How do teachers identify smart students?

Teachers, how do you know who are the smart ones among your students? how do you identify the bright ones aside from the obvious one “grades”?

Sarah Benes, 15+ years teaching at college and high school, longer tutoring LD

Answered May 26

By the questions.

If they ask no questions, I wonder about them. If they ask questions that I just answered already, I wonder about them.

If they ask questions I have trouble answering, or that lead the class into an interesting discussion - a light bulb goes on in my head. If I ask a question, and they answer - good. If I answer a question with a question, and they follow up and answer and know why I asked the question, another light bulb goes on.

I see students that make good grades, and then use that to prod them into asking questions.

If an athlete can run 100 meters in 10 seconds, why would it be mathematically wrong to say that he ran 10 meters in 1 second? That is impossible.

Well, I mean running 10 meters in 1 second sounds like a superhero feat and hypothetical, but factually isn’t it correct?! What laws of physics can deny or prove it?

James Swingland, MSci Physics, MRes Bioimaging, PhD Computational biology, 2 years Data Science

Answered Apr 24 · Upvoted by Mike Richmond, MA Physics & Philosophy, University of Oxford and Andy Buckley, PhD in particle physics, visiting researcher at CERN, lecturer in physics

If an athlete can run 100 meters in 10 seconds, why would it be mathematically wrong to say that he ran 10 meters in 1 second? That is impossible.

Well, I mean running 10 meters in 1 second sounds like a superhero feat and hypothetical, but factually isn’t it correct?! What laws of physics can deny or prove it?

The athlete ran at an average speed of 10m/s. During the first second the athlete was clearly averaging less (as they needed to accelerate). During at least some of the other seconds, their average speed was higher.

Why does it sound impossible to you?

Doing that 10m in the first second (from a stationary start) might be completely impossible as there is no acceleration time, but during the race top athletes can manage that - and if you pick the right second, higher.

What skills do self-taught programmers commonly lack?

Or, to put it another way: what should a self-taught programmer study to get up to speed with his/her formally-educated peers?

Andrew Wu, Staff Engineer at Zenefits (2015-present)

Answered May 31 · Upvoted by Gideon Shavit, Professional Software Engineer for 25 years

I got an Amazon offer after 3 months of self-studying, going from not knowing anything about big O analysis to solving complex algorithmic puzzles. Shortly after I started, I found myself struggling with basic concepts like build system, unix commands, database schema, etc. It was quite intimidating when most of my peers were already fluent with the concepts.

Instead of trying to figure out what a self-taught programmer should study, the key is to be curious and deep dive into unfamiliar concepts whenever you face them. Eventually you will realize that self-taught and formally-educated programmers will always have something new to learn.

What are unconventional things/actions that improve your life daily?

Sascha Sim, studying in a foreign country

Answered May 30

I stopped listening to music while commuting to work/school

About a few weeks ago, I realized that everytime I left my house, I would have my earphones glued to my ears. I would only take them out once I had reached my destination or when I have to talk to someone.

Music is good to distract yourself from a lengthy journey. However, it is still a distraction. It inhibits you from enjoying the life that surrounds you. It prevents you from self-reflection.

But the main reason why I decided to 'plug out' is because I realized that I was not comfortable with silence. I always need something humming in the background, whether it is the television or my spotify playlist. I was not comfortable, sitting in a silent room.

Music also affects my mood a lot. Most songs are written about love or heartbreak, and I realized that by listening to these songs daily, I was conditioning myself to favour unrealistic expectations in my life. I subconsciously wanted my love life to be dramatic or tragic or even stupidly childish. It is good to dream but I was only becoming a dreamer, not a doer.

Now that I have plugged out, I found that I can control my emotions easier. I am happier and more productive with my time. I get things done when they need to be done because my emotions are no longer distracting me.

So take my advice, plug out!

https://www.quora.com/What-was-something-that-hurt-you-but-you-knew-you-needed-to-hear/answer/Melissa-Myer-1?srid=4qnf

What's the biggest mistake you ever made during an interview?

Kathy Patty

Answered May 30

I wore a skirt that was just a little tight around the waist so I covered it up with a jacket. The interview was at 1:00 so I ate lunch right before. I came into the interview full of confidence. I shook the manager’s hand, sat down, and took a deep breath. As soon as I did the top button on my skirt flew off. It bounced against the desk, flew into the air, and then proceeded to bounce across the floor. I was horrified, didn’t get the job, and also had no idea how to gracefully recover the button. My biggest mistake, aside from eating a big lunch, was to leave the button there. In hindsight, I realized it wouldn’t have been a good place to work, because the whole thing was pretty funny, but she didn’t even smile.

What is something that everyone thinks they need, but they really don’t?

Maja Burazin

Answered May 14

Soap holders or soap cases (made of stainless steel) that are stuck on the wall.

Why? Because they look great only when there is not soap in them. They look great on modern fancy tiles. Made of stainless steel, they are beautiful, shiny, bright and clean, but only for a short period of time. As soon as you put the soap in and start to use it, the soap melts, disintegrates and turns into a creamy mash. The mash is usually splashed with more water and becomes really useless. The soap case becomes a little pond filled with water and the there's a lovely jubbly soap dissolving inside.

This usually turns into:

…this.

Therefore you have to constantly dry the soap and clean the soap case, polish it to get rid of water marks, or simply give up. You can always buy liquid soap instead.

The problem is, if you want to remove the soap case / holder off your wall, you are left with a hole in one of the tiles.

What did you learn too late in life?

Mary McGrath, former Freelance writer and photographer

Answered May 20

Having spent 20 years in corporate life, I learned too late that you have to manage your boss as well as your territory. Don't just work hard. You have to work smart and part of that entails letting your management know how hard you are working. They don't have time to watch everybody, so you have to remind them of your strengths. That way you will ensure that you have some semblance of job security.

Another good piece of advice is that when a new manager comes in, it's a good time to start looking for another job, because they often put in their own employees at your expense.

https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-Japanese-mentality-different-from-the-Chinese-mentality

What was the most important lesson you learned from your father?

Budi Isnadi, Diploma from Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara (2009)

Updated 6h ago

My father was married 4 times. Here's some facts he shared with me about women:

If you're interested in a girl, see what her mother looks like. That's how she will turn out after marriage.

When the house is on fire, first she will save her baby, then her jewelry, THEN she will check if you make it alive.

Women have peculiar sentimentality about their kitchen utensils. Do not mess with them.

Sometimes intentionally talking about other women will improve your relationship. USE WITH CAUTION.

When women fight each other, don't interrupt until one of them has clearly lost.

They don't really care about romantic places or romantic gifts. They care about romantic YOU.

I've proven myself number 4 & 5. I don't dare to use number 3, though.