Joanna Nelius-Free
@joannafreewrites.bsky.social
High school creative writing instructor, former journalist @ The Verge, Gizmodo, PC Gamer, & elsewhere.
notenoughsearchvolume.com / joannanelius.com
notenoughsearchvolume.com / joannanelius.com
Pinned
Oh, hi #EduSky! Long time follower, first time poster. I've been a 9th-12th grade creative writing instructor since 2017. When I'm not teaching interactive fiction, I'm teaching cyberpunk or another genre study course. Happy to be here and looking forward to meeting new folks! 🤘
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
Friends, if you have good news about your writing or art, we need to see that. The onslaught of political posting & rallying against fascism is important, but your happiness about your creative wins is part of what people are standing for. Don't let the bastards take that away from you.
January 26, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Friends, if you have good news about your writing or art, we need to see that. The onslaught of political posting & rallying against fascism is important, but your happiness about your creative wins is part of what people are standing for. Don't let the bastards take that away from you.
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
The correct answer to this is "Yes, and everyone else too."
Should artists get a basic income like they do in Ireland?
Could the government pay salaries to musicians and artists - no strings attached like they do in Ireland?
www.bbc.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:49 PM
The correct answer to this is "Yes, and everyone else too."
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
cosigned. this is def worth watching. very good, methodical breakdown of what happened from a person with a military/DHS background.
January 25, 2026 at 6:32 AM
cosigned. this is def worth watching. very good, methodical breakdown of what happened from a person with a military/DHS background.
"We are a factionalized anocracy that is quickly approaching the open insurgency stage, which means we are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe." Barbara F. Walter, "The Fourth Turning is Here," Neil Howe, 2023.
January 25, 2026 at 7:06 AM
"We are a factionalized anocracy that is quickly approaching the open insurgency stage, which means we are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe." Barbara F. Walter, "The Fourth Turning is Here," Neil Howe, 2023.
My school's active shooter protocol is similar to its active ICE protocol. I wish I was joking.
DAILY MEMO: About Five Schools Went Into Lockdown Do To Immigration Raids in Anaheim Today and A Question for Police
@eltragon.bsky.social
@eltragon.bsky.social
January 24, 2026 at 7:17 AM
My school's active shooter protocol is similar to its active ICE protocol. I wish I was joking.
There's a new ad floating around Instagram for Astro Song, a company that analyzes your birth chart and creates a custom song for you based on your sun sign, etc. What they DON'T tell you upfront is that they use AI to generate the vocals and other elements. So, just beware... #astrology
January 21, 2026 at 2:07 AM
There's a new ad floating around Instagram for Astro Song, a company that analyzes your birth chart and creates a custom song for you based on your sun sign, etc. What they DON'T tell you upfront is that they use AI to generate the vocals and other elements. So, just beware... #astrology
Gearing up for another Tech Tarot reading about the state of technology v. society in 2026. I know we're halfway through Jan., but this is the card I pulled for this month. In reverse.
January 20, 2026 at 7:40 AM
Gearing up for another Tech Tarot reading about the state of technology v. society in 2026. I know we're halfway through Jan., but this is the card I pulled for this month. In reverse.
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
MLK was the commencement speaker at my dad’s graduation from CCNY in June 1963. This was 24 hours after Medgar Evers was assassinated. I’m going to share a few paragraphs from that speech
January 19, 2026 at 9:29 PM
MLK was the commencement speaker at my dad’s graduation from CCNY in June 1963. This was 24 hours after Medgar Evers was assassinated. I’m going to share a few paragraphs from that speech
"For all the K-12 Systems Administrators reading this, maybe think twice about the tools you’re paying thousands of dollars a year for. Are they the best options — not even from the students’ perspectives, but from the teachers’ perspectives?"
THIS
THIS
I highly recommend educators of all stripes read 7th grade Micha's reviews/impressions of the edtech that he uses in his day-to-day activities for school. micahblachman.beehiiv.com/p/is-educati...
Is Educational Technology All It's Cracked Up to Be?
A seventh-grader's perspective, part 2
micahblachman.beehiiv.com
January 19, 2026 at 7:57 PM
"For all the K-12 Systems Administrators reading this, maybe think twice about the tools you’re paying thousands of dollars a year for. Are they the best options — not even from the students’ perspectives, but from the teachers’ perspectives?"
