Julian Girdham

25TRA417 Claire Keegan’s ‘Small Things Like These’ Date: Monday, 20th October Time: 7.00pm - 8.00pm Venue: Online via Zoom Target Audience: Senior Cycle English teachers ● Outline reasons why Small Things Like These is an excellent choice for the...

Teaching Claire Keegan's 'Small Things Like These': free webinar (repeat) on Monday 20th October, starting 7.00pm.

via @clanavtra.bsky.social
Registration:
edcentretralee.ie/cpd-courses-...

#edchatie

Fortnightly 193 — Julian Girdham Fortnightly 193 opens with truly great teachers, and the genius myth.

Fortnightly 193: Helen Lewis & the genius myth,
John Tomsett & truly great secondary teachers, John Keats in autumn, Vona Groarke, The Poems of Seamus Heaney, J.L. Carr, @dtwuva.bsky.social on 'Mind the Gap', Gore Vidal, @inotenews.bsky.social conference.

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/fortnig...

Leonard and Hungry Paul cast and Director on telling a story about kindness, friendship, and the quiet heroism of everyday life - The feel-good series stars Alex Lawther, Laurie Kynaston and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, with Julia Roberts as narrator

So many people I'd like to thank in Ireland for championing

Leonard and Hungry Paul @ronanhession.bsky.social

Here's a few

@jackielynam.bsky.social
@kitdewaal.com
Donal Ryan.
@martindoyle.bsky.social
@rickoshea.bsky.social

And all the booksellers & Librarians!

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

The Fortnightly from Julian Girdham | Substack The Fortnightly is about thinking, writing, reading, teaching & more. Every 2 weeks in the school term since 2016 - on Substack since 2024. Always free, but contributions are most welcome, and paid co...

Fortnightly 193 is out in the morning:

The genius myth, truly great secondary teachers, John Keats in autumn, Vona Groarke, The Poems of Seamus Heaney, J.L. Carr's life, Daniel Willingham, Rachel Ruysch, Gore Vidal. And more.

juliangirdham.substack.com

Nobel winner for Literature 2025: László Krasznahorkai.

Cover of Brian Patten’s Love Poems.

Brian Patten’s poem In the Dying of Anything.

RIP Brian Patten.

“AI” isn’t a tool or technology or even a cluster of technologies with a misleading name. It’s the infrastructure at the foundation of a form of capitalism dependent on data brokering. We should be teaching our students about this and not teaching them about “responsible” use.

Tony Harrison RIP
I taught Long Distance, his beautiful & honest poem about bereavement to my students for decades.
Eventually, it provided consolation to me as well.

192: Wherever life pours ordinary plenty Nicholas Carr, Rachel Cusk, Caoilinn Hughes, Kyra Davis Lurie, James Marriott, Daisy Christodoulou, Conor Murphy, Mary Oliver, Timothy Snyder. And more.

Fortnightly 192:
Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom' | Rachel Cusk |
@j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on reading in crisis | @conorsmurf.bsky.social
on Shakespeare | @timothysnyder.bsky.social on Ukraine and kindness | AI guidelines from @irishsciteach.bsky.social

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/192-wherev...

Fortnightly 192: Nicholas Carr’s Superbloom, Rachel Cusk’s novel Parade, Caoilinn Hughes’s short story ‘Two Hands’, Kyra Davis Lurie talking to Alan Alda about élite Black Americans in the 1940s and Gatsby, James Marriott on the decline of reading, Daisy Christodoulou talking to Ian Leslie on the associated ‘stupidogenic society’, Conor Murphy on Shakespeare in the curriculum, Mary Oliver’s poetry, Timothy Snyder on Ukraine. And still more.

Fortnightly 192 is out in the morning.

Free sub link:
juliangirdham.substack.com

Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom' — Julian Girdham Nicholas Carr’s ‘Superbloom’ is a comprehensive and highly readable commentary on how modern technologies have damaged our social relations.

(New). On Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom: how technologies of connection tear us apart.'

"We spend our days sharing information, connected as never before, but the more we communicate, the worse things seem to get."

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/nichola...

The night Robert Redford met Dickie Rock, and other moments from a Hollywood giant’s life Redford, the actor, Oscar-winning director and godfather of the indie movement, died as one of the true supernovae

“The night Robert Redford met Dickie Rock, and other moments from a Hollywood giant’s life.” Me on a great (and also on Robert Redford).

www.irishtimes.com/culture/film...

Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom' — Julian Girdham Nicholas Carr’s ‘Superbloom’ is a comprehensive and highly readable commentary on how modern technologies have damaged our social relations.

(New). On Nicholas Carr's 'Superbloom: how technologies of connection tear us apart.'

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/nichola...

Yes indeed, very questionable: though some of us have considerable doubts that the relevant authorities will address that. Sunk cost...

191: Carob of Cyprus ink Molly Twomey, William Wall, Michael Longley, Culture Night, Fintan O'Toole on Easter 1916, Deborah Levy, Alan Jacobs, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Emma Smith and more.

