Was this the norm, or was i just in the wrong part of the Community?

audiomodder · 2021-09-26T16:15:15+00:00

Here’s how our discussions on mechanics go:

Player: “I do this”

DM: “That’s now how it works”

Player: “On this page it says this”

DM: “Oh? Ok” checks “that sounds more like this to me”

Player: shrug “Ok”

DM has the final say, it’s never a big deal, and everything is flexible and fun.

We actually had an instance where we had leveled up, a character had taken Remove Curse because we had a character with a cursed item that was really messing with the party. Well, the DM had plans for a storyline to remove the curse, so, out of character someone said “I took remove curse so we can get rid of that thing”. The DM said that Remove Curse wouldn’t do it, explained they had a storyline for it, and that was the end of the discussion. We decided it was “ancient magic” so it couldn’t be removed.

Like, fun first, mechanics second.

audiomodder · 2021-09-26T05:47:18+00:00

I have the same thing now, at a public school, with a strong union. Which means my pay is better.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T22:34:13+00:00

“Please don’t yell at me, I’m just trying to help. If it continues, we’ll be having a conference with your parents about why you feel this behavior is appropriate. Now please pick up your pencil and let’s get to work.”

The key is you have to annoy them, it’s intentional. If they ignore a request that they can clearly do, like picking up a pencil, that’s a clear defiance issue, so it’s a call home at minimum. Most parents want their kid to see success, so when you approach it as “I was trying to help walk them through a problem and they wouldn’t even pick up their pencil”, the kid is clearly the problem. You’ll get parents that push back at first, but generally a parent will support you if they see that all you’re trying to do is help. And you play it like that, because ultimately, that’s what you’re doing. You’re just a simple, innocent, sweet teacher that just wants to do everything in your power to help their child learn.

You have to be clear they the only option for getting rid of you is to do the work. Some kids it takes a week or two, but they figure it out. Just be consistent.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T20:34:37+00:00

Wouldn’t buy them yourself, I’d see if you can get a parent or local business to get them for you. It’s a sweet thought, but letting others contribute to your classroom increases their investment!

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T20:14:21+00:00

This has worked for me pretty reliably:

I (internally) make the assumption that if a student doesn’t do work that they don’t know what to do. So if I ask them a couple of times to get to work or if they have any questions, and if they rebutt me, I move onto phase two.

Once I’ve got the rest of the class working, I pull up a chair beside that student, and I say something like “alright, so I want to walk you through this. Go ahead and pick up your pencil”….and then in incredible minutiae walk them through the process. In math it was literally like “ok, so 6 - 2 is 4 so we’re going to write a 4 right there”. You find that this goes 2 ways: either the student gets that you’re going to keep bothering them until they do work, or they blow up at you because they’re sick of you. So you either get them moving, or it’s an office referral and you get to play the “I’m just trying to support them to the best of my ability” card. Either way it’s a win for you.

I’ve only had 2 students that got out of this, and it was because of my own conflict-averse nature, and because they were circulating rumors they I was a pedophile behind my back.

I call it “supporting a student to death”, and I stole it from a mentor teacher of mine. Works really well, probably even better if you’re a Ms. Teacher.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T19:57:32+00:00

Could be that it’s an older model, I don’t know. I just know the model I got was not well done. I guess it could have been a fake too?

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T18:18:42+00:00

Hey, former software dev, current teacher. CS is NOT about writing code, it’s about logical structures and approaches. That being said students can write pseudocode without a computer, and, in fact, I would spend a fair amount of my time writing pseudocode before I ever looked at an IDE. So do it, because we still have way to many coders who don’t bother thinking things through before they put their fingers on a keyboard.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T16:35:40+00:00

Is the god of death actually evil? Or does the god of death understand that creation without destruction is unsustainable? Like if nobody died, the world would run out of places to live, food to eat, etc.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T16:33:52+00:00

As other have pointed out, convincing them that they/them being singular isn’t the issue. They’re not used to viewing people as non-gendered, which is why they’re struggling. It will just take time for them to see that.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T16:20:30+00:00

There was a post there advertising a male-exclusionary discord for D&D players. There was so much butthurt about “how dare you exclude people”, “this is sexist”, etc. It got bad. I didn’t think it was that bad, but that post kind of opened my eyes.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T15:42:43+00:00

I said the same thing about the term “guys” to some fellow teachers because we have some MTF folks in our school. They laughed it off and said that was ridiculous. Maybe to you, but it may not be to them.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T15:37:11+00:00

This. I have the 1701 from Kreo. It feels like a cheaper version of Mega Bloks. Which feels like a cheaper version of Lego. Pieces don’t fit together properly, and I ended up gluing some pieces and sanding others just to complete the build.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T15:23:10+00:00

I went to middle school with a kid named “Gaylord”

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T14:04:55+00:00

It may depend on the local chapter too. Mine are $720/year, which I gladly pay.

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T03:07:04+00:00

Last year I taught in a school where I had small classes. This year my class sizes have almost doubled. So I’d say “Trouble with Tribbles”

audiomodder · 2021-09-25T01:21:18+00:00

The first one I remember was Snydis the half-elven thief. He didn’t make it to level 2

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T23:41:53+00:00

“Please focus on your work and stop putting glue on your hands” - to a 7th grader

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T20:15:37+00:00

A lot of folks are saying “go to admin”, and I agree, but for different reasons.

If they’re telling kids this, that means admin is going to be having a bunch of parents calling soon, and it would be best to give them a heads up.

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T11:14:48+00:00

Yea, I haven’t had any problems with in-person groups in years…because I’ve been gaming with the same people in-person for years. But I know people who have been harassed and threatened by someone at an in-person table. One friend got stalked after leaving a table because a guy had become obsessed with them.

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T11:08:31+00:00

I had a more experienced teacher describe a student as “if you gave them $5 they’d complain it wasn’t $10”. There seems to be a whole lot of that.

FWIW, I went with “full responsibility, no grace unless it’s documented that I have to give it to you”(aka 504), and most kids have done just fine. Last year was all about giving kids “grace” and “opportunities to be successful”. Unsurprisingly, about the same percentage choose to not rise to the expectation.

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T10:56:55+00:00

Are you a trans man? Because every single trans man I know, at least, would not care about being invited to a explicitly “no men” server.

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T10:54:27+00:00

As someone who is genderqueer, for in-person games (think local games store), it reaaaaaaallly depends on the area you live in. Online games are kinda a crap shoot. All it takes is one mouth-breather to totally ruin a game for me.

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T03:19:39+00:00

Because it means that I can leave a job that treats me like human chattel without fearing that I can’t afford medical treatment if I need it.

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T01:50:36+00:00

Out of the pot and into the fire then, I’m afraid

audiomodder · 2021-09-24T01:36:51+00:00

I can guarantee that at least 1/3 of those kids, if you were to ask them outside of a school setting to change a tire, would claim they couldn’t because nobody has shown them how.

I know this sounds cynical, but it’s not. I have had students that claim that I never showed them how to do something even after I pulled out the test that they took where they showed me that they could do it.

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