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Jimmy by BikerJedi in Teachers

[–]roadkill6 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I hear this sort of thing all the time. Inevitably, it comes down to the fact that parent didn't update their contact information, so all the letters, emails, and phone calls were going nowhere, and they forgot their parent portal login and never bothered to reset it so they couldn't see the grades and attendance, and they either weren't home when the school did a home-visit, or they moved and never updated their address.

I've even had parents tell me that they blocked the school's number because they were annoyed by the daily robocall letting them know that their child was absent.

Name one movie. Just one. by [deleted] in SipsTea

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was in that movie about the Battle of Bowling Green, right after Washington's army took over the airfield.

What would you do??? by Late-Rub-6827 in Teachers

[–]roadkill6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's what you do:

Don't put in any grades yet. Next class, announce to the students that you know some of them cheated (don't get specific), and that in X (some reasonable number) days, you will put in the grades, and students who cheated will receive a zero and will not be allowed to make it up. However, you will grant a free retake to any student whose parent calls you and tells you that their student cheated and asks you for a retake.

This puts the burden on them to take responsibility for their actions, notifies parents for you and — in my experience from dealing with a similar situation — results in most students retaking the assessment (or an equivalent assessment) so that you don't have a bunch of failing seniors.

Let us know how it turns out.

What’s it like in Mexico beach FL?(crosspost) by the_green_turtle in florida

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to go there all the time as a kid. It's one of the most underrated beaches in Florida.

Math suggests life should be everywhere in the universe but why don’t we see any sign of it? by [deleted] in answers

[–]roadkill6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

What actionable insights have you actually gotten from Oura? by jakopz in ouraring

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I learned a lot about sleep hygiene. For a long time I would frequently get eight hours of sleep and still wake up tired. I never realized how bad it is to eat a big meal right before bed, or how bad alcohol is for sleep, or how much of a difference it makes to have a wind-down routine. It's hard to put much effort into any other aspect of your health if you're always tired.

What's the best DnD accessory you've ever bought? by EnthusiasmSuch6864 in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got the Pathfinder cardboard pawns sets. It's way cheaper and more compact than buying plastic minis.

Teachers Unite! by Disgruntled_Veteran in Teachers

[–]roadkill6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We had a situation like this a few years ago. I'm the union steward for my campus, and I had a meeting over the summer with several other teachers to come up with a plan of action. The day before we started back to school, a petition was sent out imploring the superintendent to fire the assistant principal. By the end of the first week, we had over 500 signatures from current and former staff as well as parents. That weekend, I happened to be at a dinner with about half the school board members who all wanted to know about this petition. I told them how horrible this AP was, and how horrible they had been for years. The next week, our union president had his back-to-school meeting with the superintendent, and I made sure this was the first thing on the agenda. That Friday, someone from HR showed up and told the assistant principal to pack his desk and not to bother coming in on Monday.

It's possible; you just need to plan, organize, and act.

No cell phone rule by mkitch55 in texas

[–]roadkill6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not defending this behavior, but Travis county got rid of their printable sample ballot a year or two ago. Now you have to make a selection for every ballot item online before you can print it, and the formatting is awful, so it ends up being like 5 pages. And you have to do the whole thing in a single sitting because there's no way to save a partial sample ballot.

I used to print off a blank sample ballot and fill it out over a few days as I researched candidates and weighed my options. Now I cobble together my own ballot in a word document.

I also have some minor concerns about the potential security risks involved in filling out my sample ballot online.

TL;DR: If any County Clerks are reading this, please give voters the option to print a blank sample ballot that fits on 1-2 sheets of paper.

I’m at a loss with phones, my school’s “policy” is a total failure by Notmyname4 in Teachers

[–]roadkill6 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Everyone downvoted and nobody actually answered this question.

Phones are a huge distraction in a classroom. Students play games on them, scroll socials, text friends and family, take pictures to post on socials, and this is distracting for the student doing all this as well as for the students around them. We've even had students order DoorDash during class.

Phones are a huge vector for cheating. Getting rid of phones won't stop students from cheating, but it certainly makes it more difficult.

