Stats, Common Core Style

Today in Ethnostats, we continue with Chapter 12, on using randomness. Students continue to learning about how to select and use random samples. Just as after the previous article, I spend much of the time discussing "Transforming Deficit Myths about Learning, Language, and Culture," by Barbara Flores and others. Unfortunately, I made a small error last week when I posted questions for the students to answer (namely, I confused the authors' "myths" with their "assumptions,") and the students catch this mistake. Naturally, I fix everything before the fourth period class arrives. Meanwhile, in Calculus class, we proceed with Section 4.6, on optimization. I'd already printed up the notes for this on Thursday before realizing that we needed another day for graphing in 4.4. This means that I'm forced to get through 4.6 on an all-classes Monday rather than a block day -- and I'm not quite sure how much the students understand this lesson. The cla...

Today in Ethnostats, I link to an article. Today I choose "Transforming Deficit Myths about Learning, Language, and Culture," by Barbara Flores and others. Once again, I'm able to find the article on my Google Drive (placed there by a predecessor), so the students don't need to use JSTOR today. Just like the previous article and the Freire book, the focus is on finding different ways to teach and assess different cultures of students. This time, the authors argue about language, and how students who lack standard English skills (including native Spanish speakers as well as African-Americans who speak a dialect) can still demonstrate success in school. In second period, one guy points out a flaw in the way I introduce this to the students -- the students are to learn about non-traditional teaching methods, but the method by which I do so (that is, by having the students read and answer question) is still by direct instruction. Indeed, many traditionalists mention this ...

Today in Ethnostats, we continue with the next six pages in Chapter 12 on using randomness. These pages discuss random assignments, simulations, and trials. Random number generators -- including tables and calculators -- are used to represent the components of a trial in these simulations. The main example in the text involves the coupon collector's problem -- how many boxes of cereal need to be purchased in order to get all three cards, if 20% of the boxes contain LeBron James, 30% David Beckham, and 50% Serena Williams. We use a table of random digits -- 0-1 for LeBron, 2-3 for Beckham, and 5-9 for Serena -- to determine that the median number of boxes is around five. Indeed, once omicron surged and the first two days after winter break were cancelled, I was considering getting rid of the quiz right then and there. The only reason I didn't was because of the possibility that either the 24th or the 31st would be a minimum day and I could give quiz corrections that day. It neve...

Today in Ethnostats, we begin Chapter 12 of the text, on using randomness. Today we cover the first three pages of the chapter, on random selection and the difficulty of humans to choose numbers that are truly random without some sort of a random number table or generator. This is an extension of the random number tables that were briefly introduced in Chapter 10, just before winter break. The fact that we're starting Chapter 12 now means that, as of now, no minimum day has been confirmed yet for the 31st -- otherwise we'd be getting ready for the Chapter 11 Quiz this week instead. Of course, it's still possible that a minimum day will be declared by the end of the week, at which time I'll suddenly be scrambling to give the quiz in both Ethnostats and Calculus. I began the class with a review of Paulo Freire's  Pedagogy of the Oppressed , for those students who are still struggling to understand it. On the old blog, I mentioned Louis Sachar's children's book...

Today in Ethnostats, we...did  not  take the Chapter 11 Quiz. Not only has the upcoming schedule still not been updated (and thus no minimum day can be confirmed), but absences continue to be a problem in fourth period. A whopping six students (out of 13 total) are absent today, including all five girls again. If my goal is to improve female achievement in that class (and it is), then the last thing I want to do is give a quiz when all of them are absent. The best way to help out my girls is to wait for their safe return. The lack of a clear minimum day schedule is infuriating -- but again, the priority right now is dealing with COVID, not updating the schedule. With so many students out for the virus, it's highly probable that I've come in contact with someone who tested positive. Even if Monday is a regular day, we're not out of the woods yet. The possibility remains that January 31st could be a minimum day. If it is, then it makes sense to give those quizzes in Calculus ...

Today in Ethnostats, we proceed with the next four pages in Chapter 11, continuing with observational studies and experiments. Some topics covered on these pages include control treatments and blinding. I began the lesson with some more discussion about the McDermott article from last Friday. It appears that many of the students are still confused with the message of this article, so I break it down to them, continuing to discussion traditionalist vs. non-traditional ways of learning. After the lesson from Chapter 11, I proceed to prepare the students for the upcoming quiz on Friday, because the minimum day schedule still has not been announced.  I keep saying that I want to give the Calculus quiz on the Thursday before a minimum day and hence the Ethnostats quiz on a Friday before a minimum day (thus allowing Calc students, and perhaps even Stats students as well, to do quiz corrections on the minimum day itself), but it's difficult when the schedules aren't announced very far...

This is a Stats blog, so the focus of this blog will be on the only Stats classes I now teach -- Ethnostats. In Ethnostats today I start Chapter 11 of the text, which is on observational studies and experiments. The lesson officially takes us through the first nine pages of the chapter and a "Just Checking" problem. Some topics covered in this chapter are factors and treatments of an experiment, and statistical significance. But this semester I plan on incorporating more of the ethnic component into the class. Today -- and perhaps often on Fridays moving forward -- I will link to an article. This time, I choose "Culture as Disability," authored by Ray McDermott. I was able to find this article on JSTOR, but fortunately, one of my predecessors included the article in a shared Google drive that I was sent. Originally, my plan was to have the students read the article after I taught the main lesson and answer questions about it in their Stats scrapbooks. But after the ...

Today is the first day of the second semester. Therefore I'm doing "A Day in the Life," for the special day "first day after winter break." (Note -- on the blog calendar, today is Day 87 -- but that's counting the two unexpected PD days as Days 85-86. Then again, if two days are added to the end of the year in June to make up for these two missed days, then I'll retroactively label this as Day 85.) 8:00  -- First period begins. As expected, today's schedule is just like an all-classes Monday. I don't have a first period -- and luckily, we didn't have a bunch of teachers call in sick. So I don't need to cover any extra classes today. 9:00  -- Second period begins. This is the first of two Ethnostats classes. Recall that earlier, I was considering doing the One Word Challenge that Shelli promotes -- perhaps even on Desmos. But instead of Shelli, I decided to go with Sarah Carter. Each year on the first day after winter break, Carter posts a...

Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Yule Blog Prompt #17: My Goals/One Word Challenge for 2022 3. Cheng's  Art of Logic in an Illogical World , Chapter 14 4. Conclusion Introduction Today is Baptism Sunday on the Christian Calendar. It is defined as the Sunday after Epiphany, and is based on an interpretation of the Bible that Christ was baptized around his 30th birthday. Thus Baptism Sunday is the last holiday of the "Christmas season." Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas two days ago, and their Epiphany (or Theophany), will be twelve days later, on January 19th. This is also their day to celebrate Baptism -- indeed, it's the Baptism, not the Three Kings, that is more significant in Eastern Churches. What are my Hispanic students celebrating today? After doing some research, I did read about how some Spanish-speakers observe Octavitas , an eight-day celebration for Epiphany and Baptism. But this is mainly observed in the Caribbean, not Mexico. Thus, unless I fi...