Hurlshort

Lightyear looks pretty cool. I mean, it will be interesting to see what it does to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney, at least.

Yeah, a lot of my students ask for more multiple choice question tests as well. It's really just a time management thing. Multiple choice is simple to take. You circle or bubble in an option and move on. It is simple to grade as well. It is either right or wrong. Essays and short answer questions require thought and explanation. They take time and there is not typically one simple answer that is correct. I usually show them towards the end of the year how much better they all do when asked to explain an answer then when they are just bubbling it in. But honestly, they are 12 years old, they are mostly just trying to survive all the social, societal, parental, and hormonal pressures they have newly been introduced to.

Dune Part 2 in 2023? Ugh. That is forever.

Yeah, that was a real arsehole move, Melky.

I am not even going to get into my thoughts as an educator. As a parent of a child with dyslexia, I am very aware of how limited those proficiency tests are at determining intelligence and ability. My daughter works her butt off and will probably never test at grade level proficient. Ok, as an educator, I will just say that the whole model of trying to sum up the progress a student has made based on a multiple choice test is flawed. Graduating High School should be based on much more than that. But the whole High School model is flawed as well, since we are trying to push everyone towards academics instead of a more trade centric education.

So...is this justice? It's a tragic story. You have a young woman struggling with drug addiction. She suffers a miscarriage. So an unborn child is not given a chance at life. The mother is then thrown in prison for 4 years. Does that solve the problem? Who does that serve? Is the idea that she will be an example for other pregnant drug addicts? Or is it that the unborn child deserves justice against their mother? That seems like a slippery slope, given how common miscarriage's are. I don't get it. It sounds like taking a terrible tragic situation and making it worse.

It looks like a train wreck. Which I guess is a type of excitement.

Hah, you've clearly never moved with kids. It just means more stuff and having to repack everything the kids pack because they don't listen to you. Although I do dig that my daughter can help me move the big stuff now.

I forced my wife and daughter to watch Dune with me. They seemed to enjoy it by the end, but were super pissed I didn't tell them it was only part 1. Personally I missed Sting. The whole cast was really good, but Javier Bardem was my favorite part. It was a beautiful movie.

I've been harvesting a lot of resources in New World. So far it still has that new MMO feel, which is nice. Up to level 25 but in no hurry. I also got an itch to play Battle Brothers, and I added the recent Arabian themed expansion for some more flavor. It is still brutal. I've already lost a few brothers, and retired a few with rough permanent injuries. Severance pay include, of course.

https://principalsdesk.org/2021/10/11/toxic-positivity-is-hurting-education/?fbclid=IwAR1Ylw0ZCtO_q2NEXj4clie6BRhdtDwuTtCGunf4WK8lyElABas3TY6DIkc It's important to remember that this is a long career with highs and lows. Being awesome isn't worth it if someone burns out a few years in. Teachers need to manage expectations and time. On another education note, this lady is facing some serious heat: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-10-21/riverside-teacher-suspended-after-mimicking-native-americans-in-viral-video I'm not going to defend her lesson. It was very tone deaf. I don't understand how she managed to do that bit for years without a High Schooler or co-worker pointing out how bad it was. But some of the reactions show a total lack of understanding about how education works. People are blaming the entire school district, the administration, etc. Do people understand that there are a thousand lessons being taught on every individual campus every day? There is no way to track and control this stuff. You hire a professional and hope they know what they are doing. I'm not sure how they move forward, other than issuing apologies. She doesn't deserve to lose her job for a bad lesson. Hopefully she can ride out the bad press and quietly transfer to another school or something. What a mess. Why go into education, again? For the outcome, not the income?

Sorry to hear that for both of you. My wife has had an injured pancreas for about 8 years now. She has to take enzymes to keep it working with every bite of food she takes. But that is better than being diabetic and trying to survive without it. Pancreases are so bizarre.

I really enjoyed Vigilantes, so thanks for posting this.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-58967120 So Ubisoft is turning AC games educational? Where do I sign up? Honestly, climbing around Constantinople is one of my favorite game history moments, so I hope they figure out a way to expand this project.

The big question is where do they store all those huge props for the rest of the year.

I used to agree with that sentiment, but as I've gotten older the cold bugs me way more than the heat. Part of it is I lost all my insulation when I started doing triathlons, and another part is all the aches and pains seems to magnify in the cold. I get why people retire to places like Palm Springs.

Man, the east coast has hurricanes and polar vortexes. I'll take my perfect weather and expensive water, thank you very much. We actually have a storm on the horizon this weekend. So we just need about 50 more of those and we will be good.

I do not think everyone should get a medal. I think everyone should have a chance to compete. In a gifted program, only the top students are even given the chance. I also don't think these game show style competitions are all that important to the educational process as a whole, but that is an entirely different can of worms.

Hah, I used to show Firefly episodes to my students during the extra testing blocks, and the kids who spoke Mandarin and Cantonese always got a kick at how bad the Chinese was in the show.

I kickstarted this one ages ago, but it looks like it is coming along nicely.

Hi Sarex! My PS4 is gathering dust in my son's room. He prefers the PC and Switch. Honestly I can't see myself getting another console anytime soon, but who knows?

Beat LA is pretty much my mantra for the rest of the playoffs, so I hope not. I also think the Giants mentally wore the Dodgers out, so my team gets a bit of credit when the Braves advance.

You are simplifying what makes a successful sports, business, or science team. It isn't just the best players playing all the time. There are going to be roles to fill, there is going to be hard work that needs to get done, and there is probably going to need to be some opportunity and luck. I don't mind the sports analogy for my classroom. But if I'm a coach and I have a roster of 35 players, it seems a lot smarter to utilize the strengths of all 35 of my players then to just focus on a few that have the most obvious strengths. It is my job to get them all across home plate, or the end zone, or in the penalty box or whatever analogy you think fits best. The San Francisco Giants won 107 games this year. They didn't have the most talented line up in the league. What they had was a massive coaching staff that worked hard to get the most out of their players, and players that understood what their strengths were. So if we want to have more success in education, we need smaller classes and more teachers. We don't need programs that exclude the students.

I'd sign off on a My Cousin Vinny movie if it was Aunt May.