Dear Math Teachers,

I know it’s getting to be that time of year – when your students arrive back from summer break all bright-eyed and ready to learn of the wonders of mathematics. . . .

Eh, who am I kidding? I’m sure you’re already contemplating the pedagogical merits of bludgeoning the little yammerers with their shiny new textbooks.

Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to be practical (unless you teach at a good ol’ parochial school). Instead, you might enjoy messing with your students’ heads – I mean, waking up their brains – by presenting them with a classic fake proof. The best part is that you get to laugh evilly until they manage to poke holes in the logic.


Proof that 1 = 2


Let a = b.
Then:


Have fun!
Jessica

In my continuing effort to help students and teachers discover the benefits and enjoyment of studying history, I find myself again wondering, why do I love history? Oddly enough, I had another epiphany on this subject, while doing one of my other favorite activities: watching real-life crime shows. I love to watch shows such as First 48, City Confidential, and 48 Hours Mystery. When I began to wonder why I loved these shows so much, it hit me like a bolt of lightning: senior seminar from college!

During this course, I was introduced to a book that changed the way I studied history: After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection Combined by James W. Davidson and Mark Lylte. What these authors do is take events (both well known and obscure) in American history and teach the student/reader to dig deeper and use primary sources and documents to gain a greater understanding of how to decipher the information we, as historians, are given.

A great example of this comes from the chapter on the Salem Witch Trials. Most Americans know the basic story of the witch trials*, but the authors show, through the use of primary sources and documents (such as deeds, etc.) that real issue behind the trials was property rights. Davidson and Lytle dig up the deed to property in the Salem area at this time, and use first-hand testimony of townspeople to show that what really happened. Some Salem girls overheard discussions in which their parents bad-mouthed other townspeople, and to help their parents--in a weird, irrational, pubescent way--they accused these people with whom their parents had property quarrels of witchcraft.

While today it seems a ridiculous conclusion, back in 17th century Massachusetts it surely was not. That is the genius of this book: it summons forth the inner detective in students, and forces them to look for clues to discover what really lies beneath the “known” history recounted in their standard textbooks.

After the Fact takes you to several events in American history including the decision to drop the atomic bomb, the story behind the photographs of Jacob Riis, and many more. Trust me, after reading the opening prologue on who killed Silas Deane, you to will be watching real-life crime shows as religiously as I am.

*Those who do not may want to read Witches Among Us: The Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials by Steven L. Stern, which is part of our Amsco Originals series.

It’s August, and teachers are scurrying to get their classrooms ready for back to school. French teachers, notez-bien: Before you unravel your faded La Tour Eiffel and L'Arc de Triomphe posters and whip out the green sticky tack, why not consider something different this year? Here are some fresh ways to decorate your classroom and get your students excited about learning le français.

1. Instead of or in addition to the usual posters of Parisian landmarks, hang real items from French culture. Decorating your classroom with authentic cultural items will make students feel like they’re really in France and not just in a U.S. tourism office. This will get them into the French mindset and more likely to try to use French-only during your lessons. For example, you can hang menus from French restaurants and shopping bags from French stores. (Save them during your trips to France.) You can also cut and post covers of French magazines such as French Vogue, Jeune et Jolie, and Paris Match, and front pages of French newspapers such as Le Monde and Le Figaro. (If you’re not near a big news store that carries foreign publications, you can get subscriptions to many of these on Amazon.)

2. Liven up your walls with French advertisements, which are easy to find—simply buy French magazines, and cut out and post the full-page ads. (Students particularly like seeing ads for French versions of American products, such as Coca-Cola Light, the French Diet Coke, and ads for French versions of American movies—students get a kick out of the translated titles.) You can hang these items in a row as a banner, put them all on one bulletin board, or plaster one of your filing cabinets with them, to create a flat version of a Morris column (French kiosque used for advertisements--see photo above). You an also find French ads from poster stores and teacher stores such as the French Workshop.

3. Hang some Paris maps, street signs, and door signs. One source for maps and signs is New York City’s French bookstore, Librarie de France.

4. Turn each area of your classroom into a different French-speaking region. Include different areas of France and also

Francophone countries like Martinique, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and Luxembourg. Hang up each region/country’s name, flag, pictures, and cultural relics.

5. Create a big calendar of French holidays, including regional festivals and traditions. Don’t forget to celebrate them when they occur!

Once the students arrive, you can have them contribute to your classroom decorations.

6. Make a Why Study French? wall. Students can write their own reasons for taking French on cut-out circles of construction paper, and the class can also make a master list together of reasons why people study French. This will keep up students’ morale and excitement throughout the year. After all, students are always more engaged in learning something when they understand the purpose for it. For a variety of reasons why French is important, read the essay “French: The Most Practical Foreign Language,” written by a Virginia Tech professor.

7. Have students pick French names and write them on cut-out shapes. Hang these shapes on a cut-out Eiffel Tower or other shape. Also, whenever you have students make visual projects like travel brochures, hang them on the bulletin boards so students can take pride in their work.


Bonne chance avec l’année 2007–8!

--Lauren

OUT NOW!

