Brad the Teacher

I'm a Computer/Information Technology teacher, web developer, tech support guru, FIRST robotics coach/mentor, and photographer-y person.

[iamlittlei]

First: Yes, computer science is important. I agree that more students should be learning it, and I wholeheartedly support making the study of computer science more equitable for underrepresented students.

But…I just don’t know that this is the thing to focus political will/money on in education. Firstly, for computer science, you need computers. For many of the schools that are serving underrepresented populations, a huge problem is just basic facilities. Even in my comparatively well resourced suburban district we have insufficient computers and unreliable Internet. We can’t even manage the state-mandated online testing twice a year without incident. Money can certainly address this, and if the Obama administration wants to throw money at school districts for computers and Internet, sure.

But doing so ignores more serious structural and facilities problems at these schools. Let’s consider all of the recent (justified) uproar over Detroit Public Schools. Where is the $4 billion that could ensure that our poorest urban kids aren’t being forced to attend environmentally hazardous schools? (And if you think DPS is a special, isolated case you’re not a teacher and/or you have your head in the sand).

Who is going to teach these computer science courses? Are you going to hire computer scientists? On a teacher’s salary? Yeah, right. We can barely get science and math trained teachers because of our significantly higher salary potential outside of education; are computer science trained folks going to be lining up to abandon financially secure private sector jobs to take on the responsibilities and salary of an urban classroom?

Or will you just require current teachers to learn yet another content area? Will current teachers just be told by administrators, “The (state/Feds) have decided we need to offer computer science next year. Good luck!” Because in my experience, that’s how it would go down. Probably before any equipment had been updated, even if any equipment would ever be updated. (“New computers will be here any day now, but in the meantime, just monopolize our single under-functioning computer lab.”)

And where is the time for computer science instruction coming from? Is computer science more important than a foreign language, art, music, PE, recess, social studies? Probably not. Probably that is a decision that should be left to local jurisdictions.

Ultimately, for me: computer science is a job skill. If a student decides to pursue computer science, they can learn coding/programming as a middle school student or a high school student or a college student or a professional. It’s a discrete skill set, unlike recess/PE/art etc, which are contributing more holistically to a child’s development and critical thinking skills.

Of course, equity of access is super important. All students should have access to the same technological resources because that is the right and just way to approach public education, not in half-assed service to a career-oriented mandate that doesn’t come from anyone expert in education.

Let’s fix DPS, Chicago Public, Philly Public, LA Unified, Baltimore City, etc before throwing dollars at an ill-fated, short-sighted computer science initiative.

[mickeykilloran]

I see your point.  But you don’t need computers to teach computer science.  It helps, sure, but it is not needed.  

Computer science is the art of using tools and logic to solve problems.  Specifically it tends to focus on using the computer, but to be clear, it is merely a tool for executing the science.  The point of teaching computer science is to develop problem solving logical thinking and reasoning, and adaptability.

[iamlittlei]

Although I agree with your description of the fundamental core of computer science (developing problem solving & logical reasoning) my experience in public education suggests to me that such a reasonable implementation of computer science principles would not happen, because whoever ends up being in charge of implanting computer science education standards/expectations is either not going to be an expert in the field or will get shouted down/diluted by bureaucrats who will feel strongly about presenting to the public an image of what people think computer science should look like.

[bradtheteacher]

Bingo.  

My degree is in Computer Science.  I’m constantly told by everyone that I must be absolutely out of my mind for going into education.  That’s a big problem - there are no incentives for people with backgrounds in CS to go into teaching, I’d say even more so than most other subjects.  I’d have no problem finding a "real” job & probably doubling my public school teaching/tech-ing salary (at least according to common public perception, anyway).  That means that all this content is most likely being shoved onto somebody who will end up half-assing it either because they don’t have the time or the drive to learn the material themselves when they’ve got the rest of their job to deal with.  Then there’s the problem that having limited access to resources just exacerbates the problem of not having someone who really knows what they’re doing running the show.  If you’ve got sufficient computers and a large & stable Internet pipe, you can get by with parking your kids in front of Codecademy or something for a semester & figuring it out as you go. If I was teaching in a resource-poor environment, I have the content knowledge and the system administration skills to pull a half-decent computer lab setup & put a curriculum together.  But how many places that lack those basic resources have or can recruit people with that kind of talent?  Throwing money at the problem might help, but it has to be thrown in the right places - and we all know how that usually turns out... 

