Comments

I was pretty nerdy, but it could have been worse.

-- CarolynJohnston - 20 Jul 2005

That's pretty high.

Do you have a Periodic Table close by?

I actually do have a Periodic Table on my desktop, believe it or not.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

My score was 24; a wanna-be nerd, but definitely not hip. I'm glad I'm not hip.

I think I fell down on the computer questions.

-- BarryGarelick - 20 Jul 2005

Christopher likes his score:

98% scored higher (more nerdy), and 2% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

Definitely not nerdy, you are probably cool.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

I don't know how on earth I got a higher nerd score than Barry given the fact that I DON'T KNOW ANY MATH.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

I DON'T EVEN KNOW QUOTITIVE AND PARTITIVE.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

YET.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

It didn't ask math questions. Just what kind of calculator do you have (I don't have one), and what kind of computer do you have, etc. Now, if it had asked, do you doodle in math problems on napkins at restaurants, or when taking notes at meetings, and questions of that ilk, I would have scored much higher.

-- BarryGarelick - 20 Jul 2005

Are mathematicians not nerds?

That's interesting.

I had just assumed that all math-types were also computer-types....

Do you dream about math?

I dream about math, now, but that's because I'm doing so much of it (writing & 'blooki-ing' about it), teaching it, but also doing it.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

Are we not men? We are DeVo^?.

-- BarryGarelick - 20 Jul 2005

I think that's what kept my nerd score down... they didn't ask quite the right questions.

They didn't ask whether you'd decided that no existing blog software was adequate for your purposes, and so created your own.

However, remember the one about what kind of calculator you have, where one of the choices was a pre-1990 Hewlett-Packard (RPN, man)?

pre-1990 HP calculators used "reverse polish notation" where instead of going "1+1=", you went "1 enter 1 plus".

I still have my 1980-vintage HP calculator with RPN. I'm sure that cranked my score WAY up.

-- CarolynJohnston - 20 Jul 2005

I don't have a periodic table close by. That would be REALLY nerdy.

-- CarolynJohnston - 20 Jul 2005

I LOVE that Mac periodic table! It's so colorful and buttony-looking!

-- CarolynJohnston - 20 Jul 2005

Nobody used the term nerd when I was growing up. However, I distinctly remember my first encounter with the stereotype when one of my college housemates expressed surprise that I (an engineering student) had a copy of Siddhartha and books by Brautigan right next to my Abramowitz and Stegun Handbook of Mathematical Functions. (You never know when you want to look up a Bessel Function when you are reading Trout Fishing in America.)

Nerd never had a cachet for me or any other engineering/computer student I knew. It seemed to be a hangup of others. Nowadays, I see kids that grew up with computers feeling pretty smart or nerdy (and perhaps a little arrogant) comparing themselves to their parents lack of knowledge in this area. I have noticed this with my nephew and niece, who are just out of high school. A little knowledge goes way too far. They think they are nerdy and smart, but they don't know enough yet to know what it is that they don't know. (false nerds) I had calculus in high school, but I remember feeling very insecure about my abilities compared to others. I don't get this feeling of insecurity from many kids nowadays. Perhaps insecurity is the wrong word.

This is also a problem with my 9 year old son who says that he "knows" something as soon as he has a tiny inkling about the topic. I try to tell him that he still has a long way to go. I tell him that it is OK not to know something, but it is not OK to pretend to know something. The people you really want to impress can tell the difference. And, you impress them by not trying to impress them.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is this the self-esteem effect? Is this a constructivism effect where kids learn that teachers don't have any real knowledge and skills to give them? My niece took film classes in high school and learned some things about digital recording and editing. Everyone told her that she did wonderful work. Now, she thinks that she can hop right into the film industry.

-- SteveH - 20 Jul 2005

You never know when you want to look up a Bessel Function when you are reading Trout Fishing in America.

I just found our second submission to Carnival of Education.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

I'm serious.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

In fact, I hereby launch KitchenTableMathWitAndWisdom.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

This is also a problem with my 9 year old son who says that he "knows" something as soon as he has a tiny inkling about the topic.

