Tag: t_extInput

perseverance #Goh

Posted on by tiger40490

For non-word problems, I think i should support perseverance. My arithmetic drill is doable and requires perseverance; Probably ditto for the easy word problems (some at P3/P4 levels);
For word problems, tough choice for me. I feel encouraging him to solve tougher word problems sounds like 拔苗助长

I kinda see Mrs Goh’s view. Boy is not trying enough, and relying on other people to do the thinking for him.

Perseverance (willpower) is a questionable practice and can fail. In this case, teacher is very sure about it and wife also believes it.

Some word problems that require equation .. he has no confidence so perseverance is possibly ineffective.

— am not good at yoga, but I make a serious effort trying. I guess relatively few people are like me. Karma

I guess for my son the math practice feels like yoga to some extent??

compare the piano perseverance?

邓丽君 was weak in math as a pupil but showed perseverance.

— key to perseverance — 温和

— fatigue and 厌学?

— confrontation, strain, losing-cool

— compare the P1 spelling experiences — 3 hours to learn 10 words. I tried teaching him the patterns but completely failed as he was not engaged.

 

 

[19]stretch: too-easy^too-hard #Rahul

Posted on by tiger40490

k_Promethean_struggle

Yoga is much harder than jogging. As I describe to Rahul, in terms of sustainable self practice, I am unable to find a “mid_point” between
* too tough, too painful, too frustrating … This includes all the “hard stretches”
* too easy and no effect, wasting my time. This includes most of the “easy stretches”

In fact, in both cases I fail to see any lasting improvement. Promethean torment.

Q: How about jogging? Revealing question, worth 64-million-dollars!
A: I could see my fitness maintained@ mid_point.

Q: how about push-up and chin-up?
A: ditto, to a lesser extent

Q: So why am i not seeing my flexibility maintained?
Huge mis-perception.
Blatant double-standard

I need a new yardstick to measure my result and progress. With this new yardstick, I hope to reboot my yoga practice. Here’s a more realistic self practice regime:

  1. celebrate (reward) the small achievements esp. the maintenance
  2. aim at 1 minute of easy stretches every 2 days. If a hard stretch feels easy then go for it.
  3. Otherwise, avoid the hard stretches completely as they generate self-hate, defeat, frustration,… If you focus always on your weak subject (eg: Chinese compo) then you always see yourself as weak, uncompetitive, lagging behind.

— suffering .. With yoga, i tend to believe no pain zero gain

I think in reality, Rahul might be right — some mild discomfort, mild effort can have non-zero benefit.

On a broader level, some folks believe that going to the gym/stadium without heavy workout, without heavy sweat and breathing … is ineffective. I feel a few minutes of workout/stretching is better than nothing and far from useless.

grandpa: what college for boy

Posted on by tiger40490

I used to feel perhaps boy would move up to become a top student later in high school, just like Bill Chen or Grace Dong. Now I feel we need to dampen down that hope because only a minority of students go through that. My sister didn’t.

I used to think boy might be good with programming, but now I think it is not so likely.

Grandpa said don’t hold up hope for a technical track. Possibly a business education is more likely. Possibly a career path similar to Aunt Gennifer’s.

Grandpa said repeatedly that U.S. community college is fine. Now I feel the top 2 Singapore universities might be too tough to get in.

Now I foresee my boy may enroll in a community college (or higher), intern at some unknown firms, graduate with some common business degree, and join a main-street company. Meanwhile, his peers may excel in various ways. It would be tough for me and wife to accept, but we will accept.

Bill Chen discussion

Posted on by tiger40490

Around Grade 8 he started becoming competitive and “hungry”. His friends were a major force. Many of them became serious about studies and many of them did well.

At grade 9 he did his first AP course (computing or math) — college level. A major boost to self-confidence.

When he first came to Canada, his math was 2 years ahead. His math teacher offered him (and other kids) the option to learn online more advanced math.

By the last few years of high school, Bill had become deeply interested in “research”. He told me a major benefit of taking AP courses early is it frees up time during his final years to pursue his interest — research. Bill took part in a Stonybrooks research program.

Now I think U.S. high school education offers various advantages over Singapore. Fairly rigorous and competitive system. Less emphasis on standardized benchmark exams (no big nation-wide exam like GCE). Many ECA that are considered by colleges.

Piano is a good exception to the rule — Bill felt the forcing by his parents to practice was necessary and effective.

Q: what could motivate a 11-year-old? Not much but
A: his dad bought him the most high-end Alienware at age 12
A: coding up a calculator, that helped himself and his classmates

 

%%renzi regime^R.Teo’s approach@math

Posted on by tiger40490

infinite patience + infinite time investment.

Accept low commitment. Accept short attention span. Accept give-up attitude (Mrs Goh’s observation).

I guess Sakamoto teacher is similar.

Jolt – Looking at my effort on renzi in his P1-P2 in hindsight, I feel the hours spent on his renzi was too so high relative to Raymond’s!