Mastering the FCAT Reading Retake

by Dana Chicchelly and Karen Spigler

Hey, kids! Get your diplomas NOW!

Florida students must pass the FCAT Reading exam to receive a high school diploma from a public school. Students who have failed the Grade 10 FCAT Reading can meet this requirement by passing the FCAT Reading Retake. The “Retake” assesses the same Sunshine State Standards, but with only multiple-choice questions. Students can retake the FCAT as many times as they want, and can even enroll for a 13th year of public high school, if they need more instruction! (Hey! I’ll be an even cooler senior next year!)

Mastering the FCAT Reading Retake includes a Diagnostic Test with Analysis Table, nine chapters, and two full-length Practice Tests. The chapters are organized into four time-saving Clusters, which allow students to target their weakest content areas. (So if I scored LOW on just “Reference and Research,” I can zoom right in to Chapters 7–9!)

Special features include Understanding the Benchmark (which introduces the content of each benchmark and suggests activities for in-class or at-home practice), Making the FCAT Connection (which lists types of multiple-choice questions that will assess the benchmark and the kinds of reading selections found on the test), Try It Out (Practice makes perfect!), and On Your Own (Go ahead, challenge me!)

Reading selections consist of a high-interest mix of informational and literary texts aimed at upper-level high school as well as adult students (No kid stuff!). Readings are accompanied by visual texts such as diagrams, graphs, illustrations and photos aimed to prepare students for what they’ll find on the actual test.

Educators who would like to receive an examination copy of Mastering the FCAT Reading Retake can visit our Web site, click the Sales Representative button, and scroll down the menu to find contact information for their region.

I recently stumbled upon another great blog for math educators: MathNotations. Its focus is on high school "math standards and assessments, curriculum and instructional issues." But don't let the boring description fool you. It has plenty of open-ended questions and ideas for classroom activities. I really enjoyed the recent Carnival of Mathematics.

On the math software front, there is ADIOSKIDS and Edubuntu. These are two live CD's containing various educational software. What's a "live CD"? In a nutshell, it's a CD that will allow you to try out software without actually installing it on your computer. It's perfect for those of us who are paranoid about new software slowing down or harming our computers.

The web site for ADIOSKIDS, while vanilla plain, hides the uber-useful geometry software Kig. Kig is comparable to Geogebra (see our review here), but has additional features like "test if two lines are parallel." What it does lack is the ability to turn your constructions into a dynamic worksheet. Also, included in ADIOSKIDS is Dr. Geo, which is basically Geogebra minus the Algebra.

Edubuntu contains a similar assortment of programs as ADIOSKIDS. The difference is that Edubuntu has a larger support community, so if you get stuck, chances are you'll find someone who can help you out.

Quick Installation Guide

To run these programs, you'll need a computer that is no more than 4 years old. (Or for you computer geeks: a Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz or equivalent with 256 MB. Any size hard drive will work.) You'll also need to know how to burn the CD unto a blank disk.

1. Download one of the live CD's: ADIOSKIDS or Edubuntu. For older Macs, use this link for Edubuntu. (Sorry, only newer Macs are supported by ADIOSKIDS.)
2. On Windows, download and install the open-source image burning program, Infra Recorder. For Macs, see the instructions here.
3. Open Infra Recorder, and select the "Actions" menu, then "Burn image."
4. Select the file you downloaded from step 1, then click "Open" and then "OK."
5. Congratulations! You've just created a live CD.
6. With the CD still in the CD drive, turn your computer on and off. The live CD will load. In ADIOSKIDS, hit "Enter" when you see a "boot" prompt. In Edubuntu, choose "Start Edubuntu". Enjoy!

Note: These are NOT Windows programs. Choose the "Install to hard drive" option only if you know what you are doing!

The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.
--Florence Shinn American spiritual teacher & writer (1871-1940)

I do not have a crystal clear memory of April 10, 1985, but I do have a historical record documenting that on said day, Boston Latin School issued me a paperback copy of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd. The record is the bookplate on the inside front cover of the book itself, which I filled out in ink, as specified.

If I have learnt anything, it is that life forms no logical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return? --Margot Fonteyn English ballet dancer (1919–1991)

It is the book editor’s job to prepare a manuscript for publication. While the large part of editing is concerned with words, significant time and effort is also spent on pictures. In the editorial phase, the pictures that will be included in a book are called the art manuscript.

Think about the school books you have used to teach or learn. What kinds of pictures do they contain? If you think across the many subjects, your answer might include maps, timelines, tables, diagrams, graphs, geometric figures, political cartoons, story illustrations, photographs, etc. Often the pictures are integral to the text; i.e., the words would be incomplete without the pictures. Other times, the pictures are included in the book as something extra, to focus students’ attention and motivate them. Either way, it is the editor’s job to prepare an art manuscript that will best support the material in the book.

Amsco’s FCAT Writing+, published just last week, includes some particularly entertaining art. I interviewed the editor, Lauren, to get the behind-the-scenes story.

