this has made letter writing much easier, and nobody’s feelings are hurt if I can’t just drop everything and write their letter.

this won’t solve it now, but FWIW I’ve started explaining this dilemma to my juniors in the spring. I give them a template before spring break, and say that if they’d like a letter for me, they need to fill it out & send it back before final exams. if not, then I will say no.

“see how all the letters are just hanging out minding their own business? and you can read the word just fine and everything is working great? and then this fancy new light walks in, murders one of them, and then tries to act all innocent and cute?”

just show them the Pixar intro and tell them that the lamp represents big tech

when we think about what makes for good learning, if you aren’t seriously thinking about how to make space for these things to happen (and not just hoping they happen eventually after you finish with the “more important” stuff), then you’ve lost the plot

her classmates sat in mostly stunned silence, and I just waited for them to respond. eventually one of them said “… thank you 🥺”

And this group wasn’t even in my class! My co-planner and I facilitated each others’ sections on our preps so kids could deliver in small groups on the same day.

after one of my groups was done & we got into shout outs, one student collected her notes, and gave a sincere, kind, heartwarming shout out to EVERY SINGLE one of her classmates, accurately quoting from just about every speech, and explaining why their speeches were powerful and important.

Once a measurement becomes a target, it stops being a good measurement.

although I’ve seen (and gotten feedback from students) that being too strict on email aesthetics is a barrier to communication, and sometimes they just shut down rather than reach out. I tell them to be mindful of how they are being read, but it’s always more important to reach out if you need to.

I literally have a bank of how to email template handouts, and conference with kids before sending them

reminds me of this (very long) gem:

law2.umkc.edu/faculty/proj...

marcus you got me bullied and blocked for sticking up for you. I did not realize people got big mad about this lol

I’m not gonna continue a silly argument about this, especially when it’s clear you just fire off angry one liners for any opinion you don’t like, but fwiw as somebody who bikes in Boston all the time AND wants want better bike infrastructure, Marcus is still right.

I do all the time, but there are also (generally) regulations and consequences like traffic tickets for when that happens. I’ve never seen anyone get a ticket for doing 20+ mph on a busy sidewalk with an e bike.

You seem eager to snipe about this, but maybe acknowledge the original point?

if people were driving pickup trucks the wrong way down one way streets and bike lanes, zipping through busy sidewalks, weaving through red lights, and blowing through stop signs I’d be doing a lot more than sarcastic posting online.

I literally cannot believe these things are legal it’s insane

if only there were some way for teachers to openly discuss the realities of their job with nuance and curiosity so that other folks interested in learning more about teaching & learning could listen 🤔