fact
Three german students got sued by their alma mater for 10,000€ because they graduated “too fast”. They completed their bachelors and masters degree within 4 instead of 11 semesters by attending different lectures and sharing notes. Then they founded a ghostwriting agency.
The post Three german students got sued… appeared first on Crazy Facts.
For people who don’t have much firsthand experience being around or working with people with disabilities, there can definitely be a learning curve while figuring out the appropriate way to navigate the day-to-day.
How can we learn, though, if the people who are living their lives with disabilities feel as if it’s rude to speak up and correct us when we’re wrong?
Of course, not everyone is up for learning a better way, and perhaps that’s why this wheelchair-bound student felt like they might have been in the wrong after correcting a teacher who continually made comments about her wheelchair.
OP (Original Poster) is a wheelchair user and has had the same chair for 7 years. She’s currently saving up to buy a new chair, but in the meantime, she’s been made aware (often and repeatedly) by an English teacher that hers is beat up and makes a “distracting” noise in class.
I’m 18f, have a pretty messed up pair of legs, have had since birth, I can walk but am an ambulatory wheelchair user. I’m currently due an upgrade for my chair, I’ve had it close to 7 years and it’s a bit messed up. It’s gotten pretty uncomfortable and it makes noise but like I said, I’ve had it 7 years and I’ve grown rather attached to it. We’re saving to pay for the new one at the moment.
I have one teacher, my English teacher, who constantly makes comments about how banged up looking it is, and gets pretty pissed any time I dare move and it makes noise. She says it’s distracting. The comments about the appearance of the chair annoy me a lot because it’s hardly going to look brand new after 7 years of constant use.
OP lost her cool finally and told the teacher that if it bothered her so much, perhaps she’d like to pony up the dough for a new one.
The teacher seemed slightly chastised.
She made a comment this morning along the lines of “You know, you should really get a new one, that one looks like it’s about to collapse under you”.
I got really mad about this and I said, “You know what, if you think I should get a new chair so bad, you can pay the nearly 4 grand it’s gonna cost or you can stop making nasty comments about something that literally doesn’t affect you.”
A boy in her class, though, thought she didn’t need to be that rude – not everyone knows how these processes work, right?
She didn’t really look at me until the end of the class but the boy who sits besides me said it was slightly a**holish as she probably didn’t realize how difficult the process was.
AITA?
Reddit’s getting ready to weigh in on whether or not this young lady was in the wrong, so let’s see what they had to say!
They pointed out that a teacher commenting on a student’s lacking in any physical area really points to a lack of training and empathy in the first place.
Image Credit: Reddit
Most agreed the teacher was in the wrong, and needed to be educated.
Image Credit: Reddit
No one likes distracting noises, but it’s the adult’s job to realize what’s in a kid’s control and what is not.
Image Credit: Reddit
And in case you’re wondering, this is America. Of course her wheelchair is not covered by insurance.
Image Credit: Reddit
Some things need to be discussed in private.
Image Credit: Reddit
The girl could have been more tactful, but it sounds as if her frustrations were building up to a boiling point, and just finally exploded.
Given the imbalance of power in this relationship, it’s a no-brainer that the teacher, not the kid, is the a$$hole.
What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments!
The post Was a Wheelchair-Bound Student Wrong For Asking Their Teacher To Stop Pointing Out Her Disability? appeared first on UberFacts.
There’s a reason they say you should never meet your heroes, and it’s because there’s a very good chance that they’re going to disappoint you.
It could be because you realize they’re just human, but it’s also just as likely that they’re complete jerks in reality and your perception will be forever tarnished.
We can’t help but spend time with our teachers, though, and most of us at one time or another has put one of them up on a pedestal.
I would think that most of us – like these 15 people – have also watched one topple off.
When he popped up in the local paper for being a nonce.
This guy was That Teacher that everyone wanted as their teacher in primary school (up to age 10-11). He was funny, he made jokes, he wrote his own assemblies and school plays. We all thought he was such a cool teacher, not like the other stuffy teachers.
And I remember he always used to give special attention to kids in the class who were perhaps a bit poor or a bit slower academically – seat them in front of his desk and give them extra coaching and encouragement. And at the time everyone said how nice he was for doing that, but with hindsight he was picking them out and grooming them. Absolutely turns my stomach.
