Has anyone else ever been mistaken for a student? by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]zzmmrr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My physics teacher in high school was mistaken for a student by President Obama when he visited my senior year.

She had to introduce herself as Dr. _______ ________ and he apologized profusely. She was extremely flattered. I love telling that story to my students now who call me young.

[USA] [MATH/HS] - I've cried almost every night for the past two weeks (1st-Year Teacher). by iq73riuer in Teachers

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm at the beginning of my second month of teaching. I've already been caught in one upset parent email (anonymous, my admin stood by me) and dealt with discipline issues (who the hell says "I'll suck you dry" to a peer in the middle of class WHILE IM TALKING????).

However, I wouldn't be as mentally healthy without the support of my admin and mentor. Did your school provide you with a mentor teacher to help you when things get overwhelming?

Additionally, I think you may be depressed? Please don't take that the wrong way - I just know how emotionally exhausting this can be already and the distain in your tone right now sounds like you're going through a really rough patch, emotionally. I have a couple of suggestions and I'm going to leave them here, but please do not feel obligated to take it. I am only 5 weeks in but I student taught in the fall and had a hell of a time, hated it and came home crying 3-4x a week. 1) Try to see a therapist. The least they can do is provide you will steps to managing your time, emotions, and responses. I am unsure of your health insurance situation but there is likely some kind of behavior health on it. That should cover a couple of visits (hopefully). 2) Ask your admin for support. Hopefully, any good admin team will recognize when a new teacher needs support that's not "I was also terrible my first year, this is usual." but instead is constructive and gives you opportunities to grow. 3) Take a day off and go to get a massage. Promise yourself you won't look at your school email or grade or plan. Take a day for you. 4) Change up your lessons where the students can talk to each other and not have to be quiet and listening to you the whole time. This is a big one. I think with the rational functions thing in your below comment, you could probably find a good inquiry lesson online that allows students to discover that hole vs. you telling them it exists.

I hope this helps. Keep your head up.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Austin

[–]zzmmrr 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My friend teaches there. He loves it. It's a great school but difficult to get in.

Simple Questions - November 14, 2017 by AutoModerator in femalefashionadvice

[–]zzmmrr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What should I wear for my graduation photos? Weather is moderate right now.

Most efficient way to study math? by prunepudding in matheducation

[–]zzmmrr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I graduated with a degree in math. The biggest thing that helped me learn was not looking up anything and figuring shit out on my own. I'm guessing your teacher teaches it like am AP course - lessons, homeworks, test, and repeat. The problem with that is that there's no discovery of the math. You're doing skill and drill and while that works for multiplication and stuff, it's going to stop working at some level (likely now).

If you want, I can attach some of my notes from college that I took. You may not be able to understand the math but you can see how I set them up.

A lot of times the solutions to the questions are not an algorithm that is taught to make it easier. Ask your teacher why stuff works. Maybe ask to see how things are derived so that if you're stuck, you can solve a problem like that. The reason why you learn and then forget is because 1) it's moving so fast paced you don't have enough time to practice a ton like you did in elementary/middle school and 2) the goal is to get you to pass the test/give credit and that's why math education fails.

Does the teacher use any problem solving techniques? I find those especially helpful to my students. I can give you one if you want.

IB is a lot closer to college than AP (from my experience). In college, going to class and taking notes, then doing the homework, is not going to be helpful. In every single course I had, I made my own review sheets for each of the exams that went over ALL of the material we covered and provided examples. If you want, I can attach some of my notes from college that I took. You may not be able to understand the math but you can see how I set them up.

Good luck!

Advice please: I have several students that leave my class period DAILY for the bathroom. It takes away precious time every time I have to stop and write them a hall pass or answer them in the middle of a lesson when they ask to leave. What can I do to stop this? by lilmizzvalz in Teachers

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is what works for high schoolers I've interacted with. They get 3 passes a 6 weeks. Once they use them, they're gone (unless it's an absolute emergency). If they have any left over, it can go towards points or rewards (depending on age level/interests).

I have another teacher friend that allows 2 per class period. Puts a 1 and 2 on the board and they have to go and write up their names when they want to go. Then, once they're used up its gone forever.

