Category: education

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This Teacher Is Fighting Back After Her District Banned Pride Flags in the Classroom

Flags are a staple of classrooms. American flags, of course, but also usually a state flag. Sometimes the school flag, other times a military flag of some sort, or a college banner, if the teacher is a proud alum.

There don’t seem to be many rules (as long as one is not trying to fly, say, a Nazi or Confederate flag), but even so, this Nevada school district took it upon themselves to ban Pride flags from their classrooms (along with any perceived political speech).

One teacher in the Washoe County School District in Reno, Jennifer Leja, is speaking out against the new policy. She’s the only openly LGBTQ teacher at her school, and sees herself as a point person for students who are looking to explore their own identities.

Image Credit: Pexels

She keeps a Pride flag in her classroom, along with an assortment of other rainbow paraphernalia that students have given her, as she just really likes rainbows – and is proud of who she is.

This year, though, a new, district-wide policy banning “partisan political activities” during school hours meant that her Pride flag had to go back in the closet.

Seeking to clarify, Leja reached out to Trustee Andrew Caudill to clarify whether or not the policy included LGBTQ issues, and if it was ok for her to talk about her personal sexuality at school.

Image Credit: TikTok

She received this email in response:

“The courts have held LGBTQ+ issues to be political speech and thus, the rainbow flag [is considered] to be political speech, so it cannot be expressed through clothing and other means, such as displaying a flag in your class.

Who you are is not impacted by this policy, only what is expressed in class through visual aids.”

For Leja and other people who identify under the LGBTQ banner, their sexuality is not political.

“The issue I have with it is, I don’t think my existence and my identity is a political issue. I think that being able to have a rainbow flag is as much a part of my identity as anything else. It’s legal in every state to get married; it’s legal for LGBT people to exist in this country right now, so I don’t see how it’s a political issue.”

Image Credit: TikTok

She’s not just fighting for herself, either, she told Buzzfeed News.

“It’s important for me because I feel like there are students who spend their lives in the closet and especially in middle school; that is when students are starting to figure out where they are.

They go through that time period where they don’t know who they are or what they like.”

Leja posted about the issue on TikTok, and though many, if not most, people agree with her stance, the District Trustee remains firm in his response that the policy doesn’t target LGBTQ issues, but includes “other kinds of speech such as Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, NRA, etc.,” and saying the district believes a government entity shouldn’t be seen as taking sides politically.

@msleja

My response to this new requirement ? #tiktokteacher #middleschool #teachersoftiktok #lgbt #lgbtqteacher

♬ original sound – Jenn Leja

He did stress to Buzzfeed, though that Leja is not being asked to hide her identity on or off campus.

“But I want to be abundantly clear, the policy does not require staff to hide their own sexuality.

Teachers can let students know their sexuality, or mention their significant others, if they wish, regardless of sexuality.

The policy does not impact who a teacher is, it only impacts the advocacy for a specific political position.”

Teachers are also not allowed to take a stance on Black Lives Matter, a policy that has drawn criticism and petitions from students and teachers alike.

The post This Teacher Is Fighting Back After Her District Banned Pride Flags in the Classroom appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Kindergarten Teacher Shows the Struggle to Keep Kids Engaged Online

Teachers have had a lot to deal with this year – even more than the rest of us, I dare say.

They’ve been forced to shift from the in-person learning model for which they trained, and that they’ve taught for their entire careers, to one that’s exclusively, or partially, taught online.

Her first video has been watched more than 7 million times and also shared on other platforms like Twitter.

In it, the teacher reveals how much energy and enthusiasm is required to get her littles to respond to lessons over Zoom, and intermittently holds up a laminated microphone to show them when to turn theirs on to respond

@kenziiewenz

my facial expressions trying to keep kindergarteners engaged in online learning #onlineschool #fyp #teacher

♬ original sound – Mackenzie

And while all teachers are struggling, those with the youngest of pupils are facing special challenges. How does one teach a kindergartener about school through a computer screen? How to you keep little minds engaged without being able to reach out and touch them, to gently redirect, to control their environment?

