How You Frame Content Determines How You Perceive It

Sam Harrelson on June 16, 2023

I do love Epictetus’s Enchiridion!

τῶν ὄντων τὰ μέν ἐστιν ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν, τὰ δὲ οὐκ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν should be the opening line of every textbook, Driver’s License manual, Facebook user agreement, and marriage certificate as we move through life. It’s the opening lines of Epictetus’ Handbook (“Some things are up to us, and some are not up to us.”).

Plato, TikTok… skydiving? Yale’s Gendler gives ancient texts a modern spin | YaleNews:

We spent about half a class discussing a pair of images, both of which featured the Serenity Prayer: one was a delicate ceramic plate where the text was surrounded by morning glories and puppy dogs, and the other was the same text in the form of a bicep tattoo surrounded by American flags and tanks. Epictetus’s point is that how you frame content determines how you perceive it. And here we had, with the text of Epictetus, two cases of literal frames, one of which made the text seem gentle and available to those who might feel soothed by it, and the other of which made it seem macho and available to those who self-conceive in that way. So that conversation offered three different weavings of meta in the same place.

Rubik’s Cubes

Sam Harrelson on June 15, 2023

I always keep a few Rubik’s Cubes in my classroom (and here on my desk at home). My son and daughters think they are fascinating and are constantly “borrowing” them. My students think they are equally entertaining and use them to stay awake during my otherwise boring lessons on Newton’s Laws or the Periodic Table.

Something about Rubik’s Cubes stimulate us and cause us to stop and think, “Hey, I could solve that!” in a way that perhaps no other trinket could do. We love magic with playing cards or juggling, but those require skill and practice.

Rubik’s Cubes, it seems, is a human puzzle that at least seems solvable.  That is precisely why I love them in my classroom and on my desk… here at home. Humans love to solve puzzles when pondering the wider world around them. Go and do likewise.

Also, go watch this if you want to be blown away…

The New Rubik’s Cube World Record Is Just 3.13 Seconds:

In roughly the time it took you to read this sentence, Max Park solved a Rubik’s Cube. With his time of 3.13 seconds, Park bested Yusheng Du’s 2018 mark of 3.47 seconds. Just watch the video above…it’s ridiculous. I love how the judge comes in to preserve the scene as everyone goes bananas.

Productive Week?

Sam Harrelson on June 5, 2023

Weird that I’ve gotten so much done the last few days since it’s technically “summer” for us teachers. But I find that keeping busy with consulting work, aquarium building, and taking notes on what I’m reading (to make myself a better person and teacher!) helps me keep the “I miss my students” blues at bay!

CleanShot 2023 06 05 at 16 49 10 2x

Something Funny Happened On the Way to Teaching Earth Science

Sam Harrelson on April 22, 2022

I wasn’t particularly sure how my teaching year would go this year. I knew I was teaching Physics and Physical Science. Both of those are right in my wheelhouse and I enjoy teaching both of those immensely, and I’m incredibly passionate about the topics in those subject areas. However, the big question was Earth Science (and teaching 6th grade, which I’ve never done for an entire year). 

Turns out, I fell in love with my 6th-grade classes and Earth Science has become something of a new passion of mine. I did not see that coming.

Lately, I’ve been reading books on geology and geologic time scales and catastrophic events and listening to audiobooks on plate tectonics and seabed composition, and subscribing to Apple News topics about geophysics, and hydrology… weird.

I’ve always been somewhat interested in Earth Science adjacent topics, obviously. I remember enjoying my own time in an Earth Science class in 8th grade and then in basic geology in college. But having to plan out an entire year and helping to motivate 11, 12, and 13-year-olds to get interested in the water cycle helped me realize just how incredible the topic can be.

Reminding young people that Earth, as we know it, is an incredibly and rapidly ever-changing system and not some static immovable rock where things have always been the same has been such a joy and a privilege. Plus, it’s a humbling reminder of our own human place in the Creation and the Cosmos!

I can’t wait to explore some of these topics with our Upper Schoolers next year in our new Earth & Space Science class that we’re launching next year at TSA!

Chalk Apocalypse

Sam Harrelson on August 22, 2020

So, when Hagoromo announced that it was going out of business in 2014, it caused a rupture in the math community.”

I referred to it as a chalk apocalypse,” Conrad said. In a panic, mathematicians across America began stockpiling resources in preparation.”

I calculated how many boxes I would need to last 10 to 15 years and I bought that many boxes,” says Lieblich.Dave Bayer took things even further. “I single-handedly bought the rest of the Amazon supply in the middle of the night,” he said.

Source: How a brand of chalk achieved cult status among mathematicians – CNN

I was gifted with an old sliding blackboard in my 2nd year of teaching (and my first year of teaching Physical Science). I loved that board and was sad to leave it later in my career when I went to a new school.

There’s something special about chalk covered hands and the feel of writing on a blackboard to make a point about F=MA or the structure of an atom.

Now I want to go stock up on some Hagoromo and find a good blackboard for my children.

I’m here to manage a team not…

Sam Harrelson on March 21, 2016

“I’m here to manage a team, not make rules,” Maddon said. “I learned my lesson from that.”

http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/168278928/cubs-joe-maddon-talks-policies-with-leaders

Differences in Private and Public School Teacher Pay

Sam Harrelson on October 24, 2013

As a fan of economic theory (by no means an expert), I’ve always tried to rationalize the chasm that exists between private school and public school teacher pay.

Having been both a private school and public school teacher, I’ve had to rationalize this on a whole different level.

Though there are lots of generalities in this article, I do agree with the concluding paragraph here:

The biggest lesson public education can draw from the salary gap isn’t to cut wages, or quash unions, or hold open auditions for unlicensed teachers. The lesson, in fact, has little to do with salaries at all. The moral is that not all teaching jobs are alike. Different school environments make for radically different work, and many teachers find private schools offer a more rewarding experience. Attracting and retaining teachers, then, means more than just raising salaries. It means taking disciplinary obstacles and bureaucratic nonsense out of teachers’ paths.

via Why Are Private-School Teachers Paid Less Than Public-School Teachers? – Ben Orlin – The Atlantic.

My only caveat is that not every private school is the same Dead-Poets-Society engendering experience for teachers. I taught at three very different private schools over the last decade and I had three very different experiences. There were varying levels of responsibilities, overhead, bureaucracies, call for standards etc.

In general, I’ll say that the best schools are where the teachers are happy and passionate about their jobs. How to accomplish that? Get out of the teachers’ way and trust them as the professionals they are (or at least they are hired to be).

I Love Dan Bricklin’s Note Taker HD App

Sam Harrelson on June 10, 2010


You can use Note Taker HD to take notes, sketch diagrams, quickly and easily jot down names, phone numbers, to-do items, directions, and more. Pages are flexibly organized by date/time last modified, tags, favorites, and more, with thumbnail images of part of each page to help you find them later. Pages may be grouped together as multiple “sheets”. You can also email one or more pages as a single PDF file. VGA output is supported with zoom and pan.

via softwaregarden.com

I’ve been using Bricklin’s Note Taker app on my iPhone since last December, but the Note Taker HD app on my new iPad is simply extraordinary.

I cannot wait to get into the lab with my 8th grade students and jot down notes and observations that we can use to better communicate their findings in our Physical Science class next year.

Thank you again for all you do, Dan.