Random Stuff III

[Kestrel she/her]

Why do the old random stuff threads keep resurrecting themselves

Stop it

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I'm home alone with all three pugs.

So I shared some snacks with Mollie. Fritos and cream cheese, carrots, a Babybel mini cheese wheel thing...I noticed she was feeling sad, so I decided to cheer her up.

Because storm your plans, Mom, that's why.

[+Slowswift]

So I'm reading the Aeneid for class, and there's really only one thing I have to say about it.

Juno, storm off.

[The Honor Spren she/her]

So I'm reading the Aeneid for class, and there's really only one thing I have to say about it.

Juno, storm off.

Oooh! Are we complaining about assigned reading now?

I'm reading Moby Dick for Literature and I have only one thing to say about it.

Ishmael, whales are cool, but no one wants to know about every single tiny detail on a whales forehead.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

So I'm reading the Aeneid for class, and there's really only one thing I have to say about it.

Juno, storm off.

Oh yeah. Juno is the root of all evil in myth,even when she's good, she's evil. What part are you reading? Latin or English?

[+Slowswift]

Oh yeah. Juno is the root of all evil in myth,even when she's good, she's evil. What part are you reading? Latin or English?

Right now, Aeneas is sailing to the battlefield.

English, Fagles translation.

And I'm listening to Zedd's album Clarity to alleviate the pain of slogging through this dense stuff.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Oooh! Are we complaining about assigned reading now?

I'm reading Moby Dick for Literature and I have only one thing to say about it.

Ishmael, whales are cool, but no one wants to know about every single tiny detail on a whales forehead.

If only you had been an editor at the time of Mr. Melville, legions of students could have been spared the onslaught of whale facts.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

Right now, Aeneas is sailing to the battlefield.

English, Fagles translation.

And I'm listening to Zedd's album Clarity to alleviate the pain of slogging through this dense stuff.

What book is that? I think it's one of the last six, but I'm not too good on Aeneid myth.

[Kaymyth she/her]

I need to convince my husband to wrap me in duct tape tomorrow.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

I need to convince my husband to wrap me in duct tape tomorrow.

Two questions. First, why? Second, and more importantly, what type of duct tape? Regular silver? Colored? Patterned?

Edit: Thrice-accursed autocorrect!

Edited October 18, 2015 by Mashadar Mistborn

[Kaymyth she/her]

Two questions. First, why? Second, and more importantly, who type of duct tape? Regular silver? Colored? Patterned?

 

Just normal silver.

 

It'll be over some old fabric draped over my torso.  I need to make a dressform suitable for holding a corset, and I need it to be a reasonable approximation of my shape in order to set properly.  A duct tape pattern will do this.

 

I also have a life-size plastic skeleton I got at the Halloween store and dismembered it, and I'm going to put some stiff-dry insulation foam into the ribcage to make it more rigid.  I want the dressform to squish where I squish, and not squish where I have bones.  This will let me set the corset properly, and then I can start sewing the scale mail on and shape the other upper-body armor pieces correctly to my body.

[Mistrunner]

I leave for one day and look what happens! Okay. To summarize:

• Sandercon would be awesome, but the Reckoners would take over, only to be engaged in a massive battle with people speaking High Imperial.
• Twi's mom is needs to chill... again
• Morzathoth, piano isn't boring (begin obligatory pianist's rant)
• explosions
• and Chicago.

Now we shall return to our regular programming.

 

Oooh! Are we complaining about assigned reading now?
I'm reading Moby Dick for Literature and I have only one thing to say about it.
Ishmael, whales are cool, but no one wants to know about every single tiny detail on a whales forehead.

My brother read that in 8th grade for the AR points. I had his old English teacher for a sub once, and she told me how his reading logs would go.

"He's still chasing that stupid whale..."

I know the pains of assigned reading, though. There's some literature that was beaten so absolutely to death by English classes that I abhor it now and treat it like Voldemort.

"We do not speak its name."

