Pre-Grade Your Paper

It’s not really a grading tool, but it might be worth introducing into the writing process.  I’m running a paper workshop tomorrow… I might give it a shot. PaperRater.com is a free resource, developed and maintained by linguistics professionals and graduate students. PaperRater.com is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help…

Building a Better Teacher

But what makes a good teacher? There have been many quests for the one essential trait, and they have all come up empty-handed. Among the factors that do not predict whether a teacher will succeed: a graduate-school degree, a high score on the SAT, an extroverted personality, politeness, confidence, warmth, enthusiasm and having passed the…

Gotta Keep Reading – Ocoee Middle School

Suggested by a colleague. If only we could get our students this excited about our summer reading titles!  Similar:Multimodal Composition: Every time a student submits a narrated PowerPoint, a puppy cries.AcademiaDog and TP WallAmusingHow to Get Boys to Sit Down with a BookResearchers and educators blame the gap …AcademiaMicrosoft Publishes Garbled AI Article Calling Tragically…

The Silver Lining

A fan-produced Kings Quest sequel is shut down. What a way to treat your brand’s most loyal followers. Recently, however, ownership of the Sierra IP changed hands and became the property of Activision. After talks and negotiations in the last few months between ourselves and Activision, they have reached the decision that they are not…

The Internet Bible: The Fall of Eve

Via Similar:Universities must stop presuming that all students are tech-savvyAlthough considerable resources have bee…AcademiaThe ChatGPT Lawyer Explains HimselfAs Mike Edwards notes, “AI doomers will …CultureDetailed Articulation of Feet in Unity3DI’m following a lot of tutorials, and co…AestheticsWe’re in Denial About the True Cost of a Twitter ImplosionThe public disintegration of a platform …Current_EventsThe Article is…

Doyle Redland Says Goodbye

I’m still mourning the loss of Herman T. Zwiebel.  And now this? Similar:The Media Bubble is Real — And Worse Than You ThinkIn the early 20th century, print journal…CultureVideo Tips for Students: Don't do what I'm doing!  You can't see my eyes, the background i…You might have been asked to submit a sh…AcademiaA Simple Investigation…

"By Their Sidewalks You Will Know Them"

There are no sidewalks where I live, but if there were, my sidewalk, and my conscience, would be clear. Here’s the first stanza of a five-stanza poem by TImons Esaias. Originally there were eleven CommandmentsMoses, perhaps confused by the unfamiliarsnow, ice, and sidewalk,botched one, and left it out. Similar:Fact check: Trump lies about CNN at…

The ABCs of Adventuring

Thanks for this find, Mark Sample (via Twitter). The ABCs of Adventuringby Admiral Jota, Dylan O’Donnell, G. Kevin Wilson, and Dan Shiovitz.A is for Adventure, the first of them all;B is for Brass lantern, so you don’t take a fall.C is for Compass, an unseen one you keepD is for Drinking, eating and sleep.E is…

American History: "Growth of a Nation"

This animated map of the expansion of American territory since the original 13 colonies is a bit cheesy in terms of production values, and not nearly as high-quality as the wonderful animated map of The Civil War in Four Minutes, but still a good resource. Similar:"If It's Not Baroque, Don't Fix It" Cogsworth Broadway Supercuthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6t-pef…AmusingIn…

What Makes a Great Teacher?

Gripping story of an effort to use data to predict teaching excellence. As Teach for America began to identify exceptional teachers using this data, Farr began to watch them. He observed their classes, read their lesson plans, and talked to them about their teaching methods and beliefs. He and his colleagues surveyed Teach for America…

Why Google Has Become Microsoft's Evil Twin

Google Buzz combined the openness of Twitter with the “whoo-hoo look at me!” aspects of Facebook. The result? A total face plant. —PC World Similar:Pac-Man”The kids who grew up steering Pac-Man a…DesignThe Neutral Zone (ST:TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 25)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…CultureTimeline of Donald J. Trump's Statements on Coronavirus OutbreakCultureMy more or…

Critical Code Studies Working Group — Colossal Cave Adventure Annotation

This week, I’ll be facilitating a week-long collaborative annotation project, as part of the Critical Code Studies Working Group online conference, on the source code to Crowther’s original Colossal Cave Adventure (a classic text-only computer game from the 1970s). According to Donald Knuth, designer of the “literate programming paradigm,” Colossal Cave Adventure is the “ur-game…