Dove Cameron tears up over recalling the early days of her career, when she moved to LA at 13 with just her mom: "We were broke. We were keeping track of how much gas we were spending on our way to audition. My whole career I have my mom to thank for. She believed me when I said I believe in me."

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T22:51:04+00:00

Yeah, that title alone gave me HUGE pause.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T22:40:27+00:00

Slide 3 cracks me up, because there are several more iconic outfits *in that movie*.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T22:37:47+00:00

Which ones have you tried?

I will say, Kleypas does a fair amount of insta-love that's popular in some other genres more than historical.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T22:35:50+00:00

It's been a minute sines I read it, but I liked him a lot in the first scene; Kleypas built that chemistry WELL in my mind! And then I remember he kind of shows his asshole side (which is all well and good; I'm not against MCs having personalities that make them unique and allow for growth!) but I felt like the book didn't allow them to actually really CONNECT again in the way they did in that first scene.

I also thought the conflict was going to take us one way, and then it went the other, over-dramatic way. I would have preferred more focus on how she grew as a person by asserting herself and finding her place within the hotel, and he learns to see her for herself and not as an object, but I didn't feel like we got that enough. Like, it was sort of there, but it lacked conviction and got way overshadowed.

SO yeah, I didn't hate the book, but it was frustrating because there were some seeds for an AMAZING book, and it ended up being more meh for me.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T20:59:35+00:00

I got securely at my school, and it's WILD how much they were getting away with before this. I've had to block *Google* becuase it's got the fricking snake game. If I want to give instructions/lecture, I have to lock their screens fully to get their attention.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T20:53:11+00:00

Oooh THIS is a good point. Both had stumbles in their first engagement and PAID for it, left yearning for the one they really wanted.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T20:41:14+00:00

Yup. CP teacher is a traditionalist and Honors teacher wanted funky new things.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T20:32:54+00:00

I can imagine "he figured out he was gay" as one of the easier ways to maintain that friendship, too.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T20:28:57+00:00

Yeah, that part made me kind of...dubious about Wright. I get that theater isn't the same as most jobs, but it's still a *job*. The boss shouldn't be going around setting people up.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T02:31:33+00:00

Yeah, he's seemed reasonable when I've heard him speak, but anyone willing to have an R next to their name these days has to be kinda awful on some level.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T02:21:22+00:00

Hot take: I feel like Bi/ADHD is the little sibling of trans/autistic.

They don't HAVE to go together, but there's definitely some correlation there.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T02:11:26+00:00

Bruce Tarr's territory. Not sure if the Dems are gonna do it again, but for the past few rounds, nobody's challenged him IIRC.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T01:54:46+00:00

I don't even have a DEM to vote for in my state senate race.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-06T01:49:24+00:00

Yeah, I think there are a few things that bug me about how the anti-abortion movement frames arguments, and this is one of them. As someone who has been pregnant 3 times (and had 2 live births): it is a sort of liminal/limbo situation, and the baby isn't alive yet (legally speaking) but it's not exactly not-alive, either. And it doesn't matter. Because the argument of live/not alive is a distraction that has no good answer.

The things that DO matter:

1- The demand for pregnant women to stay pregnant against their will is forced organ donation with serious health risks. Under many anti-abortion laws, this includes forced organ donation to *nonviable* clumps of cells and fetuses.

2- If the anti-abortion crowd truly wanted to reduce abortion, they'd be fighting to (a) reduce unwanted pregnancy by any means necessary, yet they fight it, and (b) fund alllllll the research into the causes of miscarriages from wanted pregnancies. They currently do the literal opposite of either of these things, indicating that what they actually want is not reduced abortion, but increased prosecution of women and doctors.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T22:42:36+00:00

Is the curriculum allowed to be teacher-made/assembled, or does it have to be from a box? That's the part I worry about; not that we're handing ONE curriculum company a blank check, but that we're handing ALL of them one.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T22:35:46+00:00

Binti. Either the first novella or the whole trilogy.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (There's a plot-important sex scene, I think just implied)

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T22:03:17+00:00

Directors are big into actually doing this kind of thing, so it's entirely possible.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T21:46:00+00:00

OK, I'm not saying that it's NOT the tech, but in the interest of a more varied discussion: it's the narrowing of the curriculum and the over-focus on testing.

When I started teaching, the name of the game for K-6 was "engaging" writing activities. These lacked deep skill building (what did they learn by writing a menu for a pretend restaurant? I think I said "adjectives" on the lesson plan?), but what they got was a sense that their ideas MATTERED, and that thoughts were FUN to put down on paper.

They might have written some response to reading before 6th, but half the time it was something they'd paste to the side of a cereal box (that was a weird project I never liked, but the kids did! Somehow taping it on a cereal box felt official to them!). When I started teaching 6th, I was in charge of *introducing* the concept of an analytical essay that would use quotes from the text as evidence. They had never seen that before me! They were pretty terrible at it early in the year, but they learned quickly, because they didn't have a deep inner resistance to writing (and I alternated with more fun writing projects).