Steve--I have a bunch of thoughts, and it's two separate issues, I think.

Willingham has an article on why kids think they know things when they don't. As far as I can tell, this is universal in grade school (I don't know what the prime ages for this are.)

What you're talking about is called metacognition, and I'm reading about it now.

The research on metacognition is right up your alley, because it's very interesting stuff that has been pretty horribly applied....

That awful final page in TRAILBLAZERS (compare two pieces of work from your portfolio...) is straight out of the metacognition research.

I think we've got a link to the Willingham article under either RECOMMENDED READING or OUR FAVORITE MATH SUPPLEMENTS (I know, I know, more user confusion....)

I can't remember if I've read it yet.

With your older niece & nephew, we may be talking about something different, some kind of social phenomena.

Joanne Jacobs had a fantastic link to a college professor grappling with very poor students who think they're doing just great.

Back to your son, the research seems to show that some kind of 'metacognitive training' is actually helpful (and I THINK this research is decent, if poorly applied....)

I'm thinking it over myself, and one conclusion I have is that kids should always grade their own work, so they see what mistakes they've made (and that they have made mistakes).

Anyway, I'll get these things posted at some point.

But I would assume that your son is acting exactly like all 9-year olds.

They can't assess their own level of knowledge, and they always think they know things when they don't.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Jul 2005

W00t!!!

Overall, you scored as follows:

1% scored higher (more nerdy), and 99% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

All hail the monstrous nerd. You are by far the SUPREME NERD GOD!!!

-- KtmGuest - 21 Dec 2005

That's impossible. I have never known anyone to score that high, and I know a LOT of nerds.

Tell us how you did it!

-- CarolynJohnston - 21 Dec 2005

Forget periodic tables... does anybody have a dodecahedreal desk calendar?

Well?! Go download one!

-- PaulMiller - 21 Dec 2005

Paul

What's the link???

I want to see that calendar!!

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

dodecahedreal desk calendar

That's unbelievably cool.

I may have to make one.

In my spare time.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

That's not a platonic dodecahedron. While it might serve as a field expedient dodecahedral calendar, I'll wait for the real thing.

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

Oh, and I got a 99 as well. (This was actually higher than I expected, as there were several places where I could see a higher scoring answer that I didn't select.)

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

FIELD EXPEDIENT!

I REMEMBER WHAT THAT MEANS!

In the field, a rock is a hammer.

A field expedient hammer.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

you got a 99?

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

now i'm scared

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

I'd chortle menacingly, but:

1) It's really hard to hear that from 2000 miles away.

2) I'm hiding my ruthlessness here.

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

Doug is a ruthless nerd!

But not here.

-- CarolynJohnston - 21 Dec 2005

Doug, you got a 99 too?

Do you wear a pocket protector and tape on your eyeglasses and the whole 9 yards?

-- CarolynJohnston - 21 Dec 2005

I am relieved that I got a decidedly un-nerdly 56.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

Nope, I buy pens that don't leak and replace my glasses when they break.

I did answer that I play D&D on Friday nights, and that I was taking the test to prove that my score was higher than someone else. I suspect both have a strong effect on the result.

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

Did you indicate that you wear your +3 chainmail of pain while you code assembly in klingon.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

I never code assembly in Klingon. I'm more of a Lisp in Elvish kind of a guy.

Besides, why would you use assembly when you can work directly in silicon?

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

I am relieved that I got a decidedly un-nerdly 56.

See, this is how you know you're not a nerd. A true nerd would be severely disappointed at any score under 95.

-- KtmGuest - 21 Dec 2005

... And actively trying to game the system to increase the nerd rating, much like Catherine did with her ruthless rating. (I'm guessing she put herself in the old lady demographic to artificially boost her rating.)

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

See, if you were really ruthless, you'd have put yourself in the same demographic.

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

I mistakenly went with the little girl demographic, but with with teacher's pets giving the finger nowadays who would have thunk

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

That's right, your Tactics score was a little low.

