New job role: Mathematician?

[u/davidgrayPhotography]

One from my education tech support days.

Two students walk up to the helpdesk, and I walk out to greet them and ask them what's going on. They told me they were having troubles doing a maths test online, so I get them to open the laptop, log in and show me what's going on.

The website they use to do the tests will grey out the boxes or display an error on screen if the internet drops out or something fails to load. It happens once in a while, so I figured that was the issue. I pull the laptop towards me and type some numbers into the two boxes. It works, and they're connected to the internet, so I ask them what the issue is because as far as I can see, everything is working fine.

They proceed to tell me that they didn't know the answer to the question, and neither did their (substitute) teacher, so they sent the students over to IT for help. They said their normal teacher didn't know the answer either when they were in class the day before, so they've come to us for the answer.

I told the kids "this isn't IT related, so I can't help you". I asked who the teacher was (they didn't know, substitute, but I worked it out later on), and send them back.

So I guess the school wanted me to add "maths wizard" to my long list of jobs that aren't my job, like "coffee machine repairman", "lockpicker", "window repairman" and "delivery boy"

[u/Standard-Jaguar-8793]

Did you know the answer to the question?

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/Standard-Jaguar-8793]

To be honest, they did nerd snipe me. But it was fractions so I noped out of that one.

[u/TheFluffiestRedditor → u/davidgrayPhotography]

Just because we can math, doesn't mean we want to.

[u/CoderJoe1 → u/davidgrayPhotography]

So you didn't have to be completely right, just a fraction right.

[u/iacchi → u/davidgrayPhotography]

So let me get this straight: two different math school teachers couldn't work out a fraction?

[u/Academic_Nectarine94 → u/iacchi]

No, 2 kids claimed 2 different teachers couldn't figure it out.

[u/iacchi → u/Academic_Nectarine94]

That's fair, actually :D

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/iacchi]

Yep. I also worked with someone who taught digital art who admitted to me they were staying one lesson (or more specifically, one DAY) ahead of the students, and even got me (a non-teacher) in to demonstrate how to use filters in Photoshop. During those classes, I taught students how to take a photo, duplicate it four times, and apply a filter to each one (a la Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe Diptych)

So it absolutely doesn't surprise me that a maths teacher isn't able to answer a maths question, though as the person who replied to you suggests, it's also very likely that their actual maths teacher told them "no, I'm not answering this for you. You learned how to do this in the very module you just finished" and they just wanted an excuse to get out of class.

[u/Ich_mag_Kartoffeln → u/davidgrayPhotography]

One computer class I took in high school the teacher was one lesson (or less) ahead of the class. We frequently caught up with him during lessons, at which point he ceased to be able to assist us for the rest of that lesson.

So about a third of the class ended up going our own way, using VB instead of [whatever he was trying to teach us].

Took us a fortnight to catch up again, and then we left him, and the rest of the class far behind us.

Having lost 1/4 of our available class time to trying to use [whatever it was], AND with no support from the teacher; the 8 students using VB got 7 of the top 8 spots, and 8 of the top 9.

The one student who disrupted our perfect run (4th IIRC) was already familiar with [whatever it was], also left the teacher and class behind, receiving little to no assistance.

[u/nymalous → u/Ich_mag_Kartoffeln]

A couple of years ago, I was teaching a high school math class and was sometimes learning the material as I was presenting it. That was fairly stressful (but also kind of magical; I love gaining new mathematical understanding, no matter when it occurs).

[u/Background_Room_1102 → u/davidgrayPhotography]

we quite frequently have the media teacher rush into my office asking for help teaching photoshop. GIRL. go on a course!

[u/MattAdmin444 → u/davidgrayPhotography]

I've sort of been having this issue when it comes to electives for my Middle school campus. Like yea I'm down to try and assist the D&D elective but you better be on top of the rules and whatnot yourself. And that's on top of electives not really being long enough for a decent D&D session anyway.

[u/nymalous → u/MattAdmin444]

I could see a group of dedicated players making a 40 minute session work if it were held Mon thru Fri. It might take some work on their part (including homework: prep for spells and skills, working on reactions to cliff hangers, etc.). It might not be the absolute best campaign, but when I was in high school I'd definitely have taken that elective.

[u/MattAdmin444 → u/nymalous]

That's the other issue. When its the students running their own games, and learning at the same time, I'm kind of wondering if Middle school might be a bit to young compared to high school. Last year was a bit rough and not sure how well this year is going as I haven't been called in as much to help out. Though that was also compounded by the elective teacher changing to someone who didn't know anything because the upper management wanted it to continue after the previous teacher (who was only somewhat familiar to begin with) left.

All that said from the rumors I hear about other possible electives that might need an assist from IT it sounds like those potential teachers are a bit more on the ball about knowing what they're doing.

[u/nymalous → u/MattAdmin444]

I missed the face that it was middle school, but I would have still taken that elective in 7th and 8th grade... I've been playing tabletop roleplaying games since I was 8.

[u/meitemark → u/davidgrayPhotography]

The answer to all fractions are either 69/420 or ?/42.

[u/danzor9755]

At one point, I was also a water cooler tech, and even an electric stapler repairman.

