Let the teaching begin

[natenaaron]

Due to circumstances beyond my control I did not get my back to teaching supplies ordered before the beginning of school. An add from Goulet reminded me I still needed to get my stuff.

I have been wanting to try TWISBI for a while so I bought two GO pens. Sub 20 dollar pens. Yes they look cheap but in a fun sort of way. If you want a good looking pen for cheap get a metro. The GO is decidedly bigger than my usual Metro and the spring loaded piston pulls in a tanker of ink. The smoke has a medium nib and the blue a fine nib. Smoke is loaded with Scabiosa and Blue is filled with Velvet Black. Both nibs are crazy smooth writers. I grabbed a cheap grade piece of xerox paper and no issues.

Next are my 2mm clutch pencils. Staedtler mars, love the knurled grip on these, and Koh-I-Noor Versitil for marking text with the kids (I don't allow pens for notes so i don't use them either) and Acting like I'm taking notes in staff meetings when I am really drawing and totally not paying attention. I also got a staedtler 2mm mechanical pencil that is not shown because my 13 year old is "trying it out" (stole it) as a drawing pencil. It will be back in my bag this evening.

Last but certainly not least are these AWESOME Baseeing spring loaded pen holders to clip to my "Meeting Notes" notebook (Sketchpad). I took a risk and glad I did. I clipped one on the book put a staedtler 2mm mechanical pencil in and shook the bajeezes out of it. The pencil flopped all over the place but did not come out, same with a sharpie pen. A metropolitan stretched them to the limit but did not come out, and the GOs did not fit at all. There is a selection of clips for carrying more than one writing instrument, as you can see, but I don't know when I might need to carry three writing instruments but it is good to have the option.

I forgot to order a suitable ball point pen to fill out NCR forms.

 

[Raissermesser]

At work, we - make that me, I'm one of the last old timers - call the 2mm clutch pencils technical pencils. Only two of us still use them at work. In both cases it's for the Carmine Red lead we used for proposed/revision drawing on paper. We have such a supply of Carmine Red that some will probably be there after I'm gone.

What do you use to sharpen them? If the blue lead holder is like one at work, there's a pointer in the camp. I use a Mars Staedtler sharpener and a metal pocket sharpener that has "West Germany" on it. They use to make those tiny paddle sharpeners that was just a blade and a holder, but haven't seen one of them in years.

 

[John Rose]

I use one of those rotary lead pointers nowadays.

I used to use sandpaper.

 

[Heckle]

Yes, school teachers are coming back to work and some started last week. I also work in a High School district. Except I am one of the IT guys. If you are a teacher, take a second if you see your IT staff and thank then for what they got done over the summer. It will show that you appreciate what they have done and may even give you a couple of "brownie points" with them. You never know, one of them may even be a fellow FP user!

 

[Slivovitz]

Why don't you allow pens for notes?

Not criticizing, genuinely curious. If I were back in school, I might use one of my mechanical pencils for class notes as a matter of convenience, since I tended to write down only what I thought I needed to, and uncapping a fountain pen (or clicking my Pilot Capless) might be a distraction. But that's just a personal choice. And if you make a mistake in pen, you can always line it out.

Although a horrible thought just occurred to me. "Marking text with the kids", you don't mean writing notes directly in the textbooks do you? The very thought of writing in a book, including highlighting, makes me shudder. If I wanted a note on a particular page, I'd write it on a separate sheet of paper and use it as a bookmark.

Okay, I do write my name on the flyleaf or inside cover, but that's it.

 

[natenaaron]

At work, we - make that me, I'm one of the last old timers - call the 2mm clutch pencils technical pencils. Only two of us still use them at work. In both cases it's for the Carmine Red lead we used for proposed/revision drawing on paper. We have such a supply of Carmine Red that some will probably be there after I'm gone.

What do you use to sharpen them? If the blue lead holder is like one at work, there's a pointer in the camp. I use a Mars Staedtler sharpener and a metal pocket sharpener that has "West Germany" on it. They use to make those tiny paddle sharpeners that was just a blade and a holder, but haven't seen one of them in years.

I use the same thing as Mr. Rose. No mess and if I want I can use the graphite powder to shade my meeting notes with a tissue.

Why don't you allow pens for notes?

Not criticizing, genuinely curious. If I were back in school, I might use one of my mechanical pencils for class notes as a matter of convenience, since I tended to write down only what I thought I needed to, and uncapping a fountain pen (or clicking my Pilot Capless) might be a distraction. But that's just a personal choice. And if you make a mistake in pen, you can always line it out.

Although a horrible thought just occurred to me. "Marking text with the kids", you don't mean writing notes directly in the textbooks do you? The very thought of writing in a book, including highlighting, makes me shudder. If I wanted a note on a particular page, I'd write it on a separate sheet of paper and use it as a bookmark.

Okay, I do write my name on the flyleaf or inside cover, but that's it.

These are middle schoolers. Pens don’t erase. Neither do hi-liters which I don’t allow either. Saves them a lot of head aches. And makes sure what is in their notes is correct. Not being mean just practical. We don’t mark textbooks but we do actively mark up copied articles. With text books they are learning to take notes. The school I work at has settled on Cornell notes as the building wide format.

 

[Raissermesser]

I use one of those rotary lead pointers nowadays.

I used to use sandpaper.

That's one of the ones I use at work. The metal one is made by Koh-I-Noor, is triangular, and has three sizes. There used to be a ring attachment to it, but that's been gone for years.

The only time I used sandpaper was for the chisel points on compasses.

 

[John Rose]

...Pens don’t erase. Neither do hi-liters ...

Um... Some highlighters do erase.

I got some of these for marking up my copy of a script, knowing that the director was inclined to change his mind.
The yellow end makes yellow marks, and the white end has a marker-type point that makes it completely transparent.
Unfortunately, once you use the "eraser" end on paper, you cannot highlight that area in the future. It works differently from the "FriXion" erasable pens.

Although a horrible thought just occurred to me. "Marking text with the kids", you don't mean writing notes directly in the textbooks do you? The very thought of writing in a book, including highlighting, makes me shudder. If I wanted a note on a particular page, I'd write it on a separate sheet of paper and use it as a bookmark.

Me too. I do not like the idea of messing up The Holy Writ, as it were. I would use post-it notes.

 

[natenaaron]

Don't tell my students about those please.

 

[John Rose]

Don't tell my students about those please.

 

[H4nk]

When I went to work for Sara Lee, they got us Day-Timers. I took a corporate class on Organization Skills and they first thing they told us about our Day-Timers was "Write in pencil. The only permanent thing in the corporate world is change". So I had to set out to find a mechanical pencil with very dark soft lead. I used it until I went digital for that kind of stuff. I really miss having it to jot things down but not enough to spend $45 for the refills.

 

[Whiskey Badger]

Those springy pen holders kind of have my attention.

 

[natenaaron]

Those springy pen holders kind of have my attention.

So far they are awesome. I wish they were all the the style that is top left in the picture. the double holder gets the most use. The triple is just overkill.