Got to spend some time today catching up with my former Bronx Science colleague Tehilla Rieser. After retiring from Bronx Science she has continued teaching at the SAR High School in Riverdale. In February I had the honor of teaching her classes for a week after her father died when she was sitting shiva. It was a wonderful experience for me not only because I got back into the classroom and because she has such wonderful kids, but also because she works with some wonderful colleagues in a great facility. It was bliss for a week, and which such cooperation I had great success teaching gram-mole-liter conversion problems. When I gave the college-level quiz on Friday (five problems to set up and solve), 14% of her Regents classes got 100, 51% got 95 or above, and 65% got 90 or above. The performances pleased us both, and her supervisor who wrote me a very nice letter of reference.
We ate lunch at a Kosher Mexican restaurant near SAR as we compared the conditions of some used, rare books on the history of Riverdale, Kingsbridge and Sputen Duyvil by the Rev. William A. Tieck that we both had bought, discussed the movie Avatar, which she has not seen, and then discussed the Baba Brinkman rap performance of Darwin's theory of evolution that I described yesterday, and of which I had bought a CD. Then we went back to SAR so she could show me the masterful, fun PowerPoint presentations she has prepared on acid-base chemistry, both theory and titrations, which any book publisher should love to get their hands on. The humor and craft are both Tehilla hallmarks. Her motion illustrations of blue litmus paper turning pink when dipped in base, and pink in acid are terrific. I have no idea how he does some of her transition effects.
Tehilla also told me about the website Dirpy.com which aids in the conversion of the soundtracks of YouTube.com videos into MP3 files. I have always downloaded the QuickTime versions of the YouTube files, exported them as MP3 files using QuickTime Pro, then edited the resulting files in Fission. Dirby.com allows all this pretty much in one step.
Talking with Sis on Mother's Day
I got home from my SAR jaunt to find a phone message from my sister saying she really wanted to chat as we both remembered our mother today. (Mom would have been 96 this year on March 22nd.) We both caught up on current events, then she told me about an interesting film she had seen on the Sundance Channel called Hotel Gramercy Park, which sounds interesting. I am familiar with a bit of the history of Gramercy Park, but not about the intrigue in the movie. Like the Chelsea Hotel, it has had its cast of characters over the years.
David Pakter vs. Godzilla (The DOE version)
Tomorrow there is a hearing at Tweed Courthouse on the matter of DOE vs. David Pakter in which an impartial hearing officer will listen to tapes secretly made by Mr. Pakter in dealings with the DOE. From my own experience I learned that the DOE claims that only they can make recordings of DOE events, and then they charge you for copies of the old-fashioned audiotapes. David made his own. David was lauded by Mayor Giuliani as Teacher of the Year in the past, only to be banished to one of the infamous Rubber Rooms, not for something he did (the first time) but for seeing something he wasn't supposed to see. The second time it was because he committed the DOE "crime" of generosity, both to his students and to his school. Luckily David has the resources to make the DOE sit up and take notice, which, of course, only pisses them off even more. Teachers are expected to roll over and play dead while their careers are sabotaged. Good luck David!
Tomorrow there is a hearing at Tweed Courthouse on the matter of DOE vs. David Pakter in which an impartial hearing officer will listen to tapes secretly made by Mr. Pakter in dealings with the DOE. From my own experience I learned that the DOE claims that only they can make recordings of DOE events, and then they charge you for copies of the old-fashioned audiotapes. David made his own. David was lauded by Mayor Giuliani as Teacher of the Year in the past, only to be banished to one of the infamous Rubber Rooms, not for something he did (the first time) but for seeing something he wasn't supposed to see. The second time it was because he committed the DOE "crime" of generosity, both to his students and to his school. Luckily David has the resources to make the DOE sit up and take notice, which, of course, only pisses them off even more. Teachers are expected to roll over and play dead while their careers are sabotaged. Good luck David!
The Tempermentals
Tomorrow night I head down to (off) Broadway to see The Tempermentals, which the New York Times recommended.
I hope y'all had a pleasant Mother's Day!
Tomorrow night I head down to (off) Broadway to see The Tempermentals, which the New York Times recommended.
I hope y'all had a pleasant Mother's Day!