Edited October 18, 2015 by Mistrunner

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I leave for one day and look what happens! Okay. To summarize:

• Sandercon would be awesome, but the Reckoners would take over, only to be engaged in a massive battle with people speaking High Imperial.
• Twi's mom is needs to chill... again
• Morzathoth, piano isn't boring (begin obligatory pianist's rant)
• explosions
• and Chicago.

Now we shall return to our regular programming.

My brother read that in 8th grade for the AR points. I had his old English teacher for a sub once, and she told me how his reading logs would go.

"He's still chasing that stupid whale..."

I know the pains of assigned reading, though. There's some literature that was beaten so absolutely to death by English classes that I abhor it now and treat it like Voldemort.

"We do not speak its name."

Yeah...that's pretty much what you missed.

And then there are some that I think should be removed from classes to make room for something better. Like Oedipus. It's not about how one man's hubris led him to do the unthinkable, because he wouldn't have done it if the gods hadn't decided he was going to. Plus there's a healthy dose of Poor Communication Kills, and everyone acts like Oedipus set out to kill his dad and marry his mom, when in reality yeah he was an awful person for letting his road rage get the best of him, but he had no idea what he was doing.

The gods, in that story, are jerks.

[Mistrunner]

Yeah...that's pretty much what you missed.

And then there are some that I think should be removed from classes to make room for something better. Like Oedipus. It's not about how one man's hubris led him to do the unthinkable, because he wouldn't have done it if the gods hadn't decided he was going to. Plus there's a healthy dose of Poor Communication Kills, and everyone acts like Oedipus set out to kill his dad and marry his mom, when in reality yeah he was an awful person for letting his road rage get the best of him, but he had no idea what he was doing.

The gods, in that story, are jerks.

Truth has been spoken. Take The Outsiders. It seems to be about how senseless violence is not the answer, but it's hard to tell through all the senseless violence.

 

I wish they'd have reading for the sake of reading sometimes. I can see why they want you to analyze stuff, though I abhor it, but a lot of people think they hate reading because all they get to read are terrible assigned reading books people decided are classics. Assign Steelheart or something. Hire real librarians to recommend books, not just aides who stick books on shelves and glower at you as they check out your books. Do something!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Truth has been spoken. Take The Outsiders. It seems to be about how senseless violence is not the answer, but it's hard to tell through all the senseless violence.

I wish they'd have reading for the sake of reading sometimes. I can see why they want you to analyze stuff, though I abhor it, but a lot of people think they hate reading because all they get to read are terrible assigned reading books people decided are classics. Assign Steelheart or something. Hire real librarians to recommend books, not just aides who stick books on shelves and glower at you as they check out your books. Do something!

That is one of the best quotes about a classic ever.

As an aspiring librarian, I think teens would love classic literature more if they were allowed to discover it on their own. Give them a selection of books to choose from each year, let them read a set number at their own pace, and have them share what they learned in a method that makes sense to them. For instance, if one student decides that the best way to share the themes of The Great Gatsby is through a meme marathon set to a classic rock soundtrack, then let them do it. If they demonstrate an understanding of the material, they get a good grade. Literature means something different to everyone, and no book will affect two people the exact same way. Forcing students and teachers to reduce a work of art down to worksheets and a test is going to make those students hate literature.

[Mistrunner]

That is one of the best quotes about a classic ever.

As an aspiring librarian, I think teens would love classic literature more if they were allowed to discover it on their own. Give them a selection of books to choose from each year, let them read a set number at their own pace, and have them share what they learned in a method that makes sense to them. For instance, if one student decides that the best way to share the themes of The Great Gatsby is through a meme marathon set to a classic rock soundtrack, then let them do it. If they demonstrate an understanding of the material, they get a good grade. Literature means something different to everyone, and no book will affect two people the exact same way. Forcing students and teachers to reduce a work of art down to worksheets and a test is going to make those students hate literature.

I love you.

Seriously, though! I've been struggling with an English assignment where we had to read a classic and make a (rather strictly formatted) brochure about it. I've made several brochures for fun, but this one just isn't working for me. I feel like I'm pounding my head against a brick wall trying to get it done. If I had ye option to do it my own way, I'd be done a week ago.

