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School Talk

PhDeac said:
Thanks.

By the way, there is an NSF RAPID call for research on how coronavirus is impacting undergraduate STEM education. The goal is to quickly fund projects that could be conducted quickly. It’s a relatively simple process compared to the usual funding process. I’d be happy to work on a project with some of you. It would be a good way for grad students to get a year of GA funding and tuition covered. You wouldn’t have to be in a STEM field yourself to get funded.

If anybody here is interested, I can post more information.
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Aw, man, I would love that, but I think if I took anything else on right now besides publishing and dissertation writing my adviser would break self-quarantine, fly to the east coast, and drag me back to Cali.

Y'all, earlier stage grad students - this sounds dope, though. Ph is a great dude and his research is awesome.

Robert M. Pirsig said:
pray i get summer teaching or ya boi can't pay rent in July.
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I luckily signed a contract about 10 days before they announced the suspension of on-campus activities. Our union is about to go to war anyway, let alone if the university tries to back out of those.

Robert M. Pirsig said:
Honestly looking back on the last almost four years - if someone asked - I think I would actively discourage someone from getting their Humanities Ph.D. It's a really challenging and enlightening process - but the level of exploitation and lack of protection for graduate students at this point just doesn't make it worth it for the student. All signs right now (post-COVID-digitization) point to the admin here continuing to leave us behind when it comes to summer research grants and teaching. There's talk of further tightening budgets and rhetoric about how "difficult" it is to extend lines of funding for students. I've heard similar complaints from other grads elsewhere.

There are a lot of days where I feel like I made a mistake. It's sad because this feels like the right career for me, but jesus the admin is either clueless or evil when they talk about the realities of "tuition waivers" and "academic-training" (pedagogical labor) for graduate students. It's awful.
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Preach. Always here to chat over PMs if you wanna mini-rant. Grad school is hellish.
 
My kids technically started online on Thursday. I teach at a Title I school so we are checking out Chromebooks to all who need one, and we're also providing internet hotspots. Problem is that those hotspots haven't arrived yet and apparently will not be there until later this week. So while i've been posting daily assignments I won't make anything due until Friday.

Luckily for me I've fairly tech savvy compared to my colleagues. My students already used PowerSchool Learning (our online learning platform) every day in my classroom, so they already know how to log into my class page and find their daily assignments. I have also google forms for a lot of assignments this year, so I've built a daily form which they submit to me once they've completed all that day's work. Seems to be working well so far for the kids who have already started. A quick check of their work this morning shows that most of them have completed it correctly.
 
BillBrasky said:
My kids technically started online on Thursday. I teach at a Title I school so we are checking out Chromebooks to all who need one, and we're also providing internet hotspots. Problem is that those hotspots haven't arrived yet and apparently will not be there until later this week. So while i've been posting daily assignments I won't make anything due until Friday.

Luckily for me I've fairly tech savvy compared to my colleagues. My students already used PowerSchool Learning (our online learning platform) every day in my classroom, so they already know how to log into my class page and find their daily assignments. I have also google forms for a lot of assignments this year, so I've built a daily form which they submit to me once they've completed all that day's work. Seems to be working well so far for the kids who have already started. A quick check of their work this morning shows that most of them have completed it correctly.
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You must be in Forsyth County. I am too.

Last week was frustrating with PowerSchool Learning constantly crashing, but otherwise it's been nice being at home. I do a lot of the same kind of things you do it sounds like. I had a few of my students (mostly AP students) request that I record my lectures with explanations of topics. So far, so good.

On the last Thursday we were in school, I spent 30 minutes with each class making sure they could access their student email in addition the site. I also made sure everyone was signed up for Remind (text service, FYI) so I had multiple ways to contact them.

The hotspots are the biggest hold up though.
 
