LearningEngineer.com

Punctuation in Perspective

2013-02-27T18:07:00.001-08:00

I wanted to put punctuation into its proper perspective, so I created this infographic using Steven Brill's article from Time Magazine called Bitter Pill.

Charter School Search Trends

2013-02-23T23:13:00.002-08:00

Charter Schools Web Trend Searches

You will notice that all the drops in search interest occur in December and the forecast holds to that pattern. So, why are charter schools not searched during the month of December? Perhaps, only students are doing searches on charter schools?

Music Software For Everyone

2013-02-21T23:02:00.002-08:00

Everyone loves music. Well, let's hope so anyway. Now, you may not know this, but there is a lot of software out there for making music. Here are just a few examples.

The Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard is pretty cool.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vmpk/?source=dlp

The next piece of software is Hydrogen, which is a drum machine. I have used it before and I really like it a lot.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hydrogen/?source=directory

Lesson #2 Reading Like a Writer

2013-02-09T17:15:00.001-08:00

Lesson #2
Reading Like a Writer

If you want to be a better writer, you have to read everyday like a writer reads. So, this isn't just leisurely reading; it is time to start paying attention. Most writers don't learn to write by diagramming sentences, learning the rules of punctuation and grammar, or by learning about the parts of speech. It's not that those things aren't important. It's that they are better learned through reading than memorizing rules.

So, what is reading like a writer? Well, let me demonstrate through an illustration. Here is the first sentence from Atul Gawande's essay, The Checklist. It first appeared in the New Yorker and then was turned into a short book. This is the first sentence of the essay. You will notice that the sentence is a long one because it ends with a list. The writer first writes a complete sentence, which he ends with a colon, as circled in red, and then begins a list.

Lists are something to watch out for. Writers use them all the time to provide examples or clarify something by providing examples. In the list above, he is providing examples of the damage that the human body can survive these days. Here is another example from the same piece, just a few paragraphs down.

This time, the writer uses a dash instead of a colon between the sentence and the list because the list items have qualifying phrases starting with "if" in them. Because it is a more informal list, we use a dash instead of a colon.

Now you should go and look at some of the major publications, such as, Newsweek, Time, US News & World Report and find some lists. Analyze how they are put together and then try to mimic what they do using your own information.

Writing for Beginners: Lesson #1, Say It First

2013-01-31T21:34:00.001-08:00

Everything your writing teacher didn't teach you about writing that you should know.

Lesson #1

Say It First.

First, we need to conceptualize writing in way that most people can understand. Writing is like music. Music has many genres: country, rap, hip-hop, rock, punk. And within those genres, each artist has his or her own style. Will Smith's hip-hop is different from that of Andre "Ice Cold" 3000s. Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson are both country artists but their individual styles are different. So, it is with writers. Some writers like short choppy sentences and short choppy words. And other writers, use alliteration to create prose that are like poetry. Well, let's look at some examples. The first is one of my favorites. It's from Ham on Rye from Charles Bukowski.

The crowd rose as the President’s car entered the arena. There had never been anything like it before. It was the President. It was him. He waved. We cheered. A band played. Seagulls circled overhead as if they too knew it was the President.

Notice the way the short sentences, matching a similar pattern speed up the pace of the reading? Here is another example that is one of my favorites. It's a letter from Frank Sinatra to Mike Royko, a columnist from Chicago who criticized Frank for something that Frank had nothing to do with. Here is just a blurb.

And thirdly, who the hell gives you the right to decide how disliked I am if you know nothing about me? The only honest thing I read in your piece is the fact that you admitted that you are disliked, and by the way you write I can understand it. Quite frankly, I don't understand why people don't spit in your eye three or four times a day.

http://www.examiner.com/article/frank-sinatra-s-angry-letter-to-mike-royko-of-the-chicago-daily-news

You can easily see that Frank Sinatra writes exactly the way he talks. His sentences aren't fancy. His words are not flowery. He is direct and to the point. Is it ever unclear how Frank feels? No. Frank's style of writing is called informal. There are formal and informal styles of writing. In school, students are expected to write formally. However, your day to day writing is largely informal and it is how you should write everything at first.

Here is another example of very informal writing from Jay McInerney's Story of My Life.

When you read it, you will notice how it is written to sound just like someone is talking. All writing should start like this. Before writing anything down, you should be able to say it as though talking to someone. So remember to say it first before writing it down. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation at first. Simply put a period after every complete thought.