When he’d shamelessly flirt with high school girls. This teacher was the girls varsity basketball coach, and every year there were rumors about him having s^x with a couple of them.
I’m sure most of those rumors are exaggerated, but one girl admitted years later that she had s^x with him on multiple occasions when she was 17/18 (this was in the late 80’s – the teacher was about 35-40 at the time and married).
When they bullied my friend to the point where she wanted to end her life.
We were in the third grade and she would always yell/taunt students, make fun of people with disabilities and flip out over the smallest of things. However, I assumed that this was how life was suppose to be as I had a similar childhood with my peers and home. I felt miserable, but she always helped me with my schoolwork because I was delayed as a child, so that made me like her more than my classmates. She didn’t ignore me like everyone else would, so I really liked that.
But that all changed when I was over at my friend’s home one day and she told me in secrecy that she wanted to end her life. She made a detailed plan and tried to give me something valuable of hers (a my little pony doll). At the time, she was not in a good home situation either and the teacher made her life miserable, since she would specifically target her.
My friend told me not to tell anyone, but I got my grandparents involved. They got her the help she needed and she’s still alive and my best friend to this day. She doesn’t know that I’m the one that told and I don’t even know if she remembers.
I tried bringing it up once in high school because it was relevant to the topic we were on about anyways, but she seemed totally confused. Not upset, just had no idea what I was talking about.
I am so glad that she’s alive though because she’s absolutely amazing. I hope that she actually doesn’t remember feeling that way. No one should.
At my high school a teacher/volley coach douche man was popular with the girls and a bunch of the normies thought he was cool cause he had nice cars.
He banged one of the girls who was 14. He was probably 40 and he was married. He also had a daughter who was 16 who went to the school.
This was in 2003. He got 11 years.
When I saw his mugshot show up on local news along with “statutory rape” and “16-year old girl”.
Doesn’t help that I was one of the only two girls in his class…
When he got drunk and beat the shit out of his then-girlfriend for turning down his marriage proposal
He locked her into her bedroom and ripped the phone out of the wall before leaving. Her brother found her the next day
There was a teacher at my school who everyone loved, he’d always try make lessons super fun. Well he got a new job and tons of us wanted to keep in touch with him because we all viewed him as a cool guy.
I think I was 14 at the time he left my school and every now and then we’d exchange emails but nothing much was said that’s noteworthy. When I turned 17 he emailed and I was pleasantly surprised as it had been a while since we last spoke. He mentioned he wanted to visit my hometown in the summer, I assumed to see family. Then mentioned there was someone he wanted to meet.
Eventually he said it was someone he really missed and then said that it was someone from school. He didn’t say it was me outright but I began to feel really uncomfortable and stopped replying. Eventually he wrote telling me to just forget it, he’s really sorry and tried to change the topic.
I blocked his email and never told anyone. Even now old school friends reminisce about how cool a guy he was and I keep quiet because what do I say? Anyways that’s my weird teacher story.
I started out thinking my art teacher was all right..
Then I drew something and he started laughing really hard and exclaimed to me really loudly so the whole class could hear: “this looks like something a five year old drew”
When I asked for an academic reference after leaving school. For 8 years she was my head of year and history teacher for 4 of those. Called me a star pupil, we had in jokes, I gave her gifts at the end of each academic year. But suddenly 3 years after I left, she “didn’t know me well enough” to write one. I was really disappointed and tbh a little heartbroken.
I complained to some school friends who mostly weren’t surprised and said they’d all found her two faced and didn’t like her back then. I was the only one who thought she was amazing and inspiring.
Later in life I’ve had university lecturers happily give me references without batting an eyelid, 5 years after completing their modules.
I was in beginning pottery my freshman year of high school, and the task was to make a lidded pot, so I decided to make mine shaped like Yoshi, with his head/back as the lid.
I was told it was childish and he wouldn’t put it in the kiln.
I had to start from scratch and didn’t have enough time to finish before it was due, so I got an F.
I still finished the class with an A, but I’m also still kinda peeved by the whole interaction.
I developed a very close bond with them similar to what you said. He’d call on me in class a lot and joked that he knew I already knew the answers. He let me go beyond time limits on presentations. We’d talk a lot before and after class, outside of school have long discussions at the library, etc.
