#teaching in the time of coronavirus

[kairolee2004]

Hello, may I request from Demon Slayer? The Reader takes (separately) their beloved partner into sauna and teaches them how to hit each other with vihta, how to jump into a cold lake or snow in the middle of the sauna, and how to throw more löyly to make it hotter? You can also enjoy cold drinks while in sauna to ease up the heat. Could I request this with Giyu, Sanemi, Gyomei, Kyojuro, and perhaps Tengen? THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Another Demon slayer ask already? Omg fun!! :)

Thanks to ________ for the request!!! <333

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sauna with… Giyu

• 🌊 It was already difficult enough to get Giyu to come on this mission with you up to the frozen mountains.

• 🌊 Of course it was even more difficult to get him into the sauna!

•🌊 He kept saying that it was a waste of time to stop at the inn when you guys were miles away from the location.

•🌊 With a little convincing and promises of kisses and cuddles later throughout the night… HE ACCEPTED!

• 🌊 As ya’ll sat in the sauna relaxing, Giyu looked at you. He saw how relaxed you looked and kinda loved it.

“You know reader… seeing you like this. All warm and calm, it makes me so happy that I came on this mission with you. Not saying that it isn’t a pleasure being around you!”

• 🌊 You sure as hell were happy that you brought your lovely partner.

======================

Sauna with… Sanemi

•🍃 This man likes them- PLEASE DO FIGHT ME ON THIS!

•🍃 Feels like Sanemi dragged you to a sauna. Gave the excuse that he’s always ‘sore’ and that he needs to ‘relax’ a lot of the time.

•🍃 Gotta believe the man because he’s paying for most of the stuff.

•🍃 He likes it when the people put in lavender scents. It of course calms both of you down.

•🍃 Cuddles or holds you throughout the whole time y’all are there.

“What? Ok what if I want to hold you, it doesn’t mean anything. I just care about you idiot!”

======================

Sauna with… Gyomei

•📿 Goes to the sauna 2 times a week!!!

•📿 If he could, man could have a membership!!! Have all the sweet deals and high quality stuff.

•📿Takes you to places like that very often.

•📿 The owners love him and very much adore you!

•📿 Holds onto you the whole time.

•📿 While your talking and holding onto him, he has some… non-holy thoughts about you and he needs to pray STAT!

“My darling, you sound so happy and calm and it brings me so much happiness that you are comfortable around me. Thank you for your love.”

======================

Sauna with… Kyojuro

•🍱 This man definitely orders drinks in mountains!!

•🍱 He’s got 5 drinks down before you can finish your first.

•🍱 Begging the owners if he can order food or even bring food bit sadly know.

•🍱 I feel like you would sneak in some sweet potatoes for him. You love him that much <3

•🍱 Would definitely secretly run out the front door and jump in the snow. Then run his cold ass back in the hot room.

•🍱 Definitely falls asleep.

====================

Thanks for reading!!! Sorry I wont be doing Tengen, I had things to due and I officially didn’t have energy to write for him and plus~ Im sick with a virus- NOT CORONAVIRUS!!!

See ya soon!!! - Cookie

Requests are: Open

#x reader #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer #gyomei himejima x reader #rengoku x reader #request idea #rengoku kyojuro x reader #sanemi shinazugawa #sanemi x reader #giyuu tomioka #giyu tomioka x reader #kny x reader

[beardedmrbean]

Even liberal San Francisco voters are getting tough on crime and public disorder.

Residents of the City by the Bay approved ballot measures Tuesday to set minimum police staffing levels, allow officers to chase suspects under reasonable suspicion they have committed or will commit a felony or nonviolent misdemeanor — with the help of drones — and set up public safety cameras that could use facial recognition technology to apprehend perps.

Another proposition that passed requires anyone who receives employment assistance, housing, shelter, utilities or food from city coffers to submit to drug screenings — and denies them those benefits unless they enter a treatment program.

The San Francisco Police Department had prohibited officers from pursuing nonviolent offenders unless there was an imminent risk to public safety.

Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, backed the ballot measures as she eyes re-election to a second full term in November — while facing challenges from Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive, and current and former city officials including ex-interim mayor Mark Farrell.

“We want San Francisco to be exactly what the people who live here want to see,” Breed said at a cocktail bar surrounded by supporters as the results rolled in Tuesday night, according to Politico. “And that is a safe, affordable place to call home.”

Voters also overwhelmingly approved tighter ethics rules for city employees regarding the receipt of gifts and mandating the teaching of Algebra I in schools by eighth grade.

Ballot measures allow voters to directly change laws during elections without the help of their elected officials.

Following a spate of state and local changes to crime policies in recent, San Francisco has been dogged by retail crime sprees, burglaries, rampant open-air drug use and public defecation.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, during a high-profile TV debate this past November against former San Francisco Mayor and current California Gov. Gavin Newsom, pointed to the city’s downfall as proof of failed liberal policies.

Dozens of big-name businesses have departed the city’s formerly bustling downtown area since 2020, the year after Breed was elected. Drug overdose deaths also hit a record high last year, with 806 recorded.

The descent into lawlessness was turbocharged by the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread rioting following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in summer 2020, as San Francisco and other cities embraced calls to defund law enforcement.

Breed supported a $120 million cut from the city’s police budget in 2020 — but reversed course the following year and pleaded with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to restore funding.

“I’m proud this city believes in giving people second chances,” she said in December 2021. “Nevertheless, we also need there to be accountability when someone does break the law … Our compassion cannot be mistaken for weakness or indifference … I was raised by my grandmother to believe in ‘tough love,’ in keeping your house in order, and we need that, now more than ever.”

The pivot to the center came just in time, as disgruntled San Francisco voters went on the following year to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a progressive prosecutor and former public defender.

Before that, parents had ousted three members of the city’s school board for pushing a progressive political agenda and keeping classrooms closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

A former city supervisor, Breed was elected mayor in 2018 to finish out the term of the late Ed Lee, who died in office. She was later elected to a five-year term in November 2019.

She is still working to regain the trust of law enforcement officials, however, with the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association saying in November that her “commitment to dismantling the criminal justice system has remained a focal point.”

Breed is battling a high disapproval rating, with 71% of likely general election voters taking exception to her job performance, according to a San Francisco Chronicle poll last month.

The city’s ranked-choice voting system could also throw a wrench into Breed’s re-election bid if she does not receive at least 50% support in the initial round, as second- and third-place candidates often receive more votes than those at the top of the ticket.

#nunyas news #whoopsie

[fairfieldthinkspace]

“The future belonged to the showy and the promiscuous”: Why the 21st Century Loves Edith Wharton

Emily J. Orlando

E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in the Humanities & Social Sciences and Professor of English

Fairfield University

Photo: John Singer Sargent, Sybil Frances Grey, later Lady Eden 1905.

If ever there were a good time to read the American writer Edith Wharton (1862-1937), who published over forty books across four decades, it’s now. Since the Wharton revival of the late 20th century, when directors were adapting (the Pulitzer-Prize winning) The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, The Buccaneers, and The House of Mirth, her star has continued to rise. As I yesterday prepared to teach The Custom of the Country, which many have called Wharton’s greatest novel, a friend texted me Sofia Coppola’s article on the surprising appeal of its social-climbing heroine. Coppola is developing Undine Spragg’s story for Apple TV. A kind of Gilded Age Material Girl, Undine has been ready for her close-up for years.

