#roughly 4 hours of research makes roughly twelve books for each hour | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

inevitably-johnlocked · 6 years ago

Note

Hi steph. Do you have a fic rec list of novel- long fics? Ta

AHHHH Nonny you’re in luck! As I’ve been sorting, I’ve been separating them into word length too, LOL. And seeing as it’s National Novel Writing Month, I think this is a great time to give our fandom writers love and appreciation for their novel-length works!

So I Googled how long a basic novel is, and according to this site, it’s between 40k and 90k. Hmm, well, I have them sorted in 25K chunks, so I’ll start at 50K to 100K, since it works seeing as NaNo’s writing goal is 50K :D).

I really hope you enjoy! :D Love all you authors so very much, and I look forward to this year’s submissions!

NOVEL LENGTH FICS (50 - 100 K WORDS)

Triage by scullyseviltwin (E, 51,612 w. || Character Injury, Introspection) – Sherlock’s mind goes exceedingly, devastatingly quiet and gray-blank. When he speaks it’s through a thick haze, it’s through molasses, he’s so disconnected from the words that it may as well be the unconscious shooter speaking.

In the Dark Hours by hubblegleeflower (E, 51,639 w. || Friends to Lovers, Unreliable Narrator, Closeted Bi John, Angst, Miscommunications, Slow Burn, First Time, John’s Blog / Epistolary) – John, wounded and silent, drifts back to Baker Street for healing...and then goes home again. He visits, gets more upbeat, chattier, smiles, jokes... and still goes home again. Sherlock wants him to move back in - it just makes sense - but John shows no signs of doing so. This is the story of how John and Sherlock learn to say what needs to be said when they're both so very, very rubbish at talking.

The Homecoming Series by sussexbound (M, 51,744 w. across 12 stories, WIP || Domestics, PTSD, Love Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling, Jealousy, Family Issues, Cuddling) – Sometimes home is all you need. After three years of horror, betrayals, and crushing loss, John and Sherlock find their way back home to one another, and together find new footing in a world that has changed forever.

Spare Change by Ermerness (E, 51,966 w. || Rich Holmeses AU || First Kiss / Time, Holmes Family, Virgin Sherlock, Anal, First Meetings) – The Holmes family is one of the richest and most powerful in England. Sherlock spends his time flying around the world on the family's private jet drinking a lot and shopping at expensive boutiques as a way of trying to alleviate his endless boredom. His mother decides it's time he settles down with someone powerful, wealthy and well connected. John Watson happens to be none of those things.

Coventry by standbygo (E, 52,020 w. || Dollhouse AU, First Time/Kiss, BAMF John, Slow Burn, Falling in Love, Case Fic) – “Let me get this straight,” John said, wondering when his life had become a science fiction film. “Some guy orders up a personality, a person, to his specifications, and they program this into a real live person, who has consented to do this, and she goes to this person and acts as his wife, or lawyer, or Royal Marine, or Navy Seal or what have you, and she has all the skills, all the knowledge, everything? Then you say the magic words, and she follows you back to The House, and they erase it all until her next appointment?”

Lost Without My Blogger by starrysummernights (E, 52,155 w. || Rev. Reich, PTSD, Hurt / Comfort, Fluff / Angst, Psychological Torture, Reunion Fic, Friends to Lovers) – John is abducted and declared dead. How will Sherlock cope without his blogger? How will he react when John comes back from the "dead?" Drama and angst with a healthy dose of romance. Part 1 of I'd Be Lost Without My Blogger

John Watson's Twelve Days of Christmas by earlgreytea68 (M, 53,464 w. || Christmas, Holmes Family, Fake Relationship, Alternate First Meeting, Falling in Love, Fluff and Angst, Hardcore Pining) – It's the holiday season. John Watson needs money. Sherlock Holmes needs something else.

Fan Mail by scullyseviltwin (E, 53,942 w. || Stalking, Obsessive Fans, Angst) – “WatsonChick143 has been rather maniacal in her commenting as of late... she’s left comments on everything you’ve posted John, something so obvious can’t have escaped even your attention."