He seemed really intelligent and wise.
It took me a while to understand why a lot of other students didn’t like him and resented me for our close bond. Also didn’t understand why after my dad met him and they talked for half an hour he asked me not to be alone with him.
Long story short, I later found out he had been singling out and befriending black kids in his class and that he had very radical political and religious views that he was trying to groom them into. I didn’t really believe it at first but he’s very open about it on social media, like really messed up stuff I wouldn’t otherwise know existed.
I basically didn’t have history class in 10th grade because the teacher was so lazy and apathetic.
The students loved that we had “free days” every other day, and most of the “class” when it wasn’t a free day was him putting a random movie on while he sat on his computer.
I had a teacher in grade 5 that I thought was really cool,I met him again in high school…he kept getting transferred from one school to another because if he got angry at a student he would hurt them (I’ve seen him pick up a student and desk and throw them).
Rumor has it that in the previous school he broke a student’s collar bone.
When my history teacher cheated on his wife, who was a teacher at the same school, with another teacher and took her and her kids secretly to Disney world before ever taking his original family there. Sad.
Everyone loved one of my high school music teachers. Well…I should say all the students loved him. A lot of the rest of the department would put on a brave face, but then stories started circulating about how he’d fuck over his coworkers without giving it a second thought. But when you’re a student, you don’t really know the ins and outs of faculty politics. (Or at least students shouldn’t.)
Fast forward a number of years. A couple years after graduating from college, I wind up back in my hometown as a music teacher. The popular high school teacher had gotten his administration degree and was now the principal of the building I was assigned to work in. And he was terrible. TERRIBLE. Completely incompetent. Rude and unpleasant. Tried to use his physical size to intimidate people (in a building mostly staffed by women). I have stories.
Someone who was vaguely aware of the history but not the specifics once said to me, “Oh, isn’t it so nice that you’re working with one of your favorite teachers now!” I told her the truth – every good memory I had of being one of his students was erased by what a horrible principal he was.
We want to believe the best of the people who claim to care about us, but it’s just not true that they’ll never let us down.
What story would you add to this list? Tell us about it in the comments!
The post People Remember the Moment They Realized Their Favorite Teacher Was a Jerk appeared first on UberFacts.
In all professions, there are people who are in it for the wrong reasons. Bad apples, as they say.
That said, most of the people who get into teaching do it because they love children, and they see teaching those children is akin to shaping the future of our world.
If you want to be reminded that this fact is so, so true, then you need these 14 wholesome posts in your life – get ready to smile.
And now it’s made us smile, too.
Especially if there are people in our lives who tell us differently.
And they learned something in the process.
Above and beyond, but still her job.
Everyone knows that.
They want us to succeed.
Bless her heart.
I want to give this man a hug. Once he gets away from the anthill.
They don’t need it, but they like it.
But they prepare them all for good things.
Alllll of the feelings.
This teacher surely burst into tears.
I’d never seen it before!
Always with a smile.
I just can’t wipe the grin off my face, y’all.
If you’ve got a sweet story about a teacher, share it with us in the comments!
The post Wholesome Posts That Prove Teachers Sure Are Lovable appeared first on UberFacts.
I think teaching is weird and wonderful work. You get to teach and love and shape a generation of kids, and if you do it right, you end up with a whole lot of awesome people who love you.
It can also be trying – between parents and administration and kids being kids, there’s a lot that goes on in a day that’s not going to be a highlight, exactly.
Like taking away things kids brought to class that they shouldn’t have.
If you think nothing can surprise you, step into the shoes of these 17 teachers, who have had to confiscate some pretty weird stuff.
Forks. Yeah, for real.
I had to take away all the plastic forks at lunch time until the sixth grade boys stopped shoving them down the butt cracks of their friends.
Fun times!
It was December or January and we were having one of those “lockdowns” where the police come in with dogs to sniff for drugs. We were all locked in our classrooms and no students were allowed out, even to visit the restroom.
One of my students was white as a ghost, very afraid. I asked him what’s the matter, but it was obvious he was afraid he was about to get busted. He said “Do you think the dogs will go to my locker?” I said “I don’t know, do you have something to be worried about?” He said “There’s a ham and cheese sandwich in there.”
