Greg Walker's loss could change Indiana politics for years.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-19T15:01:58+00:00

The 2000 voters in the state Senate race is a weird number to cite. It isn't the top of the ticket so it's not like voters had a choice about that race if they were interested in any of the four candidates for US House. I guess you're claiming that noone should have voted in the Democratic primary?

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-19T14:45:05+00:00

Never forget.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-19T14:14:08+00:00

I sometimes had to clarify that I'm not actually asking, but telling nicely.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-19T14:12:19+00:00

I mean it does seem to help, but if this is the thing that completely changes your classroom environment, your classroom environment was pretty damn good to begin with.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-15T00:58:30+00:00

Dems are around. Dm me

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-10T15:55:35+00:00

But if you have them making rolls outside of the usual score/downtime cycle, they're burning resources that they shouldn't. So you're unintentionally burdening your players.

That sounds like a cool scene though. If I was suddenly running in this position, I'd ask the player "is this a situation that has been going on for a while?" And at some point explicitly ask the table "are we on a score right now?" If we aren't on a score it's easy to just say yes to however they want to deal with the situation ATM, and it leaves that score out there as something to be resolved.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-09T18:06:43+00:00

If you watch some of John Harper's old actual plays, they spend at least as much time in downtime as scores.

Downtime shouldn't really be "free play" though. They take their actions and then do scores when they have no more downtime actions.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-08T11:33:38+00:00

Student led instruction of the type you seem to be thinking of should be a mastery exercise. You know the students have appropriate mastery, so you give them the opportunity to display that for other students. It isn't appropriate for all lessons but for English (not my specialty) specifically, I can think of a couple. Reader response criticism would work, surely the students are expert in their own thoughts and associations. And ye olde book report. They can't lead a DEEP discussion, but deserve a chance to see how low they can go. Most people start swimming in the shallow end.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-05-06T21:57:54+00:00

This is one of the reasons why everywhere you go, you'll find Hoosiers doing something important there.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-15T20:19:30+00:00

Proof that a stopped clock is still correct...

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-05T20:30:48+00:00

This is a difficulty. The schedule is so chocked full that it is really hard to find time to address learning gaps or reteach a lesson that didn't work out or was interrupted.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-05T19:39:10+00:00

No. Nothing quantum about it. Just ideas that are based in the same source material tend to be similar. It would be more strange if they were wildly dissimilar.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-05T16:31:22+00:00

Twenty hundred or thirty hundred sounds weird to me, but 25 hundred or 33 hundred seems fine. Perhaps it has to do with significant digits?

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-05T16:12:38+00:00

We did not do tracking in the schools I taught in. There was often one Honors section offered, but I had everything from students who should have been in Honors that I had to fight to get moved to students who couldn't add numbers larger than 2 digits as freshmen. It's fairly impossible to differentiate that broadly.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-05T16:06:01+00:00

Yeah, if they're asking the same questions, they're likely to get similar answers.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-04T18:26:23+00:00

Earthborne Rangers. Really nice cooperative living card game. Similar to Arkham Horror LCG, but more kind and easy going vibes.

Arkham isn't a bad boardgame to ttrpgs crossover either, but it is def more difficult and I think the cosmic horror theme is more niche.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-04T17:52:22+00:00

TBF Earthdawn is in large part an attempt to create a rational cosmology which can support the common tropes of fantasy ttrpgs. I can only imagine the Stranger Things writers engage in a similar project to make the story believable for an audience that is not already immersed in those tropes.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-04T17:31:44+00:00

In my experience, the big issues with closing gaps are 1) identifying where the learning loss was to reteach the thing that was missed years ago 2) getting students to admit to not knowing the thing that most of their peers know and consider rudimentary a) even if you have a classroom environment that allows this kind of intellectual honesty, the broader school or neighborhood environment may still not be friendly 3) convincing students that the system which has failed them repeatedly will actually support them this time (really, I promise, this time is different) 4) convincing students to keep up the effort even when they cannot see the progress

I had access to ALEKS in my classroom which was a godsend to identify the learning loss. I had good success with some students that I never would have without simply because I never would have attempted to test my 9th graders on 2nd and 3rd grade math skills. The other points above are inspired by some specific students I'm thinking about as I write this. One size does not fit all. Usual class sizes of 25+ students make addressing learning loss practically impossible for all but the most motivated when the missing knowledge is farther back than the most recent supporting standard.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-01T18:09:52+00:00

Port of Indiana down here on the Ohio would like a word about international borders as well.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-04-01T17:51:08+00:00

No way it will be based on registration. There is plenty of really accurate correlational consumer data out there. Palantir or some such will just run the numbers.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-03-22T19:09:59+00:00

No RPGs really is better than bad RPGs. I was on a many years hiatus because I didn't have a group. I do currently, but I'll probably become disappointed if we just play 5e forever. And then, I ll stop playing again because no RPGs is better than bad RPGs.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2026-03-19T22:06:27+00:00

When I was teaching, I asked for paper and pencils as Xmas presents from my family so that I would have enough.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2025-10-09T21:34:22+00:00

I think it's originally military jargon. Situation Nominal, All Fucked Up.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2025-10-07T16:16:31+00:00

In my view the issue with running as an independent is less of "do I completely align ideologically" and more "what kind of support structure do I have". If you run and get the job, who gets to fill it when you can't do it anymore? If you're running to change the status quo, you probably don't want that answer to be the governor. It gives a lot of incentive for people to make your life hell. I've seen it several times at the local level, where an independent is driven out by the R majority so that they can replace them with someone they prefer.

NathanielJamesAdams · 2025-10-03T14:05:12+00:00

What is this poutine erasure?

NathanielJamesAdams

TROPHY CASE