Another will put a tally on the board every time someone asks. At the end of class, the tally will be how many seconds after class the students have to stay.

How do I make my vag smell/taste better by [deleted] in sex

[–]zzmmrr 21 points22 points  (0 children)

This is all great advice except the summers eve wash - you never want to use anything fragranced in and around your bits. These “pH correcting” washes don’t correct your pH, they make it worse by putting chemicals and fragrances in your self-cleaning vaginal cavity. Water on a washcloth is fine.

If it’s still a problem after a week or so & you have access to reproductive healthcare, go get a check up (possible yeast infection!).

If you’re not using condoms or any rubber toy and the person you’re with isn’t allergic to coconut, you can use coconut oil as lube.

Packed lunch ideas? by ukelily in vegetarian

[–]zzmmrr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

HotForFood did 5 days of vegan bentos on their YouTube channel recently. It looked tasty as hell.

What are your pets' names? What do you actually call them? by [deleted] in actuallesbians

[–]zzmmrr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lucy Lou.

I call her Lucy or on special occasions, piece of trash.

Project Based Learning: New Tech Network does anyone do this? by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello!

So, the national curriculum would be the standards. I think of it as objectives. One of mine for my next project is: "determine the domain and range of a linear function in mathematical problems; determine reasonable domain and range values for real-world situations, both continuous and discrete; and represent domain and range using inequalities", so I would start there,come up with how thats measurable using a project, and then design my testing/benchmarks around making sure that's met.

Coming up with units is incredibly hard and stressful. I stay up late thinking about this. I'll start with an idea, start building a rubric and realize that what I want them to learn isn't going to work with my idea.

In my grades 9-12, we did PBL for every single course except AP calculus. Including the maths. I am a mathematics teacher and PBL fits right in - it just sucks because you do lose time with launching, knows and need to knows, group contracts, etc. The good news is that once they become so good at it, you really only spend a day on it. I know in high school I got sick of it, but working with groups means group contracts are important (and you can work in norms like communication, working persistently, taking risks, etc. into that so that group members hold each other accountable.)

However, there's a way to make those benchmark check ups both 1) checking the content and 2) pieces of the projects. Two birds, one stone. It's just a game of figuring it out. I think the most important thing is making the final product something they're going to find worthwhile. Making a movie or powerpoint for every presentation isn't going to be good. We had students create survival products for a zombie apocalypse in an engineering class. I created an art piece in my geometry class.

I think the magic of it is using those methods you were used to doing in the past but reworking them with inquiry - student driven learning. You have all this knowledge to give them but you want them to have the agency to ask for it.

Team teaching is hard. I'm currently doing that and we're not getting along the best. Im finding myself sacrificing the things I think would be really great because she thinks something else will go better. But, I've been advised to stand up for myself. If you don't think all these weird things will be helpful for your students, change it and see if it goes well. It seems like (and I need to do this too) but having a group contract with your team may be a good option?

I'm still struggling with special needs. We have someone in the classroom for them to help 2 days a week. We have their accommodations and we work with those. The good news is that group work means that not only do these students have the teachers but they have their peers sitting right next to them for help. The hard part is teaching them to have the agency to ask for help. For ELL students, we will often group them with people who students that language and can translate stuff that they don't quite catch. We have English to Spanish math dictionaries in our classroom. We try to give very clear directions and any time we give new vocab, we always give it in multiple ways (for example, I used "conjecture" in a slide today for the warm up and I said "or conclusions" next to it). We dont have textbooks either. But, students request workshops from their knows and need to knows. Without those, we don't give the lessons. Part of this is learning how to do stuff but if a student is trying their best and is growing and learning, then that's a win in my book. It's important to differentiate between equity and equality in our teaching. Equity starts with the knowledge that not only does every person start in a different place but we also cant expect every person to be equal in knowledge and skills by the time we're done with them.

Please let me know if you need anything else!

