English Professor Suddenly Realizes Students Will…

English Professor Suddenly Realizes Students Will Believe Literally Anything She Says onion.com/1dA4WPR via @TheOnion Similar:Loved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaTweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came…

RT @heatherfro: The number of my nonacademic frien…

RT @heatherfro: The number of my nonacademic friends who think #mla14 is a conference about MLA formatting is amazing. Nonacademic friends, you’re the best Similar:RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from …TweetsTweet: For an anatomy project, my #geekling made a Vulcan…For an anatomy project, my #geekling mad…TweetsTweet:…

RT @chronicle: Humanities programs are teaching st…

RT @chronicle: Humanities programs are teaching students to deconstruct technologies, not just texts: chroni.cl/1dpCosi Similar:Loved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsTweet: For an anatomy project, my #geekling made a Vulcan…For an anatomy project, my #geekling mad…TweetsFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third…

RT @arnzen: “The Ethics of Fiction Writing” by Ron…

RT @arnzen: “The Ethics of Fiction Writing” by Ron Hansen scu.edu/ethics/publica… @DennisJerz @ewazoo23 @NicolePeeler Similar:Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksI asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you…

RT @elongreen: This, from 1922, is the greatest he…

RT @elongreen: This, from 1922, is the greatest headline in the history of @nytimes, or any other paper. http://t.co/7rUTiXSBXd Similar:And the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsHabits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking o…PersonalRT @JordanFor:…

Supergiant and Hypergiant Stars Compared to our Solar System

To begin with, the terms “hypergiant” and “supergiant” are both a bit general. For the most part, these terms are loosely used to refer to the largest and most luminous (brightest and thus most energetic) stars in the universe. The exact term that one should use depends on the specific star that one is discussing…

Games as Text and K12 Social Studies

Rather than training students to identify and practice the strategies of rhetoric through reading and writing, what if a media existed (and the students regularly engaged in it) that communicated ideas, arguments, and points of view through its procedure, rather than in a linear set of carefully structured arguments? In this case, learning is at…

Jerz and Daughter Teach Scratch (Digital Storytelling Tutorial)

In the past I have posted tutorials for how to use Scratch to create a ball-and paddle computer game, but I let Carolyn create what she wanted to create. Rather than targets to shoot or puzzles to solve, she chose to tour a virtual environment, via a self-paced storybook. You move ahead by clicking the screen, and invisible buttons trigger animations.

This tutorial is a good introduction to how easy it is to make something interactive in Scratch.

Carolyn started with photos she had already taken of her Lego hobbit hole, added some simple programming to make a click advance to the next screen, and to make an invisible button trigger some animation.

In the video, she’s careful to run the program after every couple of steps, and she catches a few mistakes. When I point out that an interactive detail she coded would be hidden from a player who didn’t know where to click, she added a label that made sure her players wouldn’t miss the interactive bits.

Portrait of a Ten-Year-Old Girl

This thoughtful article demonstrates how to use colorful details to keep a reader engaged enough to absorb statistics and trends. What could be just an amusing slice of a Canadian girl’s life of carpools, playdates, and self-invention becomes a launching point for social commentary. The author does refer to herself, but deliberately, selectively; to serve…

My son showed me #PacificRim.

My son showed me #PacificRim. Liked the child actress in the flashback. Enjoyed the feuding scientists. The rest? Flashy, soulless CGI. Similar:R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) Full Play (via Zoom)All 3 acts and the epilogue to R.U.R. (R…BooksSeton Hill University advertises for “Social & Digital Content Manager”The Social & Digital Content Manager…AcademiaMisplaced Auto-playing ABC Video Clip…

Conflict Strategies for Nice People

Nothing to do with Christmas… just thinking about the upcoming group projects due in my online J-Term course. I should also probably re-read some Dale Carnegie, which I do every few years. Teams need conflict to function effectively. Conflict allows the team to come to terms with difficult situations, to synthesize diverse perspectives, and to…

What’s wrong with the way I talk?

Wife & daughter competing w each other to imitate brassy actress from Singing in the Rain. “Whaat’s wrong wit’ da way I taawk?” #pleasestop Similar:The daughter (giving the piggyback ride in pic 2) doing a thing that starts tomorrow. Tribune ReviewAmusingFall 2025 Grades Submitted!PersonalThe Best of Both Worlds, Part 1 ( #StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season…