a floating point of subjective awareness untethered by identity.

In other, rare, cases I saw the opposite: the minimal self dissolving, leaving only the story of the extended self. One patient had a strong sense of identity and autobiography but believed that she had ceased to exist. "Am I dead?" she asked. This condition, Cotard's syndrome, was due to a neurological decoupling of feelings and thoughts. Thinking that one exists was not enough: the notion had also to be felt - "I feel I think, therefore I am."

This "dissolution" of the self, in society, in life, in medicine, where does it leave us? Says Brok, "And in the end? A liberating truth. There are no souls, only stories."

Adam Morrison and J. J. Redick Watch: Day 28

Re: Redick: not much to watch. Yesterday Redick didn't appear in the Magic's most recent victory over the Jazz, the start of a six-game road trip.

Tonight Morrison and the 'Cats face the weary Nets, who are looking for a face-saving win against a 3-10 squad. I predict Morrison, the league's leading rookie scorer, ends up with 10, just 'cause.

Update: Morrison exceeded my expectations, beating his average and helping the Bobcats take it to the reeling Nets.

Seahawks don't choke on national stage, beat Pack

Nice to see Hasselbeck back, and Alexander back to form. These Hawks showed glimpses of former glory in their comeback victory over Green Bay, making defensive stops, slugging it out on the ground, and scoring through the air. Even Jerramy Stevens nabbed a TD (after dropping several passes, to loud boos).

Brett Favre, bless his soul, played afire (and with fire, throwing a couple killer picks late), even until the last crazy down. Retire already and go to the hall, Mr. Favre.

I don't smell Super Bowl, but I also don't smell the mold of mediocrity. We're at least playoff bound, if everyone stays healthy.

(Don't bet on sports.)

NewScientist at 50: Vlatko Vedral on free will

Face it: we all want to predict the future, and science, with its formulas, emphasis on repeatability, and rigor, offers us our best shot at prognosticating, whether it's the market, the weather, or the next horse race. (Your lacking love life will stay that way, science or no.)

When it comes to predicting human behavior, though, we stumble on severe epistemic roadblocks. Enter Vlatko Vedral, posing a physicist's counterpoint to Patricia Churchland's neurophilosophical musings. Are we free? Vedral concludes[sub req]:

To have the kind of free will we would like involves walking a fine line between determinism and randomness. We must be able to freely make our actions, but they should then result in deterministic (that is, non-random) effects. For example, we may want to be free to send our kids to a school of our choice. But then we also want to believe that the laws of physics (and biology, sociology and so on) ensure that going to a good school is highly likely to lead to a better life. Having free will is pointless without a certain degree of determinism.

The same can be said about studying physics. I want to believe that the choice regarding which aspect of nature I want to study - whether I want to measure the position or velocity of a particle, for example - lies with me. But what I also want is some degree of deterministic behaviour in nature that would then permit me to infer laws of physics from any measurement that I choose to make. In fact, the only means we have for deducing the basic equations of quantum mechanics means that they are fully deterministic, just like those of Newtonian mechanics.

There is nothing mysterious or controversial about this, but look what happens when we apply this to ourselves. If we are all made up of atoms, and if atoms behave deterministically, then we too must be fully determined. We simply must share the same fate as the rest of the universe. When we look inside our brains, all we find are interconnected neurons, whose behaviour in turn is governed by their underlying molecular structure, which in turn is fully governed by the strict laws of quantum mechanics. Taking the argument to extremes, the laws of quantum mechanics ultimately determine how I deduce the laws of quantum mechanics, which appears to be a fully circular argument and therefore logically difficult to sustain....

The most honest position for a scientist on the question of free will is definitely agnostic: I simply do not know. What I do know is that when I was asked to write about free will as a physicist I found the idea so exciting that I had no choice but to agree to take it on.

I disagree with Vedral's psychology of choice: we don't have to be sure that our actions will bring happy results, but just confident that our chances are good.

stepping back from the abyss: a substitute for the math WASL?

This is a surprising turn for Terry Bergeson:

Gregoire and Bergeson announced today they will propose to the Legislature a temporary suspension for the classes of 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Those who don't pass the math section of the WASL would have to take rigorous math classes and take the WASL annually.

I have achieved success as a teacher-blogger

Say no more:

Reading some of your entries has made me shudder to think you are "moulding" young minds. Lets hope it snows and you get to stay home more!

CHS late start, November 27

When it's like this outside my classroom...

... we have a two hour late start, D schedule.

(Tomorrow, if we get the predicted freezing rain, we may just stay home.)