72 thoughts on “March 23, 2018: Homework”

  1. So does our 8 year old. Maybe not mountains but several work sheets (that seem mindlessly, needlessly, repetitive), other projects, and reading.

    Haven't the studies shown that much homework is a bad thing?

  2. Pretty sure it isn't.
    I thought educators were increasingly on board with the idea that there wasn't much return on elementary school homework efforts. Must vary by location. You must be in one of the GOOD districts!
    My 9-year-old has pretty minimal homework that's usually done when I ask. The 12-year-old (6th/Middle) mostly doesn't bother...
    The 5-year-old in pre-school has learned she can claim she has "homework" to do and try to stretch it into bedtime.

    1. The 5-year-old in pre-school has learned she can claim she has "homework" to do and try to stretch it into bedtime.

      Heh. She's got skillz.

    1. Well, I was gonna vote for Shells and Indeed. Don't think I've ever had Castle Danger, but that's probably the coolest name on the board.

      1. It takes its name from its hometown, a hamlet by Gooseberry Falls. I recall passing through it as a youth and it was only two buildings (not including separate garages). It was a family joke. "Same sign: 'Entering Castle Danger. Leaving Castle Danger'"
        I went through about 10 years ago and it was a lot more built up, rendering the joke useless.

        1. Part of the appeal was that it was actually the name of the town. I wish I was from Castle Danger.

      2. The Castle Danger brewery is one of the comps in an appraisal for a real estate parcel I'm litigating, so I expect I may have to pay a visit or three this summer just to make sure it's a valid comp.

        1. The tap room is what I would call "MN Tap Room Chic." Wooden family style tables, wooden beams, exposed ceiling duct work, cement floors. It does have a great view of the harbor (is it Harbor #1 or #2, I was never sure). I am not sure if the actual brewery is elsewhere in Two Harbors, like in the industrial park by Granite Gear but I'm pretty sure they brew all the beer at the tap room.

  3. One potential bad thing about mountains of homework is motivation. How are the teachers getting the students to buy into the material? Because if they don't, then they don't persevere, and that "grit" is one of the biggest predictors of student success in higher education.

    A lot of my students (college students, pre-med, highly motivated) demand more homework from me, because we spend time in class talking about preparation, study habits, and meta-cognition (how do you know what you have learned well?). There's a sense that the homework serves a real, concrete, valuable purpose, and that it's designed to be effective in preparing them for the next step (quiz/exam/future classes/etc.)

    A lot of those concerns don't apply to an elementary student quite as directly. But there does need to be some perceived benefit on the part of the student, or nothing will stick and it will be a waste.

    I don't know, I'm not an elementary ed. expert by any means, but I've been reading a fair amount of research on learning/teaching recently, and I think it applies pretty broadly.

    1. Kids these days. Ken was a quality player for several years (one-time All Star). And a former Twin!!!111one111!!!

          1. ...one of our youngest

            could be accurate. I know Mags is younger.

            Guessing my Most Similar by Age
            -Dread Pirate
            -cheaps
            -CH
            -nibbish
            -hungry joe
            -Dread Pirate
            ... perhaps sean, Philosofer and Pepper too ... dunno for sure.

              1. Back in the old basement, they did a "Better Know a Citizen"-type post. Someone would ask questions (via email, I think?) and then make a post with the responses. We have that category here too, but so far, only SBG has a post ... and it's a little different format than what I recall.

            1. I'm 98% sure you're older than me. If you got everyone's age, I bet there's a large grouping in an eight year range.

      1. Apparently, my dad was more of a Braves fan growing up, and we didn't follow much baseball in general until '87. I know many of the players since then, but only by paying attention to the club in the past 30 years have I learned about Harmon, Tony-O, Carew, Perry, Kaat and eventually Camilo, Goose, Big Train, Sam Rice, etc.
        ...
        so, yup, seriously.

    2. What! Stuff like this is why I read his pieces. I've been getting into more non twins history lately, but there is so much

  4. so, the Austin (TX) bomber. I'm not a mental health professional in the provider sense, but this is a source of frustration.
    Beau or someone else with actual provider experience, feel free to chime in.

