To master a topic, pretend you are teaching it to someone. Use simple language and analogies. If you stumble, study the topic some more, then try again. Richard Feynman was a physicist who received a nobel prize for his work in quantum electrodynamics. He was notorious for asking his mathematicians to explain concepts in simple…
Catherine Palmer was already a seasoned student journalist at The Johns Hopkins News-Letter when Freddie Gray, a Baltimore native and black man, died in police custody, provoking protests across the city that swelled into what would be called the Baltimore Uprising. Even so, she was only 19 when she found herself one of the first reporters on…
Show is July 28 at the O’Reilly Theater. (This Spidey selfie for “super hero day” is the pic she wanted me to post.) Similar:Making Interactive Fiction Mainstream: ReadersJon Ingold describes the gamelike storyt…AestheticsPICT’s ‘Oliver Twist’ Offers a Different Kind of Holiday PunchThe first review I’ve seen. My daughter …BooksThe first ever photograph of light as…
Some good observations in this essay. As the teacher, I am used to being able to set the pace and call the shots; and if I see a problem, I’m the one responsible for solving it or delegating the task. For me, acting is an exercise in humility and teamwork. I really enjoy the rehearsal…
Are Keds a brand that my college students would recognize as kid shoes? In a handout on how to write short stories, I used “Keds” as a brand name. Should I change that to something like “Spongebob Crocs” instead? Similar:A Merry Look at Journalism in "The Year Without a Santa Claus" AmusingBooks Wield a Dangerous…
My sister the computer programmer benefitted early in her career because she was an excellent writer. She was so good at taking notes that people would invite to her important meetings so there would be a good record, and people would consult her about important topics covered during those meetings. My brother the electrical engineer…
This is a challenging writing task. Presidential biographies are a staple of children’s book publishing, and of classrooms across the country. Nonfiction for children is a surging category, particularly in light of a Common Core mandate that schools put greater emphasis on it in their curriculum. Publishers like Penguin Young Readers, Scholastic and Time for…
Free speech is valuable. It’s dangerous to set the precedent that it’s okay to censor speech as long as you side with the censor and against the position being silenced. A New Jersey school district has suspended a teacher after yearbook photos of two high school students were altered to remove President Donald Trump’s name…
While doing some spring cleaning around my computer desk at home, I noticed that there are scores of old PC games that are still stacked up within arm’s reach, even though I no longer even use a computer with an optical drive at that workstation. But these are games that have sentimental value for my…
By the end of the semester you will be able to: * Write a good clickbait headline * Fire off a snappy tweet to trolls * Use facts ironically to disprove the President * Locate Sean Spicer in a variety of diverse hiding places * Pin a congressional candidate in under 60 seconds —McSweney’s Internet…
Similar:My 13yo and 18yo enthralled by WarGames.Wife likes movies. Son likes military th…CultureCanon Australia video: 1 man; 6 backstories; 6 photographers; 6 photosCanon Australia wants to sell cameras. T…AestheticsHe checkmates me in two moves. I lasted about a half hour, and went down fighting.PersonalThoreau's Cellphone ExperimentWhen I teach “Intro to Literary Study,” …AcademiaYeet with Emily…
Similar:The Distracted Classroom: Transparency, Autonomy, and PedagogyI don’t ban technology in my classroom, …AcademiaCreationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomerBrother Consolmagno, who works in a Vati…CultureHere for the daughter.AcademiaIt's Science! Carolyn Uses Anastasia's Lip Balm KitMy friend Anastasia gave me a home-made …AestheticsLet's conſider ſome ſurpriſing old type: "Did you ever hear…
This short film reminds us why art matters. Spend 8 minutes watching it. Two heart-wrenching twists, at 5:26 and 5;48 (and the story continues during the closing credits). Similar:Ursula K. Le Guin: A Personal Take on Go Set a Watchman Before Watchman was published, I…BooksThe Declaration of IndependenceI recorded a recitation of the Declarati…CultureTelegrams were…
I swore I would wield my powers only for good. Witness my latest faculty service project. Similar:Another 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3dart #blender3dAestheticsEnjoyed watching the restored version of the hugely influential 1927 sci-fi movie #Metropo…Enjoyed watching the restored version of…AestheticsSummer photos of the daughter.PersonalProgress over 11 years of Blender3D practiceOver the…
This essay on college students acting helpless (Chronicle of Higher Education) struck a few chords. I put a lot of time into writing my course policies and assignment instructions. The students who want to know how they can earn a 99 instead of a 95 invariably ask really good questions that arise from their close…
You can’t get much more American than Thomas Jefferson. He did not love every newspaper reporter on the planet; however, he wrote that, if forced to choose between government without newspapers or a newspaper without government, he would not hesitate to choose a newspaper without government (under certain very sensible conditions). The people are the…
Similar:The Die Is Cast (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 21) Garak's mentor leads a pres…Rewatching ST:DS9 After the recap of …CultureWhy Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral FactsIndeed, in the world beyond grade school…CultureThe Emissary (ST:TNG Rewatch: Season Two, Episode 20) — Enjoyable Worf-centered RomanceRewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureThe facts evolve as…
In The Republic, Plato uses an extended metaphor involving prisoners who can see nothing but shadows projected on the cavern wall. They know only blurry outlines of the true objects represented by the shadows, and they pride themselves on how well they can memorize and relate to the puppet shows performed by their captors. If…
Accomack County Public Schools announced Tuesday that “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” will immediately returned to school library shelves. The books were temporarily suspended on November 29, after a complaint was filed….The Accomack County School Board voted on Tuesday to permanently reinstate the two novels. “These novels are treasures of American…
The school was plagued by violence and disorder from the start, and by 2010 it was rank [sic] in the bottom five of all public schools in the state of Massachusetts. That was when Andrew Bott — the sixth principal in seven years — showed up, and everything started to change. “We got rid of the…