I scratched my head a bit, “I’m sure it’s no problem to have a sandwich.” He said, “Yeah, but it’s been in there since September.”
A whole salami.
Kid kept walking over to his backpack and sticking his face in to take secret bites without me noticing….
I noticed.
Another student’s tooth. That he had fished out of the trash can.
That he was going to add to his tooth collection.
This is my brother’s story, and he was the kid.
It was a sandwich bag full of spiders. He collected them during recess, and one of the monitors probably got freaked out.
Eyeballs. I worked with a blind student with autism.
When he would get angry, he would pop out his glass eyeballs and throw them across the room.
They were expensive, so mom asked that we put them in a plastic bag in his backpack if he threw them….
No more eyeballs for you today!
There was a boy in my seventh grade class that wasn’t allowed to have coins because he’d eat them.
My mother was a primary school teacher. One day many many years ago she was working as a supply teacher filling in for an absent teacher.
It was late 80’s and Casio watches were all the rage. Every hour, on the hour, many watches would sound a chime to signal the start of a new hour. My mother had been hearing chimes and alarms going off all day and she announced “the next watch I hear beeping is coming home with me tonight”.
Moments later a watch chimed. It was my brothers
First thing that came to mind – a drawing of a peanut.
One kid said he had a peanut allergy, so a boy drew a peanut on a piece of paper, and started shoving it in the other boy’s face and being a general dick with it.
Not me, but my co teacher tells the story of having to take a vibrator away from a student during band class.
The only reason he knew the kid had it was because the kid tried to play the xylophone with the thing.
Handcuffs.
From an 8 year old girl. Not quite police grade, but more than just some “adult fun” cuffs.
Sent that down to the counselor.
In middle school we had a special currency that they’d hand out to students for helping out or being kind that would then be able to be used to buy books or other small trinkets.
Somehow during the year I obtained a bunch of dental plaque pills. They turn the plaque on your teeth a certain color to help you brush your teeth I guess (in this case it was a dark purple) and I didn’t brush my teeth very well at the time so taking one would make my entire mouth a deep purple color. I thought I’d freak out my school friends with one and they all thought it was really cool and wanted to know how I did it. So I bring some more the next day and give a couple out to friends who then show other kids and tell them that I can make their mouths purple too.
So next day I brought all my plaque pills to school and start charging 1$ in school currency for 1 pill. Sometimes if a kid didn’t have money I’d make them give me whatever cool stuff they had that I needed (keychains, pencil sharpeners, whatever they were willing to trade). And of course all these other middle schoolers didn’t do a good job of brushing their teeth either so every kid I sold a pill too ended up with a dark purple color coating their entire mouth.
Well a bunch of kids mouths turning purple was quickly noticed by multiple staff members (who would’ve guessed) and apparently I went to school with a bunch of little narcs because very quickly I found myself in the principal’s office. They took all my pills, my school money and most of the other items that they were able to prove didn’t belong to me (even though I traded it fair and square). Principal was livid.
All I remember of the end result was waiting in the office getting yelled at by the principal zoning off as I imagined all the ways I was going to get my a$s beat when my dad eventually came to pick me up and this angry principal told him all about my little operation. But miraculously some lady came out of a room saying “Hey Principal your meeting is starting right now we can’t wait any longer.” and the Principal looking frustrated but telling me that they would be right back and that I was still in a lot of trouble. And as soon as they walked into another room my dad walked in and asked if i was ready to go which was answered with a very hasty “yup”.
The rest of the year felt like some weird twilight zone. None of the other kids mentioned it again. Dad never mentioned it. Staff never mentioned it. Never talked to the principal again (and made sure to avoid them like the plague). I NEVER GOT IN TROUBLE. And I will never understand how.
We had a fifth grade student of a police officer cuff his friend to the play structure on the playground a few years back.
Had to call the campus cop over to figure it out; poor lad didn’t look any worse for wear, just had to chill alone outside for a bit while his friends got back to class.
An entire menagerie of live insects. One afternoon my class decided that they should see how many bugs they could capture and keep alive in my classroom. The next day, I returned from covering lunch duty in another part of the school and noticed that one of the cubbies had paper towel taped over the front like a curtain. Before I could investigate, I noticed several Tupperware containers hiding in desks.