LO: What kind of pictures will readers find in Amsco’s FCAT Writing+?
LA: Amsco's FCAT Writing+ contains 8 amusing cartoons by P.C. Vey, a well-known cartoonist who has done work for the New Yorker among other publications. The cartoons cover different parts of the writing process that students need to know for the exam. The cartoons serve two purposes--they help students remember important aspects of writing, and they add some visual relief (which students desperately need when they're doing test prep!).
LO: New Yorker cartoons tend to be a bit sophisticated. Will students get the jokes?
LA: We worked with P.C. Vey to create ideas that would be appropriate for our audience of 10th grade students. Many of the scenarios involve high school students doing typical teenage things, like buying concert tickets or eating at a cafeteria. The cartoons are at just the right level--the jokes are not too intellectual and sophisticated, but they're not too juvenile or silly, either. They're mature, relatable, and funny.

LO: Humor does seem like an effective way to lighten up potentially stressful test preparation. Does the book have any other features that will make test prep more pleasant?
LA: Good question. The book has a reader-friendly design and helpful icons that remind students to consider different parts of the writing process. In addition, the author uses engaging topics for the model essays and sample prompts. For example, the model persuasive essay is about whether or not homework should be assigned (a topic high schoolers have a LOT to say about), and the model expository essay is about music. It's easier for students to learn how to write when they're interested in the topics they must read and learn about.
LO: Final question. This book has a great cover! It manages to depict test-taking without inducing stress. Where do the ideas come from and who creates the design?
LA: I came up with a few ideas for the cover and gave them to our designer, Wanda Kossak. She did three different cover sketches for us and then we picked the one we liked best. We went with a cover that depicts three aspects of test-taking--answering multiple-choice questions, writing an essay, and studying at home. My favorite image is the one of the notepad with the chicken timer--it shows studying at home in a warm environment and conveys the idea that test-taking does not have to be a stressful experience.

Recently, The New York Times ran an article called “Scientists Back Off Theory of Colder Europe in Warming World.” As I read it, I was struck by how this story illustrates that scientists are constantly refining their ideas. This might be a good jumping-off point for a class discussion of the scientific method.

Not long ago, scientists were concerned that global warming would slow or even stop the flow of warm water in the North Atlantic Current. This would cause Europe to become much colder than it is today. If the current stopped, drastic consequences were predicted, perhaps even an ice age, as Europe has experienced in the past.

New models have convinced climatologists that even if the North Atlantic Current were weakened by 25 percent this century, by the year 2100 Britain would still be about 4°F warmer than it is today. Helge Drange, a professor at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, Norway said, “The bottom line is that the atmosphere is warming up so much that a slowdown of the North Atlantic Current will never be able to cool Europe.” So, for now, the palm trees along the southern coast of England are safe.

If you would like more help in teaching the scientific method, consider using Amsco’s Mastering Basic Skills in Science, Second Edition; Science: Grade 6; Marine Science, Second Edition; or the review book Georgia EOCT in Biology. These and all of our science titles can be viewed by clicking the Price List & Book Information button on our Web site.

I’ve been an English Language Arts editor for only two years, but it’s been quite an experience. Two of the books I’ve worked on are Preparing for the FCAT Reading, Grade 6 and the soon-to-be-released Mastering the FCAT Reading Retake. In between projects, when I have time to spare, I am occasionally asked to be a correspondent.

I am no big shot. I’m not talking about writing to Random House, Inc., requesting permission to reprint a Maya Angelou piece. The recipients of my letters are kids: middle-school students from various states, who use Amsco textbooks in class every day.

But these aren’t your “I-can’t-wait-till-lunch-so-I-can-eat-up-my-cell-phone-minutes” kids. These exceptionally literate student correspondents want to discuss the content of their texts . . . and, in some cases, offer us advice!

In September, 2005, one student, Vincent Vitale,* wrote about one vocabulary book, “The book is fairly well done and does challenge some students, however some of these words I learned in elementary school.” He went on and on, using the word challenge four times. Clearly, that was one of the words he'd mastered in elementary school.

Still, let’s hear it for kids who want to be challenged by words!


Another student, Mary Zilenski,* earned 25 extra-credit points from her teacher . . . for pointing out a missing period! The text was an older one, Vocabulary and Composition Through Pleasurable Reading, Book III. The Vocab. and Comp. series has since been revised as the Currents in Literature series, where I assure you, you will find no missing periods!

I was, and am still, impressed by these budding young editors and scholars. I wonder how many would like to pursue careers in publishing, but feel stifled by less literary classmates, or even close friends. I mean, kids might fantasize about becoming another Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey, but who dreams of being a textbook editor?

Not me. I longed to be a full-time writer. And if I ever grow up, it might actually happen.

We have all seen a foreign film with subtitles, but how many of us have noticed that some of the translation is incorrect? There are times when I am watching a Chinese movie with English subtitles and blurt out “That’s not what he said!” in the middle of it. This is what is unique about every language; there are phrases that just can’t be translated from the original language without having losing their meaning or power.

To add to WRR’s entry on Total-Immersion Vacation, I would like to stress that the best way to learn a target language is to hold conversations in that language as often as possible. It is only when one is fluent in the language that he/she can walk away from a conversation with a complete understanding.


