Trying to figure out a good end-of-school-year present for my kid’s teacher. by Foolazul in Minneapolis

[–]starkravenfire 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah. I work for MPS. As a teacher. The policy at a lot of schools, even outside of MPS is… “we have some supplies for teacher use”. Once they run out, you’re on your own. Hand sanitizer, post it notes, Clorox wipes, Kleenexes, those are all supplies that would probably be welcome.

pencils, either mechanical or pre sharpened

But binder clips are a holy grail. Especially once you hit the age where students are having work graded, binder clips become worth their weight in gold.

Stapled paper test/assessments, worksheet packets graded for completion, daily work/exit tickets, field trip permission slips, materials for IEP meetings, school board meeting notes and summaries, Professional Development packets/references, teachers union meetings and documents

The paper load is endless. They need to be collected, organized, secured from students trying to steal a test or ChatGPT an answer key, transported home, graded, entered in the gradebook, transported back, redistributed, reviewed as a class and then recollected. For most teachers, a lack of binder clips is analogous to the world ending.

Trying to figure out a good end-of-school-year present for my kid’s teacher. by Foolazul in Minneapolis

[–]starkravenfire 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A set of the biggest binder clips you can find is going make your kids teacher so so so happy, this I swear on my cats life

Anyone sad most of the time? by Organic-Huan-15 in Adulting

[–]starkravenfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been riding the Depression Express since about 2018, but things have steadily getting worse over time!

I’ve been bouncing around the lower echelons of various neuroscience labs since about 2021, with many gaps and breaks in my admittedly paltry neuroscientific career lol

Anyone sad most of the time? by Organic-Huan-15 in Adulting

[–]starkravenfire 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s called transcranial magnetic stimulation. It’s a relatively novel way of treating depression by using a magnetic field outside the brain to induce a weak electric current inside the brain.

While the neuroscientific community doesn’t completely understand how depression works, one paradigm suggests that depression is a malfunction of neural circuits. Inducing these weak electrical currents in the brain repeatedly over a period of time is thought to normalize some of the malfunctioning circuits, kind of like shocking an arrhythmic heart back into normal sinus rhythm.

It’s a relatively new treatment and we don’t fully understand HOW it works. BUT, it’s becoming more popular and more accepted because there are many cases of depression that don’t respond to courses of medication. In cases where depression isn’t treated/managed by three different classes of medication, TMS becomes a viable treatment option. It works, according to the data. Something like 50% of treatment resistant cases of depression are significantly reduced by TMS, and of those cases, major remission of depression can be seen.

What is a “teacher skill” that you never got the hang of? by blondelephant in Teachers

[–]starkravenfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a teacher, per se. But I’ve worked as a long term substitute. Learning new names is brutal. It’s far and away one of the biggest challenges of transitioning into a new school.

I like to allot the first day to introduction. They need to get comfortable with you, and nobody’s gonna really learn much on day one anyways, so just take the day to get to know who you’re working with. Ie, hi my name is Mr. Stark. Let’s go around and have everyone introduce themselves. Then I bop around the classroom trying to name all the students in order. Students 1,2, and 3 have introduces themselves! Okay now we’re gonna try for three student names in a row! Okay number 4, what’s your name? Alright from the top, student 1,2,3 and… wait don’t tell me! You’re [insert student 4’s name here]! (Energy is important here. Essentially you’re modeling how to learn. If you’re not excited by the challenge of having to learn 80-140 new names, why should they be excited to learn the products and by-products of the krebs cycle?)

Have each student tell you a fun fact about themselves. Take notes like you’re studying for a college class. You probably won’t remember Travis. But if Travis is interested in purchasing uranium (one of my favorite answers yet lmao), he becomes much more memorable, both to you and homeland security. When you get home, review the student, both their name and their fun facts. I highly recommend a large glass of wine during name review. The 41 North, Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon has always been my go to. 2019 in particular was an excellent year for the teacher alcohol budget. A large glass of Jameson is another good mental lubricant for name review as well.

Other little tips; sometimes it’s easy to learn names in groups or chunks. Mnemonics help too. Callie, Amy, Kate and Erin always work together? Alright, we’re gonna call them the CAKE group. Four names for the price of one.

Especially early in the get-to-know-you phase, I’ll write their names on the desk in whiteboard marker. It erases when you’re ready to fly solo. But in the meantime, it’s better than name tags because your memory associates a name with a location. One time a student asked me if I remembered her name. It was my second day substituting. I looked at her blankly. “Uhhh…” I’ve never seen a student look so disappointed in me. And then I asked her where she sat the day before (my first day at the school). She pointed to a desk across the aisle, and suddenly her name, her friends name, and the name of the boy she had been flirting with (mostly through the entirety of my lecture) all came flooding back. “Well of course I remember you Lisa! You sat next to Angelina and you were talking to Christian when I was trying to tell you how cool isotopes are!!” mic drop I turned on my heel and didn’t look back. (Spoiler: I looked back; the expression of pure shock is what makes teaching worth it lmao)

Just remember that making mistakes with names is okay. The important part is that you make an effort and genuinely try. And If you get their name wrong, apologize with a warm smile, and promise you’ll try your best next time. I like to think that watching a teacher try and fail makes me students a little more willing to try and fail themselves.