And yes, you can introduce computer science without computers, but it’s kind of like teaching any science class without any sort of lab component  - except worse, I’d imagine.  The CS Unplugged activities are great, but I can’t imagine building on them & turning it into a semester-long course. My first “real” CS class in college that wasn’t introductory programming stuff was taught basically without computers... but doing math isn’t a very good way to get most kids interested in CS.

I believe that everyone should be exposed to CS, just like I think everyone should be exposed to FACS & engineering/tech ed & art & foreign language. We should be encouraging our students to explore the options that are out there for them, not trying to force them one way or another.

If they really wanted to get kids to learn more about computers (or anything else, for that matter), they’d be listening to the teachers & experts in the field & trying to make teaching a more attractive career for people with deep content knowledge (including sending money to fix all these run down schools).  But no, let’s just throw money at the problem because Facebook & Microsoft & whoever said so & because they’ll create all kinds of training for teachers on their products for us to go spend that money on... so our teachers & students will go out and buy their products because that’s all they know how to use... When your decision makers have no actual technical skills themselves, “because Bill Gates said so” does make a pretty convincing argument, I guess.  

[mysterysciencegirlfriend3000]

Reblog if you think public libraries are important and should be maintained.

[avocad-ho]

Bless everyone who reblogs this. Being a librarian is truly my calling.

[micdotcom]

Watch: This Texas mom showed how you call out injustice — and win.

[adampxrris]

im studying for finals and on the chemistry class website theres a link that says study guide but when i clicked it, it just said “you can buy a study guide for 21 dollars” what the fUCK

[deansass]

if it makes you feel any better, we had to pay $70 to access online, mandatory quizzes that are 10% of our grade

[trytoholdmedown]

Disgusting

[iamlittlei]

To the team that lost

You are not going to forget today.

You are not going to forget the way you collapsed in tears on the field when the time ran out, piles of anger and frustration and sadness. This was your last game.

You are not going to forget how much you desperately wanted to make history as our first state champion girls’ soccer team, and how much it hurt when you realized that would not be your legacy.

You certainly won’t forget how the play calling was totally against you. You won’t forget (and we won’t either) that that opposing team member should 100% have been red carded and wasn’t. And you won’t forget, either, that the penalty shot which resulted in the winning goal was itself a stupid call.

I hope you don’t forget how much spirit your freshman goalie showed. The way that her determination increased after missing that save. She was all over that net. She pulled that ball out of midair so many times I lost count, moving it downfield for the rest of you.

I hope you don’t forget how seamless you were as a team on that field today. It was so obvious to my untrained eye that you each knew precisely where your teammates were at all times, and trusted each other to come through. And you did, every time. Your coordination with one another, your shared emotions, your collective instinct, your selflessness and devotion to each other were obvious.

I hope you don’t forget that you waited until the time was officially over to collapse. I hope you don’t forget that with 14 desperate seconds left on the clock every single one of you was still driving down field with everything you had. 

I hope you don’t forget that when you did cry, it was into the arms of your teammates.

I hope you don’t forget how many of your teachers and peers showed up in that stadium an hour away and loved you when you lined up to receive your second place plaques.

I hope you don’t forget how you played with tremendous integrity and patience, and that not a single one of you abandoned sportsmanship–even when the other team had.

I hope you don’t forget that even while you were crying you smiled, and tried to make your teammates laugh.

I hope you don’t forget that you did make history by getting to that game. And that you are a remarkable group of young women. You have an average GPA of 4.3. You are the kindest and most hard-working students we know. You are elite scholars and athletes and good humans. Your work ethic is astounding.

I hope you don’t spend the next week(s) or month(s) wondering how you could have worked harder or played harder. Our eyes have been on you for 4 years; you have done everything you might have done as exceptionally as anyone could have asked for.

I know this isn’t how you wanted your high school careers to end. You wanted your final soccer memories to be celebrations, not commiserations. We could not be prouder of you.

The truth is, today’s game wasn’t fair. You weren’t outplayed, and this might have been easier if you had been. It’s such a stupid cliche to remind you all that life isn’t fair and tell you that this great preparation for the terrible adult world in which hard work is often unrecognized or even penalized. You know all of that already.

What I’ll say instead is this: the value of losing an unfair game is not in the realization that life is unfair. The value is in having a community to hold you up when you are unfairly knocked down. Those relationships you’ve been investing in for four years with your teammates, your coaches, your teachers, your peers? These are the people that will cheer you on until the clock runs out and shower you with encouragement and support as you all clean up the mess together. The next time you are overcome by some injustice, large or small, you’ll know that you got through something similar before with a little help from your friends. And you’ll come out just fine on the other side.