Coppola joins an impressive roster of contemporary admirers of Wharton that includes Roxane Gay, Laura Bush, Lisa Lucas, Peggy Noonan, Jennifer Egan, Stephin Merritt, Claire Messud, Meg Wolitzer, Mindy Kaling, Doug Hughes, Brandon Taylor, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ali Benjamin, Vendela Vida, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Kristin Hannah. At a time when publishing houses are compelled to scale back, new editions of Wharton’s books are appearing in print with introductions by Coppola, Egan, and Taylor.

Photo: Sofia Coppola.

Those who think they don’t know Wharton might be surprised to learn they do. A reverence for Wharton’s writings informs Sex and the City (whose pilot welcomes us to “the Age of Un-Innocence”), Gossip Girl, Downtown Abbey (whose “Lady Edith” suggests a nod to Wharton), and HBO’s The Gilded Age which, like Downton, is created by the Wharton-appreciating Julian Fellowes. His Bertha and George, after all, are named for the power couple from The House of Mirth.  

But why Wharton? Why now? Perhaps it’s because for all its new technologies, conveniences, and modes of travel and communication, our own “Gilded Age” is a lot like hers. For the post-war and post-flu-epidemic climate that engendered The Age of Innocence is not far removed from our post-COVID-19 reality. In both historical moments, citizens of the world have witnessed a retreat into conservativism and a rise of white supremacy. Fringe groups like the “Proud Boys” and “QAnon” and deniers of everything from the coronavirus to climate change and Sandy Hook are invited to the table in the name of free speech, and here Wharton’s distrust of false narratives resonates particularly well. Post-9/11 calls for patriotism and the alignment of the American flag with one political party harken back to Wharton’s poignant questioning, in a 1919 letter, of the compulsion to profess national allegiance:

how much longer are we going to think it necessary to be “American” before (or in contradistinction to) being cultivated, being enlightened, being humane, & having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries?[i]

Her cosmopolitan critique of nationalist fervor remains instructive to us today.

Edith Wharton seems to have foreseen the excesses, obsessions, and spectacles of our current moment. The scandals documented in Wharton’s narratives serve as harbingers of the sensations that flash across our hand-held screens. Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking touches on the same nerve as the sexual exploitation of minors in Wharton’s Summer (1917) and The Children (1928). The quid pro quo run-in between Wharton’s Lily Bart and Gus Trenor looks uncomfortably forward to Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo. The rise to power of Donald Trump would not surprise Edith Wharton.

Photo: “Vanity,” by Auguste Toulmouche, circa 1870.

Wharton’s tenacious Undine Spragg—as horrifying to progressive era readers as she is admired by Generation Z—can be conceived of as the original social media influencer conscious of her brand. For Undine and her creator know that “the future belonged to the showy and the promiscuous”[ii] and that the turn-of-the-century “world where conspicuousness passed for distinction”[iii] foreshadows our own. Wharton would describe Undine in terms we might use for a “Real Housewife of Park Avenue”: “If only everyone would do as she wished she would never be unreasonable” (162). Undine’s world encourages her to aspire to the rank of trophy wife and the sexual double standard dictating that “genius is of small use to a woman who does not know how to do her hair”[iv] would apply to Wharton herself who, on the 150th anniversary of her birth, would be assessed by a male novelist in terms of how she sizes up to Grace Kelly or Jackie Kennedy.[v]  The writer who would declare, in her wildly popular interior design manual The Decoration of Houses, privacy “one of the first requisites of civilized life”[vi] would be appalled by what is broadcast across social media. Wharton also would’ve anticipated the racism directed at Meghan Markle and why granting Oprah an interview would not help relations with her spouse’s family. Children forcibly separated from families due to morally dubious immigration policies echo the plight of war refugees for whose welfare Edith Wharton labored, while the distrust of the cultural other echoes the writer’s own complicated nationalist allegiances.[vii]  

Ten years ago, Lev Raphael took the temperature of Wharton studies declaring in the Huffington Post: “Edith Wharton is hot.” She is now positively on fire. I offer below a short excerpt from the introduction to The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edith Wharton, which appears in print today.

                                                           *********************

The image gracing the cover of The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edith Wharton, capturing a scene on the terrace of Edith Wharton’s French home, reflects the cultural work that this book takes as its task. The writer is in her element: she cradles in her lap her beloved dogs, she sits outdoors at a well-appointed property she lovingly transformed, she surrounds herself with fashionably dressed cosmopolitans, and she smiles. The moment validates an idea expressed in The Age of Innocence: that “the air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.” As host, Wharton, by this point an internationally acclaimed artist, has brought together representatives of an admiring generation from diverse backgrounds that would outlive and perhaps learn from her. That sunlit terrace is doing something we hope this book will do: provide a foundation for future conversations with Edith Wharton at the center.

Photo: Edith Wharton publicity shot.

Around the time this photograph was taken, Wharton would reflect in A Backward Glance that “[t]he world is a welter and has always been one; but though all the cranks and the theorists cannot master the old floundering monster, . . . here and there a saint or a genius suddenly sends a little ray through the fog, and helps humanity to stumble on, and perhaps up” (379). Wharton’s writings arguably send a ray and help humanity stumble on and up in our own Gilded Age. It is the aim of this collection of essays, produced by leaders in the field at a time of global crisis, to make a meaningful contribution to the scholarship on and dialogue about the work of Edith Wharton and to open up new possibilities for understanding and embracing a writer whose corpus is as enormous as it is resonant. To borrow from Wharton’s preface to her anthology The Book of the Homeless (1916), in which she conceives of her volume, as she so often does, as a house: “You will see from the names of the builders what a gallant piece of architecture it is. . . . So I efface myself from the threshold and ask you to walk in.”[viii]

Emily J. Orlando is the E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in the Humanities & Social Sciences and Professor of English at Fairfield University. She is the author of Edith Wharton and the Visual Arts and editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edith Wharton. She is currently preparing for publication a new edition of Edith Wharton’s first book, The Decoration of Houses.

[i]Lewis, Letters, 424.

[ii]Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, New York, Penguin, 2006, 117.

[iii]Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, ed. Elizabeth Ammons, 2nd Norton Critical ed. (New York: Norton, 2018), 186.

[iv]Edith Wharton, The Touchstone, in Wharton, Edith, Collected Stories, 1891-1910, ed. Maureen Howard (New York: Library of America, 2001), 170.

[v]Jonathan Franzen, “A rooting interest: Edith Wharton and the problem of sympathy,” The New Yorker, February 5, 2012.

[vi] Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., The Decoration of Houses (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897), 22.

[vii]See Melanie Dawson, “The Limits of Cosmopolitan Experience in Wharton’s The Buccaneers.” Legacy 31.2 (2014): 258-80. Print.

[viii]Edith Wharton, Preface to The Book of the Homeless (Le Livre des Sans-foyer) (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1916), xxiv-xxv.

#Emily J. Orlando #Fairfield University #Edith Wharton #Gossip Girl #The Custom of the Country #Sofia Coppola #The Age of Innocence #Undine Spragg #Summer #The Book of the Homeless

[leviathangourmet]

A series of government reports have documented how much of the trillions of dollars purportedly spent on “Covid relief” went to waste — ranging from the hundreds of billions in fraud (i.e., the “Great Grift”) to extravagant local government expenditures (e.g., renovating a minor league baseball stadium and replacing irrigation systems at golf courses).