What's Wrong with Educational Sciences?

2013-01-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite websites to visit is called Eurekalert at http://eurekalert.org. It is an aggregate of press releases from universities, colleges, and research facilities. And, of course, as an educator, I find myself scanning through the education section looking for interesting articles to tell my students about and post to this blog. The problem is that the educational sciences are not that rigorous. Studies rarely meet the standards set by the medical community, which require the randomized double-blind method.

The randomized double-blind study is the gold standard because it minimizes confounding variables. However, this standard is rarely met in the field of education. For example, students are often selected randomly, but rarely from the general population. Now, that is not to say that these studies aren't worthwhile, for they can be used for meta-analytical studies later. Taken on their own, however, they should not be extrapolated out to the general public. Or, as in the case of charter schools, are not randomly selected from the general population but from a self-selected group of students who are biased towards charter schools.

The other problem with methodology is the placebo effect. Students know they are going to a different school or can figure out when something dramatic has changed in the curriculum. This creates the idea of a treatment to the student. We know from research that the placebo effect counts for up to 30% of observable improvement even if the person knows they are receiving a placebo.

In conclusion, the science problem eventually leads us to the present policy problem: wanting evaluations for teachers that aren't scientific. Any evaluation of a teacher that isn't scientifically based is a fraud and a waste of tax payer dollars. The question is this. Do we really want to solve the problem? Or are we simply dumping blame at a group of people because we can and it is easy?

Charter School Performance in New Jersey Proves Nothing

2013-01-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

There are two reasons why the study is flawed.

The study does not meet the scientific criteria of a randomized double-blind. Children want to and know they are going to a Charter School.

Placebo effect constitutes 30% of observed improvement. The study recorded a 3 month improvement, which falls within the range of a placebo.

The What Work Clearinghouse from the Institute of Educational Science admits that it doesn't prove much of anything and that Charter schools perform no better than regular public schools while serving a more diverse population of students.

Although students at some charter schools showed significantly higher or significantly lower achievement gains compared to students in non-charter schools, most charter schools had student gains that were not different from the gains of students in non-charter schools.

http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/quickreview.aspx?sid=220

Union Shops are More Productive

2013-01-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

As we know, there is an unprecedented attack on unions, especially teacher's unions. So, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the article from the 1998 Scientific American entitled "Look for the union label." The article reveals that union shops with competent, non-hostile managers are the most productive. While union shops with incompetent and hostile management are the least productive. Managers run companies, not unions. Blaming unions is just a modern example of ignorant bigotry.

Look for the union label.

Authors: Wallich, Paul
Source: Scientific American; Aug98, Vol. 279 Issue 2, p36, 2p, 1 Color Photograph, 1 Graph
Abstract: Presents analysis of economic data by Lisa M. Lynch and Sandra E. Black showing that unionization could help maximize labor productivity. Data from the United States Census's Educational Quality of the Workforce National Employer Survey; Productivity statistics; Relationship to formal quality programs such as Total Quality Management; Profit sharing; Lower turnover; Increased worker involvement.

Students’ Social Networks Can Predict Course Grades

2013-01-03T22:10:00.003-08:00

e Grades

http://www.aabgu.org/media-center/news-releases/students-social-networks.html

I found this piece while filtering through the Eurekalert.org website. It's from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and they analyzed networks between students. I found the second to last paragraph the most interesting.

“One explanation for what we discovered is that your friends influence your grade in the course, so, if you pick your friends well, then you will get a higher grade,” Fire says. “Alternatively, social networks in courses offer conditions whereby good students will pair with other good students, and similarly weaker ones will pair with weaker students.”

Teachers Earn Less According to American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation

2012-12-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

Recently, I received an email from Kathleen Marsh. Kathleen Marsh is a Wisconsin public employee who started a petition to tell our politicians that they should keep their paws out of our deferred compensation or pension as some call it. It is only a pension if you actually receive your pension. Well, she provided a link to an article from Andrew Biggs in the Wall Street Journal. Here is the original paper that he wrote for the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation entitled, Are Teachers Overpaid? (http://www.aei.org/article/education/k-12/higher-pay-than-private-sector/) If you want to see how a research paper shouldn't be written, this paper is an excellent example. It would never be published in an actual research journal with standards.

Here are the horrible highlights of Assessing the Compensation of Public-School Teachers upon which Are Teachers Overpaid is based.

