I love my students enough to teach them the difference between passive voice and past tense.
If a goggles-for-brains Lego character can master the difference between active and passive verbs, you can too.
A very happy geekling playing Dungeons and Dragons on her one free evening. #llap
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Short Reports: How to Write Routine Professional Documents
New graphic. First step in touching up my collection of pages on writing short technical reports. A business memo, a lab report, or a professional e-mail are all variations on the basic report structure described in this document. Feel free to modify these guidelines in order to meet your reader’s needs. Think of Your Reader First Your busy reader…
Students Learning about First Amendment Freedoms
In an opening lecture for my journalism class, I listed the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. I’ve referred to the importance of the First Amendment several times, but I haven’t listed the freedoms in class. One week after the opening lecture, I asked students to list those freedoms on…
Wet Book Rescue
Wish I’d known this technique when I spilled tea all over my JC Superstar script. (I did the paper towel and fan thing, but didn’t try leaving the book under weights overnight — probably because I needed to use the script at rehearsal.) Similar:Understanding Poetry INCIDENTAL COMICS: Understanding Poetr…CultureEconomics in Early Computer Games(First published 27…
Edgar Allan Poe Was a Broke-Ass Freelancer – The Millions
His despair is only part of his artistic journey. When researching Poe last year, I was surprised to come across an anecdote about him playing leap-frog with his wife and splitting his pants, causing both of them to collapse in fits of laughter. I’m sure it was the memory of joyful moments like this that haunted him as she lay dying and long after she was dead.
The boy wins once again. #chess
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Death of NFL inevitable as middle class abandons the game
Like vegan pizzas and secular Christmas celebrations, I can hear and understand the reasoning behind why people like football, but their explanation does nothing to make me want to participate on any level. So it’s very interesting to me to read this report of an apparent cultural shift, sparked by concerns about brain injury. You…
Emotional Intelligence Needs a Rewrite
I’ve recently processed and absorbed my recognition of the “left brain vs right brain myth.” (One side of the brain may work harder on some tasks, but there’s no evidence to suggest that whether a person is logical or creative has anything to do with how that person’s brain hemispheres relate to each other.) The…
Liberal Arts Classes Could Teach Neil deGrasse Tyson a Thing or Two about the Path from Data to Wisdom
Your mileage may vary, but I immediately thought of Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, who states this problem in negative terms. Yes, she’s a made-up character delivering a line in a movie about an imaginary ring from a fantasy book, but anyone who really understands Tolkien’s story will have reflected on the…
‘These are all fake news,’ said the honor student. He was wrong.
Kim Ash teaches the Newseum’s “Fighting Fake News” class. Whereas teachers once feared that teenagers would fall for everything they read online, now they’re concerned young people won’t believe anything they read. —Washington Post Similar:WAOB MisSpelled (final episode airs)The final episode of the fantasy/comedy …AmusingStudent journalist experiences the 'trickle down' of hostility toward the pressMy…
Paper too short? Here are actual tips for serious students, not dumb tricks your prof will notice.
Is your academic essay a bit short? First, make sure that you have formatted your draft as required (usually professors ask you to double-space). Faking a longer paper won’t make your writing any more persuasive or intelligent or analytical or factual. It won’t help you to learn what your instructor wants you to learn. My…
You cannot serve both…
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The girl has gotten progressively more dedicated over the past few days.
When you’re a homeschool parent, you go with what works. Yes, Carolyn, you may have my plaid bed sheet. Finish reading this book on Scottish history and I’ll take more pictures. No, you may not wear your kilt to church. Similar:What’s Up With That: Why It’s So Hard to Catch Your Own TyposA readable Wired…
The girl continues her exploration of Scottish history.
Carolyn: “Does no one have a kind word for my Scotland?” Similar:Celebration of Writing Fall 2025. Students present their research for their upcoming term …PersonalImagine a world…PersonalAgain with the @shu.pippinPersonalLysistrata live.Current_Events“Thank you for being kind.” —Friday afternoon email from a student who’d been a little sal…PersonalAfter lights out, the girl is knitting.Personal
The elements, in haiku
Each element of the periodic table gets its own haiku. What a clever project — traditional haiku frequently celebrate nature. An interactive review of the periodic table — composed of 119 haiku The elements, in haiku Similar:Long Live The English Major—If It’s Paired With An Industry-Recognized CredentialWhat does this simple question and its r…AcademiaTime in…
The Girl’s Obsession with Scottish History Continues
Wife: “What did you do with your bedsheet?” Me: “Is that my missing belt?” Girl: “Kilt-y as charged.” Similar:Settling in for a jukebox show (not my favorite genre but the Go-Gos are fun).PersonalAcademics work to detect ChatGPT and other AI writingToday I met a class of English majors wh…AcademiaDean Jones Dead: Disney Actor Was 84″The…
Teaching Snapshot: First Amendment Freedoms
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Anti-globalism Is Common Factor in Social Media Conspiracy Theories, says UW Prof
Fascinating academic effort to find a pattern in apparently random conspiracy theories that regularly pop up in our infostreams during social crises. Experts usually dismiss them because they are so wild and unlikely, and have thus failed to notice their impact. Starbird’s insight was to map the digital connections between all this buzzing on Twitter…
Apparently, I needed to watch a supercut of doors and corridors from Star Trek.
I did in fact search YouTube for videos featuring corridors on the starship Enterprise. And I found this bizarrely satisfying video, featuring not just corridors, but also doors. (Whoosh! Whoosh!) I remember this — our first look at Captain Kirk in the 1979 “Star Trek the Motion Picture.” Similar:The Nth Degree (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 4,…