District Coach on the Go
01 Dec 2017 1 Comment
in art, district office, Useful Information Tags: black, featured, Google, white
I was thinking about Google searches. I searched for “Black and White” and “White and Black.” Look at the different suggestions? filters? that Google adds to the search bar.
“Black and White” image filters:
“White and Black” image filters
There was some overlap in the images, though.
14 Nov 2017 Leave a comment
in 993Q, Queens Tags: 993Q, Kosciuszko Bridge
The Kosciuszko Bridge (pronounced by some as “kos-kee-OOO-sko,” and by others as “kah-SHUS-ko”) connects Brooklyn with Queens. It is miserable. And now it is dead, having been replaced by a newer bridge to the side of it. The City imploded the bridge.
I passed through there last week. The traffic was so slow that I could take these photographs of the sections of the old hulk that was the Kosciuszko.
10 Nov 2017 1 Comment
in math Tags: 6ix, 9, 9ines, math
A Student (okay, my son Sammy, who is a 7th grade student), gave me this math puzzle:
“Use 6ix (sic) nines to equal 100, you can use +, -, x, ÷, ( ). [No exponents]. 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9. Good Luck, Sammy”
Welp, I was stumped and had to have him give me an answer.
This was his solution:
(9 x 9 + 9) + (9 ÷ 9 + 9)
which equals
90 + 10 = 100
I brought the problem to some colleagues of mine, and here are their answers:
Dennis wrote:
(999 – 99) ÷ 9
which equals
900 ÷ 9 = 100
Greg wrote:
(9 ÷ 9 + 9) x (9 ÷ 9 + 9)
which equals
10 x 10 = 100
I don’t remember who gave me this one:
99 + (9 ÷ 9) x (9 ÷ 9)
which equals
99 + 1 x 1
which equals
99 + 1 = 100
I finally came up with my own solution:
(99 ÷ 99) + 99
which equals
1 + 99 = 100
I happen to like my solution, since it uses the same numbers each time (99). However, Dennis’s is lovely, since it goes from three digits (999) to two digits (99) to one digit (9).
Which do you think is the most beautiful solution? The one that uses the most operations, or the one that uses the fewest?
15 Aug 2017 Leave a comment
in 176X, Bronx, Physical Education Tags: award, Ben Franklin, naked, runners
It is common to find that certain enormous high schools have been subdivided into several smaller ones, all housed within the same building. At one such site in the Bronx, I saw these Track and Field awards for a competition that had been held at the University of Pennsylvania. If you zoom in, you can see that these relay runners are completely nekkid, and they seem to be coming up to say hello to Ben Franklin. I know that during the ancient Greek Olympics the athletes were naked, but during the American Revolution too?
14 Aug 2017 Leave a comment
in STEM Tags: proofreading, STEM, Stuyvesant
I just got back from a 3-day STEM institute at the new Stuyvesant high school (yes, I know it has been in Battery Park City for 20 years already). It ran from August 8-10. Hundreds of others attended, there were dozens of workshop offerings, and even the chancellor herself was there. The keynote speaker was none other than Neil deGrasse Tyson of Hayden Planetarium fame. Clearly a lot of time and hard work went into pulling it off. In fact, my workshop, “We Are having Molecules for Dinner” was superb (more on that later).
My point is, there were so many coordinators and administrators putting together this event, so why did no one catch this mistake on the agenda?
21 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
In 2016, at 176X at Truman high school, I saw these bathroom signs: “Boys Bathroom Special Ed” and “Girls Bathroom Special Ed.” Hmm, segregation much? I alerted a staff member who alerted the custodian.
The signs have since been removed. The real questions is, how come no one else who saw these signs –including the students using the bathrooms — thought it was wrong (and possibly illegal)? How could these signs be up for so long and no one said a thing?
21 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in 3D design, 3D Printing, developmentally disabled Tags: blind, cardboard
We visited a shop that made concept and object indicators out of cardboard (plus whatever the actual object was). These clever cards can be used as prompts, as labels for storage bins, for the visually impaired, for the developmentally disabled, etc.
It would be cool to 3D print them, although they would have to be hand-painted afterwards.
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: area, capacity, cubic, decimals, distance, fractions, length, liquid, mass, metric, multiplication, percents, surface, temperature, time, volume, weight
Product: Tops Marble Composition Book, 7.5 X 9.75 Inches, College Rule, 100 Sheets, White (63796)
Sold by: Tops Products
Cost: out of stock everywhere
I saw this composition book for sale for $8.00. Crazy right? Except this chart really does happen to have Useful Information. It has fractions (and decimals and percents). And temperature conversion. And is written in clear English. For example, under Metric Unit Conversion, the column reads “When You Know: ________ Multiply By: ________ To Find: ________”.
What I do not see are roods (square measure), scruples (Apothecaries’ weight), reams (paper measure), grains (troy weight), or knots (miscellaneous measures). It is also the only chart to include “mass.”
Hidden Highlights
Categories
Metric Unit Conversions (Length and Distance; Surface or Area; Volume and Capacity [Liquid]; Weight and Mass; Termperature)
Fractions
Decimals and Percents
Multiplication Chart
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: apothecaries', avoirdupois, capacity, circular, conversion tables, cubic, dry, length, linear, liquid, metric, miscelleneous, multiplication, paper, surface, time, troy, weight
Product: Staples Graph Composition Book, 9.75 X 7.5 Graph Paper Notebook, Black (not marbled – ed)
Sold by: Staples
cost: $2.00
This Useful Information chart is on the inside back cover of a graph paper composition notebook. The cover is not the typical marble design. Right away I see some cool icons and graphics…the other Useful Information charts 1-3 have only text. Also, this one has a 3-inch ruler! The content is much the same as chart 2.
Hidden Highlights
Categories
Conversion Tables (length, capacity, weight; metric to American standard)
Multiplication Table
Table of Time Measure
Table of Dry Measure
Table of Liquid Measure
Table of Paper Measure
Table of Linear Measure
Miscellaneous Measures
Table of Cubic Measure
Table of Avoirdupois Weight (pounds and ounces: what we use in America)
Table of Troy Weight (for gold, silver, precious metals)
Table of Circular Measure
Table of Apothecaries’ Weight (for medicines)
Table of Surface Measure (as opposed to Square measure)
