Dave M. Powers: BITS OF MY MIND

It is very telling that there has been only one post on here since Landon was born and the post was a picture of Landon. 

As I head to dinner with my sister Andrea, her husband Rob, and Ashley, to celebrate Andrea accepting her first teaching job, I am a little overwhelmed with my thoughts and emotions. Since the moment I hugged Andrea in the Wydown parking lot, as she got off the phone with her new principal, I have not stopped reflecting on the power of family. I am extremely proud of my sister for her accomplishments both in and out of school and for what she symbolizes, but on a day as special as this one, it isn’t just about Andrea, it’s about our whole family, and the power of love that overwhelms me.

It is the love, sacrifice, and support provided by my brother Scott when he made sure my sister Andrea could have a place to live in high school as she finished her senior year. It is about the love, sacrifice, and support provided by my sister Kim and her husband Vess to make sure Andrea had a supportive place to call “home” and some supervision when Andrea needed it, even though it was a tough situation for two sisters in two different stages of life, and maybe tougher for the brother-in-law caught in the middle. It's the love, sacrifice, and support provided by an Aunt and Uncle who stepped in with a college car, some extra money, or better yet some experienced and caring advice not only for the undergrad, but for all the five brothers and sisters who had to grow up basically overnight six years ago.

There are many more people and many for stories that made a day like today possible for Andrea and for our family. There are our amazing grandparents, understanding and supportive neighbors growing up, and the family friends that have each helped shape our family history.

When I think about what makes us different, what makes things work out for our family, it's each day-to-day conversation, each piece of advice, and each high standard we set for one another and the love and forgiveness we show each other that provides the foundation for the strong "Powers Family" that we are.

This week more than 10,000 educators will be invading the conference rooms of downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event: The 2011 International Society for Technology in Education Conference and Exposition.

After listening to Dr. John Medina's opening keynote I cannot help but make some connections to the pendulum swing that is so often brought up in education in regards to teaching mathematics. I also cannot help but think that our most current attempts to improve student achievement in mathematics are noble but are off course.

I believe a particular part of Dr. Medina's keynote spoke to the continuous "math wars" being fought between those who believe in a traditional rote memorization approach to mathematics education and the problem centered approaches to teaching and learning math that exist in many public school classrooms today:

At the level of boulevards and alleyways, human learning in fairly easy to understand. You have two big powerful sets of cognitive gadgets, here they are: You have to create a database, and yep it has to be memorized, so I am a deep believer in memorizing and re-exposure. You have got to create a database, and then almost as soon as you have memorized something you have to be given the opportunity to improvise off of it, in order for the learning to become solid in the alleyways and boulevards. You take the idea of love which you learn as a database, and you improvise off it it with eyelashes going up and down and stars coming out of you. Or toilet seats. Or cologne. Any school system or any educational environment that only emphasizes one [memorization] or the other [improvisation] is failing the human brain. (starts at 42:10)

It seems like some traditional instruction and memorization exercises followed by some not obvious but related applications of the new math knowledge might be what we need right now to start getting the results we are all looking for in mathematics in this country.

At least that is what I thought before watching Dr. Medina response to a related question around 1:10:30 of the keynote.

Capping my night with the opening keynote from the International Society for Technology in Education.

Since announcing Ashley was pregnant, I have been offered tons of advice. The piece of advice that has been repeated the most is “enjoy your free time while you still have it.” I can say that Ashley and I have been following this advice very well today. After knocking off the free to-do’s this morning, we have been successfully coach surfing and we have found two gems. First, our free Netflix trial has allowed us to watch the first three episodes of America: The Story of Us. I feel like we refreshed some of the historical knowledge that I once had but had since filed away in my “long-term but not easily accessible memory.” Then, we have been watching the classic ABC family movie Mrs. Doubtfire. What a great movie. It really had us laughing and enjoying feeling like kids again.