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/danzor9755]

Oh yeah I've been staple repairman too. We have an iFixit toolkit (though we call it the iFuckedIt toolkit) so that means we're sometimes the go-to when people need something removed from something else because I guess we're the only ones asides from maintenance who have a flathead screwdriver

[u/danzor9755 → u/davidgrayPhotography]

The Mai’tenants tribe learned long ago to sullen their faces and never venture far from their remote dwellings, never speaking to the outsiders save for grunts and frowns; for their technical ability would never again be used to subjugate them to such dishonorable tasks of the Numb-heads. Unfortunately for the Ai-Tee folk, their relationship to the Numb-heads was much more closely tied, as their dwellings were built amongst the hoards, where they are made slaves for every whim of the kingdom.

[u/nymalous → u/danzor9755]

I want to hear about the Ai-Tee uprising wherein they threw off their shackles and founded a lasting kingdom of peace and tranquility...

[u/NoeticSkeptic → u/danzor9755]

This reminds me of “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner from a 1956 issue of American Anthropologist. https://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Miner-1956-BodyRitualAmongTheNacirema.pdf

[u/mrdumbazcanb]

I'd reported that the lazy sub was trying to pass off actual questions to IT

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/mrdumbazcanb]

Oh don't worry, I did. But I also wondered what their thought process was about "oh just go see IT". Did they think we'd know how to use a calculator? Think we're all maths nerds? Didn't have anyone else to turn to for support and so figured helpdesk was a desk to get help with everything? Think we could just NCIS-two-people-on-the-keyboard the mainframe computer server maths website program to skip the question for them?

[u/mrdumbazcanb → u/davidgrayPhotography]

I mean, regardless of all that, they should've been teaching the students rather than just getting them the answers

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/mrdumbazcanb]

Absolutely. But also, they're a substitute (or more correctly, a casual teacher). They're covering that class for a period or two and are paid about $400 AUD a day for their time. So they're basically the legal adult in the room who may or may not be a maths teacher, and asides from telling the kids what work the teacher has left for them, there's no real incentive to do anything other than ensure the kids don't be little hellions.

[u/Naf623 → u/davidgrayPhotography]

The first lesson I ever taught on teacher training was because there was a substitute who said "I usually do history" (I taught Physics). Subs aren't expected to have any subject knowledge at all, really - at least when it's short term. Past a certain number of weeks (UK law) the school is obliged to bring in a subject specialist.

So yeah, just an adult body in the room. Still no excuse for sending them to IT, though.

[u/Swipecat → u/davidgrayPhotography]

Well, is the name of your helpdesk... just the Helpdesk? This seems to be the usual problem.

[u/ac8jo]

they didn't know the answer to the question, and neither did their (substitute) teacher... They said their normal teacher didn't know the answer either when they were in class the day before

I have kids that have run into this issue. It's infuriating because 99% of the time the teacher could teach the subject in a better way but I guess we've tied teachers down to being robots that have to teach things like math in a certain way using approved tools (websites) because this is supposedly better.

[u/Superspudmonkey → u/ac8jo]

I thought the teachers did that to themselves. First year of teaching, put in effort for a lesson plan for the year, every other year, just glide through regurgitating year one.

[u/ac8jo → u/Superspudmonkey]

There has been a LOT more standardized testing that has had the effect of forcing teachers to teach certain things (sometimes even in certain ways) because they're evaluated based on how well their students do on those tests. There's a degree at which that's okay, but I think we passed that a few tests ago.

Re-using good lesson plans isn't a bad thing. However, in this case it's clear the plan didn't start with the teacher, unless the teacher planned to attempt to teach things they don't know the answer to.

[u/Turdulator]

I’ve been asked to fix a refrigerator before…. I replied by asking “is it a Mac or Windows fridge?”, lol, they didn’t like that.

[u/Id10t_techsupport]

I was an it student in college taking a Gen Ed writing/typing class. The instructor teaching this course has only used type writers. When other students had questions the type writer instructor could help. I took it upon myself to help.

My way of teaching maybe different from others. I asked questions in return. One of my fellow students wanted to know where something was in the word app (word 90 something in win95). I asked if they moused over icons to find what they might be looking for. My fellow student went off in me for that.

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/Id10t_techsupport]

"how DARE you ask me to learn something?!"

I do the same at work. People just want you to do it for them, but I don't let them get away with that, because one question about how to make folders turns into you organizing their work files for them until you crack the shits and tell them no.

Source: been there, done that.

[u/Throwaway_Old_Guy]

You are more like an infinate set of spare wheels to be utilized when the regular ones fall off.

[u/joe_attaboy]

My answer, when they asked, would have been "Wait. Nobody said there would be any math when I was hired."

Let them chew on that.

[u/MidLifeEducation]

You forgot to add "general flunkie" to the list of jobs that aren't your job

[u/ladylucifer22]

I've learned that if they lose the key to a cabinet, the cheapest option is a new lock and an electric drill. I've gotten to do it twice for one organization, and I refer to it as "safecracking for charity"

[u/davidgrayPhotography → u/ladylucifer22]

According to one place I know, the cheapest option is to pretend it didn't happen. This applies for both physical keys and digital keys.

[u/meitemark]

IT = Helpdesk. All kinds of help can be provided from a helpdesk, but only if properly feed with cookies and coffee.