1. Falsely assumes that markets set accurate prices. If markets accurately set prices there wouldn't be asset bubbles such as the housing bubble, stock market bubble, or tech stock bubble. Markets require honesty and transparency to work, neither of which has ever happened and will probably never be.

2. Uses lots of anecdotal evidence to support predetermined conclusions -- also known as dogma.

3. Cites non-peer reviewed sources, including a blog on page 7 citation #18.

4. Asserts without evidence that the better grades of education majors are a by product of low grading standards instead of the improved effectiveness of people who are experts at instruction or the ineffectiveness of instructors who have no expertise in instruction. (Page 7 paragraph 6).

5. Uses anecdotal evidence to deny statistical evidence that teachers are in fact underpaid. On page 6, they state that, "In other words, public-school teachers receive salaries that are 19.3% lower than non-teachers who have the same observable skills." That is the statistical evidence. Now here is the anecdotal evidence, "If we added an indicator for architects to the regression, for example, we would find that architects receive a wage premium over similarly skilled workers. Yet, few people would immediately conclude that architects are 'overpaid.'" Few people? Who are these people and where did Mr Biggs find them?

6. On page 6, Biggs asserts that experience does not have an impact on teacher quality without evidence to back up his assertion. In reality, the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance states that expertise requires approximately 10,000 hours of effortful practice. Hardly something a new teacher would possess. Teachers work approximately 200 days a year. Multiply this by seven hours a day of instruction, and you get 1400 hours. It would take about seven years to put in the appropriate number of hours to be an expert and that is under perfect effortful practice conditions, not necessarily a classroom.

News is Entertainment

2012-12-30T08:52:00.007-08:00

News media admits it is really entertainment. In a recent Economist blog, an Economist writer admits that the story and its narrative are more important than the truth. The reason? Don't want to waste time on a story that won't be exciting.

"As Jay Rosen, an NYU journalism professor who understands everything, has explained at great length for years, the media is biased in favour of excitement."
http://www.economist.com/node/21557063

Doctors cite concern for patients, colleagues top motives for working sick

2012-12-29T21:56:00.001-08:00

Public Release: 18-Jun-2012
Archives of Internal Medicine
Doctors cite concern for patients, colleagues top motives for working sick
A poll of 150 resident physicians found more than half had worked with flu-like symptoms at least once in the last year. One in six reported working sick three or more times during the year, according to the survey conducted by researchers at University of Chicago Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital. Nearly ten percent of respondents believed they'd transmitted an illness to a patient and 20 percent believed other residents had passed an illness to a patient.

Here is what the article states, "Researchers say a physician's sense of loyalty to already-overwhelmed peers, along with a commitment to patient care, often conflicts with an ethical stance against exposing patients and staff to an illness or compromised performance."

Their commitment to patient care includes getting patients sick.

The Dark Side of Animation

2012-12-29T21:54:00.003-08:00

The Dark Side of Animation

Everybody seems to love animation. Watching buttons and images easing-in and easing-out of the screen is, well, easy on the eyes. However, is spending the extra hour adding transitions to text or graphics really worth it? No, in fact, it reduces learning by distracting the person from the information being presented.

In a recent study, researches found that students performed better with static slides than with animated slides. Why? Because the animations were distracting the students from the information being presented.

Animation should be used when it is necessary and only when it is necessary. For example, an animation that demonstrates how connected gears move in opposite direction works because it illustrates the concept and isn't there simply as eye candy.

Reducing clutter or fidelity is especially important when teaching concepts to novices who have no experience with the topic and lack a mental framework upon which new information can be organized and built upon.

"The dark side of custom animation" in Int. J. Innovation and Learning, 2009, 6, 581-592

Rewards

2012-12-29T21:31:00.001-08:00

Contact: William Harms
w-harms@uchicago.edu
773-702-8356
University of Chicago

Immediate rewards for good scores can boost student performance

Study on behavioral economics and educational incentives advances debate on how to motivate students

Dr Montessori's Own Handbook

2012-12-29T21:29:00.005-08:00

Dr Montessori's Own Handbook.
This was my largest editing project.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5vtaiLD-WA_YjUzMGViMmUtYWVhOS00OGFhLThjYzItNmRhMmY2NzA1Y2Zh