The best classics I've ever read? Shakespeare. I found one on my the bookshelf in the hallway at home, I was bored, I tried it. I expected it to be boring. Shakespeare is now one of my favorite authors. When you're allowed to discover on your own, everything is so much more enjoyable.

My English teacher from sixth grade loved her little five-question standardized quizzes. Even for the poetry unit. Which is absolutely bonkers because poetry is not something you can answer multiple-choice questions on. My friend went very deep with her answers. She got them wrong, because they wanted you to be superficial and interpret the poems exactly as they wanted you to.

[/rant]

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I love you.

Seriously, though! I've been struggling with an English assignment where we had to read a classic and make a (rather strictly formatted) brochure about it. I've made several brochures for fun, but this one just isn't working for me. I feel like I'm pounding my head against a brick wall trying to get it done. If I had ye option to do it my own way, I'd be done a week ago.

The best classics I've ever read? Shakespeare. I found one on my the bookshelf in the hallway at home, I was bored, I tried it. I expected it to be boring. Shakespeare is now one of my favorite authors. When you're allowed to discover on your own, everything is so much more enjoyable.

My English teacher from sixth grade loved her little five-question standardized quizzes. Even for the poetry unit. Which is absolutely bonkers because poetry is not something you can answer multiple-choice questions on. My friend went very deep with her answers. She got them wrong, because they wanted you to be superficial and interpret the poems exactly as they wanted you to.

[/rant]

 

When I was a sophomore, my world history class had a student teacher for three months during our unit on WWI. For our unit project, he had us each choose a topic at random, the idea being that it would be a topic that we wouldn't know much about, driving us to research it. We would then present on it in any way we saw fit, as long as it was school appropriate. 

 

People got creative. One girl, whose topic was American nurses, wrote journal entries from the perspective of a nurse at the front lines in Europe, bound them together in an authentic-looking book, and read them aloud. My topic was on how WWI led to WWII, so I did a monologue from the perspective of a German citizen during Hitler's rise to power. There were songs, videos, short stories, slide shows, quilts, and just about everything else you can imagine. Nearly everyone I talked to got a high grade—I got an A, the girl who covered WWI nurses got an A, and I think the lowest grade anyone got was a C. 

 

Then, for the WWII unit, our real teacher came back. She assigned us all the same project, but on different topics. We had to do a slide show. Each slide had to have a certain number of words and at least one picture, and they had to be arranged a certain way. My partner and I wound up getting a C, and that was one of the better grades. I don't think anyone got an A on that project. 

 

My point is that people thrive when they're given freedom. If teachers allow their students to let their imaginations run wild, they will be pleased with the results. But if students are hemmed in, the quality of their work will suffer, and it will suffer badly. I'd say I couldn't imagine reducing poetry to a five-question quiz, but I've had to take quizzes like that. Yet when I got the most out of a classic was when I chose it on my own and read it at my own pace. This can be done when it's assigned, even; I read The Great Gatsby because it was that or The Catcher in the Rye, and I fell in love. I got to read it at my own pace, and although I had to answer questions about it to demonstrate my progress, they were all factual questions with a few interpretive ones thrown in. They didn't ruin the experience for me at all. The sort of questions that do ruin a reading experience are questions designed to make sure you interpreted a book the way someone else wanted you to interpret it. 

[Mistrunner]

When I was a sophomore, my world history class had a student teacher for three months during our unit on WWI. For our unit project, he had us each choose a topic at random, the idea being that it would be a topic that we wouldn't know much about, driving us to research it. We would then present on it in any way we saw fit, as long as it was school appropriate.

People got creative. One girl, whose topic was American nurses, wrote journal entries from the perspective of a nurse at the front lines in Europe, bound them together in an authentic-looking book, and read them aloud. My topic was on how WWI led to WWII, so I did a monologue from the perspective of a German citizen during Hitler's rise to power. There were songs, videos, short stories, slide shows, quilts, and just about everything else you can imagine. Nearly everyone I talked to got a high grade—I got an A, the girl who covered WWI nurses got an A, and I think the lowest grade anyone got was a C.

