RT @Historiator: Please note @PhilKomarny @magawel…

RT @Historiator: Please note @PhilKomarny @magawelek @VissatMaureen “@HistoricalPics: All this technology is making us antisocial. http://t… Similar:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesJury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentProto iPads and Paper Coexist in Classic Star TrekRewatching the classic Trek episode “The…CybercultureParallel structure in writing: Use it!These comic…

Nerd-buddies

“He likes Lord of the Rings, Star Wars *and* Star Trek!!” — my nerdling daughter, eyes shining, about a new friend. Similar:There's No Substitute for FictionWhat do Peskin and Astington recommend f…BooksOn Her One Free Day Between Two Shows…[View the story “On Her One Free Day Bet…DesignTime Squared (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 13)Rewatching Star…

There’s No Substitute for Fiction

What do Peskin and Astington recommend for fostering constructive learning? Reading fiction. “Dramatic tension in stories is created when the various characters have disparate knowledge with regard to the action. This may be through error: The reader knows that Romeo does not know that Juliet lies drugged, not dead. Or it may be through deception:…

The Desolation of Tolkien

In the same way the Arkenstone is buried under tons of coin, poor old Bilbos tale is buried under easily 45 minutes of chases, captures, narrow escapes, more escapes, melees and other heroics, often comically-staged with acrobatics, and sometimes gruesome with orc-beheadings. —Boing Boing. Similar:No one’s ready for this: Our basic assumptions about photos capturing reality…

Transmedia Storytelling 101

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story. So, for example, in The Matrix franchise, key bits of information are…

Why No One Clicked on the Great Hypertext Story

It’s not that hypertext went on to become less interesting than its literary advocates imagined in those early days. Rather, a whole different set of new forms arose in its place: blogs, social networks, crowd-edited encyclopedias. Readers did end up exploring an idea or news event by following links between small blocks of text; it’s…

WordPress 3.8 “Parker”

No time to play with this, but looking forward to it very much. Version 3.8 of WordPress, named “Parker” in honor of Charlie Parker, bebop innovator, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. We hope you’ll think this is the most beautiful update yet. —WordPress › WordPress 3.8 “Parker”. Similar:I Made Cheerful…

Yes Virginia the Musical coming to Connellsville

Carolyn Jerz may be only 11 but is already a veteran stage performer having appeared in more than 20 shows with Stage Right — most recently as one of the Young Fiona with Stage Right’s Professional Theater Company’s production of “Shrek the Musical” last month. Jerz will play Virginia in the Saturday afternoon show. “I’m…

RT @MrsOrman: The Potter Games: Using Interactive…

RT @MrsOrman: The Potter Games: Using Interactive Fiction to Improve Reading – Free download pinterest.com/pin/1755700854… Similar:It's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s been nice knowing you, iPad3, but…TweetsTweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came around the corner and saw my kids h…TweetsYes, I do feel rather awesome right now.Lost brand-new earbuds.…

RT @setonhill: Campus Cursive (part of morelovelet…

RT @setonhill: Campus Cursive (part of moreloveletters) is a new club aiming to spread smiles across campus through… instagram.com/p/htuN7jQNyW/ Similar:RT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #context htt…RT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #co…TweetsCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsClassroom collaboration marketplaceWhile…

Fancy iPad Holder with Compartment For Storing Your Baby

Fisher-Price enters the Apple aftermarket with an iPad holder featuring a large auxiliary compartment where you can store your infant. The little ones apparently need convenient access to apps to assist them with their gurgling, drooling, and pooping, but their adorable little chubby hands are poorly engineered to hold tablets. Fortunately, Fisher-Price’s team of parental…

Remixing the “What I learned” essay. Take 20 min t…

Remixing the “What I learned” essay. Take 20 min to create a 1-min video in class. Peer review. Re-imagine & reshoot. Polish up as homework. Similar:And the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn…

In Pittsburgh, science gets playful

Imagine: sharing a secret with a friend by touching your finger to her ear; rubbing a book’s page to reveal a hidden message; feeling the texture of a mountain range on a flat computer screen; or sensing the fluttering of a digital butterfly’s wings against your skin. These fancies have been made into realities at…

When my kid says ‘I’m bored,’ I pretend to hear ‘give me more chores.’

“I’m bored,” is something my daughter knows NOT to say around me. If she does, I will look into her big brown eyes with my most sincere fake paternal concern, and say, “Honey, you are a talented, intelligent, wonderful kid with so many opportunities. You have no reason to think people find you boring.” She…

Who Says Math Has to Be Boring?

For all the reform campaigns over the years, most schools continue to teach math and science in an off-putting way that appeals only to the most fervent students. The mathematical sequence has changed little since the Sputnik era: arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and, for only 17 percent of students, calculus. Science is generally limited…

Who is the more dramatic — my extroverted tween or my philosophical teen?

Stoked from a morning show-choir performance and an afternoon rehearsal, Carolyn is lumbering around the kitchen floor, belting “I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!” Peter, his nose in a book, expresses a stoic disapproval. “Peter, you never ask for anything,” says my wife, raising her voice over Carolyn’s singing. “If you could have anything, regardless…

Inequity and BYOD

If we are really wanting to help these kids that might be coming from poor situations, we need to rethink the practices that we already have in our schools to provide for them. For example, many schools have “computer labs” where we take kids once or twice a week, to do something with technology or allow them…

I Love Books: A Campus Library Evolves

I love books. I love smelling them, touching them, stacking them, unwrapping the plastic from a new purchase, and cracking the spine when I’m halfway through a hardback. (My wife *hates it* when I crack a spine). I love books. I love downloading them, searching them, copying-and-pasting passages, reading them to my kids at night…

Why Are Glasses Perceived Differently Than Hearing Aids?

Scholars and people who are activists for disability rights have spent a lot of energy in the last decades showing that disability is not about the state of a human body; it’s about the built environment, structures, and institutions that make life possible and meaningful—or conversely, impossible and meager—for certain kinds of bodies and minds.…

@cjprender @readywriting Compared to what?

@cjprender @readywriting Compared to what? Similar:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in…