8-)

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

That's the price you pay for being aggressive.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

True enough, Ken. Don't get me wrong; I like aggressive people. Like any other tool, though, they can turn in your hand if you're not careful.

(What I really need to find out is my Evil Mastermind score. Not that I'd reveal it, of course.)

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

Now that Google Master has reminded me about the "Math Curriculum Report," I figured it was time to post this slide.

Every time I've brought up the selection of TRAILBLAZERS I've been told, confidently, that 'the committee looked at many curricula.'

No.

The answer is: the committee did not look at many curricula.

A) the committee looked only at constructivist curricula

B) amongst constructivist curricula, the committee appears to have looked closely at 3 curricula: TERC, Everyday Math, and Trailblazers

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

Ken

I am relieved that I got a decidedly un-nerdly 56.

56?

Well, you beat me on nerd, at least.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

I hope that is some small consolation.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

Like any other tool, though, they can turn in your hand if you're not careful.

Or get killed before acomplishing the mission, like what happened here.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

I hope that is some small consolation.

I'll settle for middling nerd if that's what it takes to beatyou.

As Doug said - Excelsior!!! (I just wish I knew how to say that in Klingon to boost my nerd street-cred.)

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

What I really need to find out is my Evil Mastermind score.

Let the games begin.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

(I'm guessing she put herself in the old lady demographic to artificially boost her rating.)

no

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

I mistakenly went with the little girl demographic, but with with teacher's pets giving the finger nowadays who would have thunk

hoo boy

you are WAY behind the curve

at the high school, girls are getting expelled for FIGHTING over the boys

that's fighting as in HITTING EACH OTHER

this is Irvington

it's a jungle out there

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

That's what I thought you'd say.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

plus, the child arrested for the 2nd bomb threat was a girl

13 years old, I gather

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

Before I Kill You Mr Bond ...

My Evil Mastermind score is:

Right Hand Man Impressive... or not! You scored 70!

And I'm apparently in a very stupid cohort:

You scored higher than 91% on mastermind-ness

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

Is that Kurt Angle's face on the left side?

-- CarolynJohnston - 21 Dec 2005

yes!

I think it is!

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

It would, of course, be bad tactics to report my evil mastermind score.

That said, someone who might arguably be in my demographic cohort could perhaps have scored a 64, higher than 66% of the people of his age and gender. He might have raised that score by claiming to be a fan of the Yankees, but that would be beyond even the worst of evil masterminds.

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

It would, of course, be bad tactics to report my evil mastermind score.

or would it ...

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

i have no idea what anyone is talking about

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

however, I'm too ruthless to care

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

so Ed tells me Sunday, as we're walking around The Westchester Place, that generals who are Ruthless always end up making strategic errors

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

or nerdy

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

yeah, or nerdy

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

nerdy and unstrategic

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

My core strategy, when it comes to Inducing Social Change, is to go into a Forum and Act Exasperated.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

change by guilting

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

I don't even manage to induce guilt

I just act exasperated

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

it never works

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

interestingly, I will from time to time have a mom who I don't know at all come up to me and say, smiling warmly, Hi, Catherine! How are you!

I think these may be moms who are exasperated themselves, but just didn't want to make a fool of themselves at the PTSA forum.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

New Year's Resolutions:

a) learn the lingo

b) memorize my talking points

c) subpoint: find out what my talking points are

d) stop acting exasperated

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005

Yeah, I get those too.

You're fighting the good fight for their benefit and they are too afraid to even come up to you and show support.

-- KDeRosa - 21 Dec 2005

"New Year's Resolutions:"

e) identify the people who agree with me, so I can enlist their active support

f) learn their names

g) remember their names

8-)

-- DougSundseth - 21 Dec 2005

h) make eye contact :-(

-- KtmGuest - 21 Dec 2005

For inspiratation, here's a quote from Margaret Mead:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

-- KtmGuest - 21 Dec 2005

Okay, obviously I need to learn how to make links on here.

Doug: There actually is a Platonic dodecahedral desk calendar on that same site. I prefer it, too, because it looks nicer and sits more naturally on the table.

