Finished reading my 11yo “The Castle of Llyr,” the…

Finished reading my 11yo “The Castle of Llyr,” the 3rd in the high-fantasy series that inspired 80s Disney “Black Cauldron.” Very engaging. Similar:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsAnd…

Computer scientists quantify elements of writing style that differentiate successful fiction

“Predicting the success of literary works poses a massive dilemma for publishers and aspiring writers alike,” Choi said. “We examined the quantitative connection between writing style and successful literature. Based on novels across different genres, we investigated the predictive power of statistical stylometry in discriminating successful literary works, and identified the stylistic elements that are…

English Professor Suddenly Realizes Students Will…

English Professor Suddenly Realizes Students Will Believe Literally Anything She Says onion.com/1dA4WPR via @TheOnion Similar:How hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaShe doesn't have keys or a phone or an ID. Why does my tween need a purse?To stash her Lemonheads and Smarties. ht…Amusing10…

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:I asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingJury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A…

RT @chronicle: Humanities programs are teaching st…

RT @chronicle: Humanities programs are teaching students to deconstruct technologies, not just texts: chroni.cl/1dpCosi Similar:RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaHello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore…

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:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesAnd the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do…

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: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…TweetsMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION…

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.