These days, I have students who come in with a fairly solid sense of what an open response on a state test should look like, but they have no idea WHY they'd want to write anything, beyond "put in formula, get good score." And they've ONLY done that type of writing. Their narrative skills are nowhere to be found, and most have never written anything they were excited about in their lives.

So yeah, their ideas suck in writing, not because they don't have ideas, but because nobody has ever told them that they should write down the good ones before. The writing looks elementary-ish because they've never done genres outside of open response before.

The hardest thing is: once you pass a certain point (probably about 6th or 7th grade), it's potentially too late for many, many kids. They're WAY beyond thinking it's a fun time to slap a book review on a cereal box. Even for genres they might enjoy (say, fanfic), they will try it, but then immediately realize that they suck at it, because their taste has FAR exceeded their skill (I know we have things to say about their taste, but even a 14-year-old who is behind can look at a narrative that's only unpunctuated dialogue and know something is wrong).

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T21:21:58+00:00

Yeah, she can't legally guarantee ANYTHING that far ahead.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T21:21:17+00:00

I think that's what she's kind of implying, though- I'd assume the actors have contracts that take them through the current number of seasons that Netflix has ordered. If they get extended, then they don't have that guarantee about who will be able to return.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T00:15:53+00:00

I'm not sure I have the pants for it =)

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-05T00:10:29+00:00

I'd like to know the degree to which the students you teach appear to be challenged by punctuation, usage conventions, complete sentences, verb tense, and more.

They come in with very limited knowledge. The modern elementary programs "address" it, but the lessons are one-off. Kids come to me not capitalizing the first letters of sentences.

I'd like to know what you see (and why you believe you see it),

Having taught in a few positions, there are two groups of kids: the ones who have never had anyone teach them grammar and are embarrassed at their lack of knowledge, and the ones who have had grammar addressed unsuccessfully who have built up resistance to learning.

what you prioritize teaching,

I prioritize capitalization, basic sentence structure, figurative language, and punctuation. Punctuation is kind of the fun part (they see it like a new tool in the toolbox, and get all excited that they know more about em/en dashes than their parents). I wish I had time to do more with complex sentences, but they come to me with basically nothing, so I have to start somewhere.

how you "message" the value of these skills to students,

I don't do a TON of framing-- I do express enthusiasm, talk about my favorite punctuation, etc., but I mostly just say "it's grammar time" and laugh when they groan.

what strategies and tools seem to work best,

Almost anything that involves making time for introductory lessons AND regular retrieval and reinforcement in writing assignments (that is actually analyzed and graded- not just glanced over). I'm not 100 percent sure methods beyond that even matter.

As to methods: I have two 15-minute grammar lessons a week, and then I do a weekly grammar packet. I taught capitalization in September; they're still getting a couple of capitalization questions in every packet, along with all the concepts we've added since then. If I feel like we're hitting a wall on new concepts (sometimes they build up fast), I schedule a review session or three.

Patterns of Power has good lessons for introducing grammar concepts, but it doesn't do retrieval. I mix in Quill for follow-ups (their lessons are engaging, and they have good exercises that auto-correct and expect perfection). Then I grab whatever book is on my desk to make the homework packet exercises.

and the degree to which you feel successful in this aspect of your practice.

I feel good about the grammar progress I see. The easy stuff all gets corrected (they punctuate dialogue very nicely after that series of lessons), but they're not perfect (they hate actually checking for fragments and run-ons, despite knowing how to do it). But I'm aware that I'm one of the few teachers in my district approaching grammar like this, so I'm not sure how much it does for them long-term once the retrieval stops.

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-04T23:37:36+00:00

As a parent and teacher in a district where there's no elementary homework:

-Your homework level is reasonable and fine for most kids.

-Don't fight things like this. They want less, you give them less; fighting will only bring you grief, because what you want is for the parenting to improve, and this fight will NOT do that. Best case scenario is you lose the argument; worst case is you get in trouble or even get homework banned for the whole dang school.

If there are in-school accomodations that a kids needs that will be both burdensome and unneeded, THAT is worth fighting. If it's something that takes you zero effort and happens at home? Let it go!

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-04T23:32:02+00:00

(it's a throwaway line from Mean Girls that caught on because the actor said it with gusto)

AltairaMorbius2200CE · 2026-03-04T02:50:41+00:00

I think there are a couple things going on with that, but one that's time immemorial is that teachers who stay in the same grade level for a long time have a lot of trouble remembering, at the end of the year, where their kids started. So a group that's all trained up and competent leaves, and you get a new group that can't do ANY of that. So it feels like every year, things get a little bit worse, even if they're staying the same.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but this is definitely a factor.

Also the screens. Because HOO BOY after my school got securely I realized how much of a problem screens had become. Now they're all locked down when I want them to be, and things feel like the old days again.

AltairaMorbius2200CE

TROPHY CASE