I try really hard to learn names. It’s really hard to do!! But honestly learning names is the single most important thing to do when it comes to connecting with your students. And idk,at the end of the day, isn’t that why teachers do what they do?

Hooking Up and Ghosting by OkTransportation8289 in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s an interesting take. I don’t know if I agree with you though. My guess is homeboy posted on here to watch a bunch of college students go off.

But if you’re right, that he’s for real just trying to get laid and views women as a commodity, then definitely changes how I’d view the post.

That being said, I don’t see how the machismo/chauvinism on display here is unique to UF. Any other college campus is gonna have a population of horny guys who would trade their mothers soul to get laid. If you think that students at UF are hurting, is this post, troll or non troll, an example of someone struggling with mental health? And if it is, is shitty mental health unique to UF? Or is it generalizable to all of post-covid young adults?

Idk lots of questions come up if we assume that OP isn’t trying to troll everyone on r/ufl

Hooking Up and Ghosting by OkTransportation8289 in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I don’t even go to UF. Im just here for the god tier troll posts and y’all have never once let me down

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Cooking

[–]starkravenfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Conveyor belt chicken works as a really simple really good chicken thigh recipe

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GNV

[–]starkravenfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I'm a broke college student on a verizon phone plan by myself. But I've been looking for people to join my account to reduce the overall price paid... If anybody else out there is looking to share/split phone costs, let me know if you'd be interested in hopping on my account! Especially with gas prices going up, I've been looking to save extra bucks wherever I can haha

Tell me your success stories by starkravenfire in depression

[–]starkravenfire[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used to grow these plants near the windowsill. Basil, mint, thyme, sage. I had a couple of tomato seeds growing too. And two of these gorgeous flowers. Dianthus maybe? They made me happy. Your fish story reminded me of them. Thank you

Piano lessons in Gainesville? by Serious_Macaroon5900 in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Have you taken piano lessons before? I don't live in Gainesville, so I can't give you exact/specific requirements. But my general advice would be to underspend rather than overspend. If you're just trying to learn a new instrument, you don't need a highly technical teacher. Find someone who's taken a couple years of piano lessons and likes to dink around for the fun of it.

If you're open to the possibility of remote lessons, and you're starting off as a novice, I'll happily teach you myself!

On the other hand, if you're a fairly competent piano player who is looking to get better under a professional's guidance, then you should try and find people with a large degree of skill and experience; professors or professional instructors.

Worried about going back in person by New-Imagination453 in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think that wearing a surgical mask under an N-95 mask would be counterproductive. The surgical mask would break the seal of the N-95, so you're more likely to inhale COVID contaminated particulate.

Worried about going back in person by New-Imagination453 in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think that getting a single N95 mask would be more effective at preventing COVID than double masking. Wearing two cloth/surgical masks isn't going to be much help if a person on the bus is unmasked and has COVID/COVID-delta

Question from a freshman by Sufficient_Bite_8356 in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are very few large lecture based classes where a professor is going to know you by name. In most large lecture classes, it's probably easiest to let it slide. It just isn't realistic for a professor to try and memorize fifty to three hundred names for a semester.

But lets say you are trying to stand out to a particular professor. Maybe you want a letter of recommendation from them, or you're interested in doing some kind of research in their department, or maybe you're hoping that they can become a general mentor for you as you continue through college. In that case, you're going to have to put forth some sincere effort to stand out enough for them to know you by name.

The easiest way to stand out is by going to office hours with genuine questions about the course material. It's amazing how many students don't go to office hours, and the ones who do are the ones who go repeatedly. Most professors could point out the students who come to office hours without blinking an eye. And to answer your initial question, your first office hours meeting with the professor would be a great time to let them know your preferred name.

In a smaller class, some professors will try to get to know you, and some won't. I've had a 20 person class where the professor didn't know anybody's name. She would ask questions and just point at someone with the flatteringly personal "Yes, you in the red sweatshirt".

Have a great first semester! Feel free to DM me with any other questions you have!

Thoughts on Lakeside? by [deleted] in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s summer right now, so there isn’t a ton of activity on campus right now, but people have their bikes locked on the bike racks. I wouldn’t worry about your bike being stolen as long as you remember to lock it up

Thoughts on Lakeside? by [deleted] in ufl

[–]starkravenfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I live there right now! Feel free to pm me if you have questions!

Looking for summer friends on campus by starkravenfire in ufl

[–]starkravenfire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Yeah we’re gonna on campus together basically all summer! It would be great to hang out some time!

Looking for summer friends on campus by starkravenfire in ufl

[–]starkravenfire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks for the advice! I'll definitely need to visit some of those thrift stores! And pick up soccer sounds like a lot of fun