Stay safe, liberal indoctrinators.

 
lbE08 said:
At this point the state is basically putting their hands up; there isn't enough equitable opportunity for them to mandate online curriculum. Teachers are sending out some resources, but it can't be for grades. I won't be surprised if they just call the school year from here and then pick things back up in the fall. It's a very frustrating thing to imagine, but it also makes sense - otherwise we're basically endorsing systemic favoritism of those who can 'afford' to be educated that way. Usually I'm not a fan of sacrificing the good for the perfect, but from a public education standpoint I truly don't know how they could set standards/expectations in place KNOWING that the most underserved/at-risk populations couldn't comply.
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I agree with this. There is no way to have any equitable opportunity for public school students with online learning. At least when the kids are in school, the teachers can do their best to make sure everyone has a close to the same opportunity as possible.
 
PhDeac said:
Stay safe, liberal indoctrinators.

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Saw this yesterday. For an early career liberal scholar currently teaching religion in the south, this is a bit scary.
 
One issue with the public schools in NC right now is that every district seems to be doing something different. Some districts are still making teachers come in to the building to do distance learning, some are making them come in every other day to limit size of groups, and others are completely shutting the buildings down. Then you have guidance on what kind of lessons to give and it varies by district and in some cases by school. Some districts are told to not grade anything while others are supposed to continue with rigorous, standards-based assignments that are graded.

I hope after Gov Cooper meets with the state Board of Ed this morning we get more guidance.
.
 
MBDeac08 said:
One issue with the public schools in NC right now is that every district seems to be doing something different. Some districts are still making teachers come in to the building to do distance learning, some are making them come in every other day to limit size of groups, and others are completely shutting the buildings down. Then you have guidance on what kind of lessons to give and it varies by district and in some cases by school. Some districts are told to not grade anything while others are supposed to continue with rigorous, standards-based assignments that are graded.

I hope after Gov Cooper meets with the state Board of Ed this morning we get more guidance.
.
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Having personally been represented by Eric Davis and dealing with him, I can assure you that we're in terrible hands at the State School Board level.
 
Alabama cancelled end of year standardized for all students this year.
 
BillBrasky said:
My kids technically started online on Thursday. I teach at a Title I school so we are checking out Chromebooks to all who need one, and we're also providing internet hotspots. Problem is that those hotspots haven't arrived yet and apparently will not be there until later this week. So while i've been posting daily assignments I won't make anything due until Friday.

Luckily for me I've fairly tech savvy compared to my colleagues. My students already used PowerSchool Learning (our online learning platform) every day in my classroom, so they already know how to log into my class page and find their daily assignments. I have also google forms for a lot of assignments this year, so I've built a daily form which they submit to me once they've completed all that day's work. Seems to be working well so far for the kids who have already started. A quick check of their work this morning shows that most of them have completed it correctly.
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We start new content on Monday. Only allowed to review for the past two weeks, and no new grades were to be entered. Monday is a whole new world, though. I knew a stretch of time away was coming, but May 15th just about broke my heart, man.
 
Our last school day in WSFCS is June 10. Best case scenario we would come back for 17 school days.
 
PhDeac said:
Stay safe, liberal indoctrinators.

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i've had some of these types in my classes before

i always find myself having to coddle them and waste resources massaging their fragile egos

at the end of the day, the closest thing that i've had to conflict is "debating" the validity of jordan peterson videos with them in office hours

conservative college students are really the fucking worst. when peer-reviewed research triggers these idiots, then i'm not sure what else can be done. it's not like i teach anything particularly controversial, either.
 
i've taught marx in mass comm for two semesters now and nobody has freaked out yet so i guess my indoctrination is just that smooth
 
Just got this email from a student who to her credit has been turning in her work quickly:

ok sooo as im watching my grade fluctuate i notice that i did all that work on time just to see my grade move one point and that was a lot of work to be doing. how can i bring my grade up more that what ever is going on because these little one point grades isn't cutting it. i need something to bring my grade up to a B

LOL

I started putting in grades 25 minutes ago, I've gotten through one assignment, and she also turned in an incomplete project that I told her was missing the works cited page, so I haven't graded that yet for her own good. Welcome to 2020.
 
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"how can i bring my grade up more" is one of the great mysteries that may never be solved
 
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