Reposted by Annie Abrams
in all honesty, that is one of the things I learned so much from his writing & admire, which is that you can take your audience to very insane places if you actually just say true things & say them straight
February 9, 2026 at 3:16 PM
in all honesty, that is one of the things I learned so much from his writing & admire, which is that you can take your audience to very insane places if you actually just say true things & say them straight
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Our kid and his classmates despise their graphic-organizer focused ‘HMH into reading’ curriculum so much they are basically in outright revolt against it
February 9, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Our kid and his classmates despise their graphic-organizer focused ‘HMH into reading’ curriculum so much they are basically in outright revolt against it
here’s my essay about teaching brave new world, which i think we should keep doing in high schools— thepointmag.com/examined-lif...
February 9, 2026 at 11:00 PM
here’s my essay about teaching brave new world, which i think we should keep doing in high schools— thepointmag.com/examined-lif...
“Are we teaching our K-4 kids that reading is just tasks? Are we teaching them that they just need to label stuff and fill out graphic organizers?”
yes that’s what’s happening
yes that’s what’s happening
Jan 2026 Report - In Some Urban Districts, Science of Reading Limits ‘Robust Comprehension’: Rather than promoting deeper literacy skills, the phonics-based approach 'may unintentionally encourage teachers to focus on surface-level goals.'
February 9, 2026 at 10:31 PM
“Are we teaching our K-4 kids that reading is just tasks? Are we teaching them that they just need to label stuff and fill out graphic organizers?”
yes that’s what’s happening
yes that’s what’s happening
Reposted by Annie Abrams
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
Reposted by Annie Abrams
I endorse this message
i know everybody on bluesky is way too smart to believe
thing is, if you don't believe, tinkerbell dies
it's on all of us
thing is, if you don't believe, tinkerbell dies
it's on all of us
aspirational america is unmeasurably important
not just here, but for the world
not just here, but for the world
February 9, 2026 at 1:13 PM
I endorse this message
i mean also would you just read this poem www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44750/...
February 9, 2026 at 9:18 PM
i mean also would you just read this poem www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44750/...
taking a course on milton was useful, actually
February 9, 2026 at 9:09 PM
taking a course on milton was useful, actually
Reposted by Annie Abrams
From the full report:
"Despite the regular comprehension HQIM use and focus...in 67% of the lessons, teachers and students engaged in work (i.e., instruction, engagement, and activity) that only facilitated students’ surface-level understanding of texts."
www.sri.com/wp-content/u...
"Despite the regular comprehension HQIM use and focus...in 67% of the lessons, teachers and students engaged in work (i.e., instruction, engagement, and activity) that only facilitated students’ surface-level understanding of texts."
www.sri.com/wp-content/u...
February 9, 2026 at 4:25 PM
From the full report:
"Despite the regular comprehension HQIM use and focus...in 67% of the lessons, teachers and students engaged in work (i.e., instruction, engagement, and activity) that only facilitated students’ surface-level understanding of texts."
www.sri.com/wp-content/u...
"Despite the regular comprehension HQIM use and focus...in 67% of the lessons, teachers and students engaged in work (i.e., instruction, engagement, and activity) that only facilitated students’ surface-level understanding of texts."
www.sri.com/wp-content/u...
"a body of educational content capable of reaching a very broad community" is a philosophy of education
www.poetryinamerica.org/sponsor/vers...
www.poetryinamerica.org/sponsor/vers...
Verse Video Education - Poetry in America
Driven by the goals and values of its flagship project, Poetry in America, Verse Video Education develops video and accompanying curricular materials in the arts and humanities and beyond, …
www.poetryinamerica.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:11 PM
"a body of educational content capable of reaching a very broad community" is a philosophy of education
www.poetryinamerica.org/sponsor/vers...
www.poetryinamerica.org/sponsor/vers...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
The long and short of it is a displaced desire to enslave.
February 9, 2026 at 3:06 PM
The long and short of it is a displaced desire to enslave.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
The dj on the MIT station just went on a gorgeous tangent about how this semester he’s taking all liberal arts classes, and instead of asking him to reproduce established knowledge (as in most MIT courses) they push him to think about how he thinks.
My Super Bowl MVP.
My Super Bowl MVP.
February 9, 2026 at 1:06 AM
The dj on the MIT station just went on a gorgeous tangent about how this semester he’s taking all liberal arts classes, and instead of asking him to reproduce established knowledge (as in most MIT courses) they push him to think about how he thinks.
My Super Bowl MVP.
My Super Bowl MVP.
“House Study Bill 547 (‘The Admissions Reform Act’) would require Iowa’s public universities to admit students…only on ‘merit’ and the likelihood they will stay in the state after graduation. It would also require the universities to accept the Classic Learning Test”
Conservative Iowa legislators are on a campaign to overhaul the state’s universities. #AcademicSky #HigherEd www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
A Flurry Of Higher Ed Bills Prompts The Question: What’s Up With Iowa?
The Iowa legislature is considering several bills that together represent one of the most dramatic makeovers of higher education any state has attempted in recent years.
www.forbes.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
“House Study Bill 547 (‘The Admissions Reform Act’) would require Iowa’s public universities to admit students…only on ‘merit’ and the likelihood they will stay in the state after graduation. It would also require the universities to accept the Classic Learning Test”
what if standardized curriculum is more damaging than it is protective
February 8, 2026 at 2:13 AM
what if standardized curriculum is more damaging than it is protective
Reposted by Annie Abrams
AI in education has never been just a commercial intrusion, but a scientific field-building business centred on well-funded technical innovations and "learning science". Its apparent "success" today builds on that, by adding value-generating platform subscriptions and contractual lock-ins.
