On the way to the theater for the show! Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd.

Similar:Fight choreography via teleconference. As You Like It @steelcityshakespearePersonalImaginary vs Real Office SpaceHere’s a fantasy workspace, that I built…AcademiaI think I’ve mentioned I have a daughter who sometimes does things.I think I’ve mentioned I have a daughter…PersonalTo DoTo Do (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) 5: …AcademiaThank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting this low-resolution (the background image was 640x…Thank…

A screen shot from ThoughtCagalog.com, showing that an article has been split into 40 separate chunks.

If You Ever Find a Link to ThoughtCatalog, I’m Begging You Not to Click It

Here’s a thought… nothing you can write can possibly encourage me to click through 40 separate chunks of text. Bye. Similar:Another 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dartAestheticsEnglish teaching: Johnson: Talking past each otherWhen I got to college, I had already lea…AcademiaReally enjoyed Prime Stage Theater’s video presentation of Mockingbird.Obviously I would have…

Image of a trunk decorated with Virginia Tech designs and labeled the text "Just Visiting"

The Problems of Real-Time Feedback in Teaching Writing

Sometimes my students get nervous because I ask them to learn writing by, you know, writing. For some other subjects, it makes sense to ease students into the work, having them memorize facts to recall for points on multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank quizzes. But writers gotta write. That means taking risks, and occasionally stumbling. In a…

The problem with blog comments, in 5 images.

After I read Mark Sample’s blog post “What about Blogging Keeps Me from Blogging,” I tried to post a comment lamenting that I miss blog comments. I ran into these fun problems. Similar:I was 'raped' in VR – the effects can 'mirror' real sex assaultsThis is offensive, deeply troubling, and…CultureStudent journalist experiences the 'trickle…

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:Death of NFL inevitable as middle class abandons the gameLike vegan pizzas and…

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…

College students in a lecture hall. A facilitator is kneeling in the aisle, talking to a smiling student.

Moving from Debate to Empathy

In my freshman writing class, my job is to teach students how to write a researched essay. I encourage students to pick topics that interest them, but I warn them that if they go into their project already convinced that one answer is correct (that euthanasia should/should not be legal, that abortion is murder/healthcare, that…

I haven't seen this show since freshman year at Bishop Denis J O'Connell High School.

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Attending the Texture Contemporary Ballet.

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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:Here's a close look at the scepter leading the procession. #SetonHillGrad 2016 starts…PersonalBihar Boards: An annual ritual of cheating and chitting!When Board examinations are due in Bihar…AcademiaA pie slice from…

The Curtains Were Blue: In Which I Fix Another Meme.

Above is my response to a meme that makes some shaky assumptions about the purpose of an English classroom. Exploring the intent of the author is a huge part of the English discipline, but it’s far from the only way to study (or teach) literature. Author intent, new historicism, reader-response, structuralism… the list goes on.…

Journalism 101: I fixed this meme for you.

I can sympathize with the sentiment, but the top part of this meme (the white text on black background) is not how I’d frame the situation. My take (which I’ve added underneath the original) is that when two sources disagree, assuming that one must be right and the other must be wrong is a form…

Illustration of glowing chain links in a shovel of dirt.

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani: My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader

This fascinating essay, by the grandchild of a Nigerian slave trader, explores a complex cultural legacy. At least as provocative as “Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other?” and the stunning, bitter “Molasses to Rum (to Slaves)” from the otherwise cheery musical 1776. African intellectuals tend to blame the West for the slave…

My wife Leigh will direct the small-cast drama “Full Bloom” Aug 30-Sep 2

My wife Leigh received a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant towards producing the small-cast drama Full Bloom. She’s found a good space and found the right cast, and so we’re doing the whole crazy “Hey, let’s put on a show” thing again! If you’re within shouting distance, and you think the arts should matter…

Trump and Putin shake hands during a joint press conference at the Helsinki summit.

Trump’s reference to “the transcript” of the Helsinki conference… which transcript? There are several.

This is why journalism matters: The Atlantic offers a good overview of the confusing fact that the official transcripts published by the White House and the Russian government don’t match the video. Compare this transcript, of what actually happened, to the White House’s version. Here is the record of what took place, starting with the…

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…

Journalist Sam Husseini, who had been holding a sign that said "Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty," was forcibly removed before the Trump/Putin press conference in Helsinki.

Those #fakenews people are at it again. #freepress #journalism #payattention

Journalist Sam Husseini, who had been holding a sign that said “Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty,” was forcibly removed from the Trump/Putin press briefing in Helsinki today.