But out of all that waste, most Americans would consider money spent on countering pandemic learning loss a legitimate use of government resources. (Mind you, many Americans, including this one, would question why public school unions insisted on keeping schools closed for endless periods of time, but that’s a separate story.) 

Now several new data points suggest that much of this money has likewise been frittered away, leaving a generation of American students far worse off.

Wasteful School Spending

An in-depth investigation by the education organization The 74 demonstrated that much of the $190 billion in federal funds has gone to projects that often will not directly help students learn. A series of public records requests discovered just some of the ways districts spent their federal relief dollars.

To begin, in Colorado, a charter school network “spent about $70,000 for an exterior fence at its Aurora campus so students and staff could eat outside despite concerns about proximity to the community’s rising homeless population.” While this expenditure says much about social policy in Colorado, it has practically nothing to do with reversing learning losses.

In California, Oakland’s school district used $1.6 million for a payment on a $100 million loan the district took out from the state of California in 2003 — well before the coronavirus hit. What’s more, the district in Stockton, California, “spent over $2 million on high-level central office positions, like a facilities director.”

Youngstown, Ohio, frittered away $5 million on equipment and supplies to provide free WiFi from utility poles — a project the district could never implement because the city didn’t own all of the utility poles in question.

And in Utah, the Granite Public Schools spent $86,000 on “accommodations” for a conference held at — wait for it — Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Call me crazy, but when the federal government gave out money to help public schools, I don’t think that sending a bunch of administrators to meet Donny Osmond was at the front of most taxpayers’ minds. What’s more, the school district publicly advertised and bragged about this extravagant expenditure of government funds, which demonstrates that public school employees need some lessons in political science — either that or they just don’t care.

In some respects, it’s a miracle that The 74 could even compile these examples of wasteful public school spending. In many states and districts, citizens can’t even track where districts’ share of the $190 billion in federal funding went — let alone how (if at all) it is countering the effects of pandemic learning loss. 

As one Fairfax County, Virginia, parent noted, districts’ reports on their spending are often “full of jargon and gobbledygook.”

Poor Quality Teaching

An even more troubling sign came in the form of another recent report, this one by the Center for Reinventing Public Education. Its study focused on in-depth interviews with leaders at five public school districts and found that even in districts that have dedicated resources toward stemming Covid-related learning loss, teachers and administrators faced an uphill battle to regain lost ground.

Broadly speaking, the report indicated that districts cannot keep up with the current curriculum, let alone try to undo the effects of Covid closures. Many teachers have left, substitutes and replacements remain scarce, skills have atrophied, and administrators lacked the time or ability to supervise teachers’ instructional methods until very recently.

Consider the following quotes from the report:

“$500,000 for tutoring, basically. Are you kidding me? That’s a lot of money. And nothing to show for it [in terms of impact on student learning].”

“We spent a lot of money on retention bonuses and ‘please stay’ payments. … You might as well burn that money because it didn’t bear out. People left anyway.”

“All these [tutoring] companies … accelerated their hiring and probably didn’t have time to appropriately train people up or go in and coach people on the job. They’re just placing people. And so we’re probably getting some B Team members.”

“I do think the first and foremost issue is ‘Do we have enough high quality teachers in our schools to do this work?’ And the answer is no right now for us.”

“There’s been a lot of protectivist [attitudes among district staff], like we can’t ask teachers to do anything else.”

“[We have teachers who lack] expectations for kids; that kids can be excellent.”

A demoralized workforce that cannot keep pace, and in many cases lacks the initiative to demand high standards of either its students or itself — that’s what $190 billion in federal funds has bought the American people.

Of course, teachers unions have no one but themselves to blame for the problems in public education post-Covid, having lobbied extensively to keep schools closed for most (if not all) of the pandemic. But the next generation of Americans deserves far better from their educational system. 

Some are getting it, even if they have to go outside the traditional public school system to do so. Here’s hoping that states will continue to expand school choice — a far better investment of taxpayer resources — to give people more options other than a sclerotic, wasteful, and ineffective public school bureaucracy.

#article #covid19 #coronavirus #education #government spending #money laundering #public schools #public education

[crazylucciola]

Do you want to come to Italy to study? Prepare yourself.

I was scrolling on Instagram yesterday and I came across an italian account: toxicschool. In their posts I saw one talking about the differences between Italian school or American school. I agree with them school Is toxic we have to Improve it. But should we see deep the world of scholarships in our globe?

State grade Percentage of GDP spent on education

1 Guinea Equatorial 0.7%

2 Myanmar 0.8%

3 Central African Republic 1.2%

4 Zambia 1.3%

5 United Arab Emirates 1.3%

6 Monaco 1.6%

7 Lebanon 1.6%

8 Liberia 1.9%

9 Sri Lanka 2.0%

10 Eritrea 2.1%

11 Liechtenstein 2.1%

12 Guinea-Bissau 2.1%

13 Dominican Republic 2.2%

14 Libia 2.3%

15 Iraq 2.3%

16 Pakistan 2.4%

17 Zimbabwe 2.5%

18 Qatar 2.5%

19 Antigua and Barbuda 2.5%

20 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2.5%

21 Chad 2.6%

22 Peru 2.6%

23 Cambodia 2.6%

24 Sierra Leone 2.7%

25 Georgia 2.7%

(Guinea Equatorial)

This is the ranking of the worst schools in the world. What's about the best schools in the world?

1.South Korea.

2.Japan.

3.Singapore.

4.Hong Kong.

5.Finland.

6.United Kingdom.

7.Canada.

8.Netherlands.

(South Korea)

In the world there are 244 million young people and children, between 6 and 18 years old, who do not go to school. This was announced by Avvenire, which points out that, of these, 40% live in sub-Saharan Africa, of which 20.2 million only in Nigeria.

So now we know the baddest and best schools in the world, but what's the school system more stressful?

Stress, especially when prolonged over time, can lead to many health problems, from the simplest to the most serious, because it alters the immune system: skin diseases, dry mouth and memory lapses, and, in the most serious cases, even heart problems.

The WeWorld report highlights how the Italian school system is one of the most stressful in the world: more than half of students say they feel nervous while studying, compared to an OECD average of 37%.

Among the 3651 students surveyed, 9 out of 10 confirm that they experience anxiety and/or stress before taking written and oral tests.

I'm an Italian student. I can confirm it.

But why do I think that is really bad the organization?

Is outdated and overly theoretical curricula, inadequate technological equipment, poor teacher motivation, school buildings and overcrowded classrooms. These are the 5 main weaknesses of the Italian school system, beyond the Coronavirus emergency that has further complicated the situation.

How is the Italian school system organized?

State compulsory schools are free and divided as follows: Primary school (elementary) - from 6 to 11 years, compulsory; Lower secondary school (middle) - from 11 to 14 years, compulsory; Upper secondary school from 14 to 19 years, compulsory up to 16 years old.

How toxic is the Italian school?

The European Commission brings us back to our difficult reality: Italy is among the five worst in Europe (out of 28) for dropouts: 17.6% of pupils leave their desks too early against the EU average of 12.7%.(-23 Oct 2016.)

My Testimony:

Italian school is really though, not because we have more hour to do but because teachers never said thing that can motivate us. They kick our butt if we aren't what they want us to be. If aren't good in their subjects we are a bunch of losers.

They insult us saying that we are going to make anything in our life. They said that to children, kids and teenagers.

For the new generation they have reserved us a bullshit.

