Oklahoma 57,349 Florida 35
Oklahoma has too many weapons on offense. The only one we know of is Sam Bradford. Seriously...high scoring game and I like Stoops (can't stand Urban Meyer)
UPDATE: Would love to change this pick now that Demarco Murray isn't playing. It'll be a close game, and the backup halfbacks are nothing to sneeze at.
Ohio State 28 Texas 17
Go Bucks! Texas leaves game saying "Wait...Teams play defense?"
'Bama 38 Utah 21 (Ouch...Actual Score Utah 31 'Bama 17. Had a lot to do with the best lineman in the country not playing. Hey, I almost got it right the backwards way.)
Virginia Tech 31 Cincinatti 21 (actual VT 20 Cin 7)
USC 17 Penn State 14 (actual USC 38 PSU 24)
I'll refrain from commentary on this one until Jan. 6
No commentary or score for the rest of them... (Update: Man did I miss all of these irrelevant bowl games. Good for those teams that showed up on game day - Ole Miss, Iowa, LSU, Notre Dame, TCU. Teams that didn't show up: Georgia Tech, Oregon State and Pittsburgh in the same game, BYU, South Carolina. The rest were good games that were pretty entertaining)
Ball St. over Tulsa
Buffalo over UConn
East Carolina over Kentucky
Texas Tech over Ole Miss (good game here)
Georgia over Michigan State
Clemson over Nebraska
South Carolina over Iowa
Georgia Tech over LSU
Minnesota beats Kansas
Boston College over Vandy
Pitt beats Oregon State (Oregon State is not that good!)
Air Force over Houston
Oklahoma St. over Oregon (more than 5,000 points will be scored here)
Nevada over Maryland
Western Michigan over Rice (randomly generated a number between 1 & 2)
Northwestern over Mizzou
N.C. State beats Rutgers
Northern Illinois over Louisiana Tech
Miami beats Cal (look out for Miami in 2-3 years)
UNC over WVU (like this matchup for the early bowl games)
Florida State over Wisconsin
Central Mich. over Florida Atlantic
Hawaii over Notre Dame
TCU over Boise St.
Troy over Southern Miss.
South Florida beats Memphis
BYU over Arizona
Fresno St. over Colorado St.
Navy over Wake Forest
I make this picks to keep myself interested in those December bowl games. If you would like to comment/dispute/offer your own picks, please do so by leaving a comment on the blog (not during class time). Let's see how I do.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Interims AKA Huge Freakout Over Nothing
Interims will be issued Friday. There are two assessments factored into your interim grade: The 2nd Unit II Test and the Chapter 11 Quiz. That's it. Some students will not be happy with a D or F on the interim. They will freak out. Their parents will freak out. Everyone is freaking out, because in the moment, that letter grade is the most important thing.
The solution to all the freakouts: Relax. There are numerous grades to be factored in for the remainder of the marking period. Unit III Test, Ch. 11 IT, Ch. 13 IT, Ch. 12 Quiz, Ch. 13 Quiz (maybe), AP Problem Set. Do well on these, grade comes up. Do your homework, grade comes up.
Why am I writing this? Your score on the AP Exam is the most important thing to you, not the letter that gets put on your report card that may or may not be put on the fridge. Trust me, you are well on your way to getting a good score on the AP Exam.
UNRELATED NOTE: If you're in the hallway while class is going on, there is no need to yell. Especially when the person is standing right next to you.
The solution to all the freakouts: Relax. There are numerous grades to be factored in for the remainder of the marking period. Unit III Test, Ch. 11 IT, Ch. 13 IT, Ch. 12 Quiz, Ch. 13 Quiz (maybe), AP Problem Set. Do well on these, grade comes up. Do your homework, grade comes up.
Why am I writing this? Your score on the AP Exam is the most important thing to you, not the letter that gets put on your report card that may or may not be put on the fridge. Trust me, you are well on your way to getting a good score on the AP Exam.
UNRELATED NOTE: If you're in the hallway while class is going on, there is no need to yell. Especially when the person is standing right next to you.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
What happens in Stat class...
On a quick evaluation of myself and the activity we did today (Rolling Down the River), I am really impressed with myself and my students. Here's a quick rundown of what an observer would see upon entering my classroom:
SILENCE - small conversations between 2-3 students related to topic
21 kids with a worksheet, calculator, and laptop on their desk
Kids switching from calculator, to sheet, to laptop
Teacher at front of room on laptop typing
The "old school" conclusion that would be made: This teacher is lazy. He's probably checking his e-mail or entering grades.
