@Shamlet

Yes, spring forward isn't great. But please don't change this setup, because fall back is so worth it, a pre-winter security blanket that feels like a sneaky long weekend

Not hard to over-complicate things, so it's good to remind yourself once in a while that the simple goal of English teaching is the goal of any teaching: independence, the ability to grab a book or a pen and know what to do.

a woodpile you can barely see because it's covered with and surrounded by snow a few trees scattered in the background

Has it snowed quite a lot this year? Yeah, you could say that

a woodpile you can barely see because it's covered with and surrounded by snow a few trees scattered in the background

Has it snowed quite a lot this year? Yeah, you could say that

Yes, Tom Hanks, being a AFL goal umpire is indeed the coolest officiating gig in the wide world of sports

Phantom limb is a great way to capture our collective feeling about America right about now

In the AI game I'm now forced to play in the English classroom, it's not about preventing cheating and shortcuts; it's about promoting authenticity and uniqueness

Framing it that way with kids is really helpful

Missing NCTE for every year in the foreseeable future because it's on the other side of the 49th parallel is a similar feeling

Not hard to over-complicate things, so it's good to remind yourself once in a while that the simple goal of English teaching is the goal of any teaching: independence, the ability to grab a book or a pen and know what to do.

A young person is not a "learner" but a human -- not a constellation of data points but a tangled web of precious complexities

That the existence of basic human dignity actually needs to be pointed out is utterly maddening

@biblioracle.bsky.social Just finished Why They Can't Write and More Than Words. Valuable pieces for clear thinking and shifts in practice -- thank you

March 5 -- six years to the day that Alberta registered its first COVID case.

I remember because it was school open house night, and I saw it on my classroom computer when we were done.

I have thought about it every open house since, including tonight.

What a dark tunnel we have passed through

BREAKING: lots of things seem to be breaking

and schools are often volun-told to fix them

How often do people in education say engagement but they really mean entertainment, and what are the consequences for the school and the classroom

English teacher life: I've worked 60-80 hours a week for over 25 years, but yeah it's really fun a lot of the time, no I'm actually serious guys

The main difference between an educator and a columnist who dabbles in education writing is that the educator looks at exam scores as useful but really quite tentative, context-specific data points, while the columnist thinks they're looking at standings in a sports league

mountain in the background, a frozen lake, and burnt, blackened trees in the foreground

Spent the weekend in post-wildfire Jasper and the unsettling juxtaposition of beauty and burnt trees, scars of devastation and signs of recovery

Everything we have and are is so fragile, and also not

Prairie Chick Prints gift pencils with sayings on them: Pencil Pusher 2B or Not 2B Lookin' Sharp Broken Pencils are Pointless Write On

And for all these centuries we thought Hamlet was talking about existence

top half: blue sky in the left corner with sweeping blue-grey clouds bottom half: distant mountain range with snow-covered brush in the foreground and a couple of trees

skies and peaks -- beauty as a bulwark against it all

Posting about something other than The Big Event Of The Day does not mean you are unaware or unconcerned or unconsumed. It often means you are striving to remain stable and sane.

the front of Cassios Italian Restaurant, Jasper Alberta

Putting those troubled days with Iago and Othello behind him, Cassio enjoyed a long and successful tenure as Governor of Cyprus and then moved to the Canadian Rockies to open an Italian restaurant

Teach poetry with knowledge and zeal, and also share precisely what it is about poetry that makes your life richer and better, why it is worth someone's time

top third: blue cloud-dappled sky middle third: mountain in the background, flanked by pine trees bottom third: snow-covered lake

snow-covered hill with a deer moving right to left, mountain in the background, pine trees on both sides of the foreground

semi-frozen, semi-flowing river, mountains and trees in the distance, snow-covered log in the bottom foreground

semi-frozen, semi-flowing river, mountains in the distance, pine trees on the right and left foreground

Jasper is scarred by wildfire, but still as breathtaking as ever

the end of the madness will begin in a field

One of the most basic and most devastating consequences of tech is that it has made people forget that knowledge is valuable and hard-won

English teacher life: I cannot pay attention to any tv guest panelist speaking from their office or den because I'm looking at the books on the shelves behind them

English teacher life: just turn poet into a verb, as in "tomorrow we're going to poet all class"

Fair. Probably I'm in the echo chamber (or just hopelessly naive) thinking it will make any difference.

Meanwhile over here, it's all about how broken McDavid will be after another catastrophic disappointment

@julianday.ca Man, how does the goalie go back to Winnipeg after this

That lost version of Hamlet 1.2 where Laertes gets a medal and Hamlet gets accused of ruining Denmark