i speak for the trees and the trees fucking hate the US government
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@owlchimedes
i speak for the trees and the trees fucking hate the US government
back from the crush of exams!
The linked article
so ive worked in childcare for a bit now. during the pandemic, the place i worked started a day program for kids whose parents needed to return to work. turns out the school district uses memorization and cueing, and when combined with online learning that read all the instructions to them, overwhelmingly the kids aged 5-9 just... couldnt read.
i brought in a bunch of my books from childhood, and we started having one-on-one reading lessons with the littles. then i went out and bought about fifty more books secondhand. first step was covering the pictures so the kids couldnt guess what the words said and had to actually TRY reading them first. second step was making a list of new words for each kid so we could learn about those words, what they meant, and if the kids were old enough, some of the etymology behind them (because if you can recognize latin root words, it's easier to make connections for pronunciation later on eg. unicorn -> universe).
the kids HATED this. reading was previously the easiest class and now it was really, really hard. but reading class had also previously been the most boring class; their books were ten pictures with a single sentence on the opposite page. we got through it by taking turns reading books the kids picked out from my collection- they would read one sentence or paragraph, then i would read the whole page complete with funny voices, then it would be their turn again, etc. it turns out that if kids are motivated to hear the rest of a good story or a lot of information about a topic they love, they're more willing to struggle.
the kids improved so rapidly that i honestly almost cried a few times from how proud i was. one little girl (kindergarten aged) went from being unable to sound out the whole alphabet to reading goodnight moon by herself in two months :'>
all this, though, was NOT my job. my job was to keep the kids on task during their online schooling and prevent them from killing each other or starving. i am not a teacher. the school system was failing these kids to the degree that outside individual reading lessons were necessary, and school systems across the US are still doing this!
if you are a parent or teacher or childcare worker, PLEASE check to see what your kid is being taught. ask to see examples of lesson materials. raise concerns about the importance of phonics over any other reading strategy. join the pta, go to school board meetings, send emails- just make sure your kid is actually learning to read.
i would like to add that you don't need to have a child to ask these questions of your local school district. regardless of your status as a parent, it is all our responsibility to care about how children in our communities are being educated. not just because it objectively good to care about and engage with your community, but also because the children of today are the adults of tomorrow.
if this backwards way of teaching reading keeps up, then in the future it is going to create more issues, not only those kids but all of us. if you are in the US, i would encourage any adult to look into their local public school district. some school districts have curricula that can be accessed through their website. if what you find concerns you, then it's time to head to a school board meeting and bring it up.
it might feel weird or uncomfortable, but i assure you, you are as a much of a member of the community as anyone else. it is not weird to care about the community and the school district.
this is a problem that is already affecting all of us and it's only going to grow with time. but there are things we can all do regardless of our status as a parent, childcare worker, or teacher.
(p.s. i think sometimes these things are assumed to be the fault of a teacher, but it is almost always a school board issue. teacher's don't typically get to decide on the curriculum)
i don't know a ton about the right terminology for what we should be looking for within those curricula, but phonics is solid. beyond that, it would great if an any educators out there would weigh in with the correct term? method? of the looking and guessing that is pervasive in education at the moment, that would be fantastic. what are some reading curriculum red flags or green flags?
The method being used by schools like this is called "three-cueing", or "balanced literacy", or "Meaning-Structure-Visual (MSV)" reading! This method can also include "whole language" reading (also known as "whole word" or "look-say") programs that don't explicitly mention phonics. These programs often, but not always, also include phrases like "unstructured time" and "free choice".
There is no single program that's best for literacy teaching, but most states (and many parents) are recently turning to "science-backed literacy" or "science of reading" programs. These are evidence-based methods that target different ages and (dis)abilities in different ways to promote lasting literacy and critical thinking skills. Other similar programs are "phonics-based" and "structured literacy". A lot of these tactics actually emerged from teaching kids with dyslexia, and accept that literacy is not intuitive or fun to everyone.
All education red/green flags have to be prefaced with the facts that 1) every child is different, 2) student needs vary by age, and 3) the classroom is only one small part of their lives––home exposure to vocabulary, role models, and intrinsic motivation to read also play major roles. There are also many institutional barriers to access. Disclaimer done, green flags for literacy curricula include:
Small student : teacher ratios, ideally under 18:1 until high school age.
