The "What Are You Doing This Moment" Thread

[Funerary_Doom]

Good to know you're alright @Black Orifice . Everyone take care of yourselves! I know we drink and abuse our bodies a bit but show it some TLC too. Anyways, glad to hear it wasn't a heart attack! That's scary. Also, I've heard of young people having heart attacks before as well.


Quick amusing story time, one of my 7th grader just turned 15. She's usually a huge pain in the ass but she did an amazing job in both social studies and science today. I took a chance to call her mom to give her a good phone call and her mother was high as fuck and rambled on about 4/20 to me.... Im not sure f this woman knows that it was yesterday. But yeah.

 

[Phylactery]

That sounds like a hilarious but also very awkward phone call!

I find where I'm at that the majority of the parents of the students that misbehave don't really care if they do well or not which is sad.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

That's true. I find that is the case with the worse students too. Sometimes though, the parents here don't have the time to properly raise their kids because they are at work. But heh it is what it is.

It was pretty funny in a "you can't make this sorta stuff up" kinda way.

 

[Phylactery]

Yeah, I never realised how big of a barrier to learning coming from a bad home is until I became a teacher. There are students where just getting them to come to college in is a big enough challenge, any learning they actually do is a bonus.. They don't have great role models to know how to behave when they are in an educational environment and when you are unable to effectively communicate with their parents because they simply don't care, then it becomes very difficult to change the inappropriate behaviour. A lot of the learners where I'm at simply lack the motivation because their parents don't have any qualifications either.

At the same time though, my mother swears all the time (like literally every other word) and has done infront of me all my life, and often makes flippant and offensive comments. However, I knew that this behaviour simply wasn't acceptable in a teaching and learning environment. Many of the learners I teach apparently don't.

 

[The Butt]

Apparently a guy came into my work yesterday, an old drunken fellow and he had a rip in his jeans that exposed his balls. How's that for a fucked story. Lmao.

 

[no country for old wainds]

that reminds me of when my buddy was working sunday morning behind a counter in a convenience store and some dude tried to buy alcohol, and when my buddy asked for ID the dude said "here's my ID" and dropped his pants.

 

[The Butt]

Lmao. That's awesome.

 

[Burzum_Maiden]

I'm doing a thing. Pretty unbelievable right?

 

[Funerary_Doom]

@Phylactery oh you teach college? I feel by then students should have their act together but it doesn't surprise me that many don't especially if they are freshmen.

I definitely understand. I think at a certain point there's so much you can blame the parent for. When you become old enough to see that your parent does not always do the right thing or make the right choices you should deviate from whatever behaviors you see them doing that wouldn't help you. Or you should know to.

But yes many things surprise me. My mom is from Jamaica and the standard of being "professional" is super high. There's even a Jamaican motto "kids are to be seen and not heard." Ive never had a behavioral issue at school. Here it's just like anything goes n these kids can't follow directions or rules. my principal is trying to push teachers to plan trips but I'm not taking any kid out of that building if they can't follow directions and don't listen.

 

[SweptbackFlame]

Well today sucks. My grandmother passed away overnight due to her battle with cancer. 92 years old. Not many people can say they've lived that long.

R.I.P. Rosa

 

[Burzum_Maiden]

Well today sucks. My grandmother passed away overnight due to her battle with cancer. 92 years old. Not many people can say they've lived that long.

R.I.P. Rosa

That's awful! My thoughts go out to you and your family. I'm sure she will be missed lots, but will be in a happy place now. All the best for you and your family!

 

[The Ozzman]

I'm not looking forward to this hospital bill.

I went to the ER once because I thought I had an STD and it turns out I was allergic to the condoms with spermicidal lubricant. I found that out 800 dollars later.

 

[Carpe Mortem]

Getting drunk at the casino with my dad today. Says he's gonna show me how he counts cards.

Oh yeah, my dads a legit con artist. Sued 7-11 once over a fake broken bone. Fucking love my awesome piece of shit father.

 

[unknown]

Well today sucks. My grandmother passed away overnight due to her battle with cancer. 92 years old. Not many people can say they've lived that long.