Time marches on, kids. I hope you are able to be at peace with achieving the most successful season of girls soccer we’ve ever seen. I hope after you finish mourning today’s loss you can focus your inspiring determined optimism to all the unopened doors that are waiting for you when this one closes.

[kinginthenorthjonsnow]

When you realize tomorrow is Monday….

[teaching-everydayisdifferent]

Is anyone else disturbed by this image floating around Facebook?

[teachaz]

Along the same lines as all the bullshit-it’s-a-mission-not-a-job-so-it’s-0k-to-pay-me-like-crap platitudes that surround teaching. “ Outcome, not income” makes me so stabby.

[allisonunsupervised]

FFS. 

Facebook trifecta: offensive sentiment plus simile fail (do candles light themselves on fire?) topped with an equally bullshit image that doesn’t even support the words. 

[teachinginreallife]

When a class activity gets out of hand

[mybuckystar]

some things i’ve learned about adulthood that no one warns you about

you will in fact continue to have acne past the age of twenty

you will eventually hit a point where you start to feel icky inside if you go too long without eating some sort of vegetables

depending on your current level of athleticism/physical activity as well as the kind of activities you did as a kid/teenager, your joints may start acting whack in your twenties, despite what everyone says about that not happening until middle age

eventually you will reach a point where you wonder how you were able to stay up until 3am nearly every night and be perfectly fine the next day (and this moment will come much younger than you expect)

it is much harder to meet new people after you’re done with school than sitcoms would have you believe

don’t let society tell you shit: it is perfectly acceptable to live with your parents after you graduate, there’s no need to be broke and miserable just so you can have some misguided attempt at independence straight out of school

[sweetmotherofladygaga]

My school has the hands down scariest Halloween decorations I’ve ever seen

[ucresearch]

“In this presidential election season, one thing is certain: candidates will rarely — if ever — be asked what they would do to keep this nation at the forefront of science and innovation.

The truth is in the numbers. In the 1960s, the United States devoted nearly 17% of discretionary spending to research and development, reaping decades of economic growth from this sustained investment. By 2008, the figure had fallen into the single digits. This occurs at a time when the private sector has cut back on its research investment and other nations have made significant gains in their own research capabilities. China, for example, is projected to outspend the United States in research within the next decade. East Asia as a whole already does.”

— Janet Napolitano, Why more scientists are needed in the public square.

[thetenderpassion]

Basically

[postirony]

“we all eventually have one.”

Except for those who aren’t weren’t “entitled” to exist past 18.

[neo-china-deactivated20171228]

imagine being this boring.

[zhaoly]

But wait… there’s more!

[jewishandalite-blog]

The author says he’s a millennial but the dude looks like he’s at least 45.

I’m being generous here because he actually looks older than my dad, and my dad’s 55.

[paleolithique]

HE’S FUCKING 58 I JUST FOUND IT HE LITERALLY SAID HE’S 58 HOW IS THAT A MILLENNIAL

THE CAP FOR BEING A MILLENNIAL IS 34 WHAT THE FUCK

[magicalsapphic-deactivated20171]

“I am entitled to nothing” well shit guess those human rights things were just a silly fad

[trytoholdmedown]

The generation before me thinks they had it really bad, so we deserve to toil and suffer more. The first generation to go “I want better for my children, unless I don’t think they’ve earned it. In which case, fuck em”

[roachpatrol]

i should make a low-effort cookbook

like you get those ‘i hate to cook! 101: easy meals for the kitchen novice!’ and it still wants you to make a three-cheese spinach casserole

mine would be like

did you know you can put chocolate chips on a spoonful of peanut butter and obtain the perfect snack

did you know if you crack some eggs into your pasta sauce and stir there’s more protein in it so you can go longer without having to make another goddamn meal

did you know you can mix a cup of cooked rice to any condensed soup instead of water and now you have dinner and breakfast

also put cheese on it

put cheese on fucking everything

and finally here’s a list of things you can microwave in a short enough time that you won’t walk out of the kitchen, go back to bed, fall asleep for four hours, and totally forget you attempted a lunch

[isozyme]

frozen pizza is expensive but!  biscuits in a can + last dregs of jar of tomato sauce + some shredded mozzarella cheese = EIGHT MINIPIZZAS

dump all your chinese delivery into a hot pan and crack two eggs into it, stir, now it is soft and good

if you add a kraft single to mac and cheese from the box it’s magically more delicious (and if you also add hot sauce then it’s spicy)

nachos: chips + shredded cheese + salsa + rummage in fridge in case there’s other things?  and then under the broiler for a minute or two.  if it’s hot it counts as a meal!  works good on stale chips.

an incomplete list of vegetables that won’t instantly rot on you: anything frozen, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes (they get wrinkly but u can still eat them), carrots, onions…i throw away a lot of veggies that have gone soft :(

i love parchment paper.  $4 for a roll but lay it down on ur baking sheet and know you’ll never have to scrub cheese or cookie crumbs off it again.  perfect for cooking with low spoons.  nothing sticks to it!