What's actually happening: Kids are on laptops entering data that they have obtained. This data is unique to each student. The teacher is organizing the data as it comes in to be displayed on the Promethean board, so that students are not only making conclusions and observations about their own or their class data, they are making conclusions about every Stat student's data. Teacher is also blogging about what is happening in his class.
But where's the learning that's taking place? The teacher is not standing in front of the room and lecturing to them?!?!?!?!? Technology is amazing - it keeps me from lecturing to you.
Give yourselves a pat on the back for being producers of your own learning instead of consumers of mine. You guys rock! So do I.
SILENCE - small conversations between 2-3 students related to topic
21 kids with a worksheet, calculator, and laptop on their desk
Kids switching from calculator, to sheet, to laptop
Teacher at front of room on laptop typing
The "old school" conclusion that would be made: This teacher is lazy. He's probably checking his e-mail or entering grades.
What's actually happening: Kids are on laptops entering data that they have obtained. This data is unique to each student. The teacher is organizing the data as it comes in to be displayed on the Promethean board, so that students are not only making conclusions and observations about their own or their class data, they are making conclusions about every Stat student's data. Teacher is also blogging about what is happening in his class.
But where's the learning that's taking place? The teacher is not standing in front of the room and lecturing to them?!?!?!?!? Technology is amazing - it keeps me from lecturing to you.
Give yourselves a pat on the back for being producers of your own learning instead of consumers of mine. You guys rock! So do I.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Hallways
The reason that hallways exist is to provide an avenue for students to get from one classroom to the next. Coincidentally, students recognize each other and say hello in the hallways, maybe pausing briefly to chat. I've observed several occasions where massive amounts of people gather and block the hallway. The reason this is frustrating is that these people are well aware that they are blocking the hallway...if they are not, they should get the hint after 600 people have said excuse me, and several teachers have asked them to move along.
Why must they continue to stand? There is no productive value to standing in a hallway. Most of the students I observe are standing there and saying nothing. So why are you standing there?!?!?!? It seems that in the 4 minutes to get from one class to the next, it has all of the sudden become "uncool" to arrive to class on time. I have no idea why the adolescent brain determines that arrival to class on time is something that detracts from your status in the teenage jungle (I'm thinking of the movie Mean Girls). Has there ever been a time when someone has poked fun at you because you got to class on time?
The business world that I have participated in while I was obtaining a teaching certificate values those that show up on time. In fact, a characteristic of employees that eventually lose their job is chronic lateness. Now comes the argument of, "Well we don't get paid to go to school", to which I respond, "I don't get paid to tell you when you can go to the bathroom or ask you to take your hood off, but it's something I have to do when I'm here." So, while you're here, participating in the school institution, one of your jobs as a student is to show up on time. If you have a great distance to walk, so be it, I can understand that. But if you're late because you're posted up, think about the impression you are making and the persona you are building by being the "late guy".
TOTALLY UNRELATED NOTE
Unit II Test performance was similar to that of last year. There will be three quizzes, three IT's, and one Unit Test in Unit III. We will also see our first problem set over winter break(happy holidays) . It is a very manageable unit, if you understand the rules of randomness, sampling, bias, and experimental design.
Why must they continue to stand? There is no productive value to standing in a hallway. Most of the students I observe are standing there and saying nothing. So why are you standing there?!?!?!? It seems that in the 4 minutes to get from one class to the next, it has all of the sudden become "uncool" to arrive to class on time. I have no idea why the adolescent brain determines that arrival to class on time is something that detracts from your status in the teenage jungle (I'm thinking of the movie Mean Girls). Has there ever been a time when someone has poked fun at you because you got to class on time?
The business world that I have participated in while I was obtaining a teaching certificate values those that show up on time. In fact, a characteristic of employees that eventually lose their job is chronic lateness. Now comes the argument of, "Well we don't get paid to go to school", to which I respond, "I don't get paid to tell you when you can go to the bathroom or ask you to take your hood off, but it's something I have to do when I'm here." So, while you're here, participating in the school institution, one of your jobs as a student is to show up on time. If you have a great distance to walk, so be it, I can understand that. But if you're late because you're posted up, think about the impression you are making and the persona you are building by being the "late guy".
TOTALLY UNRELATED NOTE
Unit II Test performance was similar to that of last year. There will be three quizzes, three IT's, and one Unit Test in Unit III. We will also see our first problem set over winter break(happy holidays) . It is a very manageable unit, if you understand the rules of randomness, sampling, bias, and experimental design.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)