Fortnightly 191 is now out:

Molly Twomey, William Wall, Michael Longley’s final book, @fotoole.bsky.social on Easter 1916 with @ppfideas.bsky.social, teaching 'Othello' via @clanavtra.bsky.social, Deborah Levy, Alan Jacobs, @tom-richmond.com on AI.

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/191-carob-...

📢 Post-Primary TYEnglish Teachers!

➡️ TY English Ideas

📅 Tues 16 Sept 2025 | ⏲️ 7–8pm |

💻 Zoom | 💰 FREE

🗣️ Claire Cotter shares creative TY strategies: 🎶 songs, 🎬 film, 🎙️ podcasts, & project-based learning to spark curiosity!

👉 zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Culture Night 2025 - St. Columba's College The College is once again delighted to take part in Culture Night, on the evening of Friday 19th September. No booking is required. Come for an hour-long architectural and historical tour of our fasci...

This time next week, a free Culture Night talk/tour at St Columba's College, Dublin 16.

Friday 19th September, 6.30-8.30pm.

Interesting architecture and history! No booking required.

www.stcolumbas.ie/2025/09/05/c...

What three things from cognitive science should every teacher know? With Dr Carl Hendrick

New episode!

This week, @amymayforrester.bsky.social and I are joined by one of education's premier thinkers - @carlhendrick.substack.com. Carl has so many great insights on cognitive science and how it is best communicated.

Must listen, tune in and share!

open.spotify.com/episode/0JW7...

Julian Girdham delivering an extremely interesting webinar tonight on ‘Othello’ for Post Primary English Teachers. Always a pleasure to work with Julian. @sccenglish.bsky.social

I'm looking for stories about how AI is killing creative work, and I'd love to hear from you—artists, writers, illustrators, actors, designers, editors, voice actors and narrators—if your job or practice has been hit. This is going to be a big one.

AIKilledMyJob@pm.me

But what iseducation? Embodied and enactive cognitive sciences remind us that knowledge is not something discrete that an individual possesses and passes down but an inherently dynamic and evolving endeavour that develops in the process of embodied, curious and engaged interaction through dialogue. The pinnacle of cognition, particularly ‘human knowing’, is inextricably interwoven with interactions we engage in

with each other and the physical, cultural and social world we inhabit, ‘so much so that individuals are not thinkable outside of their interactions and embeddedness in their (social) world’ (De Jaegher, 2019). Dialogic models of knowledge and education emphasize that interactions between a student and teacher and/or peer provide ‘scaffolding’ for how that child understands the world. The always in flux, active and continually transforming nature of human cognition necessitates that education be fundamentally an ongoing activity. Far from the reductionist view whereby ‘formal knowledge’ can be packaged and acquired from an LLM, the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care and humility are fostered and mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions

In this short piece, I lean on embodied cog sci to argue that we should refuse & resist llms in education (pp. 53-58) unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentV...

"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"

Lee Child: 'I'd rather be a multi-millionaire than a credible author' The best-selling author on abandoning America, his utterly fascinating writing process (which involves exactly 90 days and zero planning) - and his aim to write one more 'Jack Reacher'

"I spent decades saying, ‘Come on, it’s got to be more complex than this.’ But I think it’s not. I think that almost everything can be explained by this deep hatred that the majority of white Americans have for black Americans. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” inews.co.uk/culture/book...

Michael Longley's 'Ash Keys: new selected poems' — Julian Girdham A review of Michael Longley’s Ash Keys: new selected poems, originally published in Leader magazine from the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals.

(New) On Michael Longley's last book before his death, 'Ash Keys', and how school leaders can benefit from reading poetry:

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/michael...

Poster for webinar 'An introduction to teaching Othello', Weds 10th September, 7pm.

In one week:

Webinar - An Introduction to Teaching ‘Othello’.

Date: Wednesday 10th September

Time: 7.00pm - 8.00pm
Target Audience: Senior Cycle English teachers
via @TraleeESC @ClareEdCentre @NavanESC

Free registration:
zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Fortnightly 190 — Julian Girdham The Fortnightly returns after the summer holidays with edition 190.

At the start of this academic year, the Fortnightly has returned.

Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more.

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/fortnig...

FYI @conorsmurf.bsky.social

190: All things begin in dreams Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more.

Fortnightly 190 is out:

Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more.

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/190-all-th...

"Walk on air against your better judgement."

Seamus Heaney's grave is located in a corner of the graveyard adjoining St Mary's parish church in Bellaghy, close to that of his parents and other members of the family.

Seamus Heaney who died on this day 2013.

190: All things begin in dreams Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more.

Fortnightly 190 is out:

Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more.

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/190-all-th...

The Fortnightly from Julian Girdham | Substack The Fortnightly is about thinking, writing, reading, teaching & more. Every 2 weeks in the school term since 2016 - on Substack since 2024. Always free, but contributions are most welcome, and paid co...

The Fortnightly returns from its holidays tomorrow.

Florence Knapp, Adrian Lester on Othello, R.C. Sherriff, Anne Enright and Joseph O’Connor on John McGahern, essays on Leaving Certificate English, Oscar Wilde's trials and more.

Link for free sign-up:
juliangirdham.substack.com