Louis Bookbinder

Tutor/Teacher

4081 Middlefield Rd
Palo Alto, CA 94303
650-494-1589
(for math help, cell# 650-575-3034)

photo of Louis Bookbinder

The Past

Born during WWII in Spokane, Washington. Been in the San Francisco Bay Area most of my life (I LOVE this place!) and now live in Palo Alto. Public school in San Mateo. BA in Mathematics from UC Berkeley. 5.5 years in the USAF as a commissioned officer, navigating B52s over Viet Nam. Married Donna in 1973. 4 years and bits and pieces of grad school at SFState, Cal State Hayward, Foothill College, and San Jose State University. I came to Stanford (to work) in 1981. We had a daughter, Lyra, in 1982.

Once a software developer, now a teacher, private math tutor and handyman. I have been a stock clerk, a busboy, a dishwasher, a shoe salesman, a house cleaner, a data-entry person, a handyman, a gardener, a lab rat, a telemarketer, a tool salesperson, a tutor, a teacher, and a computer jockey. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Professional Interests

Students - a Haiku

We think we have learned
How best to teach children, yet
They are teaching us.

Current Title: maths tutor/teacher

I was a software developer/programmer/systems engineer for half of my working life.

I am now changing careers. I find I LIKE teaching! Look at my rÃƒÂ©sumÃƒÂ©. Also, I joined NCTM- source of cool teaching ideas! For three years I studied Secondary Education at San Jose State. I did student teaching at Gunn HS in Palo Alto. I did another semester at Homestead High in Cupertino. I was riding my bike to Gunn, but to Homestead I had to take the car. Bummer. After a small mixup about one class and a quickie on-line course through National University, I obtained my credential in September 2004.

18 January 2005 - I was offered a full-time teaching job at Sequoia High School in Redwood City. Now I am real. No more substituting! (Actually, I liked substituting - I just wish more of it was math). Now, in June, that brief stint at Sequoia is over. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! It was both much harder, and more inspiring than I imagined. I then taught summer school at Carlmont (same district).

I got a job in August, last day before school! Not enough prep time to actually do first day of classes (and I had a previous appointment) but the next day started teaching full time in Junior High math in a school in east San Jose - August Boeger. It has been rough. I love the kids but they are a challenge. I attended a class (in Sacramento) run by Fred Jones to learn discipline and class management. Still rough. I joined RAFT - and am already using some of their materials. My biggest complaint is the 15 hr days I put in. And weekends. And because of the long commute, I had an expensive accident in rush hour one day. I HATE commuting.

Then on 10 February 06, my classes were given to a new teacher. You can see here the statement I have on file as a response. In June my tenure as a regular teacher ended. The entire next year I worked as a substitute teacher. In 2007 I started again as a sub, still looking for a job - several interviews - then in November my "little sister" Elaine told me about an opening in Sacramento, so I applied, interviewed, and got the job at Hiram Johnson HS.

A disaster! I ended up with an awful lot of kids who decided there was nothing they could do to pass the class by the time I got to them, and like all self-fulfilling prophecies...... I had 2 double classes (a class and a tutoring - all on the same subject) and one single class, all on Algebra 1. The single class was a failure - I had 2 pass from more than 30 to start (but many dropped out - some actually transferred out but most kept coming but did no math). And all year long kids would be dropped and new ones added and one or two I NEVER saw in class! Half my period 1/2 kids passed, a third of my 5/6 class. This last one was pure hell - even the best kids didn't really want to do math. But that year is over.

I think I have decided to retire. Teaching full time is too much like regularly shooting myself in the foot. And from the results of this year, I no longer feel I am any good at this. Tutoring, sure. Substituting, no problem. Now I just have to worry about money.

Personal Interests

.I square dance. I joyfully share my life with my wife, Donna (right), and my daughter, Lyra. (Lyra graduated from UCLA Dec 06) right arrow

We have three cats to keep life interesting. I enjoy beer, popcorn, chocolate, cookies of any kind, asparagus and just about anything else. I collect stamps (if you see an interesting one, any country, save it for me!). I listen to classical music, and rock and newer stuff, too. I read Science Fiction and a lot of math & science. I solve puzzles. I run 1-2 times a week, and bicycle when I can. In the spring I hunt wildflowers. I garden vegetables and flowers and have taken a ton of gravel out of my yard in the process. I make lousy puns.

Despite the lousy experience at Hiram Johnson, I somewhat enjoyed living with Elaine in Sacramento. But I enjoy more living in Palo Alto.

Laws of life (an on-going creation):

We are all in this together.
Nobody gets out alive
You can't expect others to give you what you won't give them (Golden Rule)
Cosmic Justice? Sorry, that would be your department! Thou art god.
You better start laughing or you will have to start crying

Please look at my Math Puzzle of the week.
(1st puzzle)

Donna and Lyra in Berkeley

Do your best - why settle for less?
You are in charge of your own happiness. Your mom was just there until you learned this for yourself.
In most endeavors, you have only failed when you give up.
Murphy's Law
TANSTAAFL
90% of EVERYTHING is crap.
Everything is subject to change.

I saw this article in T.H.E. Journal. Jeanne Hayes begins:

I just got off the phone with a colleague who had returned from a business trip. After visiting with various school districts, she presented remedial reading products to a school board in an affluent suburban school district. When she finished presenting the need for her product, the school board member asked, "Why are you bothering to build remedial reading products when there are so many kids who are performing in the middle of the pack?"

This school board member is a real estate broker. Does he know the statistics about kids who can't read properly? Does he know whether a kid is in the inner city or in the affluent suburbs? Does the school board member know that the student's life may well be determined by whether someone brings him into the world of literacy? Is this school board member qualified to serve?

Sometimes I think that all the media coverage about NCLB has made the public weary of the notion that reading is fundamental. And, for good or bad, school board members reflect the public's sentiments. So what is the process for a member of the community to become a school board member?.

So it occurred to me that there IS a way! And it may just help combat the pervasive deadening effect of the NCLB Act. NCLB is often rephrased by teachers as "No Child Left Untested" because it relies heavily on continuous, expensive, somewhat misleading TESTING. So here is my idea: Test all candidates for schoolboards! They should each take the current High School Exit Exam (whatever that is) AND any teacher-qualifying exam, such as the CBEST in California. The CBEST is a simple test showing basic competence in reading, writing and math (the 3 Rs!) and not much harder than the exit exam. Professional teachers have almost always taken it, but it is the ONLY qualifying exam for substitute teachers that I know of. If the candidate FAILS the exit exam, I don't think he/she is qualified to run for schoolboard at all. In any case, the test results should be published IN THE ELECTION MATERIAL so that voters can see who is most qualified to be on the board. In addition, those elected should be tested again each year, and expelled from office if their scores go down!

The most likely result would be, not only more qualified (hopefully literate?) candidates, but the school boards would have a real appreciation for the exit exams and the pernicious effects of NCLB. As long as the public is complacent about NCLB, nothing will happen. This may change that complacency.

I invite your comments. Please indicate the title, so I can get your message past my spam blocker.