“For me the cracks emerge when we’re too far one way or the other” — @teachkate.bsky.social This conversation with Kate about what our vision of reading should be for our classrooms has been living in my head ever since we recorded... (I cannot wait to share the full thing Wednesday morning!)

all I'm going to say: this sequence in the classroom today was exhilarating to watch students ponder/discuss/debate/reflect through. (another Monday that left me exhausted in the best of ways)

I’m really excited for this…who wants to join @marcusluther.bsky.social and I on a reading expedition? 😃

I would love for some high-quality, long-form journalism on club sport/travel team culture and how absolutely bonkers it is that we've let this become normalized...

So here's a thing that has been brewing for awhile: @thevogelman.bsky.social convinced me that we should read Bleak House by Charles Dickens, so we're going to do just that—as a slow-read, with one section a week from mid-April through August.

Get your questions in now! Our next Jam Session—Teaching Writing in the Age of AI—goes live on Sunday! ⚡️ Featured educators: ⭐️ @thevogelman.bsky.social ⭐️ Eliana Belle ⭐️ @mrpiercey.com #EduSky #EduSkyAI #EduAI

and also: of late the NYT's education coverage —here's how a school is using AI —here's how a school is limiting screen time —here's how a school is using AI —here's how a school is limiting screen time

*whispers* overuse of 1:1 devices have done far more harm to student learning in our schools than phones ever did in...

I wrote a piece for @edutopia.org on the way I keep home adults informed. It’s frustrating that they used the word “parents” in the title when “home adults” is an active language decision, but the article’s informative! Check it out! www.edutopia.org/article/comm...

Since today is officially National AI Literacy Day, I think it might be helpful to share work that challenges “literacy” as the best framework for teaching about and against AI and other technologies. 🧵

evergreen but never more green than right now

given that it's National AI Literacy Day apparently, figured I'd add this "explainer" about the why behind all the what in this area of late in education...

“Yeah but this time it’s not just going to work—it’s going to be amazing!!!”

Yep! You have to pursue thoughtful conviction in one hand while never letting go of a humble curiosity in the other. (Realizing this is symbiotic and not contradictory? The real game-changer.)

!!!

“I think what a lot of schools are facing today is a rise of pedagogical authoritarianism. This remarkable certainty that we know how every child learns.” Quite a conversation, especially for this moment. (In other words: listen to this!)

fun/easy thing to do before students turn in essays: have them leave a comment explaining the reasoning behind their title (always a win!)

"what if we redirected even a portion of that momentum towards the type of reading experiences in classrooms and schools that not only bring a book to life but also bring people together as a result?" theimportantwork.substack.com/p/what-happe...

I really don't think about Twitter/X anymore and that is without question a positive development in life.

“It keeps them on their toes looking for an opportunity or for something that they might want to add to the conversation.” I started adding a hot seat to our fishbowl discussions—never going back. 😎 (Love this piece overall!)

regardless of where you land on the particulars here (I don't necessarily hate them, though I want to read through the guidance in full), here's something we should be able to agree upon: students deserve for their teachers and schools to have much more guidance and norming—and this is a start

2 things can be true, I think, for teachers/educators: 1. We can be skeptical/frustrated with what is happening with AI right now in education 2. We can still be curious and try to learn what it might be like for students who are using it Which is what I tried to do here—

a meme that will inevitably make its way onto a thousand teacher slide decks in the classroom 🫡

"There's a certain dystopian symmetry of it" 🎯

K-12 folks using Canvas: ditto

I appreciate this post for not just addressing the need for an alternative but for doing the work of laying one out, reflectively and confidently.

Day 1 of teaching for me back in 2012 was finding a Ten Commandments plaque in my classroom that had been provided for me to hang up and then immediately shoving it in a closet and praying (pardon the irony) that no one asked about it. The direction we're going in 2026 is a dark one.

