Zach Czaia
zachczaia.bsky.social
Zach Czaia
@zachczaia.bsky.social
Poet. High School English teacher. Substack, "Teacher / Poet" here: https://zachczaia.substack.com/
Reposted by Zach Czaia
Okay, so let's do officially do this! a slow-read of Macbeth with Sunday discussion threads starting November 23rd! #SundayMacbethChat

Everyone's welcome! And just like Beloved, I am definitely going to be looking at this with very-fresh (i.e. humble) eyes!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
November 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
and: what that viral atlantic article from a while ago did was call into question the “college readiness” part of common core’s claims about “college and career readiness” and i don’t know if enough people understand the nature or stakes of the fight
November 1, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
What do playing with toddlers and almost becoming a professional clown have to do with teaching? They remind me of why I fell in love with teaching. #TeacherSky #EduSky #SubstackSky

open.substack.com/pub/adrianne...
October 27, 2025 at 11:47 AM
"To tell students not to use AI for the work that was AI-generated for us is, in my opinion, beyond ridiculous. She wants to know what we know. It’s only fair that the same should apply to teachers." Thanks, Scout Snider, for telling it like it is. And @jsanofranchini.bsky.social for sharing.
October 23, 2025 at 2:24 PM
"Never a Dull Moment, Babe": Notes on Surprise--in Teaching, Writing, and Publishing

zachczaia.substack.com/p/never-a-du...
"Never a Dull Moment, Babe"
Notes on Surprise--in Teaching, Writing, and Publishing
zachczaia.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
AI is not a mere tool for helping teachers. When you remove the human element of teaching and learning, you are not being more efficient nor effective. The ability to learn is what makes us human, and humans teaching humans is a fundamentally human act that is necessary for meaningful engagement.
I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...
The Dangers of using AI to Grade
Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains
substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
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Teachers! If your students are using AI to write their papers, maybe it's because you personally are not using AI enough. Here's my new @mcsweeneys.net www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-n...
I Need AI to Write Better Lesson Plans So My Students Stop Using AI to Write Their Papers
I care deeply about my students’ learning, but with all the new technologies available to help them cut corners, I worry that they’re not doing the...
www.mcsweeneys.net
October 2, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
"Scrupulous and well researched, this is a much-needed portrait of an often-overlooked area of American Catholicism." ~Publishers Weekly #Racism #Identity #Religion

Read the review: https://bit.ly/4mGTM6z. BLACK AND CATHOLIC by @tiaphd.bsky.social is coming soon!
June 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
It is important to not mistake the demands of the job for your real work in the classroom. Show up for the students in ways that count the most and that the system can’t measure. That’s where your agency lives. Where your work matters most. #EdChat #EduSky
September 23, 2025 at 11:31 PM
‘Consider the bad times, and who they are good for.’ Brilliant line and brilliant piece.
Terrible book, terrible guy, great magazine
Mark O’Connell on the flaccid philosophy of Palantir’s CEO
September 11, 2025 at 4:17 PM
‘Know Where You Stand and Stand There’: Notes on Some of Daniel Berrigan’s Poems and Another School Shooting

zachczaia.substack.com/p/know-where...
"Know Where You Stand, and Stand There"
Notes on Daniel Berrigan's Poems and Another School Shooting
zachczaia.substack.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:19 AM
One Subject Press just released our first new book, and it is a beauty. TEACHING WITHOUT TEACHING by Scott F. Parker. zachczaia.substack.com/p/teaching-w...
Teaching without Teaching by Scott F. Parker
Introducing One Subject Press' First New Book!
zachczaia.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
Minnesota is taking an ungodly amount of hits this year.
August 27, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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This is one of the absolute toughest things about predatory inclusion — the predation is often fun or a little useful. Criticism makes a reasonable person sound like an asshole. LowerEd weathered me for this kind of social death.

So I’ll say it: your enjoyment does not matter & should not matter.
I don't fundamentally disagree with a lot of this, especially the environmental cost/ benefit. I'll just offer that as a maker,tinkerer,experimenter, having access to a LLM has massively decreased the time required to design build and debug relatively sophisticated hw/sw prototypes.
August 23, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
asking the non-sentient sentence generator that uses sentient authors’ works without their consent if it consents to you using a pastiche of others’ work that you commanded it to produce is some of the highest decoupling I have seen Lo these many years
just checking in with one of the most influential philosophers alive today
August 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
New post out, “Another Round” up on Substack.

zachczaia.substack.com/p/against-co...
"Another Round"
A Movie Review & Other Back to School Recommendations
zachczaia.substack.com
August 15, 2025 at 11:13 AM
This about sums it up
When we say “generative AI is the future,” we mean “we just bought into it on everyone’s behalf.” When we say “generative AI is a useful tool,” we mean “you had better find a use for it.”
The @aaup.org report on AI is so hugely important. Among other key takeaways is the fact that most AI programs have been introduced by administrative fiat and by circumventing meaningful faculty, student, & staff consultation.

shorturl.at/InI5Q
August 1, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Some thoughts on the Instructure/OpenAI partnership.

open.substack.com/pub/zachczai...
Bots Over Books
In Which OpenAI and Canvas Steal from Real Artists—and Children—for their Mediocre Group Project, and the Schools Give them an “A”
open.substack.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:07 AM
On 9 July, the US imposed sanctions on special rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Below I provide a brief context of this unprecedented attack against this body of experts.
UN special rapporteurs provide pro bono advice and expertise on vital latters of international law.
July 26, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
Israel is starving Gaza. And killing those trying not to starve.

God who keeps faith with all who sleep in the dust, have mercy. Give us courage to act, to end & atone for this evil, for the blood we have spilled & watched being spilled, for the universes forever lost through our action & inaction.
July 5, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
I’m pleased to announce the formation of a new political party, the United States party.

Our core platform: tax the rich until every last one of them is middle class; use what our gain$ to save the planet.
July 6, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Zach Czaia
Starting Tuesday: #PoemADayJuly with myself, @heymrsbond.com and @thevogelman.bsky.social 😎

The first seven poems listed here—we'll discuss one each day, and everyone is welcome! Building community by talking about poetry is a pretty cool thing, so let's do it!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
June 29, 2025 at 10:28 PM