Less is More

2012-12-29T21:28:00.003-08:00

I was at eurekalert.org today and found this press release slash article about physics instructors. "Use of research-based instructional strategies in introductory physics: Where do faculty leave the innovation-decision process?" I was reading and ran into this, "However, age (as measured by rank and years of teaching experience) was not correlated with the use of instructional techniques, and it also did not matter if an instructor was in a teaching-oriented job, what type of institution he/she taught at, the size of the classes they teach, or if they were highly productive researchers." (Hendersen, 2012)

Yes, age is not correlated with the utilization of innovative instructional techniques. Research was also not correlated. Maybe that is because some instructors just so happen to respect the facts and some do not.
http://www.per-central.org/press/

The Science of Learning

2012-12-29T21:13:00.006-08:00

I was reading Scientific American September issue when I came across this piece by Dan Willingham who is a cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia. He advocates for a research clearing house for educators, so they can separate the facts from the fads http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-science-can-improve-teaching

From the same article, here is the link to the What Works Clearinghouse
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

Dante - A Lexical Database for English

2012-12-29T21:07:00.002-08:00

Dante - A Lexical Database for English.
Dante is like a dictionary, but much more since you can search for only one part of speech like adjectives, nouns or verbs. Give it a try at http://dante.skxmlbox.idm.fr/dante/search/Search.html

Better learning through handwriting

2012-12-29T21:06:00.003-08:00

Better learning through handwriting. Teachers should know that there is a big difference between typing on a keyboard and handwriting. So, it is best to incorporate both methods by requiring students to take notes or write rough drafts in handwriting and then final drafts should be typed into the computer.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/uos-blt011911.php

2012-10-25T08:15:00.002-07:00

The Economist's Bias Against Teach Unions: One Article at a Time

In September of this year, teachers in Chicago went on strike. Now, of course, the news media jumped all over the story in its usual bigoted fashion. You may think that "bigot" is an awful strong word to use, but I wanted to use stronger terminology. Bigot may be a strong term, however, what exactly would you call using deluded logic to vilify a group of people? Here is the article from the Economist.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/09/teachers-strike-chicago

Here are the Economists arguments in a nutshell, using the book, Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago as a blunt object by which to beat teacher's unions over the head. The irony here is that the University of Chicago, a private University, which costs much more than any public institution does, is the owner of the book through the Urban Education Institute.
These are the five pillars of an effective school according to one study published by the Urban Education Institute: effective school leadership, collaborative teachers with committed staff and professional development, parent-community ties, a student-centered and safe learning climate with high expectations, and ambitious and demanding instruction.

Effective School Leadership, the Economists says that since teachers oppose their hiring and firing at will, they do not support effective school leadership. This argument is absurd to say the least. First of all, "Effective School Leadership" is just another vague term that can mean almost anything to anyone. Here is the problem, where is the leadership in acting like a petty dictator? And if hiring and firing teachers at will and for whatever reason makes for good teachers than expelling students at will without due process must be just as effective. In other words, if school leaders can effectively judge teachers based on their professional opinion, then why don't teachers get to judge students in the same manner?
The Economist also doesn't like the concept of teacher pay and lay-offs being based on experience. The media and the Economist refer to experience as seniority and at times "tenure", of course, ignoring the research that says that teaching, like many professions -- doctor, lawyer, musician -- is experientially based.

Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance.

The topic of teacher evaluations is another issue the Economist covers by stating, "But the bottom line is that the union doesn't like any serious teacher evaluation and wants to delay it for as long as possible. Yet teacher evaluations linked to pay are coming; it is a national tidal wave."\ This is not only a complete fabrication, but it also has no basis in reality. Any "serious" teacher evaluation should be able to have science behind it. Assessments are rated based on their reliability and validity, yet not a single teacher evaluation exists that is scientific proven to be a reliable and valid indicator of teacher performance, which means what the Economist is selling is nothing short of snake oil that does nothing. And the Economists second argument is that it is a national tidal wave whether you like it or not, which is no argument at all, but rather, the use of mob rule.
Finally, there is the argument that since Chicago students are academically poor, it must be the fault of the teacher. This is perhaps most bigoted and deluded of all the arguments. The irony is that when minorities themselves blame the government, conservatives fall over themselves talking about personal responsibility and pulling yourself up by your boot straps, yet if that blame can be leveled at liberal unions, then it is perfectly acceptable.
You will also notice that the Economist article along with many of the news media articles, don't actually quote any unions or union members. One need only look to American Educator Magazine, published by the AFT as an example of what unions are doing to improve education.

