Stats, Common Core Style

Today is Tuesday -- a very special day on the calendar, for two reasons. Indeed, my second semester blogging schedule doesn't have me posting on Tuesdays, but I am posting on this very special Tuesday. The first reason today is special is that it's the day after Presidents' Day, and thus the start of what I normally call the "Big March." It represents the long stretch between Presidents' Day and Easter when there are no days off from school -- after having had a day off every few weeks since Veteran's Day. But spring break in my current district has nothing to do with Easter. Indeed, both my current and old districts in LA County take the same week off in late March. (I observed spring break on my old blog, but when the pandemic resulted in 100% distance learning in that district around March in both 2020 and 2021, the blog calendar switched to different districts.) Moreover, 2022 is the year when Presidents' Day falls back from its earliest date (the ...

Today in Ethnostats, we return to the documentary  13th.  Once again, I draw inspiration from predecessors who taught this class in years past. In particular, one teacher had her students answer some questions about the film. Suitable ones are easily found online -- and the former teacher also assigned a team project, where students must analyze quotes: https://nehemiah.org/wp-content/uploads/13th-Movie-Discussion-Guide.pdf http://culture.affinitymagazine.us/13-of-the-best-quotes-from-13th/ But that teacher suggested that the assignment be completed either on poster paper or Google Slides. At first I wanted them to use Slides, only to have the Wi-Fi fail  yet again  (who knows why). A poster might have worked here, except I'd just thrown out some old markers earlier this week. So instead, we simply discuss the quotes in our Stats Scrapbooks. The students are still given a partner, with each member analyzing two quotes and discussing them with the other member. Once a...

Today in Ethnostats, we begin Chapter 13 of the text, an introduction to probability. It is the first chapter of Unit 4, "Randomness and Probability." In second period, I cover the first six pages of this chapter. Topics here include random phenomena, the Law of Large Numbers (and the nonexistent Law of Averages), and modeling probability. I have the students calculate simple probabilities based on flipping coins, rolling dice, choosing playing cards, and even my random name generator program. Assignment #12 contains a few problems from the text. But fourth period is a little different, because of the parade. Yes, the local football team here in Southern California, the Rams, won the Super Bowl over the weekend -- and since I figure that the students might be distracted anyway, I turn on the livestream of the parade. Why is the superintendent on our campus today? Last night was a board meeting to discuss the future of our school, and the superintendent presented a proposal to...

Today in Ethnostats, we officially begin the thirteenth chapter of our textbook. And I decide to launch the new chapter by showing a documentary --  13th.  The title refers to the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which states that slavery has been abolished in the United States -- except for those who have been convicted of a crime. The film is listed in the official Ethnostats syllabus (along with Paulo Freire's  Pedagogy of the Oppressed ) and my predecessor from two years ago assigned it to her class around this time of year. But of course, I intentionally play the movie today for several reasons. First, it's February -- Black History Month. Moreover, the title  13th  and the number 13 have some significance. As I wrote earlier, we're just about to start Chapter 13 in the text. I have the students take notes in their Stats Scrapbooks (13 notes, of course), and they must write down a few more facts about the film for their next assignment -- due on Go...

Well, fortunately the best case scenario occurred -- I received a negative COVID-19 test on Monday, and so I was allowed to return to school yesterday. I waited until today to post, since Wednesday is the day when Ethnostats classes meet. Tuesday isn't my regular posting day this semester. And as I mentioned in my last post, I will count this as my monthly posting day. I use "A Day in the Life" to discuss my first two days back after what turned out to be a three-day absence. I call it "Damage Control" -- that is, I seek to control the damage to my plans caused by missing these days. 8:00  -- Zero period arrives. This is my morning Advisory class. I don't write about my Advisory class much on the blog. My focus on this blog is math in general and Stats in particular, and even when I do "A Day in the Life," I usually write about minimum days or Mondays when Advisory doesn't meet. So let's finally take a look at what's happening in Adviso...

Today, I test positive for COVID-19. Last night, our school suddenly announced that instead of our usual weekly COVID testing day of Thursday, suddenly we'd be testing today at 10:00, during second period Ethnostats. Before that period ends, I get the unsettling news that I had tested positive, and I'm immediately sent home to quarantine. There is no convenient time to test positive, but this week is especially tricky. My plans were to give, finally, the chapter tests in Calculus and Trig, and a project in Ethnostats. Well, Ethnostats will still get a stripped-down version of the project. Meanwhile, the other classes will get online tests, since after playing the minimum day game with them in January, I told Calc that I'd give them a test no matter what.  (If I'd known I'd be out this week, I might at least have given Calc a  quiz  last week regardless of minimum days.) And just as I go into quarantine, so will this blog. According to the LA County Department of Hea...