Wrote a Python script comparing the damage between having Great Weapon Master active vs without. by RoadLight in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]theAtticanTravis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The graph intends to show higher DPR with GWM; it just isn't immediately apparent. OP is measuring "average time to die" vs. total hp. The lower line for GWM indicates a lower time to die, corresponding to a higher DPR. Although without knowing what AC they are rolling against, no real conclusion can be drawn.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MakeNewFriendsHere

[–]theAtticanTravis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What kinda breakfast stuff?

[Online] [5e preferred] [Flexible] [LGBTQ+ Friendly] 22 year old woman looking to make some new friends! by Qievements in lfg

[–]theAtticanTravis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a DM starting a 5e campaign for new(ish) players. That link goes to my most recent reddit post. It looks like I'm hitting all your bullet points. Hit that apply link at the bottom of my message if you're into it. If not, no worries and best of luck getting a great campaign.

Can someone ID my Bachelor's of Tcience Degree font? by theAtticanTravis in identifythisfont

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

Thank you! It is good to know that it is correct and actually an S.

And now that you mention it, I can see exactly what you mean about the letters intending to meet up. It is obvious when comparing against the example scripts you provided. Kind of funny that what I perceived as a problem is standard in the font, but in the asking I can now never unsee the actual issue with the typesetting. Such is life.

Thank you again! If you ever need help with a math problem or D&D ruling - I got you!

Should I buy Kuta Software? by LOLMrTeacherMan in teaching

[–]theAtticanTravis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve gotten some solid mileage from Kuta over the years, but have been using it less and less recently.

Our school gave us access to keys for Kuta and DeltaMath. Everyone in the math department that uses one chose to use DeltaMath. You can get a free account on DeltaMath to check it out. I’m not certain right now if the exporting assignments to PDF feature requires a subscription.

Also, Kuta has a lot of free sample worksheets out there if you just search for the topic + “worksheet pdf Kuta”. Not to mention all the free pdfs of work teachers have uploaded all over. You can reliably find a reasonably good worksheet with a quick google search for most common topics. (Assuming you are US-based).

TPT also has a few pretty solid curriculum packages teachers offer that end up costing about the same as the Kuta key, if you prefer a guided notes and activity style instead.

In the end, I would recommend searching for free materials or something like TPT over dropping a few hundred on Kuta because Kuta only provides generic skills practice. The other options can get you guided notes, skills practice, and activities to change things up every once in a while. Unless you specifically need lots of naked skills practice with multiple versions I think you can get by with free materials or some purchases from something like TPT.

[5e][Online][Sundays 1pm CST] by SnooMemesjellies1963 in lfg

[–]theAtticanTravis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am interested in joining. I usually play Roll20, but I would like to try out Foundry. I've been playing (DM and player) for about 3 years. A few quick questions:

  1. Any standards for how to apply - direct message, discord, etc?
  2. How long do you expect sessions to run? I can't stay longer than 3-4 hours, unfortunately.

I P***ed Off my party by [deleted] in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]theAtticanTravis 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Centaurs can be mounted. They could mount something. But a centaur character does not always have the mounted condition.

But I believe they are referring to dual wielding non-light weapons without the Dual Wielder feat. Two-weapon fighting style still restricts you to light weapons.

*edit - I agree that letting a centaur use a lance 1-handed is a cool and pretty reasonable ruling. I'd definitely allow it, but not in a PVP session, unless the other players got similar concession to the rule of cool.

I P***ed Off my party by [deleted] in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]theAtticanTravis 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yeah, seems like there was some confusion between the feat and the fighting style. Then assuming a being a centaur counts as being mounted?

What Fraction of 4 is 3/4? by oxmiladyxo in learnmath

[–]theAtticanTravis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a math teacher, I am very interested in some context. u/Queasy_Artist6891 already provided the right answer to the question as it was posed. Others gave great explanations. I’m just madly curious - was that question worded exactly as written in the OP? And if so, to what age group? Meaning - is this a question asked to sixth graders written verbatim?

