Books by Me
Status Forgone, There Lucidity: Detecting Self-Erasure (Ninth Edition)
ISBN: 979-8-950961-10-6
Publication Date: July 19, 2026
Pages: 354
Categories: Memoir and Education
Status: Private Access
Description: With this book, the author discovers bookmaking as a creative pursuit.
Claude AI: Detecting self-erasure is like hearing your own accent.
11 Jul 2026 at 5:44 PM in Houston
Physics for a Middle Schooler: Integrated Science Lessons Tailored to My Student’s Interests (Volume 1, Second Edition)
ISBN: 979-8-950961-11-3
Publication Date: July 19, 2026
Pages: 214
Categories: Education and Science
Status: Private Access
Description: This book compiles science lessons for middle schoolers that illustrate the ubiquity of math learned at school. Not meant to function as a standalone work, the book is used by the author for tutoring. Diverse real-world case studies, whether about sports, the arts, or news reports, illuminate for tutors how to tailor lessons to their students' interests. The author’s mantra “AI as adversary” tells kids to fight with an AI assistant if they want to get good answers.
—— In the kind of teaching that I do, you have to fight AI to get what you want. ——
I develop science lessons tailored to the interests of an individual student — right now a middle schooler and an elementary schooler. When I do this, I repeatedly ask Claude to check for accuracy and to flag its bold claims. I compare what Claude says with what I know from my own rigorous education. I demand that Claude does not contradict itself. And I capitalize on the wonder that AI makes possible: When Claude said that roly-polies are crustaceans, I harnessed that fact for my elementary schooler into a lesson built around my central idea — a table comparing pillbugs, shrimp, and lobsters.
My lessons for the middle schooler cover physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, and they emphasize cause and effect: how bicycle gears exploit torque, why runners lean into a turn to eliminate torque, why the pelvis is a Class 1 lever that must stay horizontal during a powerful soccer kick. When I ask Claude to propose scenarios that I can teach — “suggest cool things about soccer” — I sift for what is genuinely surprising. What inspires me as the teacher has inspired the student, who is already curious.
10 Jul 2026 at 11:00 PM in Houston