It’s been three or four years since my sister, Hannah, introduced me to the works of spoken word poet Taylor Mali.  While I can’t be sure exactly when, I can recall - with great clarity - two particular aspects of that summer’s eve:

1. Being blown away by Mali’s ability to so eloquently capture the emotion, challenges, humor, the tragedy, & the triumph, of middle school (students, teachers…)

and

2. Realizing that Hannah was - though she may not yet have known it - destined to be, and in many ways was already, an (inspired, and inspiring) middle school educator.  

And so, in honor of Hannah’s first official SDEP (spring ‘13) function, in recognition of Mali’s upcoming Portland reading, and in order that I might provide a bit of context for an upcoming post….here are five from performance poet Taylor Mali:

Like, You Know

Like Lilly Like Wilson

What Teachers Make

Undivided Attention

On Girls Lending Pens

Note: You can, and should, watch Mali’s collective works, most of which can be found on youtube.  The above list is in no way comprehensive; I, in fact, intentionally omitted some of his best works, including many that are not related to education, as well as some that are but that contain more mature (ahem) content & language.  

It seems, lately, that the the majority of my (personal and professional) life lessons share the theme of “doing less to accomplish more.” This message is underscored in ways big and small….like, for example, when I unintentionally-delete a nearly-complete post (as in, just now.) 

I wouldn’t have lost the overworked, unnecessarily detailed draft had I not been, once again, chasing the elusive “just so.”  My desire for perfect prose is both impossible and exhausting.  What’s worse, my misplaced energies undermine the very intention, and impact, of this blog; I currently have as much content (compelling, relevant, insightful and/or cool ideas/resources/research/links and the like) languishing in my pre-post purgatory as I have published in my year of blogging.

Compounding my frustration over this backlog of blog-worthy material is the fact that most of these drafts are, or were once, in post-worthy form.  There is, it would seem, always more fine-tuning required in order that I might “finish” a post.   More often than not, the prose I’ve deem too imperfect to post is, in truth, unnecessary (think: introductions, explanations, considerations, any/all potential perspectives, interpretations, implications…. alternatives, analysis, conclusions, and so on, and so forth.)  I undo as much of I create, and, were I to “let it be,” say “oh well” accept that “it is what it is” and realize that “good enough will have to be good enough,” I would, assuredly, be more generative, productive and (at least a little) less busy. 

Having provided that bit of background, I would like to formally announce my intentions (to attempt) to share more by saying less - increasing content by decreasing context, adding inspiration by subtracting interpretation.  And, though I may not always explicitly state it, I encourage - and appreciate -any/all feedback you might have to offer.  Look for more to come.  LOTS more.

The only real constant is change itself.

Though April 15th is typically Tax Day in the US of A, 2010’s tax returns weren’t officially due until today - the 18th of the month. 

In part because I (honestly!) enjoy accounting & associated activities, I have, for the 15+ years I’ve been tackling taxes, always filled & filed my taxes the first week of so of February.  Unfortunately, rather than as a means for contextualizing my new, and newly-complicated filing status, I used my previous experiences as evidence, enabling me to justify deprioritizing my taxes until late-month March.  Even then, It took another 20+ hour of entirely-independent, unexpectedly time-consuming, not-uninteresting yet undeniably-exhausting, intentional and intensive immersion (initiation?) into self-employment tax code before I began to realize that I might actually appreciate - if not require - the extra days afforded by the slightly-delayed deadline.  

Phew!

While I did, thankfully, end up finishing & filing with time to spare, my four-day trek through tax code made me wonder about the particular whys & hows of this (and future?) year’s preemptive postponement of Tax Day. 

And so…procrastinators from sea to shining sea: You have the emancipation of slavery to thank for, among myriad other, far, far greater, things, providing you an additional 72 hours in which to file your 2010 taxes.

From the Discover Magazine’s article, Disordered Environments Promote Stereotypes and Discrimination:

“Their big idea is that stereotypes, being a set of simplified categories and judgments, can help people to cope with chaos. They are “a mental cleaning device in the face of disorder”. When our surroundings are full of chaos – be it dirt or uncertainty – we react by seeking order, structure and predictability. Stereotypes, for all their problems, satisfy that need.”

Wow. 

Parents - In case you missed it…..check out my mid-2010 post re: teaching organizational tools and techniques to your pre/teenager.  Convinced yet?  Good.  Now, for the love of God (and in the name of equality!), get your kid a copy of “Where’s My Stuff.” 

What do you get when you add 13,000 running feet of toilet paper and an 825-foot long “infinite hallway,” with 15 precocious high school students, one (arguably fanatical) math teacher, and the MIT “OrigaMIT” origami club? 

The 13th fold.  Sort of. 

I must confess that I find the toilet paper idea to be nothing short of genus.  The inexpensive lengths of uniform, scored squares make it easy to count and fold, while the featherlight and malleable medium might (momentarily) mitigate challenges that, in heavier paper, tend to emerge right around the fifth or sixth folds.

May we assume that the St. Mark’s students used single-ply*?

*Just for kicks: How much of an advantage might TP (1 or 2 ply?) give over, say, the copier/printer paper used in my/my students’ efforts? 

   Quick Comparison of the Grammages of (some) Common Paper Products : 

Note:  The standard/global/metric measure of paper quality is grammage, in units of grams per square meter (abbreviated either g/m² or, more typically,gsm). 

