PL Thomas EdD
@plthomasedd.bsky.social
P. L. Thomas, Professor, Furman University. Teacher/Writer/Poet. Social media is not my classroom. Posts represent me only and no organization linktr.ee/plthomas
Literacy (reading and composition) and education policy, comic book scholarship
Literacy (reading and composition) and education policy, comic book scholarship
Pinned
PL Thomas EdD
@plthomasedd.bsky.social
· Nov 28
We Teach English in Times of Perpetual Crisis: Selling a Story of Reading (and Literacy) [Webinar Companion Post] radicalscholarship.com/2024/11/23/w...
Research Highlights "Science of Reading" Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/r...
Research Highlights “Science of Reading” Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse
[Header Photo by Jansen Yang on Unsplash] I am currently reading two engaging and often challenging novels—Roberto Bolano’s huge 2666 and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Bagdad. As an a…
radicalscholarship.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Research Highlights "Science of Reading" Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/r...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is
[Header Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash] In 1961, scholar Jacques Barzun declared “we who run businesses, carry on professions, work for the government, or engage in teaching itself ar…
radicalscholarship.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:27 PM
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers
[Header Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash] The metaphors for education reform are far too easy, and thus, becoming themselves cliches—deja vous all over again, beating a dead horse, and for me, the…
radicalscholarship.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:27 PM
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/22/m...
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It
[Header Photo by American Jael on Unsplash] This fall was the start to year 42 for me as an education, the first 18 as a high school English teacher and the rest as a college professor. I have been…
radicalscholarship.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/22/m...
Revisiting the SOR Multiverse radicalscholarship.com/2023/11/17/r...
Revisiting the SOR Multiverse
Although I have made the distinction many times, the “science of reading” (SOR) as a term denotes three distinct meanings simultaneously: SOR as a movement, grounded in a pervasive yet …
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Revisiting the SOR Multiverse radicalscholarship.com/2023/11/17/r...
Revisiting the Research Paper Problem for College Students as Writers radicalscholarship.com/2023/04/01/r...
Revisiting the Research Paper Problem for College Students as Writers
[Header Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash] About 15 years ago, my university overhauled the curriculum and academic calendar, including dropping the traditional English 101/102 approach to compo…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Revisiting the Research Paper Problem for College Students as Writers radicalscholarship.com/2023/04/01/r...
Student Writing as Teaching and Learning, Not Evaluation: And Why the "Research Paper" Mindset Fails Students (Still) radicalscholarship.com/2024/11/19/s...
Student Writing as Teaching and Learning, Not Evaluation: And Why the “Research Paper” Mindset Fails Students (Still)
[Header Photo by Twinkl on Unsplash] I am teaching now into my fifth decade, and most of that career has been dedicated to teaching students to write. But for me teaching and assigning writing is n…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Student Writing as Teaching and Learning, Not Evaluation: And Why the "Research Paper" Mindset Fails Students (Still) radicalscholarship.com/2024/11/19/s...
How to Write Like a Scholar (and Not Like a Student) radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/05/h...
How to Write Like a Scholar (and Not Like a Student)
[Header Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash] Having taught now an on-going 41 years—about half that time as a high school English teacher and now a college professor—if there is one thing I know very …
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
How to Write Like a Scholar (and Not Like a Student) radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/05/h...
Moving from Performing as a Student to Performing as a Scholar: More on Writing and Citation radicalscholarship.com/2021/04/10/m...
Moving from Performing as a Student to Performing as a Scholar: More on Writing and Citation
The first time I recall being viewed as “good at writing” was in high school when I submitted a parody of my friends and teachers for a short story assignment; this was probably my juni…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Moving from Performing as a Student to Performing as a Scholar: More on Writing and Citation radicalscholarship.com/2021/04/10/m...
To High School English Teachers (and All Teachers) radicalscholarship.com/2016/06/28/t...
To High School English Teachers (and All Teachers)
All teachers are incredibly important, but high school English teachers will always have a special place in my heart. I am in my fourth decade as an educator, spending almost two decades as a publi…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:33 PM
To High School English Teachers (and All Teachers) radicalscholarship.com/2016/06/28/t...