Dozens of worms (that was the cubby) Many assorted beetles Uncounted ants 4 bees A wasp And, most upsetting, several flies which were crazy glued to index cards and had their wings removed.
That was a long day in a long year.
A small trinket box (about palm sized), decorated with gems and glitter, with a live mouse inside.
The mouse was named Jimmy and had been caught in the child’s house.
Instant pudding.
My student was mixing it in a large Cool Whip container, using milk from lunch, right in the middle of a lesson on Macbeth.
Christmas ornaments.
They were throwing them at each other and it eventually caused a fight.
Next to that would be a curtain rod.
He found it and kept hitting people with it.
Kids never cease to amaze me, and I mean that in every way possible.
If you’re a teacher, add your weird item to this list in the comments!
The post Teachers Share the Strangest Items They’ve Ever Confiscated appeared first on UberFacts.
There are a ton of woeful tales about things gone wrong during those days, weeks, and months of remote learning. No one was really prepared, and we’ve all been learning on the fly, so if you consider both of those things, we’re doing pretty well.
The funny stories are the ones that keep us going, if you ask me – they remind us no one knows what they’re doing, and that laughter is the thing that will get us through.
Someone accidentally joined with a video camera and he was full on naked in front of the class.
Teacher was a 60 year old woman in health class and it was just full on awkward the entire class.
One of my friends screamed as loud as he could “OH FU*K” When my teacher asked him what was wrong he said, and I quote. “Sorry i just got attacked by my rooster.”
My teacher was just like Will, show me your rooster, he then proceeded to go outside and show my teacher his 10 chickens. Literally wasted half a class and was an absolute legend.
Our geography teacher accidentally left her screenshare on, went to her email, and clicked on a message, the first sentence of which was:
“Dear [our teacher’s name] I’m so sorry about your divorce with Jeremy.”
She never realized.
Some guy I know took a crap with his mic on unknowingly.
It was silent, then just a little ‘plop’. I’m dying just thinking about it.
I had a 9 am class and the professor was being so obnoxiously loud and a student didn’t know their mic.
Was on and called the professor annoying and said he was going to jerk off to pass time.
First day of online classes with a very respected professor.
Of the 10 people participating, 5 had their camera on and I among these five.
I noticed my cat moving behind me and, out of nowhere, the teacher shouts: “THE CAT FELL OUT OF THE BED !!”.
At least it helped with breaking the ice…
I teach college students.
Boyfriend of one of my students walked by naked in the background during lecture.
I think he had just gotten out of the shower.
My algebra teacher has a cat who is very clingy and loves her a lot. So often she’ll be doing a lesson and her cat will be sitting on the desk nearby.
One time, my teacher was using highlighters on some notes and Bella(the cat) suddenly grabbed one, the class heard my teacher trying to grab the highlighters from the cat when suddenly Bella’s face reappeared on camera with a highlighter smear across her nose. It was really cute , highlight of my day.
A bunch of boys in my AP English class decided one Friday to turn their cameras on and wear hats, like sombreros, cowboy hats, and fedoras. The teacher found it comical and went to his closet to get himself a hat as well and sunglasses.
In the end there were around ten people wearing hats and sunglasses in the meeting.
kind of funny, my whole class watched as our professor fell off his chair, stood up, and started screaming for his wife to call the ambulance his arm was broken.
I guess he was in shock or something because then he continued with the lesson for another 45 minutes until paramedics had arrived stabilized him and were ready to take him to the hospital. He then told us to have a good day and that we would end today’s lesson a bit earlier.
Daughter’s a Special Ed Preschool teacher. On Zoom. It’s as hilarious as it sounds.
She discovered that when she loses internet, Zoom chooses a Cohost if one isn’t assigned.
A 3yo became Cohost until she could get back online (using a phone tether).
Her aide is now the permanent cohost.
Someone just straight up typed the word “po*n” In the chat with no context.
I’m pretty sure he meant to type it into Google…
These are downright hilarious, and I love the human factor it’s giving to people’s teachers and professors.
If you’ve been doing remote school, share your funniest stories with us down in the comments!
The post More Hilarious Stories from Remote School appeared first on UberFacts.
When I was young and hungry for adventure, I wish I would have taught English abroad.