Albion and the Woodsman by Glenmore (E, 54,437 w. || Post S3 || Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst, Family, Drug Use, Depression, Sherlock POV) – Sherlock and John are devastated after Mary Morstan makes her final moves. Sherlock relapses at the crack house, John walks around the world ... and a lot happens in between. Parentlock, in the good way.

Guilty Secrets by Ellipsical (E, 55,086 w. || Drumsticks, First Time, Love Confession, Self-Sexual-Discovery) – John has a prostate exam and discovers something surprising about himself. Experimentation follows. Sherlock wants to help. They're in love. You know the drill.

Wars We Fought, Things We're Not by blueink3 (M, 55,204 w. || Parentlock, Fluff & Angst, Kidnapping, Whump, Post-TAB, UST, Slow Burn, Couple for a Case) – Five months after John's world has fallen apart, Mycroft sends the consulting detective and his doctor on a case that neither is prepared for.

The Great Sex Olympics of 221B by XistentialAngst (E, 58,611 w. || First Time/Kiss, Experiments / Sexual Experimentations, Multi Pairings) – John Watson thinks Sherlock Holmes should admit that he, Watson, is more of an expert on sex than Sherlock is. But Sherlock refuses to concede the point. He comes up with an experiment plan that will resolve the issue. The results will determine who wins the prize. But sometimes even the best thought-out scientific study has unexpected consequences.

Bridging the Ravine by SilentAuror (E, 58,887 w. || Post S4, Couple For a Case, Bed-Sharing, First Times, Confessions, Awkwardness, Sex Trafficking) – Sherlock and John go undercover at Ravine Valley, a therapy centre for same-sex male couples in an investigation into a possible human trafficking ring. As they pose as a couple and fake their way through the therapy sessions for the sake of the case, it quickly becomes difficult to avoid discussing their very real issues. Set roughly six nine months after series 4.

The Book of Silence by SilentAuror (E, 60,056 w. || S4 Fix It / Post S4, Virgin Sherlock, Rosie / Parentlock, Domesticity, Fluff, Praise Kink, Sex Toys, First Person POV) – As spring blooms in London, John and Sherlock begin to take new cases and cautiously negotiate this new phase of life with John living at Baker Street again. Despite how well it's all going, John struggles to forgive himself for the way he treated Sherlock following Mary’s death as well as trying to figure out how to finally put his long-time feelings for Sherlock into words. Part 1 of The Book of Silence/Rosa Felicia

Scars by SilentAuror (E, 60,493 w. || Rape / Non-Con / Abuse, Gaslighting, Manipulation, Dub Con Elements, Homophobia, Angst With Happy Ending, Mary is Not Nice) – S3 rewrite, showing Mary’s manipulation of John as he realizes his love for Sherlock. Mary is not having it.

The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom (E, 62,006 w || Sherlock POV, Pining, Angst, Slow Burn, Infidelity, Sherlock Learns About Himself, Happy Ending) – Sherlock struggles with his feelings for John, makes a mistake, and learns just how important he and John are to each other. Non-BBC Mary / John, but it’s a *complicated* relationship.

An Experiment in Empathy by belovedmuerto (T, 62,397 w. across 13 stories || Empath AU || Psychic John, Psychic-by-Proxy Sherlock, Empathy, Psychic Bond, Romance / Bromance) – In which John is an empath, Sherlock is Sherlock, and an epic bromance happens. In the aftermath of The Great Game, John creates an unexpected bond between himself and Sherlock. Now they have to learn how to deal with it. John is better at this than Sherlock is.

Perdition’s Flames by i_ship_an_armada (E, 63,435 w. || Treklock AU, Est. Rel, Genetic Engineering, Angst & Fluff, BAMF!John) – Sherlock would do anything to save him. Risk anything. Give anything. His money, his life. His soul. What he does, though, is change both of their destinies forever. Genetic re-engineering is the only option left. It turns out researchers underestimated the life expectancy and potential abilities of genetically re-engineered subjects. The British government and what would eventually become the United Federation of Planets, however, had not. Part 1 of PF Universe

Bedtime Universe by Liketheriver (M, 65,173 w. across 2 stories || Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Angst, Humour, Case Fic) – John's POV during Season 2 and beyond when Sherlock takes up semi-permanent residence in his bed. A collection of codas and missing scenes wrapped up into one long fic and topped with a bow that takes the story beyond Reichenbach and into happy territory once more.

