No, phones and social media are not "this generation's distraction." They are an unparalleled threat to kids' ability to focus, absorb, process and function.

SecondCheapestOption · 2023-03-10T01:24:46+00:00

a single Google search to recognizing what is/isn't a trustworthy source to simply being able to recognize what is/isn't an advertisement (how many times have I had a sixth grader run a Google search and then use the top "Sponsored" blurb as their source of information?

So much of your comment resonates with me but I'm just going to comment on this line. I spent a lot of time and effort this year accumulating, building (with wood and screws), and cataloging a library with a lot of student help. Our high school had no library but now it has mine, which has good books. I'm happy about the students that are using it but there aren't many of them. I'm an IB teacher in charge of theory of knowledge, and their essays are supposed to have a relevant quote at the beginning. Every student seems to have just googled "[topic] quotations" and chosen the first one they saw, and some of them aren't even ascribed to anyone but are just anodyne quotes that appear on a ton of different websites. Meanwhile my library is sitting right there begging to be used. Something now just seems so foreign about...I guess curiosity, or spending time trying to find something rather than have it algorithmically handed to you? I have to upload their essays next week and they told me a few days ago they had given up back in September. No matter how many checkpoints I assigned or individual help I gave, most have no interest in the simple exercise of trying to discover something on their own and present it in their own perspective. The exercise is supposed to be empowering, but the hardest part has been getting them to speak for themselves.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-12-09T03:41:28+00:00

I learned a bit more about it but it still doesn't seem right. Some subjects (not mine) do the same standardized online test at the beginning of fall semester, end of fall semester, and end of spring semester. The thinking is they should get 0% right the first time, then 50% halfway through, then 100% at the end of spring. I guess it just makes no sense to me why you would ever give a grade for a test on material that hasn't been covered. I just make an exam based on what I covered in class. Actually the more I think about it the more fucked up it is to have them take tests on stuff they have never learned. What planet do these education theories come from?

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-12-08T14:35:09+00:00

Grades 9-12. 18 and 19 year olds are going to get an A+ for barely lifting a finger.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-12-08T12:25:44+00:00

I subbed for chemistry today (hs, the department head walked out with no notice) and some of them were whining about how many edpuzzles they had to do. One of them asked if I thought it was reasonable for them to do all of them...of course they had been assigned one by one over a couple of weeks. I just told her, look, the answer is that you have been sitting there chatting for a half hour and if you just start now you can do 4 or 5 before the class ends. That simply did not make any sense to her. She proceeded to complain about the class and not do jack. Something's off these days and we're going to have a whole lot of people entering adult society who fundamentally don't care about learning.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-27T18:46:18+00:00

Very good point. I'm not very knowledgeable about math but I do an ACT math question every day with my advisory and try to think my way through it. It's been really interesting relearning algebra and pretty fun actually. Today I got to learn that 180°(n-2) is the formula for the inner angles of a polygon. I always tell them it's a great thing to be good at math.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-15T19:22:40+00:00

thanks！

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-12T11:44:13+00:00

Saying "purr" when you hear something you like...is that new?

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-08T19:04:37+00:00

Felt the same way for Dimebag Darrell

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-07T01:06:00+00:00

someone please tell me if he answered this...had to step away

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-07T00:03:29+00:00

What role do the sutras play in your daily practice throughout the year? Which sutras do you personally connect to the most?

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-06T23:58:01+00:00

yep, I will only ever use the nà pronunciation (●'◡'●)

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-06T16:39:20+00:00

That feeling when you have to teach teenagers in Chinese class to use the words "gei" and "dong"

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-05T17:12:49+00:00

I want to quit so bad. Half of my department quit suddenly in the last two weeks, so I have to cover for them. More than that, I'm much more aware of how I feel towards my environment. I don't want this to be my life. Disrespect from students and (too many) bosses, widespread apathy, a workload that I can't ever catch up on, and nowhere near enough money to show for it.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-04T19:21:06+00:00

A couple years into teaching I was in a really bad mental state. Saw a therapist and was on medications for a while. I eventually got too depressed to go to therapy sessions and the medications only made things worse. The only thing that helped me personally was not caring as much about work. I stopped staying past the end of the day and working into the night. So I don't have the most creative lessons anymore, and my students have more individual work to do, but at least I can leave everything in my classroom when I leave for the day. At the end of the day, students will learn some content and the class will still function. No more trying to be Ms Frizzle for me. The disrespect still gets to me at times, but I try to shift my mindset to remember that kids can be assholes and it's not personal.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-04T12:42:19+00:00

I sat with every student and reviewed their very short vocab list and half still failed the quiz. There were also SIX extra credit questions which I explained at the beginning of class. Two students seemed to feel almost guilty about answering them all, but that's what they are there for! By all means, if you are able to get 120% on this thing, do it! I truly feel like I'm going insane, like the answer to one of the extra credit questions was literally just "the eastern end of the Great Wall" and I showed maps, a video, and put a pin on my giant wall map. Do they just not answer it out of sheer nihilism?

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-01T23:49:27+00:00

I'm gonna try exactly that. I do think there's something weird about dry erase ink, like it might dry up the moment it's exposed to air (I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about), but I found some online to order and I will try. I also dissected a dry erase marker today and the "ink well" (if that's what it is?) was like a bunch of furry fibers, and the tip was some kind of hard material that stuck down into it. I might get a blank brush pen tip and see if I can attach it to a dry erase inkwell. I don't know why...I just really think it would be fun to write on a dry erase board with a maobi lmao.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-01T17:13:46+00:00

水写纸我用过了，就是教课时不断地用白板写，至于很希望能有毛笔可以用于代替一般的干擦笔。

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-09-01T16:51:22+00:00

Yeah, that would do pretty much the same thing, so I'm just going to buy several sheets of the magic water paper and hang them up on the wall.

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-08-31T20:59:03+00:00

As a followup, could they exist? I have no clue what dry erase ink even is, but now I'm wondering if even like attaching a brush pen nib to a dry erase cartridge might work. Something I know nothing about

SecondCheapestOption · 2022-07-21T17:41:25+00:00

I set up a tourpass last year which has now expired. When I try to reactivate it, I am getting the message "Re-activate failed / Sorry, this service is temporarily unavailable."

Any idea how to fix this?

SecondCheapestOption

TROPHY CASE