a thing about human teachers—it’s not just about having someone around who’s “nice” or “encouraging,” there’s no substitute for a teacher who likes ideas and enjoys being in a room full of thinking students

May be of both use and interest #iteachEnglish #literacy #ela #NCTE.

Let's do this Gratitude to history teachers who taught us to love history I'll start. Mrs. Paul. 8th grade history teacher Made us write re: Hamilton & child labor. Got my attention! MANY years later I got to thank her for helping me learn to love history Getting to thank your teachers? The best!

Spent 40m today reading a kid’s essay and writing to her about it. The takeaway won’t be better writing—it’ll be that someone who cares about her thinks she’s on the right track. Everyone who thinks they’re smart thinks so because someone took time w their work and told them so.

Check out this NEW MediaWise + Student Reporting Labs series of videos and lessons all about teaching students the basics of generative A.I. @poynterinstitute.bsky.social story-maker.org/library/medi...

OUR 2025 SUMMER BOOK REVIEW FESTIVAL Doing some personal PD this summer? We've pulled together 23 of our reviews from the past year, highlighting books for teachers, school leaders & other educators working with grades 4-8. Check out these summaries! #edusky middleweb.substack.com/p/mw-substac...

#TLSkyChat A8. Our world needs readers & thinkers. Our world needs hearts that are empathic & minds that are capable of solving complex problems. Summer is an opportunity to recalibrate our compasses toward the goal of cultivating the readers our world so desperately needs.

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

“Libraries are a cornerstone of democracy—where information is free and equally available to everyone. People tend to take that for granted, and they don’t realize what is at stake when that is put at risk.”—Dr. Carla Hayden #Libraries #WisdomWednesday #ILA

there's a lot of hope in turning a room of 34 high school sophomores loose to have a self-regulated discussion of what they found baffling in Brave New World

A7. When my classes first started we were pretty low tech with access & Ss used cellphones to record team discussion and edit. To grow the learning & access to tech tools, suggest connect with HS journalism program advisor/program! Also…lots of helpful resources via JEA & NCTE. #TLSkyChat

A4. Found success in secondary ELA with Ss listening, writing and discussing (ex: Serial) in connection across other texts read or studied. Different medium and with awesome literacies ‘practices’ reach. #TLSkyChat

A3. I am a routine listener when outdoors and active (walking, biking, messing with the garden etc.). Also listen to longer pieces or attempt several in a series when driving or traveling. #TLSkyChat

I cannot and will never be able to look out at the sea of young faces in a classroom and think, "I should get a chatbot to build something for them to do."

"[M]edia quiteracy can be an act of not only individual learning but of collective action and social transformation in a heavily mediatized, commercialized, and digitized information environment," write Katie Day Good and Michelle Ciccone.

"Interestingly, respondents who classify themselves as readers are also more likely than non-readers to consume other forms of media. So it's not necessarily a direct competition between, say, reading and scrolling on your phone. " 📚 www.npr.org/2025/04/07/n...

English teachers in K-12 classrooms are afraid what will happen if someone doesn't like a book in their classroom or curriculum. Learn more about their experiences from the four chapters of original research in this new edited collection. Printing starts Friday. @ncte.org Preorder: bit.ly/44igbjW

Happy National Library Week. Frequently at this time of year you’ll see folks posting that it’s a great time to go get your card & grab some books. And that’s fun & important. But it's also a great time to learn what libraries do beyond books and how you can support them. (1/5) #NationalLibraryWeek

Noam Chomsky: “To know where to look, how to look, how to question, how to challenge, how to proceed to deal with the challenges that the world presents to you…in cooperation and solidarity with others. That’s what an educational system should cultivate from kindergarten to high graduate school” 1/2

The second is "To protect the arts and humanities, go local" which shows how specific, localized examples can help make a stronger case about the impact of the NEH (& how you might find those examples). medium.com/@jasonrhody/...

I realize this is a weird and vague question, but: do you have a favorite online, interactive learning resource? I'm especially interested in those that allow learners to make connections, try different solutions to a problem, or compare their own experience against whatever's being instructed.

5 Strategies for Teaching Social Studies in Turbulent Times www.edweek.org/teaching-lea... new post with @christienold.bsky.social

A case for the power of children's literature to save us all. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Accidentally sent an email referring to today as the 37th of January, which feels about right

New article drop! Tired of the AI panic pushing us back to blue book exams? In this week's post, I break down how I'm using film, documentaries, and art to invite students to respond, create, and communicate in more expansive ways. #literacies #edusky #academicsky open.substack.com/pub/trevoral...