What an amazing experience it must be!
Getting paid to immerse yourself in a completely different place, life, and culture?
Here is what 12 young people had to say about why they went, and how teaching English can be as life-changing as it is scary.
Like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. It’s a great way to put off the real world just a little while longer.
Image credit: Whisper
There’s nothing quite like an adventure on your own. It can really show you the truth of who you are.
Image credit: Whisper
After the hurdle of deciding to go, then you gotta get there.
Image credit: Whisper
No matter what you’ve seen and done before.
Image credit: Whisper
There’s nothing quite so frightening as the unknown.
Image credit: Whisper
What an amazing opportunity!
Image credit: Whisper
But experiencing different cultures is how we learn and grow and become more accepting.
Image credit: Whisper
But learning how to deal with annoying people is part of the experience.
Image credit: Whisper
Oops. Just roll with is.
Image credit: Whisper
It’s good to show both sides of things I guess.
Image credit: Whisper
But the friendships will be so worth it.
Image credit: Whisper
But if you found your calling, there’s no reason not to stay.
Image credit: Whisper
All this talk about traveling and new experiences–these certainly gave me the urge to get out there and try something different.
What about you? Did you ever think about teaching English abroad? Share your story in the comments.
The post People Discuss How Teaching Abroad Can Be Both Amazing and Terrifying appeared first on UberFacts.
When I was in high school, I worked hard to maintain straight A’s. As far as I can remember I never got less than an A- overall in a class.
It was a private high school with fairly rigorous standards and my self-imposed striving for perfection was absolutely brutal.
Then I went to college and got a C in my very first English class.
Why? To this day I don’t know, but it was liberating. Because in that moment, perfection was no longer attainable, and with that burden finally gone, I was able to relax a little into the experience, and realize that forever after, literally nobody would care about my GPA.
You learn lots of stuff like that once you actually get to college. Stuff like this:
And it will always make you late.
Yesterday a girl walked into class with an iced coffee and my prof told her she couldn’t have it so she just walked out and never came back and I can’t stop thinking about it
— Rachel Walters (@rachelhelenw) January 31, 2019
There will always be only one person in the group who cares. Pray that person is not you.
Welcome to college. Where every single person is smarter than you except for the 3 people in your group project.
— Casey Wright
(@WrightToLife) October 11, 2018
The thing you’re really paying for is enforced deadlines to learn things by.
“How do you describe college?”
I’m teaching myself a class that I’m paying for
— Frosty (@Alex_Welch88) October 7, 2018
Campuses that are not in big cities pretend they have city transit for some reason and it makes no sense.
STOP ENCOURAGING EVERYONE TO GO TO COLLEGE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH PARKING
— Austin Sawyer (@_austinsawyer) August 29, 2017
By year three you’ll discover a room with a pool table you never knew existed.
How do people find their soul mate in the first 2 months of college it took me 4 months just to find the administration building
— Julia (@julliiab) January 21, 2016
Your mom is proud and that’s literally it.
some kid in the library is bragging loudly about how he got a 35 on the ACT well sir I signed up for the ACT but forgot I did and missed the test and we still ended up at the same school how does that make you feel
— s*d (@06fordexplorer) March 3, 2019
You build yourself up telling yourself it’s fine and in fact good to skip, then the guilt hits.
Y’all ever skip a class and then have the post skip class depression? Like damn I should’ve just went
— Pretty Flαcκo (@FlawlessArmani) November 20, 2018
Because you’ll realize it doesn’t matter a heck of a lot.
My first college test I got a 68 and actually cried in the classroom.
Today I got a 52 on an exam and I took myself out for chicken tenders
— gabbi (@thisbegrm) October 26, 2017
And it will get weird when you can’t nab it.
High school: "assigned seating is so stupid"
College: "why is he sitting in my seat? That's my seat… I sit there everyday"
— College Student (@ColIegeStudent) January 15, 2019
Things like this will just happen and there will be no accounting for them.
Any that present themselves that way are doing it wrong.
Best of luck, students!
What’s your school experience been like?
Tell us in the comments.
The post Truths About College That Your Teachers Won’t Tell You appeared first on UberFacts.