The answer is you can’t, and kindergarten teachers like the one who made this TikTok are having to come to grips with that – and fast.

I mean… can you imagine doing this stuff?

@kenziiewenz

thanks for all the kind words about teachers ? in case anyone wanted to stay on kindergarten TikTok here’s a lesson from today #onlineschool

♬ original sound – Mackenzie

Or this?

@kenziiewenz

snake motion for the “s” sounds and pig nose for “p” sounds ? Adding a motion to a letter sound helps in so many ways!! #kindergarten #teacher

♬ original sound – Mackenzie

People online, including some news celebs had things to say about Kenzi…

The biggest takeaway is that the teacher much be freaking exhausted at the end of her lessons for the day, but also, it’s clear that students aren’t getting an optimal experience through the computer.

Parents, watch this before you email your child’s teacher the next time. There’s a 99% chance they’re trying their best, they’re exhausted, and they wish things would go back to “normal,” too.

So please, be kind.

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This Chart Could Help You Decide What Time to Put Your Kid to Bed

Bedtimes can be sort of controversial because everyone does things differently, and yet everyone thinks they’re right.

Here’s my take: you can’t really win. Your kid is going to sleep or not according to their whims.

If you put them to bed early, they’ll wake up at the crack of dawn, but if you put them to bed late, they might still be up with the sun.

Image Credit: iStock

If you miss your window, and they get overtired? Forget having an evening to watch television and veg with your partner, my friend.

If you’re wondering what the experts have to say about appropriate bedtimes for your child’s age, this handy dandy chart should be able to help.

One thing we know for sure is that kids need more sleep than adults, and not getting enough can negatively impact their ability to thrive and learn throughout the day – which is why it makes sense that an elementary school is who posted the chart to Facebook in the first place.

Helpful information!

Posted by Wilson Elementary on Friday, August 28, 2015

Parents have a lot of thoughts, many of which are that it’s not exactly possible to make these bedtimes happen for a slew of reasons – sports, illness, schoolwork, etc.

That said, I think the point is to remind parents that sleep is important, and kids who are under 13 shouldn’t be allowed to set as late a bedtime as they would like.

There’s been plenty of discussion, considering the post has 64,000 reactions, 463,000 shares, and over 14,000 comments, but the people who posted it are staunch in their belief that guidelines aren’t rules, and both have to be applied to individual children and families.

Image Credit: iStock

You know your child best, and you know what scheduling demands exist in your life, but don’t forget to make sleep a priority.

Hopefully that means you’ll get some much-needed shuteye of your own!

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Parents Who Are Really Struggling With Distance Learning

I think most parents weren’t really prepared for what it was going to take to keep kids on track as they learned from home, all while they tried to maintain their own careers and keep calm during unprecedented times.

We’re all coping as best as we can, and I don’t know – I think it kind of helps to know we’re not alone.

12. That sounds about right.

It could be worse, honestly.

11. None of that was a thing 6 months ago.

We’re old, but we’re not that old.

Distance learning from memes

10. Why are they like this?

Just ask your teacher!

9. We’ve kept it a secret for so long, too.

One more reason to hate this pandemic.

8. Now to figure out how to use them.

Where’s my drink?

7. It’s a real gas, I tell you.

As long as you have a drink.

6. They will tell alllll your business.

Beware the child on the internet.

5. At least, today it was her.

Tomorrow, it could be any of us.

4. At least you’re getting a workout?

It will negate the stress eating. Sort of.

3. We’re all going just a bit mad.

Some of us more than a bit.

2. We’re not even exaggerating.

Well, maybe a little.

1. You’re alive, aren’t you?

So, it could have been worse.

We are going to get through this, y’all, and listen – the kids will be all right.

For a lark, tell me your favorite thing about having your kids learning from home!

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How to raise a genius

In order to raise a genius, the first thing a parent must do is to not send a child to a public school; according to Harold G. McCurdy, a professor at the University of North Carolina. Based on his study of the childhoods of 29 geniuses, conducted back in 1960, he determined that “three striking […]

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Mattel Is Offering a Day of the Dead Barbie Doll

In case you don’t have a child in your life that requires regular gifts and offerings, let me assure you that Barbie dolls are still very much a thing. Mattel has responded to some concerns about their dolls, like giving Barbie different professions and creating Barbies with different skin tones, and even coming out with Barbie dolls that aren’t unrealistically thin.