Always a worthwhile 10 minutes (or longer) because the best way to get feedback about what you're doing in the classroom is to ask students who just went through it!

A 13-year-old girl tried to take her life by cutting her wrists with a plastic knife from the cafeteria after guards took away drawing materials, and was put into isolation without seeing a doctor. The teen was deported to Colombia after nearly two months in confinement

This is where I struggle with the conversation around agentic AI models like this: ⓵ yes, it feels like these new models are far more advanced/paradigm-shifting in terms of their capacity ⓶ no, I'm nowhere close to being willing to accept the mass forfeiture of privacy/data required to use them

That’s why I don’t blame individuals, but I do blame the decision makers who will do everything but spend money on the most valuable resource in education, humans with expertise. It’s embarrassing to see experts and those in power promote this while still expecting teachers to be miracle workers.

⓵ share contradictions with students ⓶ ask them for feedback of what they'd do ⓷ listen to them

also: this 100% applies to reading and why it is so much more difficult right now (not just for students)

When FYW students told me it took them 3-5 hours to write a draft of a 750 word piece, I had them track interruptions from their phones and some said they had more than 60 notifications per hour. I let them draw their own conclusions on what to do after these observations. Only some chose silencing.

It may feel really hard to be a teacher or professor right now. (Because it is.) But what I cannot imagine being? A student.

How do you make sure your classroom is daily offering an invitation to students that never disappears? (At this point in the school year: this is a really tough thing to do but simultaneously a really important thing to do.)

Marc is my valued colleague here at the University of Mississippi, & I disagree with him on nearly every AI issue. Sonja is a fellow medievalist, and I agree with her on nearly every AI issue. I still think it's important to say that Marc is as far from an opportunist as you can imagine...

"3...2...1...go." There are few classroom experiences I love more than when, following 20-25 minutes of silent reading + adding notes to each other's writing, the classroom EXPLODES into debriefing the feedback aloud.

Wonderful! Also please stop misrepresenting my positions for engagement bait and cheap clicks. I've written extensively about the dangers AI poses in education and its impact on student learning and faculty labor. open.substack.com/pub/marcwatk...

I never implied faculty should be spending 90 minutes of their free unpaid time learning about AI. I absolutely acknowledged this increases labor that no one asked for. We must demand institutional support to ensure any extra time spent dealing with AI is compensated. And it is Marc not Mark.

Dig into Arizona LEGO spending with this data vis! And yes, every item below was purchased with taxpayer $ - and entirely allowed by the program.

I'm a broken record on this, but... Matt's work (here and across the whole AV library) beautifully showcase the affordances of podcasts as a form. While we should all fight against EdTech, I also *strongly* believe it's vital we keep exploring new mediums/modes of knowledge sharing & production.

"...there has to be a better way. There has to be a better way." What I loved so much about this conversation: Matt was 100% honest about his own frustrations/mistakes as a teacher that led to him seeking out a no-zeroes grading policy. For him, it worked. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

As is the case with most everything, the more-complicated version is also the more-honest version. Less viral, but more important. (🙏 for this type of coverage)

1. I think it's 100% fair to be critical of the idea of being asked to spend extra time on AI Literacy as a teacher/professor 2. I think this is an absolutely ridiculous/unfair characterization of Mark's work, as he's consistently emphasized labor concerns for teachers/professors

"I try to see their inner nobility." A conversation with Matt Brady about his minimum grades policy ended up being a conversation about how we show up in our classroom for students. (Cannot wait to share this episode tomorrow!)

I've been having students leave comments with questions on their Google Docs while moving through our latest essay (a really cool way for precise/specific feedback!) and I'm also reminded that, yes, my high schoolers continue to make the same jokes as my 6yo and 3yo do at home...

What 10th graders saw on the screen when walked into the classroom today:

This is unforgivable: Afghan who fought with US special forces — and was legally evacuated to the U.S. — dies in ICE custody www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

nothing like a nice self-check before moving into work time on a King Lear essay!