                - Toilet Tissue, ply not specified (range): 12 -30 gsm

                - Standard (20-lb) Bond-Ledger/Photocopy paper: 75 gsm

                - Professional (70-lb) “Resume-Quality” paper: 105 gsm

Assumptions: The article did not mention the type/brand/quality of toilet tissue used.  I was unable to discern, based upon the accompanying photos, if the visible layers were a result of the folding efforts or if, in fact, the paper a manufactured second-ply. 

I think that, given the instructors previous experience/efforts/relative expertise, it is reasonable to assume that the St. Mark’s students used (typically) lower quality 1-ply tissue.  When comparing similarly-classified products, the lower quality papers tend to correspond with lower grammages. Therefore, the grammage of  low-quality, 1-ply toilet paper is likely to have a grammage measure that falls towards the lower end of the grammage range (12-30 gsm.)  

My (somewhat-educated) Estimate:

                       Grammage of the 13th fold** toilet tissue = 15 gsm. 

Calculations and (cursory) Conclusions: 15 gsm, single-ply toilet tissue is, compared to standard, 75 gsm, printer/copier paper, 1/5th the grammage. 

                                      15 gsm / 75 gsm = 1/5   

My $.02?  If toilet tissue proves the way to the “nth fold,” 1-ply is sure to be a shortcut. 

BUT - we must remember to keep the “what’s” and the “how’s” in mind because:

That TP is 1/5th the grammage of 20-lb printer paper does not (necessarily) mean that the single-ply TP is just 1/5th the thickness.  This brings us to:

Caveats & Relevant Reminders:

Grammage is a measure of mass (in grams) per (÷) area (in meters x meters, i.e. m²).  Because area is a 2-dimensional measurement, we cannot directly compare grammage to density, a measure of mass (in grams) per (the 3-dimensional) volume (in meters x meters x meters, i.e. m³).  

             Put another way: grammage = mass/area,   and

                                     density = mass/volume.    Therefore:

                                     grammage ≠ density,        because

                                     kg/m²  ≠  kg/m³  

Math.  Is.  Everywhere.

Required reading for anyone interested, or invested, in math achievement, but especially any & all female elementary-school educators:

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/5/1860

I’m off to Seattle to attend a taping of my *beloved* RadioLab.  In recognition of the occasion, I thought I’d share one of my “favorite things” (yes, there are many, but this is one of my most-favorite favorites!):  “Goat on a Cow,” a story first featured on the 2007 Radiolab episode, “Detective Stories.”

I’d like to commend Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for his efforts, in collaboration with the US Department of Treasury, to develop, and disseminate, a detailed, diverse, applicable and otherwise comprehensive high school fiscal literacy program. 

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but….

Secretary Duncan, I have to ask:  Why not allow middle school students to participate in the National Financial Capability Challenge?!  Heck, why not specifically target middle school-aged students (in addition to the program’s current high school-aged audience)?

Anyone have input or thoughts on the matter?

Below are links to a few of NFCC pages - i.e. basic program information (background, funding, intended outcomes), logistical details, core proficiencies, assessment methods, sample exam questions, etc.

Note to my high-school teachers: You can access the extensive, and well-vetted, collection of lessons, assignments & activities for free.  And, as you know, free = a very good price.  

National Financial Capability Challenge (General Info):

http://www.challenge.treas.gov/about.aspx

Core Competencies:

http://www.challenge.treas.gov/educator_toolkit/documents/Core_Competencies.pdf

Exam - Sample Questions:

http://www.challenge.treas.gov/educator_SampleQuestions.aspx

Inadvertently developed this money “habit?”    If so, you’d be wise to head Bankrate.com’s sound advice to (and I quote) “quit right now.” 

Next up: Tackling that annoying armed robbery “tic.” 

Happy Day!

For a unique take on the indispensable constant, check out this musical representation of pi (to 31 decimal places!)

*rounded to the nearest ten.

Actual difference** (per my rudimentary calcs, below) between today’s magnitude 8.9 (on the Richter Scale) quake in Japan, and the magnitude 5.7 Scotts Mills / AKA “Spring Break Quake” that, 18 years ago this month, shook me from my (8th grade) slumber?

Today’s quake was a mere 1,995 x the magnitude of Oregon’s ‘93 quake.

Yikes.  It may be time to restock & update our emergency kit. 

**Calculations:

Quick primer/review: While the Greek symbol delta ( Δ ) is occasionally used as shorthand for “triangle,” the standard mathematical/scientific meaning is “change in” or “difference between.”

With that in mind:The Richter Scale is a base-ten logarithmic function, meaning that magnitude grows exponentially (in this case, based upon the calculation of change) by powers of 10.  Essentially:

10 ^ Δ = difference in magnitude between (two) quakes.

Therefore: Each 1.0 point increase on the scale actually represents a ten-fold increase in magnitude (i.e. 10^1 = 10) .  A magnitude 7.5 earthquake is not, therefore, a mere 3 times the size of a magnitude 4.5 earthquake, but 10^3 (10x10x10) —1,000 times — the size.  

Comparing the EQ’s referenced above:

Japan’s 3/11/11 Quake       =       8.9 on RS       

Oregon’s 3/25/93 Quake     =       5.6 on RS

            Δ = 8.9-5.6 

            Δ = 3.3

10^Δ = difference in magnitude of quakes, so:

           10^3.3 = 1,995 

THUS:    J = 1,995 x O

           (where J = Japan’s 3/11/11 quake,

             and  O = Oregon’s 3/25/93 quake.) 

DIMS? 

Yes. (As in, the numbers make sense)

but….

No. (As in, I can’t even begin to comprehend.)