Éireann

👀 when it comes to "harassment" and student protest, northwestern has given the trump administration what appears to be a veto over changes in policy: "Northwestern shall not revise or modify these policies and procedures without the consent of the Assistant Attorney General".

horrible.

There is so much in this incredible essay that I relate to, not just as one of the few people in my field who values/ uses "close reading" (therefore criticised for this). Also the moral injury and harm of austerity (economic, educational, social & cognitive), hollowing out what makes us human.

five hymns I still know by heart

I'll fly away
let us build the city of god
morning has broken
one bread, one body
song of farewell (I will instantly cry at this one)

So much good here, but IMHO the key point is that close reading enables students to believe “that they are capable, that they can do it.” They have been hollowed out, too, denied self-efficacy by modern educational systems. Freire, hooks, so many have taught us how to teach. If we will only do it.

Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...

Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...

All of these relief and mutual aid efforts are (sadly but fortunately) experienced, having done this before a few years ago during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. So you can rely on your donations getting traction on the ground asap. Please do help if you can.

Updated the post with a verified Venmo link! It's in the blog post, or you can go directly to it here: linktr.ee/sinijay8#230...

More and more convinced that an unexpected effect of AI in education is changing evidentiary practices in edu policy. "Testbeds" and live pilot tests are replacing "evidence-based" policy. This means schools are treated as "wild" sites that are modified to produce evidence for policy. >>

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles wit...

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people's bodies. Her bosses halted her work.

Now she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.

(Published May 2024)

a top-down view of books on a bed—tiny press books for the most part, beautifully colorful and of all different formats and sizes. also a bag of cookies. well, that's the small press fair in a nutshell: bunch of small books and a thing of sweets

did a thing, see you next time

Please understand, if you are not in higher ed in the US, that this is a playbook that is so common that instructors brace for it (and you can see that in the feedback to the paper, which for sure took more time than the original submission did, & probably at least one meeting)

Literally buying one copy of a book at your local indie bookstore can mean the difference in whether they buy future books from that author.

A screenshot from the article . The quote reads, "Tony Wan, head of platform at MagicSchool investor Reach Capital, explained to me that AI education companies benefit from teachers and students flagging inappropriate content and otherwise helping guide product development. To that end, he said, 'we often encourage our founders to just get this in the hands of teachers and users as quickly as possible—not necessarily as a refined product. And I don’t mean that in a bad or irresponsible way.' Wan later clarified that this 'should not come at the expense of quality or pose risks.'"

I think a lot about this quote from a VC saying the quiet part out loud. The quote is from Vauhini Vara's article, "How Chatbots and AI Are Already Transforming Kids' Classrooms" at www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

All these edtech and AIed testbeds don't follow the evidence-based "what works" policy model that's dominated education for years. They're *making* AI work in real-world school settings to generate insights for policy and tech. Schools are AI testing labs now.

Schools invited to become ‘test beds’ for new EdTech Schools and colleges are being invited to become ‘test beds’ for evaluating new EdTech products, creating an evidence base for technologies that genuinely improve both teaching quality and pupil outco...

And the Dept for Ed is spending a million on AIed testbed pilots too, to help generate evidence to support its AI ambitions in the schooling sector. Schools are being funded to become satellite AIed testing labs. >>
educationbusinessuk.net/news/1106202...

is your child's education for sale? are you sure about that answer?

Google DeepMind has been testing AI tutorbots in English classrooms and suggesting they help teachers outperform "human-only" teachers. So now big commercial tech companies are modifying schools into live testing sites for their marketable products. >> www.businesswire.com/news/home/20...

DfE should look to Nordics to help guide ‘edtech testbeds’ Here are five lessons that feel particularly relevant as England shapes its own approach

This Schools Week piece indicates that edtech and AIed testbeds have become kind of normal in English schools now. Testbed methods are being borrowed and shared to produce real-time "evidence" from tech in classrooms. But who's doing these tests? >> schoolsweek.co.uk/phillipson-s...

I often say I teach literature by practice because of the way "creative writing" (studying literature to make and understand literature) similarly reads as "squishy". it is not. it is integrally human and deeply demanding (and pleasurable!) to study and write literature!

somewhere along the way, teaching fiction and poetry became a kind of squishy thing to do, as opposed to drilling "real skills," but for centuries reading literature was at the heart of serious education and it's a mistake to dismiss it

love is something like a magic penny
hold it close and you won't have any
lend it, spend it and you'll have so many
they'll roll all over the floor

TODAY!!!! see you soon?

today 10-4 at Pearse Street Library!

very cool. I just met Clare yesterday at the small press fair! small art world :)

my ad-like-force (love this description of Holzer) project is here:

makework.ohbara.com/public-speech/

I’m so excited for @kellylink.bsky.social and @gavingrant.bsky.social, who are getting ready to BUY the building they’ve been renting for their beautiful bookstore Book Moon, in Western Mass. Support them if you’re able!

I have long wanted to get it together to rent billboards and put the opposite of ads on them--art or poetry or even, as here, just quiet

These handsomely crafted books make excellent Christmas presents and, being rectilinear, they are very easy to wrap

A blank billboard on the junction of Cuthbert Bank Road and Langsett Road, Sheffield.

#BuyNothingDay

Digital billboard in critical error mode, Livesey Street, Owlerton, Sheffield, 8 January 2023.

#BuyNothingDay