Now, they’re crossing cultural boundaries and releasing a “Day of the Dead” Barbie that celebrates Halloween according to the Latin tradition of the holiday.

The Barbie – Día de Muertos – is beautifully designed by Javier Meabe, who originally crafted her in 2019 as a special edition.

She was so well-received that Mattel is planning on making her an annual release, and Meabe issued a press release to talk about how she’ll be the same – and different.

“Adding new textures, fabrics, flowers, and a new dress silhouette were ways to introduce the new elements to the second doll while still keeping the traditional elements that are important to the Día de Muertos celebration. Traditions like marigolds, skeleton details, and Calaveras makeup were elements that I knew we had to keep but introduce in a new way.”

Romper reported that the new doll wears a pale pink lace hook skirt that’s underlaid with a colorful floral pattern (and some skulls), while the original version wore a black, trumpet dress adorned with butterflies and flowers.

The special edition version wore her hair in two long braids, black with blue highlights, while the 2020 version will have a braided updo set with matching flowers.

Both wear the skull-like makeup that is traditional on the day.

Día de Muertos is said to be the say when the dead return to their families to enjoy food, music, and memories. It begins at midnight on Halloween, with children arriving first and adults 24 hours later.

If you’re looking to incorporate the tradition – or continue to celebrate it – in your home, you can preorder the 2020 doll for $75.

I think both of these dolls are just beautiful, and would have a hard time letting a child play with them, to be honest!

Also, not to sound old, but man, Barbie dolls are certainly pricier than they used to be!

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People Discuss Their Favorite Memories From Going to School

We all tend to look at the past through rose-colored glasses…at least a little bit.

When I look back on my school days, especially high school, it seems like it was all fun and games and having a blast with my friends.

But I know that, in reality, certain days were really difficult and I was pretty unhappy for stretches of time.

But I have a lot of wonderful memories from those years, too.

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about their favorite memorial from when they went to school.

1. Sounds fun!

“My 3rd grade class had a “reading loft”.

It was a pretty good sized “fort” (probably taking up 1/3 of the classroom) covered in carpet and had lots of cool places to hang out if you wanted to read.

The teacher incentivized us to finish work early so we could grab a book and head to the “reading loft” so we didn’t have to hang out at our desks being bored.”

2. A nice gesture from Dad.

“I got bullied a lot in middle school.

One day in math I’d just been overwhelmed and couldn’t take anymore so I called my dad and begged him to pick me up. He told me I’d be alright and just ignore it.

20 minutes later I got called to the office for check out and he took me to get my favorite food and spent the afternoon in the park with me. RIP old man, that was one of the best days of my entire life.”

3. Field trip.

“In third grade, it was some reading appreciation week, and we decided as a class to visit a cemetery.

Granted it’s a pretty famous cemetery with a couple of really important people buried there, and we had a scavenger hunt to find them. Along with like the oldest grave we could find, the biggest, and we had to make a rubbing of one of our choosing.

As a strange child, it was the best field trip I had ever been on.”

4. New BFF.

“When I was in second grade, I got bullied because my whole family was deaf.

One kid kept picking on me everyday. Well one day he came up to me and started screaming, saying can your mom hear me, and this tall girl stepped in and punched him in the face.

She got suspended, but no one ever made fun of me again. We became best friends after that.”

5. Look out!

“Every morning my teacher will ask us questions about history if we get it right he would give us a snicker bar.

But this the funny part, he would throw the snickers bar at us real hard. So if get the question right you would had to dodge the fast moving snickers.”

6. Who’s the biggest fan?

“I was a terrible student and a huge baseball fan growing up. In 6th grade I had an English teacher who knew I wasn’t dumb, just hard to motivate.

She privately offered me an extra credit assignment, all I had to do was write a 2 page essay on any topic I liked at all explaining why I liked it so much. I straight up turned down her offer, being content with my C- grade.