February 7, 2026 at 11:38 PM
AI in education has never been just a commercial intrusion, but a scientific field-building business centred on well-funded technical innovations and "learning science". Its apparent "success" today builds on that, by adding value-generating platform subscriptions and contractual lock-ins.
“To read well is a kind of supplication, and the ability to see the crafted thing is so beautiful that you experience it with reverence.” David Coleman, CEO of the College Board
odd!
nceatalk.org/2015/10/reve...
odd!
nceatalk.org/2015/10/reve...
Reverence and Excellence: The Role of Faith and Learning in Society
The keynote speaker of the NCEA 2015 Catholic Leadership Summit was David Coleman, President and CEO of The College Board. Coleman discussed the unique, enduring contributions made by institutions of ...
nceatalk.org
February 7, 2026 at 9:52 PM
“To read well is a kind of supplication, and the ability to see the crafted thing is so beautiful that you experience it with reverence.” David Coleman, CEO of the College Board
odd!
nceatalk.org/2015/10/reve...
odd!
nceatalk.org/2015/10/reve...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Hah currently writing about how a chapter leader here in NYC organized her chapter to wear “I read banned books” shirts since the principal refused to let middle school teachers teach books—conflicted with the curriculum they bought. Everything is bonkers.
February 7, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Hah currently writing about how a chapter leader here in NYC organized her chapter to wear “I read banned books” shirts since the principal refused to let middle school teachers teach books—conflicted with the curriculum they bought. Everything is bonkers.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
I think a lot of the Norton Critical Editions have this effect. For instance, this random example from their big list has not only relevant critical essays but also contextual materials that lend themselves well to left analysis. wwnorton.com/books/978039...
Moll Flanders
<p>“Rivero’s thoughtful editorial choices have created a text that will suit readers new to Defoe and practiced scholars alike. While prioritizing Defoe’s own vision, this judicious ...
wwnorton.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:04 PM
I think a lot of the Norton Critical Editions have this effect. For instance, this random example from their big list has not only relevant critical essays but also contextual materials that lend themselves well to left analysis. wwnorton.com/books/978039...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
To me the important part is less canon and more interpretation-aiding resources. So it's not 'I want a left-wing list of The Great Books' but 'I want some books lit people agree are good, and which are cheap to publish because public domain, to be easily available w/ a good critical apparatus.'
February 7, 2026 at 3:58 PM
To me the important part is less canon and more interpretation-aiding resources. So it's not 'I want a left-wing list of The Great Books' but 'I want some books lit people agree are good, and which are cheap to publish because public domain, to be easily available w/ a good critical apparatus.'
interesting
This reminds me, I had a thought the other day that someone like Verso or Haymarket should do a series where they put out critical editions of classics that are public domain, with the intros and critical essays and whatnot by left scholars, to institutionalize left approaches to great books.
February 7, 2026 at 9:35 AM
interesting
Reposted by Annie Abrams
This, and also: You really can’t read Aquinas without also reading Ibn Rushd.
"Folks on the left will eventually come to terms with the fact they have nowhere else to go," says the founder of the Classic Learning Test. "You can only sneer at Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, and Shakespeare for so long before the sneering itself starts to look unserious."
WHO IS SNEERING
WHO IS SNEERING
February 7, 2026 at 3:58 AM
This, and also: You really can’t read Aquinas without also reading Ibn Rushd.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
oh so they won’t have been cutting funding from medieval studies then, surely?
wait, folks, I’m hearing they in fact defunded all of the teaching of The Classics too
wait, folks, I’m hearing they in fact defunded all of the teaching of The Classics too
"Folks on the left will eventually come to terms with the fact they have nowhere else to go," says the founder of the Classic Learning Test. "You can only sneer at Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, and Shakespeare for so long before the sneering itself starts to look unserious."
WHO IS SNEERING
WHO IS SNEERING
February 7, 2026 at 3:54 AM
oh so they won’t have been cutting funding from medieval studies then, surely?
wait, folks, I’m hearing they in fact defunded all of the teaching of The Classics too
wait, folks, I’m hearing they in fact defunded all of the teaching of The Classics too
Reposted by Annie Abrams
I love how defenders of the Western Tradition™️ completely omit the fact every Great Man in the Canon sneered at -- or even truly *despised* -- at least one other person on the Big Awesome List of Perfect People they were told were essential reading. As if Aristotle said, "Plato, you're 100% right!"
February 7, 2026 at 3:39 AM
I love how defenders of the Western Tradition™️ completely omit the fact every Great Man in the Canon sneered at -- or even truly *despised* -- at least one other person on the Big Awesome List of Perfect People they were told were essential reading. As if Aristotle said, "Plato, you're 100% right!"
yep
Stuff like that is fabulous and I try to do it too in my AP classes, but that attempt is like a rocket trying to reach escape velocity. The low expectations of the AP curricula are like gravitational field, and every year it's harder to justify the energy costs of trying to escape them.
February 7, 2026 at 3:30 AM
yep
I don’t want classical education, I want liberal education.
February 7, 2026 at 3:04 AM
I don’t want classical education, I want liberal education.