Packed up my classroom library today. Until the government funds education adequately, I will stop funding it myself.

An engaging and higher-thinking review activity—have big concepts (ours was from our novel study of Fahrenheit 451) on separate slips of paper and have small groups create their own visual organizer exploring how the concepts are related. They got creative with their pens!

I wish students could experience how interesting writing (and reading!) can be, the sooner the better. The degree to which they've internalized these actions as purely instrumental and for the purposes of proving proficiency to a standard or authority is a problem.

During a mentor text discussion today, I told the students to be sure they copy down the sentence exactly, noting the punctuation. Me, the nerd, said, “Because we’re going to be looking closely at that semi-colon.” Student from the back of the room: “You mean we’re performing a semi-colonoscopy?” 😑

In class today, a 15-year-old boy critiqued a male character for not being “emotionally mature.” My heart just about exploded.

Honestly, the switch to anything but American groceries has been pretty easy. The only non-Canadian items I got today were Chilean grapes and Mexican green onions. 🇨🇦🍁

All teachers need more time to do their job well. Period. Full stop. Teachers of literature (and all humanities, really) need time to be good students so they can be good teachers of their content and craft. The world changes so fast and we need time to study it.

Suddenly, I’m interested in hockey—CAN vs. USA.

Trudeau: "There's not a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will ever be the 51st state"

The part of George Orwell’s 1984 that everyone forgets is how the music and publishing industries have been replaced by a machine that spits out songs and bad novels “without any human intervention.” The goal is to keep you from ever having to think.

The way we've framed writing in schools for the last 20+ years made us ripe for the invasion of ChatGPT. We lost touch with what it truly means to write and substituted writing immitations. This was my message in Why They Can't Write. bookshop.org/a/1793/97814...

Lululemon cashier: Here you go! Thank you so much! Me: You, too! 🤦🏼‍♀️

i'm tired of being told to stop doomscrolling. i'm just scrolling, it's not my fault there's doom on there

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers. This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

AOC: I don’t celebrate RAPISTS, so no, I’m not going to the inauguration tomorrow

If you're looking for a way forward for reading and writing without capitulating to AI, or feeling like you have to give in an start generating slop, I (not so) humbly suggest my forthcoming book: More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...

Just fundamentally do not and will never understand assigning writing that will not be read by another human and only be processed via AI feedback. What does that say to students about what writing is for and the meaning of the act?

Writing is an act of rebellion. Writing is an act of creation. Writing is an act of salvation. Writing is an act of exploration. Writing is an act of emotion. Writing is an act of confession. Writing is an act of speculation. Writing is an act of reflection. Keep writing.

One of my immediate thoughts about HBO not renewing Sesame Street is that we live in a moment where being kind is an inherently political act.

HBO has declined to renew “Sesame Street” for new episodes. The series that’s been teaching generations of little kids since 1969 now has no studio. Please consider donating to Sesame Workshop to ensure the residents of 123 Sesame Street are still around to teach kids of all needs and backgrounds.

sesame street isn't supposed to make money. the post office isn't supposed to make money. not everything is supposed to MAKE MONEY

woof. this is real.

This reality is also true in Alberta.

This is why I’m passionate about teaching writing as a practice, and not to focus only on writing products.

This is what's so baffling about so many suggestions for AI in the humanities classroom: they mistake the product for the point. Writing outlines and essays is important not because you need to make outlines and essays but because that's how you learn to think with/through complex ideas.

Books are political, period. Fiction is not ‘made-up stories.' It doesn’t mean that they’re not connected to reality. Our reality is governed by politics. The way we live or behave is governed by politics. Systems set up by politics make up the fabric upon which we sketch our lives.

If I gotta be here, I might as well make it cozy.

Choose empathy. Read.

Well, well, well… www.apmreports.org/story/2024/1...

Two stages of writing: 1) This shouldn't take too long 2) Oh no

While discussing “The Chrysanthemums” today, one of my students had a visible 🤯 in real time. It was hilarious. He says, “WAIT!!” and shoots his hand up in the air. Can you imagine NOT letting him speak his mind?

A writing tutorbot can coach a student to a "better" prescriptive process in making a five-paragraph essay, but so what? That prescriptive process is an impediment when it comes to helping students genuinely build robust, flexible, writing practices (skills, attitudes, knowledge, habits of mind).

“Brain rot” has been named 2024 Word of the Year by the Oxford University Press.

To be very clear, as a teacher I don't want "time-saving AI tools." I want time.

2025 is my year of reading women. Aside from classroom texts, I will only read books authored by women. I read about 70 books a year, so come along with me as my work to decenter men begins in earnest. I will do book reports here. 😊

Hey. I’m hoping to re-create the magic I had on the app that shall not be named over here. I miss being witty in small bites.