So she flipped it around on me and publicly told another guy in my class that since HE was the biggest Red Sox fan in the class, he should write a 2 page essay about the Red Sox and present it to the class.

I practically jumped out of my seat and said I was a way bigger Red Sox fan than Mike and I should be the one writing that essay. She let us both write one. She was a really good teacher”

7. Now THAT’S a good memory.

“Skipping out on a Monday to drive to the city 5 hours away to see Iron Maiden in concert in December 1984!”

8. The good old days.

“The record for most milk cartons drank before throwing up was 26 by the time I graduated.

They started suspending anyone who tried to break the record because they were cleaning up milk puke so often.”

9. Epic!

“Nickelodeon took over my school when I was in the 2nd grade. All the Nickelodeon celebrities were there.

Mr. Wizard did cool science experiments, Barth did gross stuff with food, Marc Summers had the Super Sloppy Double Dare obstacle course we could go through and teachers got slimed and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles put on a concert.

It was literally a dream come true. And then at the end we all got free backpacks filled with Nickelodeon swag. I still think about that day.”

10. Keeping the kids interested.

“Listening to my middle school history teacher give her lectures.

In her heart of hearts she was a storyteller and always knew how to keep me captivated.”

11. A nice reminder.

“On my first day of school, my mom sent little Debbie pumpkin smiley faces in my lunch.

Fast forward a couple of years, and due to my dads dangerous mental state, I had been in long term physical rehab, recovering from a gunshot, and living in a group home for about 6 months before my uncle got custody of me, halfway across the country.

There I was, in a different state, with different weather, at a new school where I didn’t know anybody, and I open my lunchbox, and there’s my pumpkin snack cakes.”

12. Going back in time.

“My 5th grade teacher brought in an actual 1700s musket to show us during the Revolutionary War unit.

I’ll never forget that honestly. Especially considering that would NEVER fly in schools today.”

13. Congrats!

“My last day of high school, actually. It was our graduation ceremony. The school made me sit with a bunch of kids I don’t know. Others were allowed to sit with whoever they want. The school didn’t tell us anything, just made us sit there.

Apparently my stupid *ss got the highest standardized exam grade in a subject and I was sat there because those kids got the highest grades too, in other subjects. I honestly did not see that coming at all, but I was so happy and proud of myself.”

14. Nap time!

“When I was on 8th grade a Friday at 6:40am we were at Biology class, all of us including the teacher were still sleepy, one of my classmates fell asleep and the teacher said: “I know all of you still sleepy, like yesterday everyone of you did a good work I will let you sleep half of the class”.

He also fell asleep, but he forgot to wake us up until the bell rang. Biology class lasts two hours.”

In the comments, tell us about some of your favorite memories from school.

We’d love to hear from you.

Please and thank you!

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Tweets From Parents That Sum Up Distance Learning

There have been no easy decisions for parents, educators, or any of us over the past few months. Some parents have chosen to take their chances, or feel as if they don’t have a choice in sending their kids to in-person school.

Others, though, are tackling “distance learning,” which is not supposed to be like homeschooling, but kind of is.

And these 17 tweets show us just how well (or not) everyone is coping.

17. Kids gonna be kids.

They’re never going to change, and honestly, would you want them to?

16. This is honestly how I feel in meetings.

And I’m an adult. Technically.

15. Feeling her teacher’s pain now, aren’t you?

Donate all the extra school supplies next year.

14. We all should have just taken the year off.

Unschooling, I believe it’s called.

13. Somehow, that’s the least of our problems.

We’ve definitely got more than 99.

12. You have to stay on top of them.

No relaxing allowed.

11. They’re never on mute when you want them to be.

It’s one of the laws of the universe.

10. I fail to see the issue.

Everyone likes to see pets.

9. How are teachers supposed to prepare for this?

They’re not, and they need booze for the holidays.

8. People love to learn the hard way.

It’s just who we are.

7. That’s a 10 minute conversation.

Or longer, tbh, depending on how old the kids are.

