I trimmed out some stale examples and added these examples to my handout on showing and telling. What if your goal were to write about your favorite sport. Telling (No Details) I like many different sports, from skiing to rock-climbing, but when it comes right down to it, I would have to say that ping-pong is my favorite…
The findings can help anyone, from a fourth grader doing long division to a retiree taking on a new language. But they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they have not caught on. For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person…
Dr. Mary Crone Odekon In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Mary Crone Odekon of Skidmore College’s physics department discusses how studying fractals can help our understanding of structures in space. WAMC Similar:Defunct Web Pages are Not Dead Ends to JournalistsIn my “News Writing” class, I first warn…AcademiaWe Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like.…
This is the section of the book where the relationships between the characters start to take solid shape, and Hawthorne makes these points numerous times. When we aim to interpret a literary work, our task has to go beyond listing our emotional reactions, our gut reactions, to the events of the plot or the setting.…
I have seen a lot of very talented people fail because they couldn’t, or didn’t, write. And some much less talented people (I see one in the mirror every morning) have done OK because they learned how to write. —Michael C. Munger, Chronicle Here’s a tip that does a good job explaining a concept I’m…
see more Epic Fails Similar:Me: Carolyn, are you ok? Carolyn:Just reminding myself that I am a gift.Amusing11 Tips H.P. Lovecraft Had for Novice Writers”Avoid reading so as not to taint your c…CultureThe Liminal Classroom”What,” I asked, “are we to make of Plat…AcademiaReally enjoyed Prime Stage Theater’s video presentation of Mockingbird.Obviously I would have preferred to…
A great usability strategy, keeping their website so free of clutter like the email address for technical support. Gotta save that valuable screen real estate for the links to the big PDF manuals that haven’t been updated since the upgrade. tiisupport@turnitin.com Once again, that email is technical support for turnitin.com. Just in case you want…
Hawthorne carefully explains to his reader that these people are different from you and me. Our 21st century values may leave us shocked at the sight of male authority figures punishing Hester this way. Of course, the author wants us to be shocked that the authorities are treating Hester this way. Hawthorne created a bleak…
My university set me up with a trial Mobile Me account, and on the set-up day when I created my iTunes account, I was told to type in the Mobile Me address, so I did. Â I never used the service, though my receipts for iTunes purchases showed up there. Â A year later when the service…
I’m about to start the Rick Moranis #LittleShop movie. My 8yo has never seen it, but she’s gotten interested in musicals. about 3 hours ago via Twitter for iPad Wife is unwrapping the #LittleShop DVD now. about 3 hours ago via Twitter for iPad First, put away the #Cats DVD. about 3 hours ago via…
Similar:Elementary, Dear Data (TNG Rewatch: Season 2, Episode 3) When a holodeck bet spawns a fict…Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…AmusingA Grave Tale (a short story I narrated for WAOB Audio Theatre)A Grave Tale (WAOB Audio Theatre) Wri…LiteratureOregon Trail: How three Minnesotans forged its pathRawitsch, a lanky, bespectacled 21-year-…CultureStunned by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman and…
Let my students tell you. Similar:How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled”I remember the first meeting where I ac…BusinessWhat is Technical Writing?I noticed an uptick in traffic to an old…AestheticsTeachers finding games give a leg up on learningThanks for the link, Dana. Experts sa…CultureParable of the Polygons – a playable…
Beware… Salty language. In The Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students Who Don’t Give A Shit? Similar:In an Unpredictable Job Market, How Should People Think About College Majors?I tell my students that if what they wan…AcademiaAll the Classroom’s a StageSome good observations in this essay. As…AcademiaWhere Professors Send Their Children to CollegeTo understand this story,…
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Why would an upright young citizen of Salem, with a new wife and a proud family tradition behind him, risk the good opinion of his neighbors, all for a romp in the woods with the wicked? If society is rotten to the core, and your minister, your Sunday school teacher, even the spirit of your…
Sometimes we’re tempted to think that people who lived “back in the day” were simpler and less sophisticated than we are, and perhaps because Rip Van Winkle celebrates a simple soul, we might think that the author himself was also simple. Irving, born in New York City in the late 1700s, wrote early biographies of…
Anytime you post online, you publish. Anything you say or do that might be posted by someone else reflects upon that brand that you’ll be working so hard to build. Don’t undercut your hard work with moments of Facebook foolishness. Nor should you stop reporting when you surf for fun online. Stories can emerge from…
It wasn’t just the blog, but the fact that the student was entrepreneurial and dedicated. In the end, the blog honed a lot of my online skills and was an excellent precursor to the professional world. Additionally, because I was covering the very school I was attending, the blog served as a bridge from my…
Scratch is a kid-friendly programming sandbox, designed by MIT in order to introduce kids to computer science concepts. I’ve been using it with my own children for a couple years, and am currently using it as a gentle introduction to development, for an upper-level class designed for the “New Media Journalism” program. Similar:Apology of Socrates,…
I’m teaching a “New Media Projects” course, which aims to explore the connections between communication with words (linear, narrative) and communication with programming (interactive, procedural). Out in the wider world, The Poynter Institute hosted this session this week. I’m glad to see the profession moving beyond digital cameras and blogging. Programming for Journalists / Journalism…