Picture of President Trump speaking at a Veterans of Foreign Wars event.

Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.

Words apparently spoken by the President of the United States. If you trust the news organization that reported what he said. But the President has no reason to mislead the public. He loves the public probably more than anybody. Believe me.   Similar:Happy Flag Day! All flags matter, but nobody needs to say that out…

Alice E. Marwick (headsnot)

Why Do People Share Fake News? A Sociotechnical Model of Media Effects

Verrit, like Snopes, Politifact, and a host of other fact-checking sites, reflect fundamental misunderstandings about how information circulates online, what function political information plays in social contexts, and how and why people change their political opinions. Fact-checking is in many ways a response to the rapidly changing norms and practices of journalism, news gathering, and…

Closeup of a person's hand pulling a book off of a shelf.

How Common Core Testing Damaged High School English Classes

Helping my students understand how my role as a college literature teacher differs from the role of a high school English teacher is a sometimes daunting task. Preparing students for a standardized reading test is completely unlike teaching them about a work of classic literature. In an English class addressing The Great Gatsby, depending on student ability…

Attending the Texture Contemporary Ballet.

Similar:Pfully Pfizered and pfeeling pfine so pfar. Current_EventsOur family has seen David Whalen in the persona of Sherlock in five or six different shows…Our family has seen David Whalen in the …CultureI asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingLittle green owl, if your emotions depend this…

On this date in 1999 I first added a date to the list of web links I had been curating. (The image has long since broken.)

On this date in 1999, I first dated an entry in the collection of web links I had been curating since at least that January. Similar:Sesame Street had a big plot twist in November 1986My older siblings say they remember our …CultureUpdating a villain's lair in #Blender3D. Still a work in progress.AestheticsJJ Abrams announces fourth…

Handwritten, all-caps note on printed script from which Trump read: "THERE WAS NO COLUSION"

Fascinating details in reports about Trump’s Russian retraction

We’re all still reeling from Trump’s statement yesterday that he “didn’t see any reason why it would be” true that Russia had meddled with the US election. Standing there next to Putin, he publicly rejected the positions of multiple US intelligence authorities. Today, in the face of blistering criticism from foes and friends alike, including…

Perspective | After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the American press

I have always taken a neutral stance in my journalism classes, modeling the objective nature of reporting the news “without fear or favor.” I shall continue to uphold reporting designed to publish objective truth, and criticize and expose exaggeration, rumor, wishful thinking, and outright lies presented in the guise of truth.   This fall, I…

A historic picture of a classroom from the 1800s, inverted, so that the pupils are head-downwards.

Flipped Classes: Omit Housekeeping Mechanics from Recorded Lectures to Lengthen Their Shelf-life

When a Facebook friend asked for tips on teaching a large class, I inventoried what I’ve learned about the flipped classroom. For the classes I teach on a regular basis, sometimes online and sometimes in-person, I’ve had many opportunities to develop stand-alone resources that I reuse. For example, I’ve recorded some stand-alone audio lectures on…

Facebook logo (white sans-serif lowercase letter "f" on a blue background).

Facebook touts fight on fake news, but struggles to explain why InfoWars isn’t banned

10 points to CNN’s Oliver Darcy for working both “when asked about” and “this reporter” into a news story that was not written by a supporting character in a 1940s gangster flick. When asked by this reporter how the company could claim it was serious about tackling the problem of misinformation online while simultaneously allowing…

The girl will be Mrs Lovett in Stage Right’s Sweeney Todd at the end of July. #3week #musical #theatre #summer #camp

Similar:Sad that NASA is taking a back seat to a private company, but still nerding over an Americ…BusinessJournalists play a vital role in a democracy. That sometimes includes serving the public b…PersonalA pleasant Independence Day photo shoot with the daughter.Aesthetics"Chores" — Clip from Snow White: The Musical (Stage Right Greensburg, Sept 2012)Here’s what it sounded…

Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe. —Thomas Jefferson

Similar:A rare win for Dad. CultureMy laptop hard drive is full & my comfort-food shelf is emptyMy laptop drive is full & my comfort…CultureThe Value of Truth: We are living through an epistemological crisis. In the jargon of academia, the study…AcademiaOpen Letter from a Millennial: Quit Telling Us We’re Not SpecialEven the things we do for fun…