(New). On Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom: how technologies of connection tear us apart.' "We spend our days sharing information, connected as never before, but the more we communicate, the worse things seem to get." www.juliangirdham.com/blog/nichola...

“The night Robert Redford met Dickie Rock, and other moments from a Hollywood giant’s life.” Me on a great (and also on Robert Redford). www.irishtimes.com/culture/film...

(New). On Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom: how technologies of connection tear us apart.' www.juliangirdham.com/blog/nichola...

Fortnightly 191 is now out: Molly Twomey, William Wall, Michael Longley’s final book, @fotoole.bsky.social on Easter 1916 with @ppfideas.bsky.social, teaching 'Othello' via @clanavtra.bsky.social, Deborah Levy, Alan Jacobs, @tom-richmond.com on AI. juliangirdham.substack.com/p/191-carob-...

📢 Post-Primary TYEnglish Teachers! ➡️ TY English Ideas 📅 Tues 16 Sept 2025 | ⏲️ 7–8pm | 💻 Zoom | 💰 FREE 🗣️ Claire Cotter shares creative TY strategies: 🎶 songs, 🎬 film, 🎙️ podcasts, & project-based learning to spark curiosity! 👉 zoom.us/webinar/regi...

This time next week, a free Culture Night talk/tour at St Columba's College, Dublin 16. Friday 19th September, 6.30-8.30pm. Interesting architecture and history! No booking required. www.stcolumbas.ie/2025/09/05/c...

New episode! This week, @amymayforrester.bsky.social and I are joined by one of education's premier thinkers - @carlhendrick.substack.com. Carl has so many great insights on cognitive science and how it is best communicated. Must listen, tune in and share! open.spotify.com/episode/0JW7...

Julian Girdham delivering an extremely interesting webinar tonight on ‘Othello’ for Post Primary English Teachers. Always a pleasure to work with Julian. @sccenglish.bsky.social

I'm looking for stories about how AI is killing creative work, and I'd love to hear from you—artists, writers, illustrators, actors, designers, editors, voice actors and narrators—if your job or practice has been hit. This is going to be a big one. [email protected]

In this short piece, I lean on embodied cog sci to argue that we should refuse & resist llms in education (pp. 53-58) unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentV... "the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"

"I spent decades saying, ‘Come on, it’s got to be more complex than this.’ But I think it’s not. I think that almost everything can be explained by this deep hatred that the majority of white Americans have for black Americans. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” inews.co.uk/culture/book...

(New) On Michael Longley's last book before his death, 'Ash Keys', and how school leaders can benefit from reading poetry: www.juliangirdham.com/blog/michael...

In one week: Webinar - An Introduction to Teaching ‘Othello’. Date: Wednesday 10th September Time: 7.00pm - 8.00pm Target Audience: Senior Cycle English teachers via @TraleeESC @ClareEdCentre @NavanESC Free registration: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

At the start of this academic year, the Fortnightly has returned. Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more. www.juliangirdham.com/blog/fortnig...

Fortnightly 190 is out: Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more. juliangirdham.substack.com/p/190-all-th...

"Walk on air against your better judgement." Seamus Heaney's grave is located in a corner of the graveyard adjoining St Mary's parish church in Bellaghy, close to that of his parents and other members of the family. Seamus Heaney who died on this day 2013.

Fortnightly 190 is out: Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more. juliangirdham.substack.com/p/190-all-th...

The Fortnightly returns from its holidays tomorrow. Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more. Link for free sign-up: juliangirdham.substack.com

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today it’s the first of two episodes with journalist & historian @fotoole.bsky.social about the trials that followed the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. How and why did the British get it so wrong by court martialling the ring leaders in secret? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

Alan Jacobs superb on being a 'supply officer': 'As a teacher, I hope to train and liberate minds; as a writer, I supply people with ideas and contexts, with substantive frameworks to shape and interpret thought and aesthetic experience.' blog.ayjay.org/notes-of-a-s...

Fast food tills have pictures not words. Text messages can be played as audio. The modern world makes it easier to cope without literacy. What should schools do in response? substack.nomoremarking.com/p/are-we-liv...

The Fortnightly returns from its summer holidays on Saturday with issue 190: Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more. juliangirdham.substack.com

English shouldn't be PSHE with novels. If curriculum time is finite, every book taught has an opportunity cost. Why waste it on what’s easy, immediate and disposable when students could join the great conversation of literature? open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Teaching 'Othello': a free webinar via @clanavtra.bsky.social Wednesday 10th September, 7.00-8.00pm. Register here: www.edcentretralee.ie/cpd-courses-...

On a great Irish short story, John McGahern's 'Sierra Leone': www.juliangirdham.com/blog/john-mc...

We need to know what humans do before we argue that machines can do it just the same. There can’t be AI literacy without a literacy in being human: how we make meaning in work and life, distinguishing the artificial from the imaginary from the true. mail.cyberneticforests.com/human-litera...