I recently had a conversation with a friend that shows how certain phrases cannot be translated without washing out their meaning. We were talking about whether or not we were going to print postcards to advertise an event, and I mentioned that someone else had said the postcards were a “stone throw away.”(No, I don’t mean a stone’s throw away.) When I read the phrase I thought that it meant that there was no sense in printing the postcards because they would just sink (like a stone).


But, that wasn’t the case. After controlling her laughter, my friend informed me that the phrase “stone throw away” was a translation of a Chinese saying which meant that even though a stone is heavy, it’s worth throwing to see how far it can go, it’s like skipping rocks on a lake or pond.


I protested that the person who used the phrase shouldn’t have used it because there were people, like me, who didn’t know that we would have to translate the e-mail into Chinese while reading it to get its full effect. But, I must admit, had I stayed in Chinese School when I was younger and held more conversations in Chinese, I wouldn’t have been in this situation.


Many times we would walk around the streets of New York City and notice the venders selling English names written in Chinese characters. Yes, the translation into Chinese characters is read to sound like the name in English, but it may have a completely different meaning. Take for example the name Emily, which means rival or emulating. But when written in Chinese, each character, in providing the phonetics of the word, has its own definition and the finished product wouldn’t be close to the English definition of the name. So, if it doesn’t look like a duck, but quacks like a duck–it’s not a duck.

Imagine if you were to pick up a copy of The New York Times and there wasn’t a single image on any page. Would you be able to get through it? What if your favorite magazine lacked those huge, glossy photos?

We don’t expect adults to read without visuals, and yet we often expect that of students. Educators have to remember that if experienced readers need pictures to understand and enjoy what they’re reading, then struggling readers certainly need them. Teachers can use visuals as a prereading technique to engage students in a reading, and they can also use them along with a reading to help students better comprehend the text.

Earlier this month, at the Literacies for All Institute in Kentucky—a conference on adolescent literacy sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English—I attended an excellent session that described a particular way English and Social Studies teachers can use visuals in the classroom. The technique, developed by Dr. Trisha Wies Long, Assistant Professor of Literacy in Middle Childhood Education at Cleveland State University, is called full circling, and it uses multimodal literacies—the combination of a variety of forms of communication and expression—to help students learn to read, write, and think critically. Here is a summary of Dr. Long’s four-step, scaffolding, full circling process.

Full Circling

1. Present a visual (photograph, painting, or drawing) as a text and make students curious about it. This means that students “read” a visual as if it were a story. During our session, Dr. Long used a Dorothea Lange photograph from the Dust Bowl as an example. The photograph (below) shows an impoverished mother and her children migrating to California in 1936. Dr. Long had us look at the photograph and narrate it—make up a story about it. What did we think was happening in the picture? This technique is similar to having students make predictions before reading a written story. She also had us brainstorm as a class a list of words or phrases that came to mind when we looked at the photo. Beginning the process with a visual helps students become curious and engaged in the lesson and the event. And, as Dr. Long pointed out, it levels the playing field—you don’t have to be an expert reader to know what’s going on.



2. Present students with a variety of texts about the issue in the visual, and have students express their emotions about them. Primary sources (diary entries, letters, etc.) are particularly useful here, along with newspaper headlines, ads, etc. To demonstrate this step, Dr. Long had volunteers read letters written by survivors of the Dust Bowl. (She suggested that this may not be the place for students to be put on the spot and be forced to read out loud; teachers or volunteers should read the letters. The goal here isn’t for students to be assessed on reading skills but for them to hear the stories.) Then Dr. Long showed us the photograph again, and had us write new words or phrases that came to mind. The words we used to describe the photo were a lot different and richer now that we had heard stories of survivors from the actual event.

3. Have students observe, analyze, and act on issues related to the event in the visual. Here, Dr. Long had us imagine we were famous photojournalists, going to interview survivors of the Dust Bowl. As a class, we brainstormed questions we would ask. Next, we broke into pairs. One person was a journalist and one person was a survivor, and the journalist asked the survivor questions. We wrote down our answers. This step is important because it helps students begin writing in a nonthreatening way. It also helps students feel empowered—they imagine they were at an event and start to think about what they could do as onlookers of that event. How could they inform others of what is going on? How could they help the victims?

4. Have students come full circle by transmediating what was learned. This means that you recreate meaning in a different medium than the one originally presented. For this step, Dr. Long had us “turn” the photo into a poem. (Teachers could alternately have students write a diary entry, a play, etc.) We worked in groups and wrote a biography poem from the perspective of someone in the photograph. She gave us prompts for the poem—each line began with “I am,” “I feel,” “I hope,” etc., and we filled in the rest. Then, every group shared. To extend this step, teachers can also have students develop plan of action on the issue and do something proactive—come up with a plan to improve poverty, etc. This kind of activity helps students see literacy as way of making change in the world.

Try It Out

If you want to try full circling in your classroom, here are some Web sites that will help you find appropriate photographs or paintings to use.