Watches 'Verse by bendingsignpost (E, 66,905 w. across 2 works || Magical Realism, Reality Distortion, Angst, Partial MCD, BAMF John) – First, he is shot in Afghanistan. Second, he wakes to a phone call in Chelmsford, Essex. Third is pain, fourth is normalcy, fifth is agony and sixth is confusion. By the eighth, he's lost track. (John-centric AU) Part 1 of Watches 'Verse

You Have Drawn Red From My Hands by J_Baillier (T, 67,085 w. || Three Garridebs, Heavy John Whump, Hurt / Comfort, Pining, Heavy Angst, Case Fic/Adventure, Slow Burn, Sick Fic, Injury, Guilt & Depression, Just Talk Already Please, Medical Realism, PTSD) – John getting injured leads Sherlock on a path of guilt and revelations.

Electric Pink Hand Grenade by BeautifulFiction (E, 67,718 w. || First Time / Kiss, Seizures, Headaches) – "If Sherlock's brain is a hard drive, then these attacks are an electro-magnetic pulse." Sherlock Holmes does not do anything by half, not even a migraine. It falls to John to witness one of the greatest minds he has ever known tear itself apart, and he must do his best to help Sherlock pick up the pieces.

The Green Blade by verityburns (T, 72,929 w. || Casefic, Bromance) – As a serial killer hits the headlines, the police are out of their depth and the next victim is out of time. With faith in Sherlock Holmes at an all time low, this is a case which will push loyalties to the limit...

Darkling, I Listen by You_Light_The_Sky (T, 73,254 w. || Fairy Tale AU || Loosely Based on Beauty and the Beast, Magical Realism, Suicidal Themes, Romance, Creepiness, Adventure) – No one who enters old London ever comes out. They say that the beast devours them. When his sister disappears, John ventures into the dead zone beyond the wall, and finds a brilliant madman under a terrible curse... Part 1 of Darkling I Listen + Extras, Deleted Scenes

The Moonlight and the Frost by CaitlinFairchild (E, 77,289 w. || Case Fic, Post-HLV, Self Harm, Virgin Sherlock, First Time, Oral/Anal/Rimming, Romance, Angst, Mary is Not Nice) – John has to somehow rebuild his life in the wake of Mary's betrayal and Sherlock's deceptions.

A Cure For Boredom by emmagrant01 (E, 81,665 w. || Dirty Talk, Threesomes, Light Dom/Sub, Sex Club, Experiments, Anal, Mildly Dubious Consent) – They'd never talked about sex in the year they'd known each other. Well, that wasn't quite correct: Sherlock had never said a word about sex; John had bemoaned his personal dearth of it on many occasions.

Secrets and Revelations by Hisstah (E, 83,535 w. || Sentinel / Guides AU, Omegaverse, Aventure, Violence, Anal / Oral, Omega!John / Alpha!Sherlock, Case Fic, Politics, Mild DubCon) – Dr John Watson has some major secrets that he's kept from his flatmate, Alpha Sentinel Sherlock Holmes. Now the Sentinel Tower is after him. Can John stay out of their hands until he can reveal his secrets to Sherlock? Part 1 of Secrets and Revelations

Uphill by scullyseviltwin (E, 84,945 w. || Olympics AU || Sherlock POV, Skier!Sherlock / Medic!John, Rivalry, 2014 Olympics, Happy Ending) – Sherlock Holmes is striving for gold in this, his fourth and final Olympics as a downhill Alpine racer.

