I am the three-dimensional problem represented by the two-dimensional graph. The derivative tells the story of how a function changes as its input changes. The function is why is the narrator. The first derivative of gives velocity, the second acceleration, the third jerk, the fourth jounce.

The derivative of the function at a particular point is equal to the slope of the tangent line. You only need two points to plot a straight line. Now, how to determine the equation of the line? (y = mx + b) B is the y-intercept; the point where the line crosses vertical axis. M is the slope, rise over run. Slippery slope? Slippery brain? Slippery brains fall easily in love. B told me I had a sexy brain. That is the best compliment to a neurobiologist.

Begin with B robing me in terrycloth and brewing fresh coffee. We sat in his air-conditioned garage while he smoked an American Spirit. Inside, B simply handed me a toothbrush. It was shiny and new and he gave me a travel case too. I keep it on my bookshelf.

X gave me a toothbrush last night. He instructed me to leave it on the nightstand on my side of the bed. The plastic and cardboard packaging was misshapen. I teased X about who used the toothbrush. The bristles felt too soft. His brussels sprouts are perfectly soft. X’s been rehearsing this for days, I know. I was sad.

What lies between B and X?

This is only one tangent; there are infinitely many more…

[more from Through the Looking Glass:]

   "What sort of insects do you rejoice in, where you come from?" the Gnat inquired.

   "I don't rejoice in insects at all," Alice explained, "because I'm rather afraid of them -- at least the large kinds. But I can tell you the names of some of them."

   "Of course they answer to their names?" the Gnat remarked carelessly.

   "I never knew them to do it."

   "What's the use of their having names," the Gnat said, "if they won't answer to them?"

   "No use to them," said Alice; "but it's useful to the people that name them, I suppose. If not, why do things have names at all?"

   "I can't say," said the Gnat. "In the wood down there, they've got no names -- however, go on with your list of insects." 

   "Well, there's the Horse-fly," Alice began, counting off the names on her fingers.

   "All right," said the Gnat: "half-way up that bush, you'll see a Rocking-horse-fly, if you look. It's made entirely of wood, and gets about by swinging itself from branch to branch."

   "What does it live on?" Alice asked, with great curiosity.

   "Sap and sawdust," said the Gnat. "Go on with the list."

What are the intentions behind supplying schools with the most recent technology? 

Is it just tho keep it current? Comparing expectations to actual use by teachers and students?   

How is (or isn't) technology incorporated in the classroom? 

Who determines the effectiveness of technology? Teachers or students? 

What is Clark forgetting/leaving out? Where is technology not a 1st priority in the classroom and how do our schools' models and policies promote and inhibit learning in the classroom? 

How can issues of saftey in the classroom affect the ways in which tech. is neglected or misused or even perpetuate inequalities and achievement gap (safe environments achieve more than unsafe ones)?  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/technology/microsoft-sends-engineers-to-schools-to-encourage-the-next-generation.html?ref=education&_r=0

Please use this forum as a place to post notes of your field placement experiences.  Remember: pseudonyms (fake names) MUST be used for all individuals and institutions, and any other identifying material must not be included in any posts.  The format I am asking you to use is a paragraph on each of the following:

what? (descriptions of events in as neutral language as possible)

so what? (reactions, interpretations, implications, questions)

now what? (ideas for next steps, follow-up, new focal areas, ways of looking)

Please read and respond to the posts of your placement group members. 

  "O Tiger-lily," said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, "I wish you could talk!"

   "We can talk," said the Tiger-lily: "when there's anybody worth talking to."

   Alice was so astonished that she couldn't speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice -- almost in a whisper. "And can allthe flowers talk?"

   "As well as you can," said the Tiger-lily. "And a great deal louder."

   "It isn't manners for us to begin, you know," said the Rose, "and I really was wondering when you'd speak! Said I to myself. "Her face has got some sense in it, though it's not a clever one!' Still you're the right colour, and that goes a long way."

   "I don't care about the colour," the Tiger-lily remarked. "If only her petals curled up a little more, she'd be all right."

This summer, my daughter Marian told me that, as a birthday gift, she wanted to treat me to a Mural Arts tour. Researching the various options, she came upon the Restorative Justice tour (and the rest is history. Our 360 went. We saw. We problematized....)

I posted the picture below because I was introduced to the Prison Industrial Complex by learning about Angela Davis. Every time I think of prisons I can't help but think of her movement and her books. I also think that the fact that a black boy is wearing a shirt of her speaks to the facts we've been learning in class about the incarceration of black bodies and the inability of schools to respond to their needs. However, this guy perhaps has some consciousness, I see him as a direct contradiction to a system that wants him to fail. By wearing an Angela Davis shirt, he is speaking his consciousness and at the same time standing for those who like him that have been chased by the prison, schooling, etc. system.

In my education class, one of our weekly assignments is to listen to a recording of a group of high school students talking about teaching and learning.  The dialogue I just finished listening to seemed very related to the conversation we had in class today about Berry’s proposed college curriculum.  His writing communicated to me that he had no understanding of what many students need to get from school.  For example, in class I wrote: “for me, all signs point to a job with health benefits and a 401K.  This curriculum probably wouldn’t get me that.”  I so appreciated hearing what these high school students had to say about what they wanted/needed from school because it provided relief from Berry’s esoteric text.  Here are a few quotes which I found particularly shiny.  The prompt was: What do you want to see in your classrooms?