Reading can be tough to teach a reluctant kid, or one who struggles to learn letters. We all want our kids to succeed, though, and reading comprehension is one of the most important skills for success across the board.
So, if improving their vocabulary and comprehension was as easy as turning on the subtitles, why not give it a try?
A new organization called Turn On The Subtitles says it will do just that – and what’s more, if screen time doubles as reading time, do we have to feel so guilty when the kids get more than their pediatricians recommend?
Image Credit: Turn On The Subtitles
The group says that their studies have shown that watching television with the subtitles on can as much as double the odds of your kiddo becoming a good reader. If you’re reading and listening in the same language it’s really more closed captioning, which allows viewers to read, word for word, what’s being said on the screen.
We know our kids love the television shows and videos they beg to watch every day, and with the captions on, that love could translate easily into a joy for reading.
A comprehensive international review shows that “in an academic study of 2,350 children, 34% became good readers with schooling alone. But when exposed to 30 minutes a week of subtitled film songs, that proportion more than doubled to 70%.”
Actor and activist Stephen Fry has been tapped to herald the project, and you can hear what he has to say about the project in the video below.
Turn On The Subtitles says that even though the push has had the biggest impact in India, using subtitles to boost literacy has also been confirmed “in several English and non-English speaking countries,” and that “exposure to captions which match the sound directly can contribute to reading advancement and learning language.”
The program promises that the key to these gains is showing content that’s compelling to the viewer, and MIT’s John Gabrieli, a researcher in the field of cognitive neuroscience, explains that emotion and reason combine to “propel learning very powerfully.”
Read my lips: how lockdown TV could boost children’s literacy | Children's TV | The Guardian. Really like this clever, quick and simple way to get children reading more. #turnonthesubtitles https://t.co/3Yilshp53m
— CraigowlPSDundee (@CraigowlPrimary) February 28, 2021
Basically, they already like watching the programs, and by putting the words on the screen, their brain will begin to associate the pleasure of watching with the pleasure of reading.
Though it’s helpful to leave the subtitles on all the time, the activity works best with programs your kid has seen over and over again, because they know what’s coming next and will be more likely to read the words instead of watch the action.
Bonus, because we all know that kids watch the same thing over and over and over and never ever complain.
There you go – turn on your closed captions, pass it on, and relax about that screen time, mama.
It’s science.
The post This is Why Turning on the Subtitles Can Make Your Child a Better Reader appeared first on UberFacts.
Okay…he never said it was easy, just that it was easier, but I mean…are we buying that? I’m not someone who thinks any sort of math(s) are easy, not even the kind that sixth graders are assigned for homework, so I remain skeptical.
Still, let’s give Dr. Po-Shen Loh of Carnegie Mellon University a chance to explain himself, shall we?
Image Credit: YouTube
Quadratic equations are polynomials that include an x². Teachers use them to have students learn to seek two solutions at once, which typically involve methods like completing the square – but Dr. Loh turns finding roots into a few simpler, intuitive steps.
Polynomials are strings of math terms that can have one or many variables, and depending on how many times a line crosses any particular latitude or longitude, can have a solution with one value or two root values.
Image Credit: YouTube
Dr. Loh uses the idea of the two roots of every quadratic equation to make a simpler way to get to those roots by describing them this way: combined, they average out to a certain value, then there’s a value z that shows any additional unknown value. Instead of searching for two separate, different values, we’re searching for two identical values to begin with. This simplifies the arithmetic part fo multiplying the formula out.
He believes this is a more intuitive way for students to learn, since there’s no special or separate formula required – all students need to do is remember some simple generalizations about roots, and they can decide where to go next.
Image Credit: Dr. Loh
Since understanding quadratic equations is a key to grasping precalculus (and maths beyond), this could really help kids who are struggling.
If you ask Dr. Loh, what he’s tried to do is to build a bridge between understanding how concepts work in a classroom setting and ways to apply the ideas in the real world, and that’s pretty fun no matter who you are.
Here’s a video that explains the method in depth.
I’m still not sure that work as a mathematician is in my future, but I can understand enough of this to realize what a cool thing he’s done for students all over the world.
If you are a math person, tell us what you think of this development down in the comments!
The post This is How a Mathematician Discovered an “Easy” Way to Do Quadratic Equations appeared first on UberFacts.
