“He likes Lord of the Rings, Star Wars *and* Star Trek!!” — my nerdling daughter, eyes shining, about a new friend. Similar:Yes, I do feel rather awesome right now.Lost brand-new earbuds. Reached in pocke…PersonalThe Journey That Changed Geoffrey Chaucer’s LifeHis status as a deputy on a mission from…BooksMerry Christmas 2013Current_EventsInfinite Scrolling: XKCD's Creative Insight on…
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:…
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:Your Brain on ShakespeareAmusingDiaper Money Camaro Comes Home Four Decades Later“While my…
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…
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…
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:How America fell…
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 Fiction to Improve Reading – Free download pinterest.com/pin/1755700854… Similar:I'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is really noteworthy. Today the Pre…Current_EventsJudge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksClassroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with the whole …BusinessFormer student: "I remember sometimes…
RT @setonhill: Campus Cursive (part of moreloveletters) is a new club aiming to spread smiles across campus through… instagram.com/p/htuN7jQNyW/ Similar:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsOverheard at Quora: "Why…
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 to create a 1-min video in class. Peer review. Re-imagine & reshoot. Polish up as homework. Similar:Tweet: 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 alum in…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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. 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…
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? Similar:RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsMy Minecraft-obsessed tween made this blocky foam pig at art camp. Next up: Stage Right summer musical th…AestheticsParallel structure in writing: Use it!These comic panels cover the issue well….HumanitiesHabits for happiness: tips for looking on the…
RT @samplereality: Push the button Frank. 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…TweetsMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureYes, I…