A school library, ideally with an ILL program, and a classroom-specific library.
Consideration of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
Structured time, multisensory techniques, small group work and echo/choral reading, "refereading" (where the student takes the lead with close correction and rerouting), routine assessment (weekly quizzes, book reports, etc.), and a focus on generative writing at the same time as reading.
Free flow of reading work between home and school; i.e., homework assignments, vocabulary logs, book club check-ins, exploratory literacy work in the community.
Work set at the upper edge of the Common Core standards for the age-appropriate reading band (or some other skill-pushing tactic, such as using Wordly Wise books a year early).
Vocabulary-building homework that focuses on the sound or meaning of the words themselves, in addition to how they appear in context.
For English: some exposure to Latin, Greek, and/or Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes aimed at parsing words on the letter-level. This could be a good litmus test for 3rd grade and up; if a teacher looks at you like you're crazy for asking about this, then it's almost certainly a non-morphological MSV program.
A plan for handling students who are slower or faster than the class progression.
You could directly ask the teacher/administrator what students should do when they come across a word they don't know. Common answers include "skip it and come back later", "stop and look it up" (my favorite), or "assume meaning from context". This last one is three-cueing.
For more information, I suggest looking at the US Dep't of Education's What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guides. This ranks the scientific certainty of evidence-based literacy teaching practices. Anything with a "Tier 1 Strong" ranking is a green-flag in a school curriculum.
starting a new commonplace book today! may contain: poetry, stickers, essays by sartre, electrical diagrams, and many to do lists
*biting my nails* what if the 90 meticulously proofread pages of densely cited legal research weren’t enough for my 2-credit class; what if I should have done more
and that’s a wrap on my second year of law school!
hello all! just a little heads up that this blog is going to be under construction and will have a different theme, layout, tagging system, and archive in the next few weeks! icon and username should remain the same.
I've decided to shift this blog away from my law school/professional identity (and the confidential client information I work with) and more towards my own efforts at autodidacticism and living well! still lots of learning and self-improvement, but focused more on my personal curriculum (i.e. learning French, taking banjo lessons, writing my nonfiction book). If that's not what you're into, then thank you for being here as long as you have! If that sounds fun, I'm excited for what's ahead!
How it started vs how it’s going.
the main reason I don't post more here is that my schoolwork and my life have become increasingly more specific and i'm not sure how to keep chatting about updates without doxxing myself. if anyone has ideas, i'd love to hear them!
like I just got a job at ********* *********! and was elected ***************! and I’m working for the ***** to interview worldwide professionals about ******** *****! and my paper on ******** ********* is going to be published in ***** ******* ******! and I’m receiving the ****** ***** scholarship! and the ***** ***** *** ********** scholarship! and because of ***** my school is paying for me to fly internationally to ******** and *** ***** and ******! and because I’m taking my job as an externship instead of being paid, I’ll have enough bandwidth next year to apply to the **** ************* **** ***** and maybe go to nationals! wow!
Somehow, I don’t think that’s what studyblr really wants to hear.
good morning all! finally have a day to spend at home with only one meeting scheduled, so I'm attempting to catch up on all my housework and cat-snuggling hours while still being productive!
clean living room
tidy kitchen & clean kitchen
laundry x 5 ( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 )
clean cat bowls, box, feeder
clean humidifier
water houseplants
binders & papers shuffle
banking shuffle - rent, credit, health/car/pet ins.
collect cat sitter key
everything shower (melt ya skin off)
wrap up SC2s and SC1s
cbd v blm pt 1 + submit
cbd v. blm pt 2 + submit
look over country profiles x5
prep for case rounds
CE rhe case chart fin
mssg A about zoom meeting & make zoomroom
3:30 zoom mtg
prep for job interviews
prep for paper interview - 5 cases
cold email six hi groups
donor schol apps x 3 ( 1 | 2 | 3 )
eat something today!!
take nap (?!)
air out room 3-4
powers, cc in courts 1-27 + q
hre 385-407
update crp assignments
make bar reservations for tmrw
fob/remote/hangtag recycle
swiftlane signup
restart/update computer - fix glitching
the main reason I don't post more here is that my schoolwork and my life have become increasingly more specific and i'm not sure how to keep chatting about updates without doxxing myself. if anyone has ideas, i'd love to hear them!