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w. || Pining, Love Confessions, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock POV, Eventual Happy Ending) – "For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face." Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

Bleed Me Out by antietamfalls (E, 87,987 w. || Vampire AU || Bonding, Vampire Sherlock, Fluff & Angst, H/C, John Whump, Magical Realism) – John isn’t exactly surprised to discover that Sherlock isn't human. His vampirism doesn't pose a problem, even when their relationship gradually grows into something more. That is, until a deadly revelation about John’s blood sends their lives spinning dangerously out of control.

A Case of Identity by jkay1980 (T, 91,009 w. || Fake Relationship, Post-TRF, Case Fic) – John and Sherlock have succeeded in rebuilding their friendship after Sherlock’s fake suicide, but an unusual case puts their relationship to the test. They pretend to be engaged and attend a marriage counseling workshop. Under the pretext of the case, Sherlock turns out to be a master of seduction, and John finally learns he might like Sherlock more than he thought. Slowly, John discovers that he loves Sherlock not only in a friendly, brotherly way, but both men have to fight their own demons before they can think of taking their relationship to a new level… [[I love this fic. It’s a really great long-fic!]]

The Stars Move Still by BeautifulFiction (E, 96,022 w. || Magical Realism, Demons, Slash to Pre-Slash, AU, Happy Ending) – "What could I want so desperately that would make me sell my soul? What could possibly compel me to surrender the part of myself that makes me who I am: the source of my magic, my self-control, everything?"

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #novel length fics #long fics #Anonymous #50 to 100k #long post #nanowrimo

542 notes · View notes

lovelyparanormalbooks · 6 years ago

Text

Issues With High School in New Zealand // NZ Education Issues Part Two

{This post has been in the works since forever (the publication of part one, to be more specific), and now that I've finished my second last exam of this year I've decided to go ahead and spend more time on it. It's such a massive rant, and I even go as far as to suggest some "solutions" to the issues of this system (I'm so extra I know, don't come @ me because I'm not an education system expert okay I just know what works and doesn't work for me as a student). If you don't mind that, read on!} Hey, I'm back with another post totally unrelated to books! Due to the popularity of my last post about my issues with the NZ education system, I'm back with part two, except this one is entirely geared towards high school (the final three years to be exact). If you haven't read "part one", my general explanations yet, you can do so here. My main issue with the high school system is NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) run by the NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority). This is an exam system used nationwide with the exception of a few schools, which do other programmes such as IB or Cambridge. But for this post I'll be focusing on NCEA, which is what my school uses, and it'll cover topics such as how exactly the system works, why I don't like it, and alternatives to this system.

What is NCEA?

You could probably google it for a concise definition (but don't quote me on the accuracy of that statement), but I'll try and explain it without making it sound too confusing. If you already know what it is/are or have done NCEA, feel free to skip ahead to the next section because you should also know all of this! For your last three years of high school, the majority of your school work is geared towards getting NCEA standards, of which there are three levels. In the first of these years, Year 11, you're working towards Level One, in Year 12 (the most important year) you work towards Level Two, and in Year 13 Level Three. It's also possible to "skip ahead" in some cases, but that's another story.

Credits

Each assignment/exam, which I'm gonna call a task, earns you credits (usually between two and six per task). NZQA likes to think that each credit is roughly equivalent to ten notional hours, which is class time as well as homework. You can get your credits at four levels: not achieved (you don't get any credits, but they show up on your learning record under not achieved credits), achieved, merit, and excellence. These levels just show how well you did at the task as there is different marking criteria to see what level you're working at. In order to pass the year, you need to gain eighty credits. However if you are trying to get a level two or three certificate and you've already done a lower level, you can 'take' twenty credits from that level so you only need sixty credits. Likewise, if you have credits from higher levels and you are trying to get a lower level endorsement, you can use those credits too.

Endorsements

For high achievers, there is an option to try for merit or excellence endorsement. There are two types of endorsement; certificate, and subject. Subject endorsements are considered harder to get. Certificate endorsement is where you get fifty or more credits at merit or excellence for a merit endorsement/fifty or more excellence credits for an excellence endorsement. This just means your certificate will say something like "John Doe achieved NCEA Level One with Excellence Endorsement". Subject endorsements are endorsement on a smaller scale, in individual subjects. The courses of most subjects are usually around 20-24 credits, with a mix of internal (assignments, reports, research projects, performances, tests) and external (exams) assessments. To get a subject endorsement you need 14 excellence credits, with at least three internal and three external credits.