Late summer update, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/juliangi...

(New). On 'Making It New: essays on the revised Leaving Certificate English syllabus' (2000) edited by @mgtkell.bsky.social, as the next revision approaches. The book was produced in collaboration with ATE, the forerunner of @inotenews.bsky.social www.juliangirdham.com/blog/making-...

(New) Adrian Lester's essay on Othello, from the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and race: www.juliangirdham.com/blog/adrian-...

Teaching 'Othello' for the first time this year? Some ideas in this free webinar on Wednesday 10th September, 7.00pm. via @clanavtra.bsky.social Registration: www.edcentretralee.ie/cpd-courses-...

Helen Castor on Richard II Great Lives Monday 15:00 BBC Radio 4 Biography show where the guest picks the life - today the English king deposed by his cousin and made famous by Shakespeare in his play Richard II. With Professor Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social‬ www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

On AI-IA (Artificial Intelligence-Induced Anxiety) Special edition of The Fortnightly on the dread felt by so many English teachers in the shadow of AI, & its effect on perceptions of a reformed Leaving Cert. + photo of Shay Healy smoking 4 cigarettes. www.juliangirdham.com/blog/on-ai-i...

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s episode in Politics on Trial is about 3 trials that took place over 2 months in the late spring of 1895 and brought about the destruction of Oscar Wilde. Why did Wilde trigger his own doom by suing his nemesis Lord Queensbury for libel? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

Coming on Saturday, a special issue of The Fortnightly on AI-IA (Artificial Intelligence-Induced Anxiety), as teachers in Ireland start the school year, and Leaving Certificate reform begins. juliangirdham.substack.com

Q for Irish readers of a certain age. When did CIE ban smoking on the lower decks of buses? (it was 1988 for upper deck). Asking for a piece on, er, AI in English teaching. #edchatie

I think it should be viewed as axiomatic that the more you can do without the use of an LLM to more you will be able to do with an LLM. If generative AI is going to be an intelligence multiplier you need the multiplicand to be as large as possible. A big number times zero is still zero.

My philosophy for getting students writing is that writing needs to be a desirable alternative to outsourcing to the automated syntax generation machine. There's lots of hurdles to clear, but the start is to convey that writing is about more than words. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...

The Occasional for paid subscribers of The Fortnightly is just out: Shannon Vallor & AI, Joseph O'Connor in Rome, Ferdia Lennon in Sicily, Barbara Everett on 'Hamlet', Tom Lehrer & Wernher von Braun, Mary Oliver on August, the power of extended reading. juliangirdham.substack.com/p/the-occasi...

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! For today’s episode in Politics on Trial it’s two trials for the price of one. Why could the leading Irish politician Charles Parnell survive accusations of terrorism in 1889 but not of adultery? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

An introduction to teaching 'Othello'. Free webinar for Leaving Certificate teachers. Wednesday 10th September, 7.00-8.00pm. via @clanavtra.bsky.social www.edcentretralee.ie/cpd-courses-...

(New). On 'The AI Mirror' by Shannon Vallor, a deeply-considered look at the backward-facing, often reactionary nature of this technology: www.juliangirdham.com/blog/the-ai-...

I have a new article out in the Chartered College of Teaching journal Impact, called ‘Embedding AI in education: A critique’. Here I make five main points, which I will helpfully plop in this thread for those without access or time to read it.

(New). On the exhibition 'What does it mean to know?' about the Magdalene Laundries, as photographed by Ethna Rose O'Regan: www.juliangirdham.com/blog/what-do...

Tracing the real people in Brian Friel’s ‘first great Irish play’ www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

The next Fortnightly will be an 'Occasional' for paid subscribers, in early August: Including Shannon Vallor on AI, Joseph O'Connor, Ferdia Lennon and lots more. juliangirdham.substack.com

WHOLE BOOKS! I pop into this wonderful podcast episode from @douglemov.bsky.social via @knowledgematrs.bsky.social on the value of reading whole books knowledgematterscampaign.org/post/ep-4-li...

you've heard about the college kids who can't do anything without ChatGPT's help—but what about the students who oppose generative A.I. for myriad reasons and refuse to rely on it as a shortcut? well, I found and spoke with a few of them here: slate.com/life/2025/07...

I experienced a big change this week as my oldest son left home for the Marines. I decided to write him a letter. #SubstackSky open.substack.com/pub/adrianne...

An introduction to teaching 'Othello': free webinar on Wednesday 10th September, 7.00-8.00pm Irish time. Registration via @clanavtra.bsky.social - www.edcentretralee.ie/cpd-courses-...

The Fortnightly 189 is out Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and summer reading, vaping shelters in Irish schools (not really), Michael Amherst, Irish as a subject in Ireland right now, Seamus Heaney, Agatha Christie, Arthur Miller, the endangered semi-colon. juliangirdham.substack.com/p/189-like-a...