6. You do what you have to do.

No one is judging you. We’re crying in our own pantries.

5. These are important updates, people.

We’re all wondering whether or not the tooth fairy showed up yet.

4. I’m sure she played it off like she wasn’t talking about Zoom.

But we all know she was talking about exactly that, because we feel the same way.

3. Make him walk the dog.

That’s more exercise than I ever got in gym class.

2. Is that all?

Seems like a conservative estimate.

1. And then you have to explain you were talking to the dog.

Or just go ahead and die of embarrassment.

 

We’re going to make it, y’all. We are.

If you’re distance learning, which one of these hit you the hardest? Tell us in the comments!

 

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People Talk About What’s Common in Their Country but Rare in Other Parts of the World

Doesn’t traveling to a far and distant country sound incredible right about now?

Because of this seemingly never-ending pandemic we’re going through, it looks like it might be a while before we can venture to another part of the world…but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it happens sooner than later.

Because traveling exposes us to different cultures, languages, customs, foods, etc. And it’s great to get outside our comfort zones and to learn about different people. So let’s do some more of that!

AskReddit users talked about things that are common in their countries but rare in other parts of the world.

1. Sounds delightful.

“Such cheap olive oil.

And eating incredinly late.

Lunch is more or less at 1-3 pm, and dinner at 9-10 pm.

That is why in Spain we have snacks between foods.”

2. This has to be in Scandinavia.

“Saunas in most apartments or at least apartment buildings, haven’t lived in a building that doesn’t have one.

A lot of great well known (and underground) metal bands.

And a nuclear power plant that is at this point 11 years behind schedule and according to Wikipedia the 3rd most expensive building in the world.”

3. Paradise.

“Bagged milk, legal weed and fermented maple syrup.”

4. Free drinks.

“Milk dispensers at school cafeterias (or restaurants but it’s not as common).

I live in Sweden where food and drinks such as water and milk is provided free for students.

Whenever I tell someone outside of Scandinavia that we have milk dispensers they’re always very surprised.”

5. USA!

“Root beer.

In America this is widely available and basically universally liked, but give it to someone from another country, especially a European country, and they will hate it.”

6. India.

“Cheap Streaming subscriptions.

In my country a pack for Disney+, HBO, Showtime, ABC, Live Sports and a lot more, costs less than 2 dollars a month.

Yes 2 dollars TOTAL.”

7. I need this in my life.

“They look like snowballs in size and shape, but they’re made of potatoes and boiled, with a piece of meat inside for flavoring. You eat it with sausage, fat’n’bacon and kohlrabi/carrot puree.

It’s not as common as it used to be because it’s mainly grandmas that used to make it.

Also known as “komle”. In some places they simply refer to them as “potato balls.””

8. The paranormal.

“In Mexico we experience paranormal stuff very close. Even people like me, who doesn’t believe in it, have parents, siblings, children or grandparents who have experienced ghosts or other entities very close.

Not in the “friend of my friend” kind of way. It is really really common to be in the same room, and someone just says: “I saw my great-grandfather coming out from the well” or stuff like that.

And nobody makes a fuss about it. We just process it and move on. But really, I don’t know anybody who hasn’t experienced a close encounter with something paranormal in one way or another.

And again, I’m an atheist and a skeptic. I haven’t experienced something at first hand. And that makes me an exception. Not the average.”

9. Probably not these days.

“Drinking a hot drink from an hollowed pumpkin through a metal straw and sharing it with others all drinking from the same straw.”

10. Interesting.

“The Swastika.

Although a banned Nazi symbol as assumed by others, a swastika is actually a symbol of divinity and purity so you will see that alot in my country.”

11. Drink up!

“Underage drinking.

I live in Belgium and everyone does it from the moment they’re 14.”

12. Not cheap.

“Expensive fuel.

A liter of gasoline costs like €1.

It might not sound much, but look at the average wage of a working class Romanian.”

13. Corruption.

“Drinking at the age of 12.

And bribing police, politicians, and basically everyone.

Welcome to Greece.”

Do you have any insights about things that are common in your country but not in other parts of the world?

If so, please talk to us in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!

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