Only Wednesday

ei34 · January 14

Can't believe it isn't Thursday yet, this week feels so long. The days are going fast, but I guess they're just so full.
I hope that everyone is feeling healthy.

ei34 · January 14

Slogging through at work. Cheating has been increasing here which is really frustrating. There's a bit of coworker drama that I'm not directly part of, but we're a small-ish department, so I'm feeling it nonetheless.

The after-work shift will be a bit less busy today which is always nice.

CharmedPam · January 14

Like cheating on tests @ei34? Or adultery? You’re right though. These days have been dragging. I thought yesterday was the longest day ever. Thankfully today and yesterday are wfh days because it’s snowing but snowing with horrible winds. Last night I saw Primate. New fear unlocked: Chimpanzee’s. Although the house/grounds/scenery was beautiful in the movie (set in Hawaii) so I’m glad I went to the theatre for it.

VarunaTT · January 14

I had the same thought this morning, that it was only Wednesday.

I feel like I'm just falling apart. I know it's in my head and that I'm working on my health and that it's going to take time, but ugh.

I have found a local coffee roaster again AND they even deliver for free. I bought one of their dark roasts at a local farm shop and I'm in love with it. I'm going to buy some samples of all their beans and try them out.

Otherwise, SSDD.

Casadena · January 14

My normally 12 minute drive took 40 this morning because the visibility was so bad and it came on so fast the plows hadn't been out yet. I parked to drop of G and we couldn't even see the school building - just the lights. Snow seems to have calmed down but is still cold and windy.

Work is busy and things with H are rough - feels like an extremely long week and it's only Wed morning.

levioosa · January 14

@CharmedPam Growing up there was a couple near me who had raised a chimpanzee from a baby and kept it and treated it like a child. They would even sleep with it in their bed. One day she had a friend over and the chimp bit off the friend's finger (family said it was because he thought her red nail polish was a licorice piece, one of his snacks). I remember reading the story and immediately noping out of any situation involving a chimp.

Otherwise, I am kind of spiraling with a bunch or really heavy life decisions. Everything is grey and there isn't a single cut and dry obvious answer and tbh it's causing me and H a lot of distress.

Otherwise, it's SSDD.

banana468 · January 14

Chimpanzees are scary and should not be domestic pets. This made national news but was huge at the local level:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(chimpanzee)

We had an early start with an infusion for Chiquita and some heart to heart talks about her efforts. She's such a good kid but sometimes the critical thinking isn't there (if you're struggling with a class, do you ADD an extracurricular??). I get it, but we have work to do.

@ei34 is it at the MS/HS level? I hear horror stories of cheating at the HS level down to writing down cheat formulas on a water bottle label that the kids can read through to wearing Apple / Smart watches and scrolling through it for answers. There must be more out there too but those are some that I hear from my mom friends that are educators.

levioosa · January 14

@banana468 I totally remember that case. It was a landmark case in facial transplant too. Poor Chiquita, I totally see the ADHD in choosing an extra curricular while struggling, because the thought of tackling the thing you're less confident in feels like the most unscalable mountain and you want to do something else that will allow you to both procrastinate, and feel better about yourself for finishing. But at the same time overstretching in other ways just creates self fulfilling prophecies and completes self sabotage. And it sucks to be the parent trying to navigate all of the landmines in the middle of the normal teenage angst and hormones. Plus all of the extra health stuff. Big hugs to you guys.

charlotte989875 · January 14

Mornings are starting to be rough over here. The boys get up super early, which is normally fine, but it makes switching from play mode to trying ready for school mode so freaking hard. This morning M just would not do anything. Wouldn’t get dressed, wouldn’t Bria his teeth, wouldn’t get his shoes on. He hid under the table and sternly said “M get out from under there now” and he starts crying because I “yelled” (I don’t but I was stern mom). So of course I feel awful and like the worst mom ever.

I’m going to start using him get dressed as soon as he gets up but dos anyone have any other suggestions to make mornings less terrible?!

banana468 · January 14

levioosa said:

@banana468 I totally remember that case. It was a landmark case in facial transplant too. Poor Chiquita, I totally see the ADHD in choosing an extra curricular while struggling, because the thought of tackling the thing you're less confident in feels like the most unscalable mountain and you want to do something else that will allow you to both procrastinate, and feel better about yourself for finishing. But at the same time overstretching in other ways just creates self fulfilling prophecies and completes self sabotage. And it sucks to be the parent trying to navigate all of the landmines in the middle of the normal teenage angst and hormones. Plus all of the extra health stuff. Big hugs to you guys.

Thanks. I fully get that she's likely not picking a career where math is a huge part of the daily activity. But she's also forgetting that she has to GET to that point. It's not an easy road and the ADHD complicates things. But you can't just...turn it off and forget it's there.