R.I.P. Rosa

That's a bummer. Grandmas are the best people. Condolences

 

[The Butt]

Yeah sorry for your loss @Systematic Riffage. :/

 

[unknown]

Yeah, I never realised how big of a barrier to learning coming from a bad home is until I became a teacher. There are students where just getting them to come to college in is a big enough challenge, any learning they actually do is a bonus.. They don't have great role models to know how to behave when they are in an educational environment and when you are unable to effectively communicate with their parents because they simply don't care, then it becomes very difficult to change the inappropriate behaviour. A lot of the learners where I'm at simply lack the motivation because their parents don't have any qualifications either.

At the same time though, my mother swears all the time (like literally every other word) and has done infront of me all my life, and often makes flippant and offensive comments. However, I knew that this behaviour simply wasn't acceptable in a teaching and learning environment. Many of the learners I teach apparently don't.

Sort of in the same boat, regarding the first paragraph. Two of the community colleges I work at are in traditionally underserved areas (one has had two shootings in the neighborhood in the last week). Getting the students to come is certainly one thing, and when they do take their placement tests, because they did so poorly in high school, they're placed in remedial classes. One of the classes I teach at LBCC is English 801a. That's three levels below Freshman Composition. So if you start there, you have four semesters of English just to get an AA, five (Advanced Comp) if you want to transfer. The math situation isn't much better.

20% of students who start in English 801a actually complete the sequence. They drop out because they figure it's not worth their time, money, or life just happens. Jobs get offered or lost. Family members die. Shit happens. Persistence (semester-to-semester enrollment) and eliminating exit points (like condensing the sequence to three classes rather than four) are the name of the game now. That's all I hear talked about in our meetings

I have students who have never read a book. I have students who went all four years of high school without writing a single essay. It's easy to get overwhelmed, but if you love the work (which I do), it can be very rewarding

 

[SweptbackFlame]

That's awful! My thoughts go out to you and your family. I'm sure she will be missed lots, but will be in a happy place now. All the best for you and your family!

That's a bummer. Grandmas are the best people. Condolences

Yeah sorry for your loss @Systematic Riffage. :/

Thank you guys, Means alot.

And yeah she was an exceptional human being, such a caring person. She was tough, 2 years ago you wouldn't of thought she was 90 years old. She was getting up and walking through the apartment like 15 times over just to get some exercise. Damn cancer.

 

[Omni]

i just ate some spicy fried eggs and now I'm relaxing with my dog. I'm drinking some Grapefruit Sculpin while watching Chopped.

 

[Burzum_Maiden]

Thank you guys, Means alot.

And yeah she was an exceptional human being, such a caring person. She was tough, 2 years ago you wouldn't of thought she was 90 years old. She was getting up and walking through the apartment like 15 times over just to get some exercise. Damn cancer.

That really is a shame, but we all have to go at some point. It's impossible not to grieve for a while, but celebrate the life she had too! From what you've said, it sounded like she a great life. Take your time, but I'm sure she would rather you celebrated her life than sunk into a hole of misery.

 

[Phylactery]

@Phylactery oh you teach college? I feel by then students should have their act together but it doesn't surprise me that many don't especially if they are freshmen.

I definitely understand. I think at a certain point there's so much you can blame the parent for. When you become old enough to see that your parent does not always do the right thing or make the right choices you should deviate from whatever behaviors you see them doing that wouldn't help you. Or you should know to.

But yes many things surprise me. My mom is from Jamaica and the standard of being "professional" is super high. There's even a Jamaican motto "kids are to be seen and not heard." Ive never had a behavioral issue at school. Here it's just like anything goes n these kids can't follow directions or rules. my principal is trying to push teachers to plan trips but I'm not taking any kid out of that building if they can't follow directions and don't listen.

Yeah I teach at a college, but it's in the UK so it's probably completely different to what it is in the US. I mainly teach 16-19 year olds (high school finishes at 16 here). Since the past 2-3 years it is compulsory for everyone to continue in education up to 18/19 now. It is also compulsory for them to continue maths and English education past 16 if they didn't achieve a C on the GCSE exam no matter what their main course at college is. This means that I am teaching functional skills and GCSE maths to students that have sat it multiple times in the past and failed. They thought when they came to college they would escape both maths and English so motivation is very low as you can imagine. This isn't what college was in the past, at least not when I went. You didn't have to go, which meant generally the people who did go wanted to be there and they were also generally people who had achieved good grades at school and went to college to study what we call 'A' - levels.