John Overholt on Mastodon pointed out this excellent series of blog posts from the Library of Congress on how papermaking, typecasting, and printing were done in the handpress era 📜 blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/...

Only three weeks left to submit a proposal for #NCTE25! The success of our marquee event relies on attendees’ incredible range of talents and subject matter expertise. Your practical knowledge could inform and inspire thousands of English language arts educators! convention.ncte.org/cfp-instruct...

I'm late to the party, but @philnichols.bsky.social et al.'s piece on #AIliteracy deserves attention. GenAI is not just another sociotechnical change that #literacyeducation should respond to. It's underpinned by imaginaries that require us to take a critical approach to AI. doi.org/10.1002/rrq....

“Refocusing on my core mission—teaching reading, writing, and thinking—helps me reduce the time I require students to be on screens. Helps me bring out the Sharpies, let them pick a color. Lay in front of them a fresh sheet of paper and all of its promise.”

Interesting, enjoyable, & helpful podcasts (and transcripts) to think about how we read and teach literature…added to resource set for upcoming course.

I have always loved public libraries, but having young children has exponentially increased my gratitude and sense of indebtedness to them. Our local library is such a huge part of our lives. The books, the programming, the very intentionally curated kids’ section. It’s all such a gift.

Smash journal in works for next semester. Messing with ideas. If you use something like this with your students, what do you enjoy? What surprises you about the learning? What revisions would you take up in plans for the next experience? #iTeachEnglish

Personal support matters as much as public support. As a parent, offer to your kid's teacher at Back to School Night or Parent-Teacher Conferences that you want lots of kinds of books on the shelf and will support them. Visit the school librarian and tell them the same thing. Offer support.

Winter ice day & the city shut down. Needed to grade papers, but writing recommendations and reviews got the better of me today. Onward, Sunday progress!

Developing positive relations with students is never wasted energy. A former student from 28 years ago just administered my covid shot. My eye doctor is a former student. Former students have been colleagues. What are some ways the professional lives of former students have positively impacted you?

Wrapping with book rationales, teaching reflections & final group discussions for K-12 Literature…worked with intent this semester to help my college students remember, discover, & refresh enjoyment of books. Thanks to the many #kidlit authors and array of texts part of the path.

Lovely little lighthearted NYT piece today about #lambchop, a best seller for pups. Petey wholly agrees with the writer’s points and multiple sources’ comments of praise. Rests his case.

Teachers & librarians! Want to Zoom with an author for World Read Aloud Day? Here's all the information about how WRAD Zoom visits work, plus a list of over 300 author & illustrator volunteers! katemessner.com/zoom-with-an...

It has been a long while since I've read a book I disliked as much as the one I just finished, and it's a good reminder that not every book is for everyone. And that's okay! Read what you like and write what you need to--someone out there might hate it, but others will love it.

Thanks @mraleosays.bsky.social. Today in K12 Lit (serendipity!) we focused on this very issue, discussed ways we value the concepts that a piece of literature provides. Essentially: ‘What do we want K12 students to carry with them from a reading?’ I’ll share your column as follow-up extension. Thx.

Students in the course I'm instructing selected our readings this week as they will be teaching our class (in groups). I am doing their assigned readings now & so excited to learn w/ and from them. What a joy & privilege to continue to grow alongside such a wonderful group of educators.

That reflective ‘breadcrumb trail’ approach—in which students note what they notice about their own course writings—now set as we segue to finals. Activity can be progressive/used with each piece, though especially useful at end. Ask Ss to review, self-assess, & honor body of work. #literacies #ela

"A People’s History of Computing in the United States" by Joy Lisi Rankin was a great complement to histories of the Internet I learned in grad school. I loved the focus on collaboration, educational institutions, and gaming. #WhatIReadThisWeek

One thing I'm still learning (and need to remind myself of often) is this: b/c the Bluesky algorithm isn't capitalism focused, engagement here doesn't work the same way it does in other spaces. We must actually REPOST content to boost it. Likes are lovely, but don't affect visibility. #tlsky #edusky

College professor peeps: A question. How do you determine when an undergraduate essay has been written by ChatGPT?

Grateful for these two Thanksgiving turkeys.

A1: Thinking about: vigilance, storytelling and intentional listening, revisiting critical theory in community. Feeling: a bit reserved, tbh. I’m late to the convo per usual; glad to think w #literacies

I found some readers. #NCTE24

Looking forward to tomorrow’s #NCTE research roundtables about #ELA censorship—we’re not short of material to share with you. Join in. Let’s think together.