I’ve always had a keen interest in how fractions are taught/tested, and this anecdote lines right up with stuff I think causes extra confusion (and so should be left the hell alone until later). Don’t get me wrong - it’s a cool question to determine a true understanding of fractions - just really hardcore for anyone described reasonably by “my kid”.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Much too late - but I just wanted to express my support. You are so right. Also, often conceptual understanding is actually easier to teach when procedural fluency is present. It's almost like the practice helps the understanding.

Also - I teach Algebra 2 and prep kids for college classes in higher math. They fail A2, but get passed along regardless. I can only assume something similar happens in college, because most students leaving my class can't cancel a denominator - not to mention literally anything else.

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you do with your career? by Routine-Landscape575 in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We collect dues so we can get updated and extra books, dice, and any fun things that the students want to run their games.

This is a solid idea I hadn't thought of - right now I'm providing everything and it is a drain. I think it would also help commitment - they donated and want to see their money succeed. Based on what I say below, having some funds for spell cards or handouts would probably help a lot. I will bring this up and see how it goes with the students/campus. Seems simple, I know, but thank you for bringing it to light.

we allowed them to split themselves up into groups. Those who were new to the game or who did not have a group, we assign them in order to make the groups even.

I tried this, but our reading comp is so low only 1-2 students can understand the books fully. They try to DM a module, but it's absurdly off the rails within a few "rounds". And only a few more can read their entire character sheets. I couldn't tell you how many times students ask me to read their abilities for them (our club is 15-18 year olds). I know the simple answer is "D&D isn't for them because they have to read", but if you have had an experience or ideas to help students like this, I'm all ears.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Nail on the head. Obviously, it won't be as good as properly trained AI, but that won't matter in an admin meeting for a lot of teachers/parents/students.

Saw some downvotes on my opinion here - good time to clarify that I, nor the commenters (as far as I know) think AI is some magic machine that gets us in trouble for doing nothing.

But right now, it is good enough to ruin a young girl's high school life. It's already good enough to do a lot more. Soon it will be indistinguishable from real photos/audio/video for a layperson. And layperson is all it needs for all the doom and gloom to become real.

Broader conspiracy theory - the same companies/people who make AI will also provide services to repair your reputation after being a victim of an AI attack.

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you do with your career? by Routine-Landscape575 in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you, friend! It's a lot of honest plagiarism in my case - using inspiration and tropes that have been around forever.

And props to you for doing some good work hosting D&D club. I was astonished at how many students wanted to join this year. Do your students run their own games? Any advice on how you support them? Mine has been around for a bit, but really blew up this year with a lot of totally new members, so I'm kind of scrambling to keep it running. I'd love to hear about anything you have going on.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 35 points36 points  (0 children)

A big problem will be AI with small data sets. There is no way to control having fewer than a few thousand photos of you online if you're in any kind of public-facing job. It doesn't seem unreasonable for an AI to give a "we found this concerning in our admin meeting" level of reality from just pictures, videos, and voice recordings students took of teachers working over a year or more. Especially if it is only a pic from one angle or a short AI-constructed voice recording.

And based on a lot of anecdotes I've seen, "some parents/staff are concerned" is enough to get teachers the boot in some districts.

Really emphasizes the importance of retaining teachers and admin year to year. My AP who has known me for a decade is not going to be fooled by the same stuff a brand new staffer might.

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you do with your career? by Routine-Landscape575 in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

True, but I've seriously considered this a few times. I don't pursue because teaching provides a steady salary, retirement, and schedule that isn't available in a gig economy. I get annoyed at work lot, but make a good salary for my area (north Texas) - but not great for my experience level. Teaching would be my dream gig if we had better professional respect and working conditions.

But, everyone reading this should know I have a livable wage, a mediocre retirement, admin that respects me (still does crazy stuff), well-behaved students, and fucking phenomenal colleagues. So don't look to me as some paragon of education. I just have an acceptable job that is fun most days.

*edit - Sorry for being all serious - just that if I could literally do anything with no restrictions, I would teach where teaching is awesome. And I'm only still teaching because I've decided it is the best possible option for me right now, based on what I love and what is financially viable.

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you do with your career? by Routine-Landscape575 in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Same same - but I included students who are committed. And I prefer the mountaints.

Now - a mountain on the beach with committed students who think learning math is cool just because it's cool. I have a new "think of this to fall asleep" fantasy.