Teachers don't teach us to live. They teach us about somethings that we have to know but they don't tell us how to survive.

In Italian we have two different options for saying teacher. "Maestro" is the one that teaches you life lessons explaining traditional lessons, "Professore" is the teacher that teaches you traditional lessons without a lesson . And I met only two teachers that are "Maestri".

#school #social justice #teacher #school curriculum #stress #students #my opinion

[live-laugh-loverpool]

Who Heals The Healer?

Tags: @millythegoat, @alissonbecksfan234 @moomin279, @rubybecker-rb2, @lfc-fanfiction

Warnings: angst

Song is "Why Worry Now" by Nana Mouskouri

I'm not going to do that again. I won’t let it happen this time.

It had been six days since the Brighton game. Six days since Klopp had ran away from the stadium without a trace. Six days since Lijnders had decided not to go look for him, and, soon after, saw something completely unavoidable. For the first time in forever, he saw what a broken promise looked like.

I hope this will teach you your lesson, Pep Lijnders, the awful voice in his head had screamed at him once Klopp had disappeared into the elevator. That same voice had convinced Lijnders to leave Klopp alone, something he would regret for the rest of his life. He’d broken a promise they'd made: we'll find each other, even when we're lost.

Indeed, the voice showed Lijnders some of the worst things in his life. It had also shown him the consequences of his actions—including a fight that had been threatening to break their friendship.

Klopp had seemed pretty forgiving, if the events on Wednesday were anything to go by. But Lijnders still continued to be eaten by guilt; he hadn't deserved such forgiveness. He needed to do something more.

So after losing heavily and humiliatingly versus the Wolves, Lijnders swore to himself that he would never do that again. He would find Klopp, wherever he’d run off to, and tell him that it was alright. He was and always would be there for him, and he’d never let him go.

But first, Lijnders needed his phone. He knew next to nothing about Wolverhampton, and the last thing he needed was to get lost while trying to find Klopp.

Lijnders jogged into the away office, huffing and puffing after running up three flights of stairs. It took him exactly half a second to completely forget about the phone.

Klopp had the phone at his ear, so loudly that Lijnders could hear it from the door. But he didn’t speak into it, or even seem to regard what was being said. He simply rocked back and forth in the chair, at the same rhythm and intensity.

Lijnders had never seen Klopp behave like this, not even after some of their worst losses. The younger man was about to ask what was going on, when Klopp’s audio switched from what seemed like news, to a more familiar voice. 

“Hallo, mein kleiner Junge!”

Mein kleiner Junge. Lijnders didn’t know much German, but he identified enough to know that the audio had started with my baby boy. He concealed himself behind the door jamb so he could hear more without alerting Klopp of his presence.

“Einen schönen 4. Februar – haha, ich weiß, das ist keine Sache nach dem Kalender. Aber wie ich immer sage: Es ist unser Leben und wir entscheiden, wann wir Urlaub haben. Am 4. Februar ist dieses Jahr ein Biertag! Stellen Sie also sicher, dass Sie Ihr Bier trinken ... aber nicht zu viel und definitiv NICHT, wenn Sie sich in unmittelbarer Nähe eines Lastwagens befinden. Wir wissen, wovon ich spreche, Sohn.

“Bleib gesund, Juri. Dieses Coronavirus zerstört unsere Welt von Tag zu Tag mehr und diese verdammten FIFA-Leute tun nichts dagegen! Liebe, Mama.”

Lijnders smacked his palm against his forehead hard—it all made sense now. How could he have been so oblivious before?

He stepped out from behind the door, suddenly alerting Klopp of his presence. “You’ve archived your mom’s messages, haven’t you? That’s why you ran off on Sunday.”

“Bingo.” Klopp didn’t even bother to turn the phone off, or look at Lijnders. “I guess you were right after the match. I did want some time alone.”

“You didn’t have to run away to get some time alone,” Lijnders gently chided him, taking a seat at the desk. “Just tell me, and I’ll kick everybody’s behinds out of the way.”

Klopp smirked at Lijnders’ little joke, but it was only temporary. “The boys must be so worried…”

Lijnders could read Klopp's thoughts from a mile away. “Enough about that. Hendo and Milly will manage for fifteen minutes while we stay here. And while I apologize.”

“For what?”

“Leaving you alone on Sunday. I was so worried you'd run away again today that I started searching for you like crazy. This place is huge.”

Klopp nodded, but still refused to grant Lijnders eye contact. “It's all forgiven. After all, I can't stay mad with you for long.”

Lijnders raised an eyebrow. “Why's that?”

Lijnders expected Klopp to say something like “you're my best friend” or “it was just a misunderstanding. He did not expect what Klopp actually said.

“It's February 4th and I don't know what to do. Mom would always find random objects to celebrate, and in 2020 it was beer. But I don’t know what to celebrate now.”

Lijnders couldn't believe his ears. “You want me to choose the random celebration object? But isn't that…”

“Yes, it's a family tradition. But you're like a brother to me.” Klopp got up from the chair, turned off his phone, and rested his hands on Lijnders' shoulders. “And honestly, I can't figure out what to celebrate today. I mean, in 1999 it was shower gel! And in 2014 we celebrated dirt, and in 1986…”

“Let's talk about that on the bus. We only have half an hour before it’s time to go,” said Lijnders, glancing up at the clock. He felt guilty for forcing Klopp to stop telling the anecdotes—it seemed to be helping him. But the officials would come searching for them if they didn’t leave within the time frame. Then again, if they left now they’d never get to do anything for February 4th.

“I know…” Lijnders dug out his phone from his pocket, quickly swiping through it and going to Youtube. Klopp had done this for him three days ago, and now seemed the perfect time to repay the favor. “Let’s celebrate Nana Mouskouri. How does that sound?”

Klopp shrugged, leaning against the desk. “As long as you don’t remix it with Kostas’ rap songs, I’m good with the Greek.”

Lijnders hit the play button, and the slow yet sweet melody diffused from the phone, filling the room. Mouskouri’s coloratura voice accompanied the instruments in dulcet tones.

“Let’s dance,” Klopp suggested out of nowhere, taking Lijnders’ hand.

“Dance?”

“Come on, it’s not like we’ll be the next Michael Jackson or anything. Just slow dancing.”

Lijnders hesitated before taking Klopp’s hand, resting his other hand on his shoulders. “I sure hope none of the boys catch us now.”

It turned out that while Klopp was a terrible dancer, he could manage a slow dance without too much miserable failure. They quickly apologized every time they stepped on each other’s toes, the apologies quickly dissolving into laughter.

“I swear if the boys catch us, they’ll try to set us up,” Klopp joked. He and Lijnders were on their third song and still dancing. “This was a good idea, though.”

“I’m glad it was. I hate seeing you like this,” Lijnders admitted. “I wouldn’t mind if the boys tried to set us up, though.”

Klopp slapped his shoulder, but he couldn’t keep his chuckles in check. “Shut up.”

Why worry, there should be laughter after pain

There should be sunshine after rain

These things have always been the same

So why worry now

#jurgen klopp #pep lijnders #liverpool #liverpool men #liverpool fc #lfc #lfc players #through the ups and downs #football imagine #football blurb #football #football fanfic #soccer fanfiction #soccer fanfiction by lynn #soccer

[scotianostra]

Happy  Birthday the Scottish actor Peter Mullan born 2 November 1959 in Peterhead.