[ursavorpalis]

also: mug cakes also also: if you cook rice you might as well dump some canned tomatos and canned beans in it. TADA NUTRITIONALLY COMPLETE MEALS in the list of foods that last: apples. apples can last an entire fucking winter. also also also: cottage cheese + bell peppers + crackers = what I ate for dinner for like a year

[leahazel]

1. You cook the rice in a pot. No spices, no nothing, just water oil and rice. 

2. Just before it’s ready, when there’s about a pinkie fingernail’s worth of water on the top, add in a tablespoon of peanut butter. 

3. Stir. Cook the rest of the way. 

4. It’s a meal! It has carbs and protein, it’s filling, it tastes good and it looks and feels like a legitimate dish, which is great for lifting the spirits a bit. 

5. If you feel fancy, add a teaspoon of honey or a handful of crushed peanuts. 

[hagar-972]

Alt., mix the rice with lentils. Cereal (rice, wheat) + legume (lentils, beans) = complete protein. Most people’s bodies will accept that in lieu of animal products.

Since no-one explained how to cook rice: (1) put bit of oil in pot, heat up on medium flame, (2) add 1-1.5 cup rice, mix up and add a bit of salt (you may need to reduce flame), (3) while you’re doing that, boil water in an electric pot, (4) add 2 cup water for each 1 cup rice; reduce flame a few seconds before you do that and mind the steam won’t hit you, (5) cover and set a 20min timer.

Pasta: (1) boil water, lots of water (covered pot goes fast; you can also use an electric pot for a shortcut and bring to a full boil on the stove - experiment), (2) up to 100 gr pasta per 1L water will work, but the more water per pasta the better, (3) reduce flame to medium (light bubbling), add pasta, set time to 10min, (4) check and add time as necessary - you may not need to.

Egg or bean noodled cook faster than pasta - like, half the time.

Easiest pasta sauce: 20-50gr of butter, melt; 1-2tbs lemon juice, homogenize; dump in pasta (and possibly peas, boiled from frozen). Taken 5min or under and will liven up pasta that’s been sitting in the fridge.

Easiest cream sauce: 1 standard (250ml) cream carton, 1 tsp shredded cheese (keeps well in freezer) or more, 1 tbs cottage cheese, spices to taste. Heat in a small pot on a small-to-medium flame while stirring constantly (if it’s too hot to stick a finger in, it’s too hot). Takes maybe 5-10min. Will keep in fridge up to 1 week.

Rice freezes well. Pasta doesn’t. Plain pasta (and most noodles) will last for up to a month in the fridge, though, and just dump it in the pan with some ketchup/tomato paste(+oil + water) and you’re good.

…nobody said that dry onion lasts? Dry onion lasts. Fried onion freezes well and keeps forever. So does diced garlic. If you like ‘em but worried about them going bad/don’t always have the time or spoons to deal with ‘em, there you go.

Fresh bread freezes well. Keep emergency bread in your freezer, sliced. It’ll thaw in the fridge/on the counter overnight, or you can stick a slice as-is in the toaster (just turn it up 1 notch relative to your usual preference).

Potatoes in their peel are the single most nutritious food. (You can, actually, survive on mashed potatoes.) A boiled potato will stay good in the fridge for a couple days. Boil partway (should still somewhat resist a fork), turn over/toaster oven on 150C (350F) or higher while you do the rest, slice potato(s), spread like deck of cards, brush oil over (with the sort of silicone brush one uses for eggs - costs next to nothing and you’ll be glad you got it), bit of salt, stick into oven and come back 20-40min later. Will re-heat well.

All of the following are good in eggs, just (1) dump them in the pan before the eggs, (2) the more you fluff up the eggs the betters: cubed semi-boiled potatoes, sliced/cubed tomatoes, tinned garbanzo beans (<-legume), tinned/frozen corn. Tinned and frozen stuff lasts forever. A pre-boiled potato and a couple eggs will save your ass on a cold, miserable morning.

3 shortbread cookies + 2 glasses of milk = 500kcal balanced dinner. Or breakfast.

1 cup cooked pasta + couple fluffed up eggs + shredded cheese (from frozen) to taste, in a stove-top pan or in the oven for ~20min = full meal.

