When I first arrived at the school where I am now, I was rather astonished at how much human effort went into the publication of the daily notices. “Boxing club is canceled.” “There will be cookies for sale at break time.” I think any school could potentially have this issue. Imagine you’re a Principal and […]
Streamlining daily notices at school
Posted by Mister Morris on April 13, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/streamlining-daily-notices-at-school/
The difference between academe and life
Life is about constantly banging your head against the wall against stuff that just sucks. Or as Krugman calls it, battling cockroach ideas: Sometimes I get comments from people accusing me of repeating myself in the column; no doubt I do make the same arguments multiple times. But that’s because people keep forgetting! A parallel […]
Posted by Mister Morris on February 2, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/the-difference-between-academe-and-life/
Curriculum has to have a point of view
I have a distaste for the meme “just let them choose what they want to read.” The weakest argument, I think, is that not all students even read x book that was assigned reading: Perhaps 5-7 students take over the role of answering the teacher’s questions. Some, but not likely all, of these students have […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 31, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/curriculum-has-to-have-a-point-of-view/
15 grand
The outgoing South Korean President issued 13,000 pardons during his 5-year term. And that’s a record low. For contrast, US presidents have issued pardons and clemencies 20,000 times in the 20th century.
Posted by Mister Morris on January 29, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/15-grand/
That typeface isn’t a a font nor are serifs legible
Fonts and typefaces have a container/content relationship. It’s true, look it up. Consider that font refers to the box that holds the math, which in turn defines or describes the style of a set of characters. Font is the file, the typeface is the stuff in the file. Meanwhile, serif fonts shouldn’t necessarily be considered […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 24, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/that-typeface-isnt-a-a-font-nor-are-serifs-legible/
Armstrong’s choke and breathe
Fascinating that Armstrong’s body language gets some ink. Also predictable that there are a bunch of comments following the piece ridiculing that analysis. When I talk to maths and science teachers about working with low-proficiency students I have often (and yes, I do get eye rolls) implore them to try and read the students. If […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 19, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/armstrongs-choke-and-breathe/
Between a pebble and a really hard rock
Videos with subtitles aren’t quite ubiquitous yet, and as a language teacher I find this frustrating. Don’t misinterpret: providing subtitles to students so they can depend on them isn’t the idea. It’s a way to keep the message multi-modal, which just means that I think communication is done best when it’s done in a variety […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 19, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/between-a-pebble-and-a-really-hard-rock/
Slickmeister stopped in his tracks
Heh: He was the firm’s top coder for many quarters and was considered expert in C, C++, Perl, Java, Ruby, PHP, and Python. Turns out the dude was outsourcing all his coding to some Chinese firms. Proof that, you know, expertise like that can only be handled by a herd rather than a single entity. […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 16, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/slickmeister-stopped-in-his-tracks/
No amount of charity makes up for this
“You can’t take that away from him,” … the charity work. I have a feeling that Armstrong’s interview with Oprah at some point is going to focus on the charity work that he’s done. So I want to preempt that by pointing out that arrogance in the face of the plain truth is a complete […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 15, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/no-amount-of-charity-makes-up-for-this/
Krugman agrees with me!
Yesterday I expressed surprise that Jon Stewart got the trillion dollar coin thing wrong. Today, Krugman said, Part of the point about Stewart … is that he’s funny, but that the show is actually better informed than most of our public discussion. It’s a shame I didn’t say more than I did, because I was […]
Posted by Mister Morris on January 13, 2013
https://mistermorris.com/blog/krugman-agrees-with-me/