Been revisiting @thetattooedprof.bsky.social's Radical Hope recently: “Teaching is a radical act of hope. It is an assertion of faith in a better future in an increasingly uncertain and fraught present. It is a commitment to that future even if we can’t clearly discern its shape.”

I loved how this discussion addressed how the physical environment can affect teacher PD just as it does students in a classroom. Set up rows and a lectern, you better believe I’m hiding and self-distracting. Set up round tables and drop the lectern and you set the conditions for conversation.

“It’s possible to be simultaneously heartened and disappointed, and depressed with what you’re heartened by.” Was just sharing this sentiment, less eloquently, with a friend yesterday — it’s my response to so many little triumphs of humanity in the face of nonsense right now.

And don't get me started on scripting. Forcing teachers to work from a script means teachers who are passionate about and expert about the subject are less able to communicate that passion and expertise and more teachers can be hired who lack them. Then we wonder why kids don't read.

What Duran Duran did, what the Timberwolves did, what Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers said, what the actors who wore pins did, etc etc etc all are signals/signs to the rest of us of what time it is on the clock of fascism.

I say that because there’s a lot of talk about classroom content and discussing current events … but a major part of this is that students lives are being disrupted — if not destroyed — by this fascist chaos. What does support for THAT look like? What are we asking school leaders to prepare for?

One of the hardest parts of being an educator during this moment of is supporting families who are trying to survive. As more programs/grants get cut, families that were just getting by are now struggling to even do that…and we’re often the first point of contact for challenges we don’t control.

The struggle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or left versus right. The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship. Everyone must choose which side they’re on.

You are doing the right thing. It sucks to be under siege but you are under siege. And you won't be free while these law enforcement agencies continue to exist.

“It might be a lot of political theater for not much real change.” That is exactly my feeling. I really don’t trust that someone without an educational background can make sound decisions about education. 🤷🏾‍♂️

This is not a good plan. There’s a reason we have different people to have different departments. And understanding education is a form of expertise.

If you are a veteran, this kind of visible presence at anti-ICE protests is really valuable. These clowns all want to play dress-up soldier, so actual soldiers mocking them to their faces is devastating.

ICE THUGS arrested a pastor & kept asking him "Are you afraid?" numerous occasions. The pastor said NO. Eventually the THUGS let him go stating that "You're WHITE, you're no fun to us!!" This is how sick & deranged these THUGS are, thanks to this REGIME‼️ youtu.be/lcSOyVrc5HM?...

The murder of Renee Good by ICE has shocked the nation. The President is deploying his own personal armed thugs into the streets of America. In all my years, I've never seen anything like it. (ft. W. Kamau Bell)

Utmost respect for social studies/history teachers trying to navigate this moment. It's hard enough when your content doesn't directly collide with all that is happening—I cannot imagine when the content itself is inextricable from these atrocities.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." -Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

She smiles at the man who shoots her and says she isn't mad at him. Clearly initiates the effort to leave when the aggressive agents arrive. The question now (not that this was in question) isn't who's telling the truth. It's when DHS had this video and knew that what they were saying was a lie.

She lives in Saint Paul, MN www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8fdKvax/

So a lot of these people were really radicalized during BLM. I think they are trying to create a do-over. This is very much a first person player game for them. Yes there’s some electoral interference shaping up & creating slave labor but more than a little bit of a BLM redo.

Prison guards are flocking to ICE jobs and frankly this makes sense. Those of us who have been anti-prison organizers for decades have been saying that fascism already existed within prisons/jails. Our best teachers for how to survive fascism are incarcerated people.

I saw this video of a Vietnam vet in the fur coat yelling at ICE and thought to myself, "this is missing something," before I realized, "Ah, of course, the Ether instrumental. It's so obvious."

The Open Schools people over on Twitter are losing their minds because Minneapolis schools r offering the option of remote learning, yelling at the teachers union. Do they really think that teachers want to do hybrid teaching? Their job will b a nightmare, but they’re doing this to support families

I heard from someone today who interviews families destroyed by online sports gambling. A lot of sons bankrupting their families etc. I truly don’t know how anybody is making it right now. I also need something less soul destroying to focus on for a day or two.

We are so beyond the dark place that it’s not even enough to use metaphors

Just now listening to this and this is a really powerful perspective on education to aspire to: “Being a person that is recognized by others and who can recognize in ourselves that…we have something that contributes to the well-being of others is how we realize our own well-being.”

Relax! If we were *truly* in fascism, all the things that are currently happening would be happening.

For some reason, people have been really hesitant to label this administration “fascist”… but this is fascism … and we’re hearing it directly from THEM.

keep thinking of a vocally anti-woke reporter who insisted that the term "environmental racism" was nonsense

this is how every outlet should refer to X

Absolutely bonkers.

First-yr teacher: “It’s really weird: I’ve had really bad anxiety last night and Sunday night.” Me: “Is that new?” T: “Yes.” Me: “What changed between this year and before?” T: “I mean, I’m teaching this year … and just all the planning…” Me: “We should talk more…sadly, this is all normal.” :/

Love this from Guillermo del Toro

really tired of seeing claims that our illegal kidnapping of the Venezuelan president is to "distract" us from the Epstein files. Trump and the men around him have wanted this for a long time. this is a bad thing in its own right, not some attempt to hide from accountability

I said this to a friend yesterday and will repeat it here. A lot of people are going to be hyper-focused on elections this year but if that's not your ministry, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HYPER-FOCUS there. There's so much other organizing work to do. You can focus your energies and attention there.

The United States has invaded and is militarily occupying the country of Venezuela. Trump says we will “run it.” It is worth checking out Jon Stewart’s Daily Show episode from last month if you haven’t seen it. Trump just started Iraq War 2.0 youtu.be/C5QGzYFjVaU?...

Can you imagine if school districts adopted, I dunno, some classroom electrical system, that then regularly killed multiple kids, and when asked to pull the systems, districts were like, the benefits outweigh the harms, it's the future, chill out everyone. That is what's happening here.

Welp! @biblioracle.bsky.social strikes again with a simple concept that shifts the way I understand and will teach writing.

Actually, this is what my new book is about. Looking at two simple principles of learning and then exploring the consequences for how we teach. They key to moving forward is not to create algorithms of teaching, but explore the implications of first-principles in a specific context.

If you type "Democrats aren't in power so they can't do anything" in my mentions I will block you into the fucking sun

We are a rogue state, run by a dictator, and the international community should treat us as such including all appropriate economic and diplomatic sanctions

Was listening to a podcast about “science of learning” and it proposed (at least) 5 things that are the “most important” or “the first thing” to know: 🔘Working memory capacity 🔘Learner background knowledge/schemas 🔘Learner misconceptions 🔘Teacher knowledge/expertise 🔘Checking for understanding 🤔

What if none of these things is a distraction from the other things and instead they're all just horrible things

Specifically, a protest song about how the sons of the rich were able to avoid fighting, like fighting-age Donald Trump who got four deferments for being in college and another for bone spurs.

Hard to process this attack on Venezuela. The greatest political lesson of my youth, one that was hammered home to us all over nearly twenty years, was that the U.S. should stop engaging in regime change and oil wars. And yet, here we are again.

This is billionaire-controlled media. They want to sleepwalk us into another forever war. We must break free.

Venezuela's citizens are turning out to protest, they don't want to be an American dictatorship.

Trump: "We're gonna be running the country. It's gonna be run right. By the people standing right behind me" -- the defense secretary, secretary of state, chairman of the joint chiefs. "We're not afraid of boots on the ground."

I’m horrified … I don’t even have the words…