Black lentils, cooked, will last nicely in the fridge - and unlike other legumes, they don’t need a pre-soak and only take 20min to cook. ½ bowl + 3 tbs oil + 2 tsp lemon juice + ¼ onion = dinner so nutritious you won’t believe it.

Cottage cheese and honey. No really. You only need a couple tsp honey for 250gr cottage tub.

1tbs peanut butter (flat as you can make it) + 3 tbs soy + 2 tbs maple/honey + 1 tsp vinegar = marinade for ~500gr of whatever. Takes ~5min to mix, 20min-2hr to soak, 5-10min to fry (non-stick pan and you don’t need oil). This + pot of rice (<-make while chicken/meat soaks) = lunch for a week. (Or dinner, if dinner’s your main meal.)

A tin of mayonnaise will last for months in the fridge. Hardboiled eggs last a nice while, too. 3 hardboiled eggs, chopped + 1tbs mayo + 1/3 onion chopped = 5min of work and egg salad for a few highly nutritious meals.

Ever make yourself hot chocolate? Make it with milk instead of water, for fuck’s sake. A large cup of hot chocolate is a legit small meal.

[m-winnike]

Buy broccoli and green beans frozen. For a couple dollars you can get a big enough bag of either to get at least 8-10 servings out of it and it keep for at least 6 months if you keep the bag closed. Buy a jar of chopped garlic in olive oil as well. That’ll keep in your fridge for months and adding a little bit to a handful of broccoli or green beans and sauteing(lightly browning them in a pan or pot on the stove) them together until everything is warm is a cheap, easy way to have a flavorful snack or meal. 

Also, ramen, drop an egg and a handful of some kind of frozen veggie(the previously mentioned ones or even some mixed carrots and peas) it adds a lot of nutritional value to your ramen, makes it so much more filling, and makes it have way better flavor than plain ramen. 

Buy a jar of Better than Bouillon. Amazon has them for as cheep as $2.99 a jar and one jar has enough in it to make a couple gallons of broth. Just one teaspoon of this stuff added to 1 cup of water will give you a deliciously broth for soup. Pick your flavor and drop whatever veggies or noodles you’ve got leftover in the fridge and you’ve got dinner. It’s also great to add to the water you’re cooking your rice in to give it some flavor as well. 

Don’t buy boxed Kraft mac and cheese. It may seem like an easy approach but there is a cheaper approach. A 3 lb bag of macaroni noodles is only a couple dollars and you can get a 1 lb bag of the powdered cheese just like in Kraft for $10 on Amazon. I bought a bag of cheese powder that size and it lasted me more than a year and I made mac and cheese once a week. You can also mix it with milk and broccoli and you’ve got a great dinner of broccoli cheese soup. 

My biggest tip for saving money on food is to make things that will freeze well. Say you make a pot of spaghetti. You could get 5 or 6 servings out of a full pot easily, if not more, but you’ll get tired of spaghetti before it’s gone. Stick servings in plastic baggies(which are fine to rinse and reuse!) and freeze them! Then you’ll be able to take out just the amount to eat for a meal and have some back up meals for when you’re loaded down with work, homework, etc and have no time to make a meal. 

[cynicalcrow]

I… Really, reeeeally wish I’d seen this about 5 months ago. So rebloggin now so I can find it again.

[iamacartooncharacter]

This is beautiful.

[officialgabby1-deactivated20151]

Parents....

Stop thinking that because you provide food, clothing, and shelter that you have the right to treat your children badly.

Stop telling your children demoralizing and belittling comments about their character.

Stop using your children as a container for your rage.

Stop abandoning your children.

Stop telling your children that their mother/father ain’t shit.

Stop allowing them to be dependent on others.

Stop breaking their spirit so that you may feel wanted/needed.

Stop teaching your children that abuse is the equivalent to love.

Stop scorning your children for their mistakes.

Stop telling your children that men/women are no good.

Stop physically abusing your children.

Stop telling your children they won’t amount to anything.

Stop telling your child your worst fears about them.

Stop telling your child “If you leave don’t bother coming back.”

Stop provoking your children.

Stop treating your children like slaves.

Stop telling your child “You’re just a child. You have no problems.”

Stop telling your child “You will never find a man/woman that loves you for who you are.”

Stop comparing your children to other children.

Stop saying “You’re just like your mother/father.” (negatively)

You’re not teaching your child to nurture. You’re teaching them self-hate.

[rulesforteaching]

Me, all the damn time.

[wincherella]

OMG me too.

[accountedfor-deactivated2020081]

Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.

Susan Cain, Quiet  (via h-o-r-n-g-r-y)

[samanthainsecondary]