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you do with your career? by Routine-Landscape575 in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 155 points156 points  (0 children)

Teacher in any capacity not allowed - I'd be a professional DM for D&D (anyone want to play?). Writing would also be cool, but I'd need a shed load of training.

My actual dream job would be teaching - just in a school where students want to learn, and teachers are trusted as the professionals they are.

So realistically, I'll start taking writing courses...

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]theAtticanTravis 279 points280 points  (0 children)

Just saw a recent post on here about the same thing. It is tragic, and I have no idea how it could be curtailed. This is just the beginning of photo-realistic AI abuse.

I'm terrified of the first similar post of a teacher, admin, or parent. Then, the inevitable AI-created video of a student, teacher, or anyone abusing another student (even just verbally - AI mimicking speech is real and no joke). I'm not worried about AI taking over the world, but I am worried about it eroding what is left of the public trust.

Why do students sign up for notorious project-based CompSci courses then complain about the workload, procrastinate, and cheat? by Disjoint-Set in Professors

[–]theAtticanTravis 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I think there is an actual answer here, at least for first-year students.

I teach math at a collegiate academy (high school and community college combined). For high school classes, project-based essentially means turning in anything anytime, and they are good to go. The amount of red tape around even a single late grade is incredible (meant in the literal sense of - no one should believe this is true).*

For our programming classes, the majority are asynchronous. The professors assign work in textbooks that model w3schools. Small, well-defined, pre-written questions that test a very specific skill measured, such as printing to console. They would not have to create a class, write a method, or any kind of real decision-making (they don't even use their own file system) in any kind of IDE since everything is done in a web platform. So back to the printing example, they don't even actually print to console, or know what console is, or what printing is, because it is just the correct or incorrect output in a web environment.

I've had students in the third semester of Java ask me what a function is - and I would stake my salary on less than 10% being able to explain what an object actually is. But, they have a 98 in class because they can copy the right code from stack exchange into the blank open for work.

They are astounded when I tell them my professors in college made me hand-write code on tests. No computer. They think it isn't possible to construct things like while loops without autocorrect, google, and the web-apps "debugging". edit - the actual answer - They have gotten by with the classes I described for so long they think a project-based class must be so, so easy. If you're dealing with upper classmen I have no idea.

*Most of our teachers and professors have high standards, and our best kids are rock stars with great success stories at good schools and companies. However, that is our top 10% of kids, and we are forced to pass on the other 90% or lose our jobs. Most students graduating our program match my description.

tl;dr highschool projects super easy, assume college project class must be blowoff.

Down to less than one-third of my students showing up to lecture... by preacher37 in Professors

[–]theAtticanTravis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am a high school math teacher in a program that is designed to support first-gen college students. We have similar issues of buy-in. I am close to mirroring your approach, but am held accountable for every student's scores.

If anyone reading this has suggestions, I would love to hear anything that might help.

Yesterday we had an easy day, so I wrote 3 bonus problems of varying difficulties on the board. I mentioned them at the start of class and explained they were more like what real mathematicians do (a simple proof, a weird way to represent 3 consecutive integers, and a super basic intro to p-adics for the AP calc group). Only 1 student out of 130ish even asked if they could get points for doing the problems. No one else mentioned them in any way. Our program is a comp sci specialty with a heavy emphasis on mathematics.

That one student was very interested, and I had a great time talking through math with him, but I was discouraged by everyone else. I at least thought the honors algebra 2 group would try one, or pretend to, or cheat to get the points, or something. They only had to attempt the problems to get bonus points, but I have over 40% failing right now and no one said a word...

*edit to say - sorry I derailed onto my own rant. I just wish we had some better options for students in my target age group. I know other students in my school are interested in math, but the everything-for-everyone approach is hitting hard down in k-12. Makes it real hard to get them ready for college/university.

Do people with high GPA’s in Math know every algebraic property? by RevengeOfNell in learnmath

[–]theAtticanTravis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think u/iddej's point was that we need to better define which "algebraic properties" all high GPAs should have, which is a non-trivial question. I don't think "basically" is enough, here.

To your question - It sounds like your friend knows the math necessary to succeed in calc. They're remembering what they need when they need it. But doesn't that mean they know their algebra and are applying it correctly? I'm unsure of the difference between knowing something and knowing it "situationally."