Library of Congress American Memory

New York Times Multimedia/Photos (current images only)

National Gallery of Art


Also check out the Genre Volume of Amsco’s four-volume Integrated Language Arts Series, Currents in Literature, which has a chapter teaching students to read visuals. Students read the painting Letter from Overseas by Thomas Hart Benton and answer questions about the story depicted.

Assassins and would-be assassins aren't usually held in high regard by history. There is at least one would-be assassin, however, who enjoys considerable admiration because of the leader he tried to kill: Adolf Hitler.

On this date in 1944, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a German army officer, walked into the Wolf's Lair, the name of Hitler's military headquarters in East Prussia (which is present-day Poland). As the newly-appointed chief of staff to General Friedrich Fromm, the commander-in-chief of Germany's Reserve Army, Stauffenberg had access to Hitler's military conferences and briefings.


Stauffenberg activated the timer for a powerful bomb that he concealed in his briefcase. Stauffenberg, who had lost his left eye, right hand, and two fingers on his left hand in North Africa in 1943, allowed another officer to carry the briefcase for him. Stauffenberg entered the conference room, where Hitler was being briefed on the dire military situation on the eastern front. The officer, who was unaware of Stauffenberg's plans, placed the briefcase on the floor, a relatively short distance from Hitler.


Stauffenberg quietly excused himself from the room. Since it was common for German officers to walk in and out of briefings, he didn't arouse any suspicion. The bomb exploded a short time later. Thinking he killed Hitler, Stauffenberg flew back to Berlin, where he and his co-conspirators implemented the next phase of their plan--sparking a coup against the Nazis and having the military seize power.


Although the bomb killed four people and wounded several others, Hitler escaped with only minor injuries. With Hitler firmly in power, the Gestapo and the SS moved quickly to arrest all those who participated in the July 20 Plot, as it became known. Stauffenberg was quickly arrested, and he was executed by a firing squad around 12:30 A.M.


In his book, Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944 (1995), Prof. Peter Hoffmann, an expert on the German Resistance, writes that Claus von Stauffenberg came from an old, aristocratic Catholic family. Morally outraged by the mass murder of the Jews and the Nazi regime's aggression in Europe, Stauffenberg, by August 1942, concluded that Adolf Hitler was a criminal who had to be removed from power. Stauffenberg joined the German Resistance, a loose and unorganized group of military officers and civilians who sought to overthrow Hitler.


In July 1944, Stauffenberg finally saw his chance to assassinate Hitler and have the military overthrow the Nazis. Stauffenberg believed that the new, denazified government would immediately stop the mass murder in the death camps and perhaps negotiate a truce with the Allies, who had previously insisted upon unconditional surrender.


In his book, Plotting Hitler's Death: The Story of the German Resistance (1996), the late Prof. Joachim Fest quotes Stauffenberg, a few days before July 20, as saying, "It's time now for something to be done. He who has the courage to act must know that he will probably go down in German history as a traitor. But if he fails to act, he will be a traitor before his conscience."


Since the plot failed, the war in Europe and the murder in the camps continued. In April 1945, the Soviet Army entered Berlin, and Hitler committed suicide on April 30. Germany formally surrendered on May 7.


Today, Claus von Stauffenberg is widely considered a hero. Although he failed in his aim to depose Hitler, Stauffenberg earned admiration because he had the courage to act when many others at the time did not.


--DAC

I recently read that astronomers are asking the public to help them classify images of galaxies taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope in New Mexico. The astronomers have found that humans are better at this than are computers, because human brains are better at pattern recognition tasks. Being a novice backyard astronomer, I decided to take a look into the project, which is called the Galaxy Zoo.

I logged on and went through the tutorial, which showed me the difference between a spiral and an elliptical galaxy. Then I learned how to recognize things that are not galaxies, such as stars and satellite trails. In addition, I had to learn how to identify a galaxy’s direction of rotation. After the tutorial, I decided to take their test. The test is made up of 15 images that I was asked to classify. I had to decide whether each was spiral or elliptical or other. If I chose spiral, I had to identify its direction of rotation. To become part of the program you must classify 8 out of the 15 images correctly. I got 11 correct. (I have trouble with clockwise and counter clockwise rotation.) Once I passed the test, I was told that I could start classifying galaxies.

Spiral Galaxy (left) Elliptical Galaxy (right)

It occurred to me that this project is a great opportunity for Earth Science teachers to make astronomy more real for their students. Joining the program could be done as a class project, or students could sign up individually. It is also good practice for New York’s Regents exam in Earth Science, which sometimes asks students to identify galaxies. Teachers can find more practice for the Regents exams in Reviewing Earth Science: The Physical Setting by Thomas McGuire.

Midge

If you have ever found yourself thinking simultaneously about how the human race went from nomadic tribespeople to cultivating, society builders; and about how people turned the world into a giant juggernaut of consumption, then do I have a series of books for you! The Ishmael series (my term, not the author's) is a trilogy of books by the author Daniel Quinn discussing the uniquely human activity of over-consumption and the destruction of the earth’s environment.