External Exams

I felt that this needed its own section as the way NCEA does it is quite different from a lot of other systems. With externals, you sit up to three papers in one subject and have three hours to complete them. Wait, what? Yeah, you read that correctly. It varies from subject to subject, but you can usually be entered in up to three external standards, which you sit in the three hour long exam. They're all marked individually too, so there's no bonus for doing more papers than other people; if anything, it's a disadvantage because there are gonna be people who spent ninety minutes on a paper and did better work than you if you spent one hour on a paper. Each paper is worth a certain amount of credits, usually ranging from 4-6.

Results come out in January, and if you're unsatisfied with your mark you can apply for a reconsideration, which is basically where a second marker remarks your work. If your grade is lifted, you get refunded the price ($20.40NZD per paper), otherwise your paper is returned and your money kept by the big bosses. If you're sick for the November exam, or feel that you've been influenced by events out of control such as (and I quote) the bereavement of a family member or close friend (look, I'm sorry, I don't want to make fun of this, but WHO EVEN USES THE WORD BEREAVEMENT ANYMORE (if you do please don't be offended I mean you no harm)), no worries! You can apply for a derived grade, which is where you get given the mark from your mock exam.

NZQA Scholarship Exams

NZQA also has the option of scholarship exams for high achievers, generally offered in year thirteen and sometimes year twelve. These are three hour long external examinations in which you can gain the award of Top Scholar, an outstanding scholarship, or a scholarship. I won't go into it any further, but if you're really interested search it up.

What's wrong with NCEA?

So there you have the basic rundown of the system. There are several key issues I have with it, and I'll go through them one by one.

external exams

My main issue with the external exams isn't that they exist (I actually really like exams), it's the way they're marked. For essays, out of 8, and for most other exams, out of 24. 24??!! As someone who is used to being able to get at least 40 points in an examination I fail to see how you could possibly differentiate well between the abilities of students with such small scale marking. The other thing is, a lot of the marking is subjective and you don't get marks unless you include evidence on the assessment schedule (a.k.a. what the writer of the exam wanted you to get from the paper).

Not everyone sits the same external standards. You don't get penalised for not attempting one paper as they're marked individually (in fact in many ways, not attempting is better than a not achieved because the paper just disappears from your NZQA record of achievement). Yes, this has been an advantage to me in History because I would've died doing all three papers (plus I hated the NZ significance one okay), but it's also been a disadvantage in subjects like English where I know many talented individuals who only attempt two papers as an attempt to do better in those two and sacrifice the third. I just think that it's stupid because why should people be disadvantaged by putting themselves under more pressure and doing three papers? Why should people not be penalised for not attempting a paper? It makes much more sense, since all papers test different areas of a subject, that you do get penalised for not doing a paper (or they could just follow my killer suggestions and combine the papers into one exam that everyone who takes externals will receive because obviously that's a far better method).

How could this be fixed? Easy enough, I think. Redo the format of the exams so that it's marked out of 100 (cmon, 50 at least!) so it's percentage based rather than fitted to a curve: top 10% get excellence, next 10% get merit (if you really want to, next 20%), top 20/30-35/40% get achieved. Wait, does that sound harsh? I don't think so, because in other exams, 60/65% is the rate of pass, 80% merit and 90% excellence! But of course NCEA has made it so that by getting just over 1/3 of the paper correct you can pass... leaving the pass rate around 33-37.5% completion of paper. Also, if they really desperately wanted that curve, they could just go off people's scores and do the whole top 10% of people get excellence, etc! It's just that this way there's more room to differentiate between the scores of people, it's not so difficult to go up by one point, and you get a much better idea of where people are at. It's super easy to scale because it's unlikely that a whole lot of people are going to get the same mark to the extent where they are 10% of all students taking that paper so the excellence mark is raised, which is currently the case with marks out of 24. Also, what papers you take in the external shouldn't be optional; all available papers should be combined into the one exam (look, even with the current mark system that would total 72 marks, so even sticking to the current format could potentially work!) so that there aren't disadvantages or advantages of completing less/more papers. Everyone learns different stuff, you say? Well, maybe internally, but the end of year exam should be the same. It's designed so that you get to discuss what you've learned in class in the more humanities type subjects such as English, History and Drama (one of the only things I like about it), and there's no reason that would change with the new format.