Now I'm off to take the tests...

-- PaulMiller - 22 Dec 2005

-- PaulMiller - 22 Dec 2005

The Potential Threat

Impressive... or not!

You scored 47!

Congratulations, you are a potential threat. Though you have some evil thoughts, you do not possess the complete disregard of human life that is necessary for being a successfully evil super-genius. You would likely make a good arch-nemesis to a more qualified mastermind. And, of course, defeating an evil-mastermind in battle and then taking over his nearly-complete plans of world domination at the last minute would be a cinch for you!

-- PaulMiller - 22 Dec 2005

e) identify the people who agree with me, so I can enlist their active support

f) learn their names

g) remember their names



Kathy, Laura, Penny, & Russell

and possibly Ellen

done

-- CatherineJohnson - 22 Dec 2005

You're fighting the good fight for their benefit and they are too afraid to even come up to you and show support.

oh, that's interesting—

In my case, thus far, people don't even go so far as to say that they agree with me, or are glad I'm saying what I'm saying.....

One or two of them have just kind of acted thrilled to see me.

-- CatherineJohnson - 22 Dec 2005

e) identify the people who agree with me, so I can enlist their active support

f) learn their names

g) remember their names

oh, wait

now I see what you're saying

yeah

I should at least be taking notes....

-- CatherineJohnson - 22 Dec 2005

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Thanks!

That's what Temple and I are writing about now.

She is one person, and she pretty much singlehandedly reformed the meatpacking industry.

She had to have the right conditions; namely the McLibel case, which was a public relations debacle for McDonald's.

But if Temple hadn't been in place to act when McDonald's was ready to act, nothing would have happened.

-- CatherineJohnson - 22 Dec 2005

It's absolutely true that one person, or a small group of people, can change things.

That's true in a negative sense, too. I saw, up close, during my years of autism work that advocacy groups are out there advocating for stuff the rest of us don't even know about, and wouldn't necessarily approve of if we did.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

My thoughts are pretty close to coherent at this point (coherent in terms of having a 'slogan' and 'talking points,' which you need when you're trying to persuade people to see things your way).

Once I start pestering people for systematic formative assessment and teaching to mastery, I'll just go on and on and on; I won't stop.

I'll keep re-saying the same thing I said 5 seconds ago.

There's going to be no one actively advocating against formative assessment and teaching to mastery.....

Water wears away rock.

-- CatherineJohnson - 22 Dec 2005

"There actually is a Platonic dodecahedral desk calendar on that same site."

Well, alright then. That's better.

8-)

-- DougSundseth - 22 Dec 2005

I took the Evil Mastermind test, here's what I got.

Weakling

Impressive... or not! You scored 38!

Congratulations, you are worthless. Slightly better than a hippy, but still worthless and not even deserving of an interesting personal-description. You are destined for mediocrity. Consider a career in pizza delivery or flower picking.

This is pretty much what I expected. I really don't have what it takes to be an evil mastermind, or even a diabolical brain-collecting flunky.

-- CarolynJohnston - 23 Dec 2005

This is pretty much what I expected. I really don't have what it takes to be an evil mastermind, or even a diabolical brain-collecting flunky.

I may have the 'evil' bit covered, but I'm going to flunk mastermind.

Until this moment, I didn't realize we were talking about a different online personality quiz.

(Are we talking about a different online personality quiz?)

-- CatherineJohnson - 23 Dec 2005

yes. The Super-Evil Mastermind test.

-- KDeRosa - 23 Dec 2005

The Potential Threat

Impressive... or not! You scored 53!

Congratulations, you are a potential threat. Though you have some evil thoughts, you do not possess the complete disregard of human life that is necessary for being a successfully evil super-genius. You would likely make a good arch-nemesis to a more qualified mastermind. And, of course, defeating an evil-mastermind in battle and then taking over his nearly-complete plans of world domination at the last minute would be a cinch for you!

How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 0% on mastermind-ness

-- CatherineJohnson - 23 Dec 2005