Hi!
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Hi! I’m new here. I’ve tried Mastodon a couple times but maybe third time’s the charm! I have become increasingly disillusioned by mainstream social media and I’m searching for ways to connect with other people outside of an algorithm.
I teach high school English and I read a lot. Currently at book 92 of a read around the world project. I was a teen in the 90s and still trying to keep my grunge phase alive. I love art and film too.
Hope to meet some likeminded people!
@imaginaryuncle welcome! Sounds like you're in the right place. Also, you're the first I've come across in the wild that also has a /now page
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@imaginaryuncle Going by your profile, it sounds like you’re into paper. Is it just a personal thing or are you going pen-to-paper in class as well? I’m asking because I am strongly considering the latter this coming semester.
@trezzer it’s both. I’m doing almost all assessments on paper because of AI related academic integrity issues but I also see the screens as such distractions for my students that I aim to make my class the one where they will actually be present.
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@trezzer it’s both. I’m doing almost all assessments on paper because of AI related academic integrity issues but I also see the screens as such distractions for my students that I aim to make my class the one where they will actually be present.
@imaginaryuncle Sounds like we have come to the exact same conclusion. Last year we had a trial of a new exam, though. The written part was 1.5 hours of pen and paper followed by 3.5 hours of essay-writing. For their oral exam prep, they were allowed chatbots - but they also knew we would be digging into details. The only thing they weren't allowed was to feed the exam text to the bot. Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult to agree on grades - and they didn't stray from their averages more than what you would usually see. But that first part with pen and paper was an eye-opener in multiple ways. Without computers, they were almost useless at grammar rules. But after a bit of practice they managed to improve a lot and suddenly cared more about understanding the grammar rather than just being able to write a sentence.
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@imaginaryuncle Sounds like we have come to the exact same conclusion. Last year we had a trial of a new exam, though. The written part was 1.5 hours of pen and paper followed by 3.5 hours of essay-writing. For their oral exam prep, they were allowed chatbots - but they also knew we would be digging into details. The only thing they weren't allowed was to feed the exam text to the bot. Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult to agree on grades - and they didn't stray from their averages more than what you would usually see. But that first part with pen and paper was an eye-opener in multiple ways. Without computers, they were almost useless at grammar rules. But after a bit of practice they managed to improve a lot and suddenly cared more about understanding the grammar rather than just being able to write a sentence.
@trezzer this just confirmed that my instinct to use paper in my classroom is the right one! I feel it’s especially important for English teachers more than others to offer students this dissenting voice. My school, like most others, is jumping on the AI bandwagon with gusto. I joined the AI committee just to show up at the meetings to be like Cassandra and warn them of the dangers.
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Hi! I’m new here. I’ve tried Mastodon a couple times but maybe third time’s the charm! I have become increasingly disillusioned by mainstream social media and I’m searching for ways to connect with other people outside of an algorithm.
I teach high school English and I read a lot. Currently at book 92 of a read around the world project. I was a teen in the 90s and still trying to keep my grunge phase alive. I love art and film too.
Hope to meet some likeminded people!
Welcome!
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@imaginaryuncle welcome! Sounds like you're in the right place. Also, you're the first I've come across in the wild that also has a /now page
@jackgangi it’s such a fun thing to do! It’s like the ultimate status update.
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Hi! I’m new here. I’ve tried Mastodon a couple times but maybe third time’s the charm! I have become increasingly disillusioned by mainstream social media and I’m searching for ways to connect with other people outside of an algorithm.
I teach high school English and I read a lot. Currently at book 92 of a read around the world project. I was a teen in the 90s and still trying to keep my grunge phase alive. I love art and film too.
Hope to meet some likeminded people!
@imaginaryuncle Teacher, teacher, recommend some books please!
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@NickSchwanck @rustyferris That's the spirit! What a legend.
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@imaginaryuncle Teacher, teacher, recommend some books please!
@nitinkhanna I'll be posting book recs for sure!
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Hi! I’m new here. I’ve tried Mastodon a couple times but maybe third time’s the charm! I have become increasingly disillusioned by mainstream social media and I’m searching for ways to connect with other people outside of an algorithm.
I teach high school English and I read a lot. Currently at book 92 of a read around the world project. I was a teen in the 90s and still trying to keep my grunge phase alive. I love art and film too.
Hope to meet some likeminded people!
@imaginaryuncle - Welcome back for the third-time charm tour. Masto's such an odd little joint, often populated with engineers and techs and folks who like to line the digital walls but not say a whole lot. I use the space to do a new haiku every day - since December 13, 2022 - set typically to an image - and find the occasional actual interactions here fascinating! BTW, my BA is in....English.
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@imaginaryuncle - Welcome back for the third-time charm tour. Masto's such an odd little joint, often populated with engineers and techs and folks who like to line the digital walls but not say a whole lot. I use the space to do a new haiku every day - since December 13, 2022 - set typically to an image - and find the occasional actual interactions here fascinating! BTW, my BA is in....English.
@UberZeitgeist A haiku writer with a BA in English?? Sounds like my kinda people. There's A LOT of tech stuff that has shown up on my feed. Is there a good way to reduce it?
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@UberZeitgeist A haiku writer with a BA in English?? Sounds like my kinda people. There's A LOT of tech stuff that has shown up on my feed. Is there a good way to reduce it?
@imaginaryuncle - Yes, you can set your masto feed to filter out what you don't care to be in your feed. You can also influence your feed by blocking the kinda stuff you don't want to see on your feed. So pick the tech-heavy words that are showing up and drop them into the filter, and that's a good start. The haiku streak started after a month on masto trying to figure out what to do here other than watch everyone else pressed up against the digital walls watching everyone else not interact.
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@imaginaryuncle - Yes, you can set your masto feed to filter out what you don't care to be in your feed. You can also influence your feed by blocking the kinda stuff you don't want to see on your feed. So pick the tech-heavy words that are showing up and drop them into the filter, and that's a good start. The haiku streak started after a month on masto trying to figure out what to do here other than watch everyone else pressed up against the digital walls watching everyone else not interact.
@UberZeitgeist thanks for the filter idea. Excellent advice. I’ve followed you and looking forward to your haikus!
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Start here, and you too can join the Baked Beans cult:
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@UberZeitgeist thanks for the filter idea. Excellent advice. I’ve followed you and looking forward to your haikus!
@imaginaryuncle - Thanks! Followed you too! Just 1,318 haikus for you to read now......
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Start here, and you too can join the Baked Beans cult:
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Devastatingly so, right?
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Devastatingly so, right?
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Start here, and you too can join the Baked Beans cult:
@jztusk @imaginaryuncle @cmyrland
happy birthday baked beans 🤩

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Hi! I’m new here. I’ve tried Mastodon a couple times but maybe third time’s the charm! I have become increasingly disillusioned by mainstream social media and I’m searching for ways to connect with other people outside of an algorithm.
I teach high school English and I read a lot. Currently at book 92 of a read around the world project. I was a teen in the 90s and still trying to keep my grunge phase alive. I love art and film too.
Hope to meet some likeminded people!
@imaginaryuncle Also an INFJ here. We rule!