If you plant a cucumber and it doesn’t grow well, would you blame the cucumber? No but you need to assess the tcost.

academicEdu4manager^technical careers#Kyle+JackZ

Posted on by tiger40490

Kyle pointed out that for most professions, theoretical education doesn’t matter. He singled out financial engineering (he did in Columbia) as one rare profession. I echoed that software engineering profession only requires high school or possibly 1 year of college. You can learn the rest on the job.

Kyle then pointed out that in a financial firm, the managers aren’t academic types. They don’t need academic credentials. They compete on other fronts to get promoted.

Then Kyle pointed out in financial tech, even for the technically strong contributors , academic education is not that relevant. You just need to work hard and like the technical job including the localSys learning. Statistically, the tech guys probably did well academically, but the causal relationship is unknown:

  • I think the cause is capacity (including absorbency), diligence,,
  • Result 1 is academic performance, if motivated…
  • Result 2 is technical competence on the job

train kids to set weekly goals for themselves

Posted on by tiger40490

Based on a book by some “expert teacher”..

It can be too hard to target “score A on this subject”. Instead, it is neither too hard nor too easy to target “complete homework on time”.

More importantly, the goal should be from the student, not imposed by an adult.

How about a target like “complete X practice problems every day”? None of these goals is easy for a kid not motivated. I just hope with parents guidance they can accept the weekly goals.

##Develop kids’ interests in many domains # Jun.Z

Posted on by tiger40490

Interests in some activities are immediately and measurably high value (like academic subjects or programming or design skills). I was interested in writing and history/geography; my colleague Siddesh was interested in math and would often rank very high in school… But if a kid isn’t interested in any academic subject that’s not really a “problem” per se.

Many serious interests take a while to develop. The initial curiosity disappears when the kid experiences limited progress, resistance and frustration.

Many interests require a lot of help from parents, meaning a lot of commitment in terms of time and/or money. The time cost is as important as the financial cost. If we foresee the cost will be too high for us, we had better think twice before we start.

#2) (top3) Interests in sports could help him/her develop active lifestyle in later life, and teamwork.
* basketball
* pingpong? must go out — time consuming. Not popular in the US.
* badminton? Parents can’t help and boy is likely to lose interest after 2 sessions.

#3? (top3) [HM] interest in creative programming including spreadsheets
#4? (top5) [HM] Interests in writing? Daddy’s favorite

[H] Reading is the “biggest” hobby. I strongly believe in it. Reading doesn’t directly help composition exams. I know many well-read colleagues who become intellectually curious and knowledgeable beyond the finance and IT fields.

Interests in martial arts? confidence
[H] Interests in music and drawing – beneficial to well being
interest in electronic music making
[HM] Interests in math? Daddy’s favorite
[H] interest in math or logical puzzles? tested in interviews
Interests in IQ toys? Not tested in exams but relevant in job interviews.
[H] Interests in computers and gadgets? Can be addictive
[HM] Interests in science, history, geography?
Interests in board games? Chess is more popular in the US…

[H = no need to go out. Home is good place.]
[M = measurable value. Could become a career.]

All of the above help improve concentration, self-discipline, grit, attention to details … through repeated practice.

last chat with zhang jin — hands-on, AR, PM,

Posted on by tiger40490

* his opening position: “IF (interface role) is better if this is a long term (5 yr) job. Otherwise, the dev role gives a better trec for your next job.”

why 5 years? “u need 5 years to master the art of ….” ZJ thinks it's quite an art to play the interface role. He said 3 years on that role won't give the orgro i need.

* To reach the goal of dnlg (and biz insight), the IF role is a fast-lane and a shortcut. “A commodity developer often is exposed to only a small chunk” — too small to develop any “helicopter view”, insight, dnlg, appreciation of the challenges and trade-off

* “sooner or later, a developer like u has no choice but move into a position with a heavy interface role. If u remain a developer after 5 years, then something is wrong.” (chandra the interviewer also said “people may question why u r still a hands-on developer after 8 years”.) I suggested that in 5 years i could move into PM or AR,

* ZJ agreed that a generic j2ee developers have a large number of suitable jobs to choose from, but i think he feels those jobs won't be very good. Look at Lin Yu and the rest. Seems  many smart guys are choosing to move out of generic j2ee.

* “IF is less likely to get axed than a developer because there's so much insight accumulated”. I agree a generic developer is easy to replace.

* #1 argument: IF->dev is easier than dev->IF. Many commodity developers don't get a chance to move out of development

* “On the IF role for a few years, u will know what technical things to master, what to ignore…” This knowledge is perhaps unavailable to developers? If u want2b domain expert, there are probably too many j2ee/db… technical domains to master. Lin Yu and Da Shan don't seem to know everything in J2EE. Lin Yu even said “no need to be thoroughly familiar with anything.”

* In his past typical projects, there's AM, PM, delivery lead (ie team lead). The tech expertise comes from the consulting team, where a member consultant could be dedicated to this project or several projects. AR is provided by the consultant. Looks like PM is shielded from technical challenges by DL and consultant.

* Talking about project estimation, ZJ challenged me that a developer with several years hands-on may not make better estimates than the IF or a non-technical PM. The IF may even have better AR insight than the hands-on guy. Look at Da Shan.

* Perhaps Raj or SCS didn't have lots of hands-on — that's why he wanted to do implementation of the ICA mega-project.