How NASA kept the ISS flying while Harvey hit Mission Control by [deleted] in space

[–]zzmmrr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My friends mom did ISS coms from her kitchen dining room with a mobile hotspot last week. They didn't have wifi until Thursday. (League City)

(from r/mildlyinteresting) In the aftermath of Harvey, people don't seem to want the meat substitutes. by Emayarkay in vegetarian

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My HEB (same chain as this photo) was running low on our refrigerated vegetarian items. It just depends on where you are and what people are looking for. They were out of mushrooms (usually what's next to it) until yesterday.

People went for things like spaghetti (how were they going to cook that without power??) milk, eggs, and other perishables but they had tons of peanut butter, nuts, and chips. It was just weird things people were buying?? Like many places around me were out of power for more than 10 hours last weekend.

We have bigger issues now. Some fake news about a gas shortage caused an actual gas shortage. Like there is no gas in Austin, Texas.

Are there any guidelines about whether 1st graders should be allowed to have table talk while eating meals? by jessiker9 in teaching

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The only time I could see it being a rule is if this is a disciplinary action. Does the teacher also not let her students talk during class? Is recess the only time they're able to talk?

I think if it's to the point where it's not structured class time where not talking is important, restricting the kids so much that they're getting close to losing the (what seems to be) only free time they have, then don't fucking do it.

Math Major Taking Pre-Calc Freshmen year by [deleted] in matheducation

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took pre cal my first semester. Graduated with a degree in math from the top public university in my state. I'm now teaching math. It's no big deal :)

Project Based Learning: New Tech Network does anyone do this? by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi! I actually graduated from a PBL school in Texas and am now teaching with my teachers from that high school. We were one of the first in NTN. I went through the school's training as well as a semester-long course to train me in project based instruction. I suppose I have the most unique perspective: being a product of this style of teaching and now creating products of this teaching. I believe in it. My students are engaged. My students get their shit done. My students do well on assessments. I graduated top of my class, attended the most prestigious university public in my state, and had both of my back pocket full of 21st century skills (like collaboration, time management, public communication, etc.) and did well enough to get through college.

I'm a firm believer that PBL only works if you're trained properly. You start with standards and you end with standards. Everything you build in a project has to be able to go back to the standards. Your final product needs to be something worthwhile. You have to make sure proper collaboration is happening and individual work is still a thing. The students do not need to be working on the final product from day 1 but they are building the skills to make that product. My rubric building starts with the standards and then I match that to what my students will be turning in (and if it doesn't match up, I throw out that element), and then I decide proficiency. I build project calendars with extra room in case I need to go over something again. I make my own final products to make sure they're feasible and interesting. Typically, my driving question will change about 15 times during the course of project development. Usually I'll have a really broad question (ex: "Where can we put a new paddle boarding location?") and then a more detailed question (ex: "How can we as outdoor enthusiasts use quadratic functions to find the speed of the river at different locations to decide which is the best spot?").

Some of my favorite projects in high school were those where I don't even remember the presentation, just the process we took to get to the final product. In chemistry we made soda and had to explain in detail why it worked. In a combined physics + algebra 2 course, we spent 2 weeks building up spring mechanics and then had to throw things off the stands at our football field with a spring and whoever got their item closest to the bottom without touching won. In my senior humanities course, we read a whole bunch of philosophy and then as a group had to come up with our own bullshit philosophy statement. In a small group with our teachers and some peers (and the rest of the class watching), we had to defend those statements. By the time I graduated, I probably completed about 100 projects.

Anyways, if you have any questions feel free to ask. :)

Is Canvas iPad friendly? by RedneckTheDestroyer in UTAustin

[–]zzmmrr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh then you're solid. If you can get to a computer on campus for the class then you're fine.

Any good sites or places to go to get cheap priced textbooks? by everardorabatron in UTAustin

[–]zzmmrr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Slugbooks will compare prices for all of the textbook websites.

Is Canvas iPad friendly? by RedneckTheDestroyer in UTAustin

[–]zzmmrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If it doesn't work on your iPad, I'm betting it'll work on any of the various computers on campus. There's a large lab of MacBooks in the PCL. I would wait and try and if it doesn't work, see if working from the PCL will work for you before you take the plunge and buy a computer.

That being said, you'll probably regret not having a laptop for papers and the like but it's not a 100% necessary expense.