Then, for the WWII unit, our real teacher came back. She assigned us all the same project, but on different topics. We had to do a slide show. Each slide had to have a certain number of words and at least one picture, and they had to be arranged a certain way. My partner and I wound up getting a C, and that was one of the better grades. I don't think anyone got an A on that project.

My point is that people thrive when they're given freedom. If teachers allow their students to let their imaginations run wild, they will be pleased with the results. But if students are hemmed in, the quality of their work will suffer, and it will suffer badly. I'd say I couldn't imagine reducing poetry to a five-question quiz, but I've had to take quizzes like that. Yet when I got the most out of a classic was when I chose it on my own and read it at my own pace. This can be done when it's assigned, even; I read The Great Gatsby because it was that or The Catcher in the Rye, and I fell in love. I got to read it at my own pace, and although I had to answer questions about it to demonstrate my progress, they were all factual questions with a few interpretive ones thrown in. They didn't ruin the experience for me at all. The sort of questions that do ruin a reading experience are questions designed to make sure you interpreted a book the way someone else wanted you to interpret it.

Yes! And of course I have to give the example of my seventh grade history teacher. He's really into innovation, and he's the one who argued the school board into letting him get netbooks (they're little laptops) and start using MinecraftEdu in the classroom. He uses Minecraft as a learning tool. I think he's given a TED talk on the subject, actually. But the best part was the Independent Learners group. If you had good grades and were good you could get out of the group that was just taking notes on his slideshows (though he was very fun to listen to, always very active and totally engaged in what he was teaching) and be independent. The point was that he gave you the resources to learn the material for the unit and you made a way to teach it to someone. You could make a video, write a story, make a comic, illustrate the lesson, make something in Minecraft, anything as long as it got the lesson across. For the Africa unit my friend and I wrote a musical! It was so much fun, and I remember the material, because you can't write a song about something and not remember it.

I'm not sure if I've gushed about him before or not, but he is undeniably my favorite teacher ever, and he taught me how fun it can be to learn things by setting me out on my own.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

I love you.

Seriously, though! I've been struggling with an English assignment where we had to read a classic and make a (rather strictly formatted) brochure about it. I've made several brochures for fun, but this one just isn't working for me. I feel like I'm pounding my head against a brick wall trying to get it done. If I had ye option to do it my own way, I'd be done a week ago.

The best classics I've ever read? Shakespeare. I found one on my the bookshelf in the hallway at home, I was bored, I tried it. I expected it to be boring. Shakespeare is now one of my favorite authors. When you're allowed to discover on your own, everything is so much more enjoyable.

My English teacher from sixth grade loved her little five-question standardized quizzes. Even for the poetry unit. Which is absolutely bonkers because poetry is not something you can answer multiple-choice questions on. My friend went very deep with her answers. She got them wrong, because they wanted you to be superficial and interpret the poems exactly as they wanted you to.

[/rant]

I hate it when teachers are so formulaic. There are more ways to learn than just one method, and the good teachers realize that. My best example is my pre-calculus teacher from last year who couldn't stand it when students didn't write down every bit of work related to the problem, I like math, I'm good at it, but that class was my lowest grade and least favorite class I have ever taken. I don't write perfectly organized math and I rarely got a perfect grade on the homework because despite the fact that my answers were right, I didn't give work. The other things I hate about formulaic teachers are notebook tests. I walk around school with a stack of books with papers sticking out and I know the material as well as anyone. Why the storms does it matter that I don't know what the answer to number five on notebook page seven was?[/rant].

[Kestrel she/her]

My mom: come down at 9

Clock: 8:55

Me: ... no

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

My sister decided Bruce is a Kandra. He has no real bones, which is why he's so floppy.

[+Slowswift]

So he's a real-life Soonie pup?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

...yes, yes he is.

[Edgedancer he/him]

And, you know, if you really want to see what my writing is like, you can read Swift as Steel after I post it up. 

I'll take you up on that offer.

 

...yes, yes he is.

I hope you don't already get what he's alluding to.

[Kestrel she/her]

So I went to pick up shadow rising and

Chapter 1: 50 pages

Why i don't have the time and effort to