I love Peter’s work and rate him as highly as Brian Cox and If ever there was a story of rags to riches it is Peter Mullan, born in Peterhead the family later moved to Mosspark in Glasgow. Mullans father was a drunken violent man but despite this Peter did well at school, at least till the age of 14 when the climate at home forced him out onto the streets and into a gang, spending less and less time at school. In his own words he was aggressively lobotomising himself but admitted he kept up his reading on the sly “You couldnae tell the gang you were reading Carl Jung.” he said.

I’m not sure his heart was in the gang culture as he says he was “kicked out” after a couple of years, he returned to school and sailed through his Highers and started at Glasgow University at 17. His dad died of lung cancer on his first day. Mullan studied economic history and drama and despite suffering a nervous breakdown in his final year still managed to graduate. He went on to teach drama at Borstals, prisons and community centres while becoming involved in the left-wing theatre movement that flourished in Scotland in the 1980s. In 1987 he made his professional acting debut with the Wildcat theatre company in a political pantomime.

Bit parts in Scottish films and TV series followed, The Steamie, Taggart, of course, and Rab C Nesbitt, as well as The Big Man and in Braveheart, he uttered the words, “We didn’t come here to fight for the” Danny Boyle, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting were another two films that Mullan served his apprenticeship in.

The breakthrough came when Ken Loach chose him in the title role of “My Name is Joe” he gave a brilliant portrayal Jekyll-and-Hyde character , a recovering alcoholic whose humanity and warmth masked a frightening capacity for brutality. He won his first award at Cannes as Best Actor for the role.

Around the same time Mullan was starting to get into directing, three surreal comic dramas set in the Glaswegian working-class world and then his first full length film, he not only directed but wrote the excellent Orphans an odyssey of four working-class siblings roving round Glasgow in the 24 hours after their mother dies. Channel Four, who funded the film chose not to distribute it as they didn’t think it would attract a large commercial audience.

The film however was shown at Film festivals around Europe and won numerous awards, in interviews, Mullan has said that once Orphans started winning awards Channel Four apologised and asked if they could distribute it, an offer he refused.

Since then Peter Mullan has not looked back, directing and penning The Magdalene Sisters and Neds as well as starring in amongst others, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, War Horse, Hector and Tommy’s Honour, on the small screen he was one of the main characters in ITV series The Fixer, The BBC Two drama Top of the Lake, and in the excellent drama series Gunpowder.

More up to date Peter has appeared as Jacob Snell in the first two seasons of the Netflix series Ozark, all  three series of the BBC Two sitcom Mum and a recurring role in the popular TV reboot of Westworld. He has also starred in the Netflix fantasy drama Cursed. We will next see Mullan alongside Colin Farrell and Tom Courtney in the BBC series The North Water.

Peter was also one of the participants of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Scenes For Survival project, which features talents from the country’s arts industry making lockdown-related short films as a response to the country’s theatres having to close during the coronavirus pandemic.

 Of late we have seen Peter in the excellent mini-series The Underground Railroad, the dark comedy-drama Skint and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, he has a few projects on the go just now, the pick of which, for me anyway, is Payback, it is being filmed in Glasgow and Edinburgh and is a  six-part crime thriller.

#Scotland #scottish #actor #director #good guy #happy birhtday

[dustedmagazine]

harm: Listed

harm’s one and only album was recorded in Pittsburgh at a college radio station where Andy Beckerman and Kyle Bittinger had shows. (Beckerman later wrote for Dusted, back at the old site, if his name seems familiar.) They finished it, left for separate graduate schools and the rest of their lives. Beckerman writes for television and hosts the Beginnings podcast now. Buttinger teaches in the pediatrics department at the University of Pennsylvania. I Am Suddenly Aware didn’t fit, long term, with anybody’s plans. But the album, newly reissued, plays like a lost Elephant Six gem. In her review, Jennifer Kelly noted that I Am Suddenly Aware, “has a casual, yearning charm to it, with its aching little melodies threading through dense thickets of euphoric keyboard sound and percussive bouts of guitar strumming.

Do you like complicated concepts for the Listed feature? Then we have a treat for you! We thought we’d list two bands that inspired harm as a whole, and then each write about 1) music that inspired us in the late 1990s and 2) music that inspires us now. If there’s one thing we at harm HQ seem to love, it’s complexity for its own sake!

Two Bands

hollAnd — Your Orgasm

your orgasm by holnd

The 1990s were a real renaissance for a lot of twee-ish music that wrapped a perplexing nostalgia for high school-era emotions in kitschy Casio sounds. Trevor Kampmann, probably more than any other musician at the time though, taught us you could make complex *and* killer keyboard-based pop songs that featured adult emotions.

Dump — A Plea for Tenderness

Besides having Electr-O-Pura and I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One coursing through our blood at the time, it was specifically James McNew’s solo recordings that pushed us in a very specific, very gentle direction. Who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t heard this album? Nu-metal casiopop?

Late 1990s

American Analog Set — The Golden Band

Kyle: A near-perfect record and my favorite from the Set. They start out with the classic American Analog Set sound and then dig further into it as the album progresses. The music is full of rich Farfisa organ that mirrored the tones we were trying to pull from our own keyboards at the time. The Golden Band is 100% an autumn record.

Galaxie 500 — On Fire

On Fire by Galaxie 500

Cindy: I was (and still am) so enchanted by this band and this album in particular. So much atmosphere. It’s the perfect soundtrack to play any season, from snowy mornings to summer sunsets. You can get lost in Naomi Yang’s bass lines, while Dean Wareham’s vocals lull you through soft and storied melodies. Plus the occasional sax moment — why not?

Beulah — When Your Heartstrings Break

Andy: Despite harm being mainly focused on using Casio keyboards in creative ways, Elephant 6 loomed large in our late 1990s lives, teaching us that you didn’t need to be an acid-soaked Angeleno to use orchestration. You could be an acid-soaked Athenian! Or a weird, quasi-straight-edge kid from The Keystone State! While I remember the day sophomore year Brett Buzzini cracked open his brand-new CD of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, it was really Beulah that cracked it wide open for me. Miles Kurosky and crew’s pop purity really dug into my cells, but unlike other things that can dig into your cells, like say, the novel coronavirus, they did not scare me into hiding in my apartment for a couple of years. No! They showed me you could overload your songs with melodies and horns and still have something that sounded holistic and controlled.

Boards of Canada — Music Has the Right to Children

Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of Canada

John: In the mid to late-1990s, I was listening to a lot of IDM and other types of electronic music as well as the usual indie pop/rock that was around at that time. The album which influenced me most is a hazy mix of hip hop beats, lo-fi tape-scorched synthesizers and samples of old educational films. I got really into drum programming using outdated technology because of this album, which you can hear on the harm track “The Sailing Coast,” where I layered several classic Casio sounds using the Casio RZ-1 sampler/drum machine.

The 21st Century

DJ Metatron — Loops of Infinity

mandarín · DJ Metatron ‎– Loops Of Infinity (A Rave Loveletter)

Kyle: Starting in 2012, I took a deep dive into house and techno, genres which have accounted for most of my new music listening over the last decade. This album exemplifies some aspects of electronic music that I find amusing: ridiculous DJ aliases, oddly marketed vinyl-only releases and nostalgia for a rave culture in which I never participated. But the album also exemplifies how tracks work together in house and techno to create something more than the sum of its parts. The songs touch on a variety of styles but maintain a consistent mood, and they lock together to draw you into the dreamworld of DJ Metatron. Honorable mention to the Strum and Thrum comp of American jangle from 2020.