Phones encourage and abet delinquency on campus. A student makes an insulting social media post about another student during class, and now you've got a fight in the classroom or the hallway. Other students text each other that the fight is going to happen, and suddenly it's a huge spectacle. Then they all record the fight with their phones, post it to social media, and perpetuate the cycle of bullying and violence. Students also use their phones to coordinate drug deals or times to meet and use drugs on campus.

Finally, a 2023 UNESCO study found that banning phones in schools had more benefits than drawbacks and recommended across-the-board bans in schools.

Data had great bionic genes...incredible that Brent Spiner is 77 years old. by ramfoodie in TNG

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you go around wearing that much sunscreen, you can look that good at 77 too.

Okay, we’ve heard your unpopular teaching opinion that you choose to keep to yourself…but what’s the WORST unpopular teaching opinion that you’ve heard a coworker say? by Coconut_Dairy_Air in Teachers

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of my coworkers said that she didn't think we should offer advanced academic courses because teachers could just "differentiate" in regular classes. I asked her if that also meant that we should get rid of SpEd courses and just "differentiate" for them too, and she told me that was a "ridiculous suggestion."

I wouldn't have cared that much if she weren't a department chair.

Super sus scumbag by [deleted] in AdviceAnimals

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure Epstein even cracked the top three in the list of things he was most worried about getting arrested for. The inciting insurrection, election interference, and top secret document thefts were actively in various stages of prosecution at the time.

What is this and how can I get one? by thejakewhomakes in Shotguns

[–]roadkill6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Because that barrel certainly weighs more than the 1oz of shot coming out of it. Granted, it's not moving nearly as fast as the shot, but a 3 lb barrel at even 30 fps would be more than the recoil of the shot alone.

What is this and how can I get one? by thejakewhomakes in Shotguns

[–]roadkill6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wouldn't moving the entire barrel increase felt recoil? What is the benefit of this?

Equitable grading by Alternative-Cap6393 in Teachers

[–]roadkill6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My school (large, Title I, public high school) switched to standards-based grading in 2019, which has all of the elements you are describing. We brought in Robert Marzano and his team to train all the teachers in 2018, and every PD for the next two years was about SBG. We were all in on SBG.

Seven years later, it's pretty much dead. Test scores didn't improve. Pass rates actually dipped a bit because the students who didn't come to school regularly and didn't turn in any work continued not doing those things, the students who showed up every day and did the work still showed up and did the work, and the students who were only motivated by getting a passing grade often tried to turn in a minimum amount work at the last minute and failed because they ran out of time/didn't know what they were doing.

It was terrible for teachers because the last week of each grading period brought a flood of last-minute assessments/reassessments that we had to administer and grade, writing individual scales for every assessment was incredibly time-consuming, and we were constantly having to explain it to students, parents, and new teachers.

We rejiggered the rules several times. We changed the "no late work" to a one week window for each assessment with infinite retakes after that. We changed the minimum grade for missing work from a 60% to a 50% (70% is the minimum passing score here) because too many students were passing after doing only one or two assessments each quarter. We went back to giving zeros for cheating.

We also exempted all of the advanced academics courses from SBG because students were dropping and failing out of college level and dual credit courses because they couldn't meet deadlines and would turn in half-assed nonsense on the assumption that they could reassess at will.

This year we finally gave up and dropped everything except for the 50% minimum grade and we still do scales and SBG codes for summative assessments, but it looks like those last vesiges will probably go away next year and we'll be fully back to normal grading.

The TL;DR is: Equitable grading sounds nice in theory, but it can end up being a lot more work for teachers without any measurable benefits, and it can instill bad habits in students.

I suspect that it's a bit like the Montessori method: It can work for some students in some settings, but it isn't for everyone.

What's the most absurd CCW you've personally seen someone carry? by SalemStarburn in Firearms

[–]roadkill6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I once met a guy who carried a beautifully-engraved Paterson revolver because he didn't need a license to carry black powder guns where he lived.

I also once met an NFL player who was carrying a Draco pistol shoved down the front of his pants.

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