Sometimes when a students’ name has multiple possible pronunciations, when I first meet them and ask they’ll say “it doesn’t matter” Nothing could matter more. Tell me, tell the class, don’t let us get it wrong, you deserve to be called by *your name* not someone else’s.

This act of arson was devastating - two torahs were destroyed and the entire library. Beth Israel is the ONLY synagogue in Jackson. The synagogue was bombed by the KKK in the 1960s because of its work with the civil rights movement and its fight against racism and segregation.

The amount of reading I have to do every morning to be prepared for the “I saw this on TikTok can you explain it to me” that I get from the kids these days is…not sustainable.

The on screen gambling during the golden globes is wild. I’m actually speechless.

I really need to talk to someone about Mark’s hair on Traitors.

I don’t know who taught all the public libraries to be funny on the internet, but I really love it.

Today my kids asked if a video I was showing was AI because “that guy’s tie is way too long it looks weird” and I had to explain that no it’s just old and that was the style.

Being a social studies teacher in middle school has always been a fun adventure in answering weird questions about the world but man I could not have predicted some of the things they are asking me in….these times.

Rethinking Schools published my article about pushing back on some of the arguments made by those seeking to rush AI tools into schools.

Can’t wait to go back to work on Monday and teach about important concepts like rule of law, separation of powers, checks and balances, all that core foundational stuff.

Give me all your lists of books I should be excited for in 2026, please.

Set my @thestorygraph.com goal for the year (pro tip, never increase the goal from what you know you will read and then you always succeed) and I have some questions for people who measure their reading in pages or hours.

Finish my book today so it’s the last one of the year, or save a little bit for tomorrow so it’s the first one of 2026?

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sign up to be an election judge again next year but then I got a cool pin in the mail to thank me for doing it last year so I guess that’s settled.

I don’t remember where I saw it, but somebody posted something about how if people don’t go to the Kennedy center, they will get out of the habit of going to live performances, and I was just wondering if that person knew how many theaters and other performing arts spaces there are in the DC area?

Absolutely delighted by the opening view in this round of GeoGuessr

Can someone tell all the companies that just because people like their Spotify wrapped doesn’t mean we want a wrap up of *everything* ? (But also I am patiently waiting for my @thestorygraph.com charts from 2025 because obviously those are beautiful and charming and fun)

End of year podcast lists led me to discover this podcast about having curly hair and I really hope it lives up to my expectations because I’m very excited to listen.

To whom it make concern: I have seen every single celebrity and influencer’s attempt to sell me gummies to make me poop. I would like to be done with this ad cycle. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

These kids at the park are yelling at their toy car that it’s gay because it keeps running into things. So since we’re currently bringing back everything from 2003-2008, can someone find Hilary Duff and ask her how she feels about getting back into PSAs?

I know this isn’t like a new social media thing or whatever but everyone making AI Christmas pictures really feels like the final turning point from taking photos to capture memories to using photos to convince other people you have the best most amazing beautiful life. It feels really sad.

Lying to a person with dementia about fake life experiences because they don’t/can’t actually keep their memories straight is genuinely evil. Like actually disgusting. AI is monstrous and people using it for such cruelty truly need to sit with themselves and consider what they’re doing.

Marty Supreme and scammer Amanda from RHOBH have the same philosophy on making money.

How many years in a row do you need to see a Chalamet movie on Christmas before it’s officially a tradition?

There’s nothing like the thrill of racing Libby to finish a book. Due in four days and I haven’t actually started reading it? Challenge accepted.

I think we do ourselves a disservice by even calling them tools. Tool implies usefulness. There is zero proven usefulness and significant proven harm. I don’t need to learn how to use something that is hurting all of us, I need support and help stopping it from fully infiltrating our schools.

I just saw an ad that I thought was going to be for a Star Search documentary, but it’s actually a Netflix Star Search reboot. I wish it was a documentary instead.

Me, going to work today.

Thanks for lighting the lights with me again this year. Happy Chanukkah!

I have lived in my house for over ten years and every December I still get Christmas cards in the mail for the last family that lived here. I have so many questions about that, starting with why are you sending a card to someone that you don’t know moved ten years ago?

There are two things I’m sick of. I can’t say one of them because you’ll all get mad. The second is AI. If it was actually good they wouldn’t have to be shoving it down our throats all the time. How do we make this stop?

Someone I work with went from ai curious (“it has some good uses”) to passionately anti all ai in just the span of time from the end of last school year to now and I am both delighted and secretly taking a little bit of credit for bringing them over to the side of sanity.

Four possibilities. I really hope my 2026 does not involve dying of scarlet fever. And also hopefully there isn’t a civil war.

Congratulations to those of you having your last day before break today. Please keep the rest of us (teachers who have to teach Monday and Tuesday) in your thoughts.

An educator I used to follow posted something antisemitic on instagram. I sent her a message and haven’t gotten a response. I checked the post and see she is allowing quite a bit of antisemitic garbage to remain in the comments, and seems to be doubling down. So that sucks.

And on the fifth night, it gets dangerous.

A felony ban on trans healthcare for youth makes me think about all the children I have known who would literally be dead if their parents had not listened to them and gotten them the care they need to live life as themselves. Call your senators and make sure they know the terror this would unleash.

Every single story about AI in schools is about the problems it creates. Plagiarism, conflict between students and teachers over AI checkers, AI detecting “weapons” that aren’t weapons, privacy concerns….and yet the solution never seems to be doing something ABOUT THE AI.

When kids were at home doing virtual learning because it was the best we could do in that moment while trying to keep them safe, we understood that it was not ideal instruction. So why now are we fully accepting a model that is just kids alone on computers?

Well, it’s that time of year again, when I spend hours upon hours trying to decide what wall calendar to buy for next year. Why is it so hard to find a calendar that 1. Looks good 2. Isn’t weird and cliche or punny 3. Includes big enough squares to write in. 4. Includes Jewish holidays.

My kids are working on a project where they need to create a PSA, so they can do a video, a cartoon, a podcast, etc. It is deeply frustrating that all of the tools that they would have used to do that in the past are infected with AI. How are they going to learn the skills if it’s all done for them?

Very drippy candles on night 2. Don’t tell me to freeze them, I know!

I don’t have a window to put my menorahs in, so I’ll post them on the internet instead. Happy Chanukkah, with love, to all.

Genuinely, what is the test for whether one has “basic competency in artificial intelligence”? Isn’t the whole point that its so easy my dog could prompt it to make a video of her defeating the evil garbage truck once and for all? What makes you competent at that? What skills do you need to acquire?

Went to sleep thinking about a school shooting. Woke up to learn about an antisemitic shooting. And then I turned off my auto play for videos.

I’m so tired of bad weather. The obsession with bringing down Meredith and Lisa is exhausting and based in literally nothing but mean self righteousness. Heather’s head got entirely too big after season 4, and Lisa’s right, she does think she’s Judge Judy.