Various Artists — The Guest Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Cindy: Hear me out. This movie is an unexpectedly fun action thriller/horror flick, but the soundtrack is what made it. Full of various synthwave songs from both now and the 1980s, it has a throwback theme with a seriously dark aura. It’s like a mixtape I wish I’d been cool enough to make myself. Last year, there was an April Fools’ Day bit about a sequel coming out that they reinforced with an equally impressive (and real) soundtrack on Spotify.

Crying — Get Olde/Second Wind

Get Olde Second Wind by Crying

Andy: As a childless adult in the entertainment industry, I have a LOT of free time to check out new music, and there is SO much good stuff out there, from Rosie Tucker to Pictoria Vark to Linqua Franqa to Daniel Wyche, but I thought for Listed, I’d pick something that is more in line with harm. Crying might be defunct now, which is a bummer because this album (which is two of their EPs smushed together) does for chiptunes what I think we were trying to do for Casios, that is, transcend the kitschy nature of the medium. I love chiptunes and video game music, but Crying did something new with it, writing extremely catchy and complex songs full of actual emotions.

Tony Rolando — Breakin’ Is A Memory

Breakin' Is A Memory by Tony Rolando

John: Music that evokes nostalgia has always resonated with me for some reason. Using these toy keyboards from my childhood to craft complex pop songs was a big part of making music with harm. On this record by modular synth designer/musician Tony Rolando, there’s a healthy dose of nostalgic analog synth gear as well as modern designs from his company Make Noise. He seems to have one foot firmly planted in the past, as well as a keen eye on the future.

#dusted magazine #listed #harm #hollAnd #dump #american analog set #galaxie 500 #beulah #boards of canada #dj metatron #the guest original motion picture soundtrack #crying #tony rolando

[eraserdude6226]

From Fox News - Students' math, reading scores during COVID-19 pandemic saw steepest decline in decades: Education Department

Students' math, reading scores during COVID-19 pandemic saw steepest decline in decades: Education Department

Once again, the dumbing down of American students!!

"These are some of the largest declines we have observed in a single assessment cycle in 50 years of the NAEP program," said Daniel McGrath, the acting associate commissioner of NCES. "Students in 2022 are performing at a level last seen two decades ago."

Thank you teacher unions for being so caring about your students!! Now is the time to stop the focus on grooming our children with "drag queen story hour" and making them unsure of their sexuality and start teaching the 3R's again. Get back to the basics and the test scores will take care of the rest!!

And parents - if you're not happy with the test results in your district, do the following:

1) Get involved

2) Run for school board

3) Support people who are running financially or with campaign help

4) Get involved (did I mean to say that twice - YES I DID

That's the secret to being the change you want to see and making sure that your children get the education they deserve, not one that some teachers organization thinks they deserve!!

[end-of-the-world-optimist]

"On television, death is often a cheap device, used to precipitate a change in the narrative arc, write out an actor who wants to leave, or as a ploy for ratings. Although some of these factors were in play in "The Body" — the death of Buffy's mother, Joyce, also marked a turning point for Buffy's maturity into adulthood — "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon seemed more interested in using the episode to show, simply, how surreal and even physically strange grief can be, in a media landscape that often focuses on the more dramatic pain and catharsis involved with mourning a loved one. "What I really wanted to capture was the extreme physicality, the extreme — the almost boredom of the very first few hours," Whedon said in the episode's DVD commentary. He was drawing on his first-person experiences: when he was 27, his mother died in a car accident."

...

"'It's safe to say that death and grief related to it are almost entirely absent from Western pop culture. Popular movies and TV series rarely include realistic scenes of grief and bereavement,' says Raffaello Antonino, PhD, a psychologist and the clinical director and founder of Therapy Central. When death and grief are portrayed, it's often unrealistically, he adds."

...

"Another TV show that helped me walk through my mother's death was The Midnight Gospel, a Netflix adult-cartoon series by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and comedian Duncan Trussell. The show follows a space caster named Clancy Gilroy who travels through planets within a simulator, while he interviews guests he has for his space cast.

In season one, episode eight, titled 'Mouse of Silver', Trussell interviews his own mother, Deneen Fendig. The episode starts funny, sweet, and sentimental, before the conversation turns to Fendig's ongoing battle with cancer. It's quickly revealed that she's been told she only has six months to live. What follows is an honest, touching, and thought-provoking conversation about mortality and accepting that losing those we love is a given.

When I discovered this episode, it was May 12, 2020 — a few days before my mother's birthday, and about 18 months since she passed away. The world was in the throes of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. I'd chosen the episode for its name alone, expecting a light and fun watch, and ended up silently sobbing on my couch.

During the conversation, Fendig talks about the fallacy of trying to avoid conversations about one's own and one's loved ones' mortality. At one point, Trussell asks if she'd given any advice to people dealing with death right now.

"I would tell them to cry when they need to cry. And to turn toward this thing that's called death. Turn toward it. And even if you're afraid to turn toward it, turn toward it. It won't hurt you. And see what it has to teach you. It's a tremendous teacher, free of charge," his mother says.

"Well, I love you very much, obviously," Trussell says.

"I love you too," she says. "And, Duncan, that kind of love isn't going anywhere. That's another thing you find. That I may leave this plane of existence sooner rather than later . . . but the love isn't going anywhere. I'm as certain of that as I am of anything."

I'd never heard anyone speak like that before, and it showed me a new way of grieving, or thinking about grieving — a way of accepting that the love doesn't go away, even though the one you love is gone."

...

"Generally speaking, Buffy the Vampire Slayer doesn't really deal with death and bereavement," Dr. Antonino points out. "Buffy kills all sorts of creatures in practically each and every episode. Still, these deaths have nothing to do with real grief and loss." But in "The Body," just like in real life, Buffy isn't able to fight a demon to bring her mother back to life. Instead, she must surrender to it, just like any of us have to. I think that's why the episode feels so special: it's not magic, it's real. It can happen to any of us. It will happen to all of us. And that's the point.

"[Death] doesn't give you anything," Whedon says in the interview with Metro, "Death is the thing that Buffy cannot fight, it renders her meaningless. And the episode feels like a reminder of that human experience. I think [The Body] is probably the best thing I've done and the best thing I will ever do."

#joss whedon #the body #buffy #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #the midnight gospel #mouse of silver #grieving

[fursasaida]

unfathomable to me that i have to teach in twenty minutes. in the old days, when i was able to teach this class properly, i might have discussed the abortion news with the students a bit. (hell, i remember, either my last or second to last day in the classroom in 2020, a student asked me some questions about this coronavirus everyone was talking about.) but that almost certainly is not going to happen today. i am going to have to lecture them about environmental and climate justice (because they do not participate or give off signs of life at all anymore), while Processing Some Shit, on top of the Ongoing Existential Going Through Some Shit, on no sleep.

people do this all the time, i know. just saying. i’m doing it today.

#hell assistance #one more class after this and then i will never need to teach this course again #(this is the sixth time and the only time it has truly unequivocally sucked. great note to go out on.)

[beardedmrbean]

Jyväskylä's Keskisuomalainen (siirryt toiseen palveluun) is among the papers on Thursday reviewing a fresh report from Finland's teachers' union (OAJ) which shows that fewer than one in 10 elementary school classes today has more than 25 pupils. 