If the Economist really wants to truly help children and not just bash unions, it should try using some facts and evidence to support what it believes to be true. What lesson do you teach children when you use illogical and deluded beliefs to support the vilification of a group of people?

Visual Instructional Tip #1

2012-10-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

Visual Instructional Tip: Don't forget that the level of complexity and fidelity of the diagrams, images, slides, or illustrations you are creating should be matched to the academic level of the student. If you are creating PowerPoint Slides, for example, use black and white line art for novices and photographs for advanced students.

Why? Advanced students can handle the complexity and fidelity of a photograph because they will have some idea already of what they are looking at, and in the end, they will be able to filter the important from the unimportant because of their pre-existing knowledge. Novices, on the other hand, will find themselves overwhelmed by the amount of information in a photograph.

2012-05-06T16:34:00.002-07:00

Sequential Numbers in MS Word 2007 - 2010

A few weeks ago, someone requested this information. Well, here it is.

In 2007 or 2010, click on the Insert Tab and then, click on Quick Parts. In the menu, click on Field. A dialogue box will come up. On the left side, you will see a ListBox labeled Field Names. The names are in alphabetical order, you will need to scroll down and select the one labeled: Seq. When you select it, you will see a TextInput box. In the box to the far left will be the letters: SEQ. after SEQ type in Exhibit \r 1. Now click on the Ok button. In Word, you should see the numeral one: 1. Right click on the one: 1; then click on the Toggle Field Codes. You should now see -- {SEQ Exhibit /r 1 /* MERGEFORMAT}. Select the entire string, copy it and then paste it onto another line. You will now see a numeral one -- 1 -- where you pasted. Right click on it and from the menu select Toggle Field Codes. Now you want to edit this line from this {SEQ Exhibit /r 1 /* MERGEFORMAT} to this {SEQ Exhibit /n /* MERGEFORMAT}. Select the change you just made -- remember to include the brackets -- and then click on the Quick Parts menu again. From the menu, click on the Save Selection to QuickPart Gallery item. This will now save this to the Quick Parts menu and every time you click on it in the menu, it will insert the next number in the sequence starting from one. If you now go and toggle your field codes back on the page in word you will see a numeral - 1 and a numeral two - 2. You can now delete everything on the page and whenever you want to start and continue on with the sequence starting with 1 just click on the QuickParts menu. If you want to start with a higher number, just change the 1 in Exhibit \r 1 to whatever number you want to start with.

Will Font Help Dyslexics?

2011-11-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

Do Dyslexics Need A Specially Designed Font

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/03/8617458-do-dyslexics-need-a-specially-designed-font

Dyslexia is both a visual and an auditory issue. Let me explain, we learn to read by being read to. We follow along while someone reads and we match up the sounds we hear with the letters and letter combinations we see. So, there is both a visual (eyes) and an auditory (ears) channel from which we acquire information. The problem with dyslexics is that there is a processing delay in the auditory channel. This is common knowledge in the education field and can be reference through any search of a peer reviewed database.

Now the font because of its complexity may require the eyes to linger long enough for the auditory channel to catch up and therefore properly match the sounds with the letters. Having a disorder doesn't make you an expert on it. That requires actual knowledge and research and not imagined knowledge and research.

Facts, Evidence and Details

2011-10-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence - Euclid

Facts, evidence and details are the blood of writing. Without them, writing is empty and vague. Without them, you have a witch hunt and not a trial. Without them, you have a delusion. And yet, I find people making assertions all the time, and when I ask them the details or facts upon which the assertion is made, they simply repeat the assertion again and again. Repetition doesn't prove anything.

What's wrong with closed captioning?

2011-10-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with closed captioning?

Closed Captioning is a requirement for all educational videos used where I work at Blackhawk Technical College. The belief is that Closed Captioning is the equivalent of watching and listening. However, it is not. It is watching and reading. The first is a visual and audio channel, but the second is only a visual channel loaded up twice. Closed Captioning requires the individual who is hearing impaired to split their attention between the graphics and the text; thereby making understanding more difficult and not less. A better approach would be to utilize text annotations right on the screen. These would be located on the screen where the action is taking place or the person is speaking. That way the individual trying to learn from the video would not be have to divide their attention between the bottom of the screen where the Closed Captioning is taking place and the middle of the screen where the action is taking place. The only thing you can be assured of with Closed Captioning is that the student will miss something.