    Actual Spoiler SelectShow
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    4. Folks with serious and persistent mental illness do not commit violent crimes at any greater rate than the rest of the population and are far more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator of one. And you are right; most people I've worked with a psychotic disorder would have a tough time pulling off what this guy did, though for some it might be possible, especially if their symptoms were stable.

      I think one thing that's important to keep in mind is that every single last one of us has experienced symptoms of mental illness during our lives. So mental health should always be in the discussion as it affects the decisions we make each day. But there's a difference between having symptoms and having a diagnosis that requires funding and targeted treatment and intervention.

      1. Not to make light of what you're saying here, but I've always thought that toddlers basically exhibit symptoms of every mental illness.

        1. I wouldn't say every mental illness, but most of the personality disorders.

          On the other hand, and I'm taking this from Neil Degrasse Tyson, toddlers are the world's best scientists.

        2. That was an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, I believe. Johnny Fever interviews a child psychologist who's conclusion is that all children are mentally ill and should be locked up.

      2. Do conscientious commentors need to distinguish violent desires from mental illness when we consider the issue? Is it a mental illness, specifically, to be drawn to violence? Or driven to violence? I know you can diagnose anything that deviates sufficiently from the norm as a condition of some sort, but asking from ignorance, is that necessarily the same thing as mental illness?

          1. Per Phil Miller - Gibson gets the ball to open at home.
            Even so, I may take you up on that offer.

            1. Let me know. I have 4 one is kinda accounted but a baby might happen so 2 are open at least

          1. Camden represents one of my biggest baseball regrets.

            I got to Philly early on a Sunday for a Monday-Wednesday conference. I had nothing to do and noticed that Johan was pitching in Camden that afternoon. It wasn't until that evening that someone pointed out that I was 2 blocks from the train station that would have taken me to Baltimore in an hour. I can't get my head wrapped around how close everything is on the East Coast.

            1. I wonder if that was one of the ones I saw. I'm feeling like I saw him pitch twice in Camden... but don't recall for sure.

          2. Camden and pickles and street food was a feature of my 8 years in DC. Awesome place.

    1. ...Twins' opening day starter.

      This reminds me... did we divvy up game logs and recaps already?
      If so, can someone point me to the spreadsheet?

  5. Anyone else listening to the Twins radio broadcast? Who's in the booth with Atteberry today?

    1. Accordinf to the Twins Radio twitter feed, its Josh Wheztel who is the voice of the Rochester Red Wings.

  6. Ken Rosenthal tweeted that Miguel Sano will not be suspended, according to his sources.

      1. Wow.

        The fallout will be interesting. With all the recent focus on these issues to see an entity like MLB do a full investigation and "clear" someone is... noteworthy. I very much would like to know more details about the investigation itself.

          1. That's why it's in quotes. It's the old "not guilty isn't the same as innocent" issue. But this isn't a court of law so the standard is somewhere below "beyond a reasonable doubt" and obviously not even that lesser standard was met.

            I'd also add that I read the phrase "conflicting and inconsistent witness accounts" as a very carefully written assessment of the accuser's credibility (they didn't stop at "conflicting" but included "inconsistent" which I take to mean that the story itself changed). I think a statement designed to say only "we don't have enough evidence" would have said less than this statement did. Thus my assessment of "clear".

            1. I know I was just poking. Doing DV stuff in school and after was ... eye opening? re this kind of thing

      2. I certainly hope that this has been a humbling and enlightening experience for the young man, and that team leadership, player and management, hold him to a high standard off the field.

        1. I'm not gonna hold my breath. I'm not sure yet how motivated I'm gonna be to watch yet.

        2. I certainly hope someone sat down with him and explained why this is unacceptable and that he's very fortunate not to, a, be suspended and b, not to be under arrest. I think too often people think it should be obvious and don't have to explain that but to a kid that was a star athlete in the Dominican and was even the star of a movie and had cameras follow him around when he was a teenager, I'm sure he's not used to people refusing his requests in pretty much any aspect of life. I also don't know what kind of father figures he has in his life.

  7. ban spring training

  8. Nobody mentioned that the Twins are playing the Nationals in DC on Tuesday! I might need to attend.

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