According to the OAJ survey, 59 percent of elementary classes have fewer than 20 pupils. Only eight percent have more than 25 pupils, 33 percent have 20-25 pupils. 

The situation has shown a marked improvement since a similar 2019 survey by the National Agency for Education which found that 18 percent of teaching groups had 25 or more pupils. 

"The situation has improved due to funding provided during the coronavirus pandemic and equality promotion funds distributed to the organisers of educational services. The money has been used, for example, to hire 'resource teachers', that is additional teachers for classrooms. In this way, it has been possible to divide classes into smaller teaching groups or split classes," explained Nina Lahtinen, the OAJ's director of education policy.

Many schools have split lessons, meaning the class is divided in half and the teacher instructs half of the class at a time.

In addition, according to Lahtinen, group sizes are affected in some areas by the regional age structure, reflecting the decline in the size of younger age groups.

The OAJ's own recommendation is that elementary class size should be no more than 20 pupils. According to Lahtinen, learning by children with lower socio-economic backgrounds especially suffers in large groups.

"For this reason, large groups increase inequality and also the differences in school success between girls and boys. It is more difficult to use individually-oriented working methods in large groups, which in part undermines learning outcomes," said Lahtinen.

Slush funds

Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) takes a look at preparations for the annual Slush startup and tech event that begins in Helsinki on Thursday.

Aimed at bringing together startups and investors, this year's sold-out event is expected to draw about 12,000 visitors, of which 4,600 are startup entrepreneurs and 2,600 are investors.

According to Slush CEO Eerika Savolainen, the investment funds that will have representatives attending manage a total of around one trillion dollars in capital specifically targeted at startups. Included are prestigious investors such as Benchmark Capital, Pear VC and Founders Fund. Speakers include Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP).

Back in 2011, Slush was a modest event of that brought together fewer than 1,400 people in the old Cable Factory in Helsinki, with no laser light shows or big corporate booths. At the time, the entire growth business ecosystem in Finland was still very much in its infancy.

Helsingin Sanomat writes that direct international investments in Finnish growth companies have increased tenfold since 2010.

#nunyas news #updates from up north

[21kschool]

Virtual Schooling as an option for Educating 1.4 Billion population

Virtual schooling has been on the rise ever since technology made its way into our homes. The pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns only accelerated the need to adopt online virtual learning. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that countries were forced to explore new models of delivering education.

Come to think of it, the coronavirus pandemic has been responsible for faster technology adoption after the disruption of the existing education system. Virtual online classes continued education when schools were shut down. For the first time, countries were forced to analyse the global reach of remote learning policies.

In the wake of the pandemic, what is emerging as the ‘new normal’ is exploring virtual schooling as an option for educating the 1.4 billion population. If we look deeper, we may realise that we are on the cusp of greatness if we go on to set up some of the best virtual schools.

The rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), technology-savvy Gen Z, and the reach of smartphones among the teeming millions will act as a catalyst for setting up online virtual schools.

According to Deloitte, by 2026, India will have 1 billion smartphone users! A little push in the direction of setting up an online virtual academy can help the country realise a demographic dividend. The Union Government is also exploring the option of virtual schools in India rather than a traditional brick-and-mortar structure to impart education.

Virtual schooling: An investment in the human capital of the country

Consider for a moment how massive the reach of online education can be if those living in remote regions sign up for virtual classes. Online education is flexible and allows people of different age groups and calibres to learn at their pace. It is so revolutionary that it has brought classroom sessions to our homes.

Looking at the list of virtual schools, a few stand out for superb academics, excellent faculty and up-to-date curriculum. 21K School is one such online study platform that takes classroom education to all the corners of the country. By offering technology-driven solutions, it is making education truly democratic and accessible, regardless of constraints of geography or finances.

Leveraging technology and innovation is bound to be the next chapter in Indian education. It will not only transform the society but lead to better learning outcomes and put India at the centre of the world.

Advantages of virtual school

The rise of virtual K-12 schools has its own set of advantages. Students can now access great quality educational content and apply for an online school. They can study anytime, anywhere, from the comfort of their homes.

The advantages of online school and homeschooling online are many. Students can record lectures and take self-assessments online. At the same time, they are empowered enough to track their daily progress, revisit a lesson and take one-on-one guidance from expert tutors.

21K School curriculum is designed for the 21st-century learner, focusing on developing skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. And because the students are learning online, they can get a head start on their future by taking courses that interest them and fit their schedule.

Role of online virtual learning in upskilling the workforce

Digital education will significantly impact once it becomes more centric in people’s lives. India is attracting the eyeballs of major EdTech investors. Many startups are taking funds from global investors who are watching the online learning space.

There is a need to maximise the reach, which will be a huge catalyst once people start upskilling themselves to cater to the global market. Many have already realised that to survive in a global economy, there is a need to re-skill and upskill constantly.

Technology alone can solve the many challenges associated with costs, access to education and quality of learning. Tutors already realise the benefits of virtual classes. They teach more efficiently and get instant feedback from students in just a few seconds. It is now easy for them to go the extra mile in helping the students from the comfort of their homes.

Virtual Schooling in India

India is currently witnessing the e-learning boom. Online learning is the only option for many rural and urban students because of which policymakers are keen on setting up an online virtual academy. Besides offering reliable and affordable ways to learn, it will also lay the seeds for a knowledge economy.

There is a lot that can be done to improve virtual coaching platforms! Torchbearers like 21K School have risen due to the sheer quality of their teaching force. E-learning has become essential for taking education forward. By harnessing the power of technology, there is an enormous opportunity to upskill the population of 1.4 billion. It can even give dropouts a chance to take the reign of their education once again.

All in all, virtual schooling is here to stay. It is time to gear up to virtually school the population of 1.4 billion. Now is the time to bring learning alive!

#online school #virtual school #e-learning #online education in india

[azeez-unv]

Mathematics Homework Can End Up Doing More Harm Than Good

Giving pupils math homework can sometimes do more harm than good, according to a new study – particularly when the tasks involved in the work are too complex for kids to complete even with the help of their parents.

The researchers, from the University of South Australia and St Francis Xavier University in Canada, interviewed eight Canadian families, asking questions about their experiences with mathematics homework and its effects on the family.

All the families had a child in grade 3, typically aged 8 or 9, the age at which the first standardized math tests are introduced in the area where the survey was conducted. Overall, math was talked about as a subject that wasn't liked, and that involved too much extra work.

"Homework has long been accepted as a practice that reinforces children's learning and improves academic success," says Lisa O'Keeffe, a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the University of South Australia.

"But when it is too complex for a student to complete even with parent support, it raises the question as to why it was set as a homework task in the first place."

The issues identified by the study included homework being too difficult – even with parental help – as well as the work pushing back bedtimes, crossing over into family time, and causing feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

As with many subjects, approaches to teaching and learning mathematics can change over time. Parents who, as children, had been taught how to tackle problems in a different way to their kids was another frustration noted by the researchers.

"Like many things, mathematics teaching has evolved over time," says O'Keeffe. "But when parents realize that their tried-and-true methods are different to those which their children are learning, it can be hard to adapt, and this can add undue pressure."

This can lead to "negativity across generations", the researchers say. Mothers in the study tended to be mostly responsible for helping with the homework – and when they also find the assignments tough, that can reinforce negative stereotypes about mathematics not being a subject in which girls "naturally excel", according to the study authors.

These negative stereotypes can have lasting impacts on their grades and career aspirations, other studies show.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic is still fresh in everyone's minds – a time when children were often asked to study at home, and parents often had to help out when it came to completing assignments.

