Educators,
Administrators & Media are saying....
•Dr. Marjorie
Lewkowicz, 2004 Georgia Perimeter College
Mathematics Conference Program Committee: “Your performance was outstanding and was thoroughly
enjoyed by all. Your contribution helped make the conference a great
success.”
•Rich
Zucker, 2004 California Math Council Community
Colleges South conference Program Committee: “Thank you for a wonderful evening!”
• 2006 GEPCTM Conference Chair Lori
Correll: “Thank you for a great start to our conference”
• From the March 31, 2002 Herald
Sun (based in Melbourne and Victoria, it’s Australia’s
largest-selling newspaper!):
"Lesser has discovered the secret to fostering a love for mathematics in
his students.... Dr. Lesser won't whack his precious words into any old
song. He chooses his songs lovingly..."
•
From the editorial (p. 66) in the Autumn 2001 Teaching Statistics:
"[Lesser's article
in this issue] ranges far and wide, and is full of ideas that might help to
stimulate your pupils and students to take a deeper interest in statistics.
The message that comes over to me is that it is truly amazing where
statistics turns up, and it is also truly amazing to see the breadth of
serious other interests that statisticians have."
•
From the editorial (p. 2) in the Winter 2002 issue of the American
Statistical Association's magazine STATS:
"[Lesser] has penned (and performed) several clever and entertaining
lyrics based on popular tunes that deal with statistics issues.
Be forewarned, reader -- you may find yourself singing those songs as you
read them."
•
From the Aug/Sept. 2000 Focus (Mathematical Association of America's
national newsletter):
"...the most mathematical songwriter since Tom Lehrer"
• Dr.
Dane R. Camp, an Illinois
high school mathematics teacher who has led national and statewide “math-song
sing-alongs” and chaired
the Mathematics Teacher Editorial Panel, wrote:
"I am always impressed at how much research you put into your [math and
music] articles. They are not fluff, by any means. As a former
college DJ, I found the references to pop music very interesting."
•
From a featured 2001 "Math News" item at StudyWorks! Online, a resource of MathSoft
Engineering and Education, Inc. :
"Lesser teaches mathematics using songs, adding life to a subject people
sometimes expect to be lifeless....
[Lesser] has a talent for combining music and technical material."
•
Sue Rarus, the Manager of
Information Services at the National
Association for Music Education, wrote:
"Very very clever
and very interesting! I wish they'd had something like this when
I was learning my algebra! We will keep the website reference in our file of
interdisciplinary curriculum, and refer callers to it when we get a request
along those lines."
•
Alan O'Day, songwriter
who's had #1 radio hits as well as written for National Geographic
Children's videos, etc., wrote:
"I am impressed. Having always approached music from a decidedly
UN-mathematical perspective, I think it's great that you have made this
unique whimsical approach work so well."
• John Chase, middle school teacher and
co-founder of M.U.S.I.C. (Musicians
United for Songs In the Classroom, a nonprofit national organization
promoting the educational use of popular songs by teachers in all subject
areas), wrote:
"I have created a link to your excellent web site from the 'Classroom Strategies
and Resources' section of our web site.....I have added 'American Pi', 'Fifty
Ways to Work a Problem' and 'The Way I Learn Best' to our Song
Directory." [Note: Those 3 lyrics have also been republished by
M.U.S.I.C. with permission in the 2nd edition (2001) of its sourcebook
Learning with Lyrics]
•
Jessica Baron Turner, founder of Guitars in the Classroom (a
non-profit grant program bringing music with guitars into the elementary
school classroom) wrote:
"We are in complete agreement about ways to work math and music
together....I'd love to share your work with the teachers at our pilot
schools. I've already referred all the facilitators to your [web]site."
•
Linda Oliver, 2000 Chatham County (GA) "Teacher of the Year,"
wrote:
"Dr.
Lesser was a master at grabbing and holding their [4th-graders'] attention by
using music and magic. He brought in several instruments and used them
to make connections between mathematics and music or sang a tune about some
mathematical concept."
•
Arlene Hansen, assistant director of University of
Northern Colorado's Sponsored Programs & Academic Research
Center, wrote:
“What a great idea for teaching math! If I had had something like
this, maybe I’d be an engineer today....”
•
Evelyn Aimar, 1993
Chatham County (GA) "Teacher of the Year," wrote:
"I shared your [fractions and music] lesson with Mr. Patricio and he
told me today that he had tried it with fifth graders and it worked well.
See what an impact you are having on Hesse
Elementary students."
•
From the October 12, 2000 Savannah Morning News:
"He has synthesized his two main interests into an innovative, hands-on
approach to teaching mathematics"
•
Written comments from in-service teachers attending recent workshops:
“What a powerful idea for any math classroom!”
“Your presentation on pitch and length of guitar strings stimulated my
interest.”
“Would love to be able to sing these with my students.”
"I enjoyed the talk and plan to use it to some degree in several
classes. I am excited to have a fresh, new idea."
"I was so inspired, I'm thinking of taking up playing guitar again.
Thanks again for a FUN workshop."
"This is a great idea and you have some really clever songs. There
was a nice variety of activities besides the songs."
"Thanks for thinking and teaching 'out of the box'! "
"Great! I love to sing and have been looking for ways to include that
talent into my teaching."
"I liked the fact you talked about not needing talent"
•
Linda Nash, 2000 program chair for Georgia's annual conference of
mathematics teachers, wrote a week after my keynote:
"I really had a great time ... thanks mainly to folks like you who made
it all come together. I'm still humming some of your tunes."
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