As most world leaders--and most of the human population--have awakened to the fact of global climate change, you may have the desire to learn more about how we got ourselves into the current predicament. As any good historian will tell you, you must examine the past to understand the future. Daniel Quinn's trilogy has much to teach, but there is one catch: your teacher is an ape.

Ishmael, the first book in the series, is written in the style of Plato, as a student-teacher dialogue. In this case, however, the student is a man and the teacher is an 800-pound gorilla. Not to give too much away, but the gorilla’s name is Ishmael, and his theories on how human beings developed into these creatures who destroy their own habitat makes so much sense and uses such accurate historical examples that it makes it hard to call the story fiction. These books would make great extra-credit reading for any teacher looking to have his/her students develop greater insight into both the early days of human society and global climate change.

The series runs in this order: 1) Ishmael, 2) The Story of B, and 3) My Ishmael. I recently discovered that Quinn has a fourth book, Beyond Civilization, that helps answer even more questions about the problems caused by civilized societies. To learn more about the ideas of this author and the movement they created, go to http://www.ishmael.com/. Until next time, I leave you with two words. . . Takers and Leavers.

I have a sneaking suspicion that people hide their joy in math because it will brand them as social pariah. However, this is simply not the case. Properly harnessed, math enthusiasm can make you the life of the party.

Try these ideas at your next shindig and see what happens.

1. Count on your fingers in binary.
Each curled finger represents a zero and each extended finger represents a one. Start with a closed right fist, palm up. This is zero. Extend your thumb only. This is one. Retract your thumb and extend your index finger. This is two. I highly recommend checking out this video of a guy counting to thirty-one in binary on his fingers and in German. (It’s much more awesome in German.) However, be careful with number four.

2. Tell a good math joke.
People, when I say “good,” I am not talking about that stupid geometry joke. (What did the oak say to the shrub? Gee, I’m a tree.) Rather, go with:

Rene Descartes went into his favorite bar and the bartender asked, “Would you like your usual drink, Monsieur Descartes?” Descartes replied “I think not” and promptly disappeared.

One day a mathematician decides that he is sick of math. So, he walks down to the fire department and announces that he wants to become a fireman. The fire chief says, “Well, you look like a good guy. I'd be glad to hire you, but first I have to give you a little test.”

The fire chief takes the mathematician to the alley behind the fire department which contains a dumpster, a spigot, and a hose. The chief then says, “OK, you're walking in the alley and you see the dumpster here is on fire. What do you do?”

The mathematician replies, “Well, I hook up the hose to the spigot, turn the water on, and put out the fire.”

The chief says, “That's great... perfect. Now I have to ask you just one more question. What do you do if you're walking down the alley and you see the
dumpster is not on fire?”

The mathematician puzzles over the question for awhile and he finally says, “I light the dumpster on fire.”

The chief yells, “What? That's horrible! Why would you light the dumpster on fire?”

The mathematician replies, “Well, that way I reduce the problem to one I've already
solved.”

Cheers!
Jessica

Editors have it rough. It feels like we never stop working. We’re like off-duty cops, compelled to stop crime. We’re trained not to miss a trick.

Everywhere we go, illiteracy taunts us.

“Our store don’t use margarine shortening,” one sign said. Waiting to order my greasy breakfast, I wasn’t worried about trans fat. I was angry I didn’t have a pen with me.

I got even angrier as I read the menu, posted way up, under the ceiling. I counted thirteen misspelled words before I made myself look away. “Omelet” was misspelled two different ways: “omlet,” and “omlett.” “Wheat” was spelled “w-e-a-t,”
“sausage” was missing the “e,” etc. I wanted to think these misspellings were attempts at abbreviations, but there was plenty of space on that menu.

What antagonized me—even more than the misspelled foods—was the presentation. The menu was written in this fancy, “Old English” script.

I ask you: if a store owner is going to pay good money to give the menu a fancy design, shouldn’t he or she have it proofread?

To me, that’s like going to work wearing a brand-new shirt that you spilled coffee on. A “well-meaning” co-worker will usually point out the stain to you. But God forbid a professional editor detects a misspelled word.

Okay, it’s my pet peeve. Since grade school, I have been an expert speller. Fifth grade, I think it was, when the teacher stumped us all with the word “syzygy.” That infuriated me so, that I remembered how to spell that word in the sixth-grade spelling bee when somebody tried to stump me with it!

Last month, thirteen-year-old Evan O’Dorney won the Scripps Spelling Bee by correctly spelling “serrefine.” He claimed he knew how to spell the word as soon as the pronouncer said it. Maybe I’m not a champ like O’Dorney, but I knew how to spell it just from hearing it, too.

I don’t expect a prize for being a good speller; editors should know how to spell. But so should sign painters and graphic artists. We editors can do just so much. As much as we’d like to, we can’t take a red pen to the whole world.

I do not correct my friends’ and relatives’ grammar.

I swear.

I do not correct them when they speak, and I would never scrutinize the language and punctuation in their e-mails.

It is hard to turn off the English editor in me when I get home from work, but I try. I don’t think I would be fun to live with if my boyfriend said, “Can I have the remote?” and I replied, “Yes, you may.” (Or imagine an argument in which I told him that his “nonsense was something up with which I would not put”? Being correct is not always worth sounding pompous .)