english essay marking

Fine. I admit I've never actually had my essay marked in a proper external, yet. So we'll see how that goes after I get my results back in January, and I may just update y'all about that: positive or negative. If you really want me to do let me know in the comments! Anyway, moving on: the thing with essay marking is that it's really subjective. Of course, there's no solution to this. But what teachers and markers alike can do is stop making assumptions into students' knowledge or judge them for their essay style. In English class, students aren't taught how to write essays. We are taught about the content of a book, or rather a teacher's opinion on the book (and how we can stick that in our essay for bonus points). I'd like to hope that by this age, people have seen and done enough to form their own opinions on books written before the 21st century and that there is no need for a teacher to break it down sentence by sentence, plus add their opinion? What I'm proposing is that instead of focusing so much on what we're going to write about, in class we focus on HOW to write an essay and just apply it to the text we're studying. This would also reduce the subjectiveness of marking based on essay style, because everyone would've been taught a definitive, "NZQA approves" base. I know of teachers who mark harshly on essay styles they don't like because they expect everyone to have been taught English the way they teach it, which I think is total rubbish. And a lot of the time, essays and work written in class is marked based on how your views align with your teacher's, which shouldn't even be a factor of the marking.

How could this be fixed? Again, the scale needs to be expanded. Eight points is not nearly enough to differentiate between good and bad essays. There could be a large marking scale of say, thirty, and markers marked different aspects of the writing out of say five: grammar, use of evidence, structure, personal voice, comprehensiveness, etc. Alongside this could be the use of a check marker: currently, you can only get your work check marked if you apply for a reconsideration (I'll go until detail about that later). But by having a check marking system in place each essay would filter out subjective marking because unless you were unlucky at got two subjective markers the difference in marks would be quite evident (also why there needs to be a larger scale, to allow more difference). And again I don't think one exam should entirely consist of the essay; lets combine written, visual and unfamiliar text into the one exam!

reconsiderations and resubmissions

I think NCEA asked for this one. If you think your worked was marked unfairly, you can apply for a reconsideration (external). Some internals let you do resubmissions if you have made a minor error which the teacher believes the student could spot on their own (wait a minute, how could a minor error lift you up an entire grade? I'm not sure I comprehend). In this case, NZQA is pretty much saying "yes! There are double standards! If you think you've been subjected to one, pay and we'll reconsider your result (but it probably won't change because we're like that)!" Disagree if you like, but I think the whole idea of reconsiderations basically implies there are double standards. Yes, markers can make errors, and in that case definitely apply (through a different channel would be appropriate though, such as the way you apply for derived grades which is through your school). But it seems a lot of reconsiderations are applied for not in math, the subject of black and white marking, but subjects like English and History where it's quite literally up to the marker what they choose to give you.

With resubmissions, it's not that big of a deal. It's up to the teacher, and if they offer it to you you get it the one chance to fix your work. Usually it's just some grammatical errors or a minor calculation error. My issue with this is also less major, I just think you get the one chance. I'm sorry if you didn't notice it when you were doing it, but in the case of assignments, the deadline has passed and you've had your chance to spot the errors; in the case of tests, it's a timed test. Why should you get extra time, and at that, it's extra time given after you're told you could lift your grade if you spot the error (Where's Wally?).