Research Highlights "Science of Reading" Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/r...
Research Highlights “Science of Reading” Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse
[Header Photo by Jansen Yang on Unsplash] I am currently reading two engaging and often challenging novels—Roberto Bolano’s huge 2666 and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Bagdad. As an a…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Research Highlights "Science of Reading" Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/r...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is
[Header Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash] In 1961, scholar Jacques Barzun declared “we who run businesses, carry on professions, work for the government, or engage in teaching itself ar…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers
[Header Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash] The metaphors for education reform are far too easy, and thus, becoming themselves cliches—deja vous all over again, beating a dead horse, and for me, the…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/22/m...
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It
[Header Photo by American Jael on Unsplash] This fall was the start to year 42 for me as an education, the first 18 as a high school English teacher and the rest as a college professor. I have been…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/22/m...
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/22/b...
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention
Update [November 2025] Early Grade Retention Harms Adult Earnings, Jiee Zhong [access PDF HERE] See also: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (Forthcoming) The Big Lie of grade retention i…
radicalscholarship.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/22/b...
2022: On Fear and Anxiety radicalscholarship.com/2022/01/03/2...
2022: On Fear and Anxiety
Apparently if you are of a certain age—at 60, I am at the end of the Boomer generation—you were convinced by pop culture that one of the great (and even reasonable) fears of being a human was findi…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:33 PM
2022: On Fear and Anxiety radicalscholarship.com/2022/01/03/2...
UPDATED
NEW retention research
NEW retention data from Mississippi
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/22/b...
NEW retention research
NEW retention data from Mississippi
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/22/b...
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention
Update [November 2025] Early Grade Retention Harms Adult Earnings, Jiee Zhong [access PDF HERE] See also: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (Forthcoming) The Big Lie of grade retention i…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
UPDATED
NEW retention research
NEW retention data from Mississippi
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/22/b...
NEW retention research
NEW retention data from Mississippi
Big Lies of Education: Grade Retention radicalscholarship.com/2024/12/22/b...
Research Highlights "Science of Reading" Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/r...
Research Highlights “Science of Reading” Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse
[Header Photo by Jansen Yang on Unsplash] I am currently reading two engaging and often challenging novels—Roberto Bolano’s huge 2666 and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Bagdad. As an a…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Research Highlights "Science of Reading" Fails Equity, Teacher Autonomy, and Social Media Discourse radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/r...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is
[Header Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash] In 1961, scholar Jacques Barzun declared “we who run businesses, carry on professions, work for the government, or engage in teaching itself ar…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers
[Header Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash] The metaphors for education reform are far too easy, and thus, becoming themselves cliches—deja vous all over again, beating a dead horse, and for me, the…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
Poem: be careful (DMZ) radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/19/p...
Poem: be careful (DMZ)
[Header Photo by Антон Дмитриев on Unsplash] There is only dance music in times of war “100 Horses,” Geese be careful what you allow Themto call WarCasualtiesCollateral DamageThe Enemysomeone shoul…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Poem: be careful (DMZ) radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/19/p...
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/22/m...
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It
[Header Photo by American Jael on Unsplash] This fall was the start to year 42 for me as an education, the first 18 as a high school English teacher and the rest as a college professor. I have been…
radicalscholarship.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Media Manufactured Education Crisis? You Can Count on It radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/22/m...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Opinion | Do Audiobooks Count as Reading?
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is
[Header Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash] In 1961, scholar Jacques Barzun declared “we who run businesses, carry on professions, work for the government, or engage in teaching itself ar…
radicalscholarship.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:01 PM
The Reading Crisis that Always Was and Never Is radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/01/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers
[Header Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash] The metaphors for education reform are far too easy, and thus, becoming themselves cliches—deja vous all over again, beating a dead horse, and for me, the…
radicalscholarship.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:01 PM
The Zombie Politics of Merit Pay for Teachers radicalscholarship.com/2025/11/11/t...