HOWEVER, while I don’t give unsolicited advice, sometimes people approach me with grammar questions. They know it’s my job to be able to answer these things.

Usually, I’m quite excellent at fielding such questions, if I don’t say so myself. But once in a while, a question throws me for a loop, like when my boyfriend asked me about hyphens last week.

“Lauren,” he called, “should I write e-mail with a hyphen?”


“Yes,” I replied.

“Why? I’ve seen it both ways.”

Gulp. Does he want the full answer? I wondered. Does he realize that I could go on and on about these things forever?

I took a deep breath and explained that e-mail is technically hyphenated because it is a compound word, electronic-mail. I told him that sometimes, the hyphen drops out of compound words, after the word has been around for a while, for simplification. That’s what happened with base-ball and on-line. The hyphen hasn’t dropped out of e-mail yet and the word is still technically spelled with a hyphen per Merriam-Webster, but I predict that in the next couple of years, it will drop out…

“Cool,” he said, cutting me off. He seemed satisfied with my answer.

I should have been satisfied, too. But I was left thinking about it for the next ten minutes. (My overly analytical brain is very tough to shut off.) Do I think the hyphen should drop out of e-mail? How come it drops out of some compound words and not others? Why are some words like Web site spelled as two separate words with no hyphen?

I needed to do some research.

I went online (one word) and looked up how compound words change over time. I learned that a compound word usually remains two words unless there is a possibility that it could mean something else as two words, and then it is kept as one word. That made sense to me. Online is one word because on line could have another meaning. Wetsuit is one word because it would mean something else as two words (any old bathing suit that got wet, as opposed to a surfer’s uniform). On the other hand, snail mail can be two words because it can’t have another meaning.

Then I did some research specifically on the word e-mail. I learned that the technology community wants e-mail to be spelled without the hyphen to save keystrokes. The inventor of e-mail himself, Ray Tomlinson, is against the hyphen. After all, technology is about saving time. Makes sense.

Other people, though, argue that e-mail should be spelled with a hyphen to keep it consistent with other internet terms that have an e in front of them, such as e-commerce, e-book, e-journal, and e-cards. Hmm. That makes sense, too.

Finally, I read the solution. An old IT Week blog says that e-mail should actually have an apostrophe, not a hyphen, since you’re signaling the fact that there are letters missing.

Now THAT makes sense.

From here on, I advocate that we all write e’mail.

Or e'-mail?

Okay, the truth is that I don’t know what I think is best, so I’m just going with good ol’ Merriam-Webster. E-mail.

So why did I bother telling you this story?
A. To procrastinate on my other work.
B. To boast about my ability to conduct Internet research.
C. To convince the reader that e-mail should be spelled according to Merriam-Webster.
D. To demonstrate the fact that even English editors don't have all the answers.

Choice D is the answer.

The moral of this story is that English is a complicated and always changing language, and that English editors and English teachers won’t always have the answers--we often do research to figure out which spelling or style we prefer. (Amsco generally goes with Chicago , Words into Type, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition.)

And I think that English teachers shouldn't do their research behind-the-scenes; they should share these inquiries with students. Sharing questions will help students gain a better understanding of the function of language and how language changes, and it will also help them see that English isn't just about memorizing a bunch of boring and pointless rules; it's about critical thinking and considering your audience and the function of words. Teachers should position themselves as learners along with students, and the class should explore issues together, rather than the teacher being the sole "expert" who imparts knowledge to students. Students will be more engaged in the lessons this way. They may even find it empowering to know how much language is changing--after all, their technology-savvy generation is contributing to a lot of these changes.

--Lauren

In 2005, Congressman Charles Rangel, a Democrat from Manhattan, suggested that Vice President Dick Cheney may be mentally ill. Despite Cheney's well-publicized skill with firearms, it would be unthinkable today for the vice president to avenge this insult by challenging Congressman Rangel to a duel.

There was a time, however, when people in Europe and the United States resorted to dueling in order to to address slights to their honor. Today, in 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr shot and mortally wounded his long-time archnemesis, Alexander Hamilton, a former Secretary of the Treasury and a leader of the Federalist Party, in one of the most famous duels in history.

Burr and Hamilton met on a ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey. Both men fired their pistols. Hamilton missed. Burr seriously wounded Hamilton, who died the next day in New York City.

What led a sitting vice president to challenge one of his political adversaries to a duel? President Thomas Jefferson, who was seeking a second term in that year's presidential election, dropped Burr, whom he distrusted, from the Democratic-Republican ticket. Burr then decided to run for governor of New York. He lost the election, which was held in the spring. During the campaign, one newspaper reported that Hamilton had a "despicable opinion" of Burr. After the election, the vice president demanded that Hamilton retract his statement. When he refused, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel.

To shed additional light on the Hamilton-Burr duel, we interviewed historian Thomas Fleming, the author of the critically-acclaimed book, Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and The Future of America (1999). The author of 17 nonfiction books and 23 novels, Fleming consulted many primary and secondary sources such as the papers of both Burr and Hamilton and old newspapers to reconstruct the events leading up to the duel.