How could this be fixed? How about, get rid of them! (Sorry if you don't agree. But I do.) It's unfair to people who work hard and say get a secure merit grade don't have the chance to lift their grade because they weren't close enough to excellence, but then someone whose work was "very nearly excellence" gets that chance.

derived grades

Whoa, here's another hot topic, somewhat controversial, where I take the side of high achievers. Oops. Well... The thing with derived grades is, I feel that it disadvantages students who actually sit the exams. Of course, it's really unfortunate if you aren't able to sit the exam/don't do the best for whatever reason. But I just don't think it's fair that you can submit for grades from mock exams. In my experience, a lot of mock exams are deceivingly easy because a technique teachers use is to make you feel calm for exams by giving you an easy mock. The only exception to this at my school is the maths department, which believe it is better to give you something more difficult so that you know if you can do well in that exam, you'll do fine in the real one, or you realise there are gaps in your knowledge which you then have time to fix up before the real thing. How could this be fixed? Perhaps instead of assigning grades to the derived grades process, there could be something where people who weren't able to attend for whatever reason can apply with evidence of school work that they would easily be able to pass the paper? This still wouldn't be an ideal situation of course but it would remove the unfairness of getting higher grades from an easier exam and would make it so that the students didn't entirely miss out on getting a mark for the exam even if it might be lower than desired.

internals

There is a new practice at schools now called "credit farming". This is essentially where the schools try and get their students as many credits as possible through internals with little regard to the quality of the learning (see here). This can be especially advantageous for high achieving students because it's an easy way to earn lots of excellence credits which is the primary factor in deciding the recipients of university scholarships in New Zealand.

I'm not totally against internals; they're cool, and a much more reliable source of credits than externals which can be quite flaky. But that doesn't mean I don't think they count as far too much of your course's overall level of achievement. The end of year exams should be a key factory, but with NZQA it's internals too. They can be fun, but they aren't difficult enough to truly measure ability. And also, each school has a different procedure which can't be fixed even through moderation and the other measures NZQA has in place.

How could this be fixed? Firstly, the externals need to be more reliable and the criteria for each grade really clear. This would make internal credits less valuable, so the course could spend more time focusing on the external exams instead of expending so much energy on internals which I feel is the less valuable part of the course. So there you have it. If you've gotten this far, then wow! Congrats on getting through something this long and boring. What is the education system like where you are?

#ParanormalBooks

0 notes

theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

Link

It might seem unbelievable given that the “Christmas creep” now begins before Halloween, but the true Christmas season actually starts on Christmas Day itself. That’s right: December 25 marks the official start of the 12 days of Christmas, the Christian tradition that shares its name with a relentlessly stick-in-your-head Christmas carol.

Here are a few things you may not know about the song and the season.

The 12 days of Christmas is the period that in Christian theology marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6 (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings’ Day). The four weeks preceding Christmas are collectively known as Advent, which begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on December 24.

Some families choose to mark the 12-day period by observing the feast days of various saints (including St. Stephen on December 26) and planning daily Christmas-related activities, but for many, after December 25 things go back to business as usual.

“The 12 Days of Christmas” is also a Christmas carol in which the singer brags about all the cool gifts they received from their “true love” during the 12 days of Christmas. Each verse builds on the previous one, serving as a really effective way to annoy family members on road trips.

The version most people are familiar with today begins with this verse:

On the first day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree.

The song then adds a gift for each day, building on the verse before it, until you’re reciting all 12 gifts together:

Day 2: two turtle doves

Day 3: three French hens

Day 4: four calling birds

Day 5: five gold rings

Day 6: six geese a-laying

Day 7: seven swans a-swimming

Day 8: eight maids a-milking

Day 9: nine ladies dancing

Day 10: 10 lords a-leaping

Day 11: 11 pipers piping

Day 12: 12 drummers drumming

The history of the carol is somewhat murky. The earliest known version first appeared in a 1780 children’s book called Mirth With-out Mischief. (A first edition of that book sold for $23,750 at a Sotheby’s auction in 2014, but you can also buy a digital copy on Amazon.) Some historians think the song could be French in origin, but most agree it was designed as a “memory and forfeits” game, in which singers tested their recall of the lyrics and had to award their opponents a “forfeit” — a kiss or a favor of some kind — if they made a mistake.