THe annoyance is that her lowest grade right now is a few B+ in a few classes. She's SO SMART - except for this area where it requires more work.

And there is discussion of moving her down a level in the class (From Honors to Advanced College Prep )but DH and I are resistant to doing it when we told her SO MUCH about what to do and she was selective about listening.)

This could be worse. My cousin at her age was not doing well in all subjects and by the time he was not much older was already depressed and suicidal. And there are the asshats in her grade who have tormented her and that would be absolutely horrifying to me as a parent if I thought I was raising a person who may be smart but was a terrible human being.

But life is full of hard things to do and sometimes we need to try harder.

Casadena · January 14

charlotte989875 said:

Mornings are starting to be rough over here. The boys get up super early, which is normally fine, but it makes switching from play mode to trying ready for school mode so freaking hard. This morning M just would not do anything. Wouldn’t get dressed, wouldn’t Bria his teeth, wouldn’t get his shoes on. He hid under the table and sternly said “M get out from under there now” and he starts crying because I “yelled” (I don’t but I was stern mom). So of course I feel awful and like the worst mom ever.

I’m going to start using him get dressed as soon as he gets up but dos anyone have any other suggestions to make mornings less terrible?!

Solidarity. I don't know that i have any major suggestions that you haven't thought of. We don't play until breakfast is done, clothes are changed and teeth are brushed, but sometimes getting those things done is a STRUGGLE with our younger one and then there's a meltdown about no play time. We're a work in progress but getting the less fun things out of the way is generally an incentive for more play.

ei34 · January 14

That's so hard @charlotte989875. Mine were (one still is) extreme early birds, the pro of course being no dragging out of bed, but the con is that there's a long time between wake up and leaving the house for the day. I have a rule that you can't do xyz (whatever the choice activity is) until you've eaten breakfast, gotten dressed and brushed your teeth. Not that it really helps with a kindergartner. Good luck / sending all the vibes.

Yes, academic cheating @banana468. Water bottle labels, making tiny cheat sheets that fit in their ID lanyards, post-its stuck to their chests that can be viewed when they look down their shirts (which none of us are commenting on bc then we're accused of looking down their shirts...similar to the boys who have their cell phone on their person, in their pocket, but if we see it it must mean we're looking in the vicinity of their crotch area. Fun times!). Basically anything they can do to avoid studying.

Sorry about the commute @Casadena and yay for the freshly roasted coffee @VarunaTT

levioosa · January 14

@ei34 How has the rise of ChatGPT been affecting your students?

ei34 · January 15

It's been a mixed bag @levioosa. They're allowed to use it, as they can any other tool, for homework, review sheets, to study, etc., but we remind them that it's often easier and more direct to just use the class notes. Example from yesterday: my 8th grade class has a WWI test coming up, and their review sheet was due. For "causes of WWI", we're just looking for the simple MANIA acronym (militarism, alliances, nationalism, imperialism, assassination). The kids who use chatgpt/AI pasted these long, multi-paragraph, wordy answers, that they probably don't even understand, when all we want is the five-word MANIA. So in an instance like that, they're just making it harder on themselves, and we've explained that, but *shrugs*.

Similarly, a group of students in my Algebra class asked chat for a review sheet of quadratic formula questions, and they got it, instead of using the practice questions we'd posted to Google classroom. Also totally fine. But...we took care to include questions where the students would only get whole numbers and perfect squares, and they got tripped up when the generated questions were giving them these big, clunky numbers. Again, fine, they can study however they like...but they are making it harder for themselves. The quadratic formula and WWI examples are both from this week.

Where it gets dicey is on graded assessments for English class. For the first month, all of their writing assignments were in-class and handwritten, so we had an idea of their voice. The same few students keep using chat to write their essays for them, and it's serious because it's a test grade, but using it has the same consequence as any other cheating, which is a 0 for a grade. My district purchased a strong AI/chat checker, and even more than that, we know the kids' voices by now, so it's easy to tell. There are very few tests in English, it's mostly essays, and the zeros add up.

levioosa · January 15

@ei34 Interesting. I have really big feels about AI and education so it's interesting to hear a teacher's perspective. I did see one teacher talking about how AI has become so prevalent (she's an English teacher) that she walked her students through how to write a three paragraph essay including the direct topic sentence and supporting evidence, all broken apart in a work book. All the students had to do was put it all together...and they just couldn't. In a whole classroom of 9th or 10th graders only 3 could complete the assignment because they're so reliant on just letting ChatGPT spit out answers and they can't synthesize any info. The fall of literacy in this country as a whole terrifies me.

Also...why would I use AI for study questions if a guide has been given to me? Half the time in high school the study guide provided by the teacher had some questions that were used again on the test. What a way to make life harder for yourself.

Only Wednesday

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