What did Burr hope to accomplish by challenging Hamilton to a duel? Couldn't Burr have simply sued him for libel?

Burr challenged Hamilton to eliminate him from contention in the leadership of the civil war they saw emerging from New England's plan to secede --and from the leadership of an army that might be needed to oppose Napoleon's attempt to regain Louisiana, after he had invaded and subdued England. Both men were insiders, closely studying the future. These were the possibilities/probabilities they saw. During the negotiations, Burr became very angry with Hamilton for his long history of slandering Burr behind the scenes in ways that never gave Burr a chance to demand a retraction.

Hamilton agreed to the duel because he was still driven by his primary emotion, his love of fame. As I explain in the book, either of these probable events would have added lustre to his fame, which he felt had been tarnished by his recent humiliaitions in American politics. His political party had been routed by Jefferson, and Burr had captured his last bastion, the Federalists of New York, They had backed him wholeheartedly in his run for governor.

Dueling was illegal in New York but not in New Jersey. There was no way to stop people from crossing the river and shooting it out in NJ. I cite a half dozen other duels in the book, all fought in NJ. The Jeffersonians, led by George and DeWitt Clinton, tried to prosecute Burr for murder by convening a NY grand jury. They obediently supplied an indictment but the case was eventually thrown out of court. Neither man risked criminal charges for fightintg in NJ.

The public reaction to the duel was mixed and has left later generations confused. In the South and West Burr was a hero for killing the hated Hamilton. When he travelled through the South in early 1805, he was given public dinners in several cities. In NY the Clintonians whipped up a frenzy of false emotion about Burr the murderer. They were aided by the Episcopal clergy, who embraced Hamilton because he had accepted their faith on his deathbed, to console his grieving wife and children.

One story has Burr expressing remorse after reading the novel, Tristam Shandy, by Laurence Sterne, in his old age. The novel's live and let live philosophy persuaded him to say: "Had I read Sterne more and Voltaire less, I should have known the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me." More likely is a reminiscence by a man who persuaded the aged Burr to revisit the site of the duel. The cool ironic old man vanished and he seethed with rage as he recalled how Hamilton had relentlessly slandered him in underhanded ways.

I wrote a short article for History News Network, "If Burr Had Missed," which suggested that if it were not for the duel, American history might have been very different. If Hamilton had lived, he might well have been asked to take command of the American army during the disasters of the War of 1812. He was considered Washington's military heir. Success might have enabled him to run for president in 1816 and win. I envisioned him running for reelection several more times--he thought a president should serve for life--meanwhile drastically changing America in many ways.

It has been about a decade since I last took a Math Regents Exam and I still remember how we were forbidden to choose the probability question on the exam. When I took the Integrated Mathematics Course II Regents, my math teacher had made a deal with the entire class: every person who received a 90 or better on the Regents would be treated to a Dove Ice Cream Bar. Although the majority of the class did pass the Regents, only one student (out of the class of about 30) scored 90 or above and received a Dove Bar.

If the deal were made this year, I am certain that at least 10 out of a class of 30 students would receive a Dove Bar. Are the students scoring better on the Regents because they comprehend the topics better? Not to doubt the students, but I don’t think so. Take a look at the conversion chart from the latest Mathematics A Regents Exam. According to the chart, a student will receive a scaled score of 65 for a raw score of 35.

Let’s do the math: this means that the student can answer half of the multiple-choice questions correctly in part one and get partial credit for the questions he/she answers in the second part and still pass the Regents. To get the Dove Bar, students would have to answer most of part one correctly and do a little more work to get partial credits in all of the other sections.

It gets one thinking about the perception of the Regents. For years now, they have proudly been the exam that shows students’ understanding of the subject being tested. However, in the recent years, between making the questions easier and using the bizarre conversion chart, the Regents exam has lost its exceptionality and excellence. However, just because the Regents have lowered their standards for passing the exams it doesn’t mean that Amsco has. All of our Preparing for the Regents titles include practice questions on a full range of levels of difficulty and prepare the students for the merit exams that the Regents used to be.

--KC

Do you hear students groan the word “boring” when you introduce certain topics? Do their eyes glaze over when you bring up language skills? Reading and writing seem dull to them. But do these students have any interest in architecture, engineering, or construction? If so, they might be surprised to find a connection between these endeavors and language arts.

The structure of a piece of writing must have many of the same elements as a physical structure. Both these human creations require a certain logic, order, and strength, along with well integrated and interconnecting parts. For example, in a typical nonfiction article, the sentences might be interlocked in the following way:

The main idea of the entire selection is often stated in the first paragraph. Additional sentences contain ideas that support that central idea. Each of the other paragraphs has its own main idea. (These are often supporting ideas from the first paragraph.) These paragraphs, in turn, have their own supporting ideas.

Paragraph 1 Main Idea of Selection
Supporting Idea A – Main Idea of Paragraph 2
Supporting Idea B – Main Idea of Paragraph 3
Supporting Idea C – Main Idea of Paragraph 4