Many variations of the lyrics have existed at different points. Some mention “bears a-baiting” or “ships a-sailing”; some name the singer’s mother as the gift giver instead of their true love. Early versions list four “colly” birds, an archaic term meaning black as coal (blackbirds, in other words). And some people theorize that the five gold rings actually refer to the markings of a ring-necked pheasant, which would align with the bird motif of the early verses.

In any case, the song most of us are familiar with today comes from an English composer named Frederic Austin; in 1909, he set the melody and lyrics (including changing “colly” to “calling”) and added as his own flourish the drawn-out cadence of “five go-old rings.”

A popular theory that’s made the internet rounds is that the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas” are coded references to Christianity; it posits that the song was written to help Christians learn and pass on the tenets of their faith while avoiding persecution. Under that theory, the various gifts break down as follows, as the myth-debunking website Snopes explained:

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch,” which gives the history of man’s fall from grace.

6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation

7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed

The partridge in the pear tree, naturally, represents Jesus Christ.

This theory seems tailor-made for circulation via chain emails, but it actually makes little sense once you examine it. Snopes has a great explanation of the many, many holes in its logic. The most egregious: First, the song’s gifts have nothing to do with their Christian “equivalents,” so the song is basically useless as a way to remember key pillars of the faith. And second, if Christians were so restricted from practicing their faith that they had to conceal messages in a song, they also wouldn’t be able to celebrate Christmas in the first place — much less sing Christmas carols.

The late historian William Studwell, known for his Christmas carol expertise, also refuted the coded message idea. Via a Northern Illinois University news release:

First, Catholics of that era were not terribly persecuted, so there would have been little need for their teachings to have been secretive. Also, the breezy, bouncy nature of the tune hardly fits with the character of the church at that time. Finally, neither Studwell, nor any other reputable researcher, has ever found a definitive explanation of what each of the 12 gifts in the song would have correlated to in the Catholic catechism.

Sorry to spoil your dinner party fun fact; while I’m at it, I might as well tell you “Ring Around the Rosie” isn’t about the Black Plague, either.

To calculate the cost of all the gifts in “The 12 Days of Christmas,” I’ll turn to the PNC financial services group’s annual Christmas Price Index, which PNC has been putting out since 1984 (and which occasionally makes its way into school lesson plans). The index calculates the cost of all the gifts in the song based on current market rates; 2018’s total comes to a hefty $39,094.93, or $170,609.46 if you count each mention of an item separately (which would amount to 364 gifts in all) — up 1.2 percent from last year.

PNC Financial Services Group

The takeaway: Swans are damn expensive (at $1,875 each/$13,125 for all seven) but at least stayed the same price as last year, while the cost of the five gold rings ($750 total) is down 9.1 percent from last year, due to “less demand and fluctuations in gold prices throughout 2018,” per PNC. No matter the cost, though, actually giving someone all this stuff is probably not a great idea; just think of all the bird poo.

The structure of “The 12 Days of Christmas” lends itself easily to parodies, of which there have been many. There’s Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck version, Twisted Sister’s heavy metal take, and, of course, a Muppets version (featuring John Denver):

[embedded content]

There’s also a 12 days of Christmas diet of sorts, which the Atlantic’s Olga Khazan attempted in 2013. She calculated the calories in a serving of each bird mentioned in the song, and offset them with the calories burned by the various activities (milking, leaping, etc.). Turns out all that poultry is somehow less indulgent than the typical American holiday meal. She sums up:

If you ate all of the birds in one day, including the pheasant pie, but not including all the trimmings for the other dishes, and subtracted the energy you expended milking, dancing, leaping, and drumming, you’d have consumed 2,384 net calories. That’s really not bad, considering the average American Thanksgiving dinner adds up to about 4,500 calories.

It seems even more reasonable, relatively speaking, when you consider that if you wanted to burn off your meal by just singing its namesake tune, you’d have to make it all the way through roughly 300 times — about 17 and a half hours of caroling. And that’s a gift we doubt anyone would welcome.

Original Source -> The 12 Days of Christmas: the story behind the holiday’s most annoying carol

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

0 notes