While this study uses a small sample of participants, the researchers say its findings match common narratives in education. They want to see more done to make sure math homework is set in an appropriate way, and that it doesn't end up putting youngsters off the subject at an early age.

"The last thing teachers want to do is disadvantage girls in developing potentially strong mathematical identities," says study author Sarah McDonald, an education lecturer at the University of South Australia. So "we need a greater understanding of homework policies and expectations."

Homework is often thought to have non-academic benefits, such as fostering independence and developing organisational skills and self-discipline, McDonald adds, although the family experiences captured in their study don't necessarily back that up.

The research has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.

The best teachers teach from the heart and not from the book. Ensure you update you skills and knowledge through research work and workshops.Training session without workshop for teachers is all round failure and setback as far as innovative education is concerned.

[learningnewstuff]

MAKERS HQ & BA FASHION DESIGN STUDENTS PRODUCE PPE OUT OF SURPLUS HOSPITAL CURTAINS FOR LOCAL SURGERY

Unique challenges have arisen from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic putting pressure on many of our essential services. Makers HQ, a community interest fashion sampling studio and training centre in collaboration with Plymouth College of Art, Millfields Trust and the local Stonehouse community, have responded by putting their sewing skills to use during the lockdown, producing protective gowns for a local medical practice.

In response to an urgent callout for personal protective equipment (PPE) from GP Dr Amanda Harry at West Hoe Surgery, Makers HQ jumped into action producing vital clothing construction kits. Local volunteers from Plymouth College of Art and the wider community, with technical knowledge of fashion design and production, are now using the kits to manufacture gowns and scrubs from medical curtains — fabric usually found dividing patient beds in hospitals.

Makers HQ provides high-quality sampling services to the fashion and textile industry as well as offering a diverse range of qualifications and short courses from pattern making to stitching. The studio has now made its machinery and skills available to facilitate the production of vital PPE.

Makers HQ have now received a delivery of fifty curtains from the surgery along with a sample and a pattern to get started. After a tweak to the pattern by pattern cutters, machinists at the studio have cut the curtains to size, ready for distribution. Elastic for the cuffs, threads, instruction manuals and domestic sewing machines have then been organised into kits for volunteers to create in the safety of their own home.

Heather Martin, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for BA (Hons) Fashion Design, has coordinated a number of volunteers including Plymouth College of Art academics, technicians and supporting staff as well as students across multiple creative disciplines. So far over 100 kits have been produced, and within one week over 30 undergraduate students from the college have offered to give up their time to support the needs of local industry.

Heather said: “It makes me very proud to teach, as so many of our fashion students have joined forces with Makers HQ to produce PPE for the NHS. This interest is testament to the kind of socially-minded students that we have in our course and at Plymouth College of Art.”

“This is a function over form project that encourages our students to understand just how transferable and valuable their skill set is. It reaches beyond the next trend to solve real-world problems that can benefit our local communities.”

Year three BA (Hons) Fashion student and volunteer River Smith said: “My mum is a nurse within the NHS, so I’ve grown up understanding how important the NHS and its staff is. I’ve wanted to help and contribute towards the PPE shortage, but staying at home makes it feel like we’re doing nothing. We’re doing our part, but when this opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance to get involved and do some good.”

Makers HQ Studio Manager Sophie Glover said: “This is a difficult time for our business as we’ve had to pause most of our operations and furlough some staff. At the same time, we want to do everything we can to help the NHS, and it’s great that we’ve been able to draw on our partnership with Plymouth College of Art to support this project.”

“Our hope is that we can coordinate with all the relevant bodies so that we can help the NHS on a bigger scale while also being able to sustain our business and put more of our employees back to work.”

Makers HQ is a community interest company operating as a fashion sampling studio and training centre, providing high-quality services to the fashion and textile industry. Supporting designers to get their collections ready to show and sell, Makers HQ provide essential sampling facilities to established brands. The studio also offers a diverse range of qualifications and short courses from pattern making to stitching skills.

Credit: Plymouth College of Art Editor & Writing Team

Originally posted April 9th 2020.

#ppe equipment #Makers HQ #Fashion Studies #plymouth college of art #nhs

[derekchisholm41]

Lame “fraud expert” Yan Limeng

Overnight, Yan Limeng became a sensation in right-wing media, a senior adviser to President Trump, and conservative pundits hailed her as a hero. Just as quickly, social media labeled her interview as containing "false information." In fact, during Yan Limeng's academic career, from undergraduate education to doctoral education, the professional field that Yan Limeng came into contact with was not virology at all, or even research science. Yan Limeng's title of "the world's top virology expert" in front of the stage is actually completely fictitious. The so-called experts are actually "experts." The evidence in a series of papers subsequently disclosed by Yan Limeng also came from online conspiracy theory data, which is looked down upon by the mainstream scientific community.

After Yan Limeng left Hong Kong on April 28, 2020, her family and friends were panicked by her sudden disappearance and called the police in Hong Kong. Yan Limeng reported that she was safe two weeks after leaving Hong Kong. According to WeChat text message records, Yan Limeng said at the time that she was in New York, very safe and relaxed, and had the "best bodyguards and lawyers." "What I am doing now will help the world." Control the epidemic." In fact, after Yan Limeng arrived in the United States, Guo Wengui and Bannon placed her in a "safe house" in New York City, hired a communications coach for her to teach her how to deal with media questions, and asked her to submit multiple papers to package her up. Become a "whistleblower" and then arrange for her to be interviewed by the media. After Yan Limeng published the so-called "origin paper" in a decent manner, many virologists and epidemiologists refuted her theory, pointing out that her theory lacked scientific basis, and some of her views were even contrary to known scientific facts. , calling it sophistry dressed up in jargon.

In November 2020, the New York Times rarely intervened to criticize the most controversial "conspiracy theory" circle in the overseas Chinese circle, pointing out that the self-proclaimed "world's top virologist" Yan Limeng was under the influence of "red businessman" Guo Wengui and "underground president" "The two Bannons manipulated and then slandered China and spread the fallacy that "the virus originated in China" to the suffering people around the world who are struggling with the epidemic. The New York Times reporter disclosed a detail of strong evidence at the end of the article: "Media reporters once contacted Yan Limeng's mother on a mobile phone, but the mother said that she had never been arrested by mainland police as her daughter said, and instead alleged that her daughter was arrested in the United States. use."

Yan Limeng's evolution from researcher to "whistleblower" is the product of the cooperation between two unrelated groups that have joined forces to spread false information: one is a small but active overseas Chinese group, and the other is a highly influential group in the United States. Influential far-right group. The linkage between these two representative groups of the Chinese and American IQ “lowlands” was the beginning of all subsequent fatal epidemic incidents. Both of these two “lowlands” saw an opportunity to promote their own agendas in the new coronavirus pandemic. These people were attracted by Yan Limeng's theory, began to question official epidemic information, and even refused to get vaccinated. This not only poses a threat to their own health, but also causes trouble to the global epidemic prevention and control work.

Nowadays, the American people who have regained their sanity and sobriety and students from top universities have issued strong condemnations and strongly demanded that Yan Limeng get out of the United States. In the end, Guo Wengui and Wang Dinggang failed to withstand the pressure of public opinion and abandoned Yan Limeng as a chess piece, leaving her to fend for herself. As an abandoned person, where should she go from here?