views from the desk
early mornings with justice sotomayor
studying for the lsat (for free)
i know lsat prep courses are so expensive and i cannot pay for that so i thought i’d share what i’ve been doing
insight lsat on youtube has a playlist with a free prep course, in which they go over each section of the lsat/each type of question you’ll encounter. it’s very helpful and i recommend pausing the video and trying to answer yourself whenever the instructor recommends it!
after going through question types, he provides a list of “homework questions” — the questions add up to essentially being 2 full sections from a few different practice tests, so at the moment i’m doing the questions one recommended practice test at a time (making it 2 full sections each time i practice)
i compile answers to these practice questions in a google doc, where i correct myself and make notes on what went wrong, as well as label what types of questions i missed so i can see any patterns
i use a notion spreadsheet to track how much time per day i study, as well as scores and/or percent accuracy for my actual practice (when doing the homework questions/2 sections instead of a full test, i calculate accuracy since i do not have an actual score)
after working through the lsat insight course and doing all recommended practice, my next step will be to do full timed sections (when i do homework practice it is untimed)
then, i will take a full timed test, so that i have a new diagnostic score and i can plan out the next phase of studying. i will once again track what types of questions i’m missing so i can implement more targeted practice.
more notes:
- i get my practice tests of pdf coffee
- i check answers using manhattan prep (it’s a forum so explanations are detailed and written by real people)
i hope this was at all helpful, and if anyone has any questions or recommendations let me know! :)
circling back to this - i recommend 7sage as well, much less expensive than kaplan etc (not free but relatively affordable). i ended up doing well and am at my dream school <3 wishing all the best.
APPLICATION WAIVERS: some schools have waiver apps, if you apply then do that! for those of you who wouldn’t apply based on parents’ income but can’t afford all those applications, i also emailed admissions of various schools, gave them my score, and asked for a fee waiver. never hurts to try, and worked for me several times :)
adding to this: KHAN ACADEMY HAS A FREE LSAT COURSE and back when I had to prep for lsat, even had free practice tests
Keep in mind that the format of the test changed in August 2024, when the logic games section was replaced with another logical reasoning section! You can use pre-2024 sources, just make sure not to spend any energy on the logic games (unless you find them fun)!
Also, LSAC and LawHub have 4 official full length practice tests, as well as 21 drill sets, walkthrough video lessons, and an official argumentative writing practice prompt. They're free if you make an account!
9.17.25 | cramming to wrap everything by the end of the week… at least I have my silly girl for company
U.S. Followers - If you have a sec, please quickly visit this website to voice your defense of The Roadless Rule—a 2001 piece of legislation that protects 45 million acres of national forest—which Trump’s administration is in the process of rescinding.
Regulations.gov
You have until Friday to leave your comments—the government is required to record and address every single one. It doesn’t have to be long, just unique: tell them why nature and biodiversity is worth more than lumber and concrete roads.
Thank you!
This is a notice of comment for an EIS! This means that the government is particularly looking for scientific, economic, and data-driven responses. The USFS and USDA are interested in comments touching on these states: Alaska, Montana, California, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona.
They are also particularly interested in comments on these topics:
Public access to National Forest System lands, including for recreation, to facilitate subsistence or other uses, and to exercise legal rights.
Forest health and management, including timber management, fuels management, and fire suppression.
Soil, water and air; plant and animal communities, including threatened, endangered, sensitive species; scenic integrity; recreation settings and opportunities; and cultural resources, traditional cultural properties, and sacred sites.
Local and regional economies.
If you can include a scientific reference, context for a specific area, or tie the Roadless Rule to other still-extant federal law (the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, etc.), that will be the best comment to send in! Comments about subsistence use, wildfire risk, and ecosystem services with financial aspects are also going to be persuasive. It's helpful to establish that you have personal connections to threatened areas.
Here is a link to a good professional example comment.
Here is a link to a good private-citizen example comment.
You can submit these anonymously or attach your name; it takes less than 10 minutes!
I love school. does school love me? debatable. toxic relationship. we are soo very sexy together though.