THIS
THIS
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
Speaking of tech guys and MAGAs losing their grasp on reality, may i interest you in my latest article
little-flying-robots.ghost.io/rejecting-re...
little-flying-robots.ghost.io/rejecting-re...
January 19, 2026 at 2:29 AM
Speaking of tech guys and MAGAs losing their grasp on reality, may i interest you in my latest article
little-flying-robots.ghost.io/rejecting-re...
little-flying-robots.ghost.io/rejecting-re...
Fun fact: The Oregon Trail was created by a history teacher!
“When we invite students to play with purpose, we expand their opportunities and potential to level up their learning,” write co-teachers Robert Van Auken and Karissa Sullivan. 🎮
Here are 5 reasons to use game-based learning in your classroom!
#EduSky
Here are 5 reasons to use game-based learning in your classroom!
#EduSky
5 Reasons to Use Game-Based Learning in Your Classroom
With contemporary game recommendations to help you get started.
www.edutopia.org
January 18, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Fun fact: The Oregon Trail was created by a history teacher!
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
Córy Doctorow with another verbal bullseye: pluralistic.net/2026/01/13/n...
January 18, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Córy Doctorow with another verbal bullseye: pluralistic.net/2026/01/13/n...
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
A good example of what it might mean to practice critical AI literacy and a reminder that, as Ariel Guersenzvaig and Dagmar Monett write, "we must not succumb to the defeatism, resignation and passivity that determinism and enchantment attempt to inculcate...”
Resisting Enchantment and Determinism: How to critically engage with AI university guidelines
This work presents an interdisciplinary analysis of institutional guidelines for the adoption and use of (generative) AI in higher education. Through an inductive, multidisciplinary, theoretically inf...
zenodo.org
January 17, 2026 at 6:32 PM
A good example of what it might mean to practice critical AI literacy and a reminder that, as Ariel Guersenzvaig and Dagmar Monett write, "we must not succumb to the defeatism, resignation and passivity that determinism and enchantment attempt to inculcate...”
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
How do YOU discover books to read? Have your reading habits changed in past year? Pls take a few minutes to answer this anon, multiple-choice informal survey:
reading-2026.paperform.co
I'll post results on my blog. One goal: to help book creators. Thank you! 🩷📚
#BookSky #EduSky #KidLit
reading-2026.paperform.co
I'll post results on my blog. One goal: to help book creators. Thank you! 🩷📚
#BookSky #EduSky #KidLit
January 11, 2026 at 1:51 PM
How do YOU discover books to read? Have your reading habits changed in past year? Pls take a few minutes to answer this anon, multiple-choice informal survey:
reading-2026.paperform.co
I'll post results on my blog. One goal: to help book creators. Thank you! 🩷📚
#BookSky #EduSky #KidLit
reading-2026.paperform.co
I'll post results on my blog. One goal: to help book creators. Thank you! 🩷📚
#BookSky #EduSky #KidLit
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
We are America. How could you possibly target Native Americans - with ICE Officers - and then imprison us? That is impossible. It's legally impossible to do that. - Chase Iron Eyes
January 17, 2026 at 2:41 AM
We are America. How could you possibly target Native Americans - with ICE Officers - and then imprison us? That is impossible. It's legally impossible to do that. - Chase Iron Eyes
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
October 18, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Oh, hi #EduSky! Long time follower, first time poster. I've been a 9th-12th grade creative writing instructor since 2017. When I'm not teaching interactive fiction, I'm teaching cyberpunk or another genre study course. Happy to be here and looking forward to meeting new folks! 🤘
January 16, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Oh, hi #EduSky! Long time follower, first time poster. I've been a 9th-12th grade creative writing instructor since 2017. When I'm not teaching interactive fiction, I'm teaching cyberpunk or another genre study course. Happy to be here and looking forward to meeting new folks! 🤘
Learning how to garden in SoCal is wild. Seed packet instructions are like "sow after the last chance of frost" but in the winter time it's 80 degrees outside...
January 16, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Learning how to garden in SoCal is wild. Seed packet instructions are like "sow after the last chance of frost" but in the winter time it's 80 degrees outside...
This is exactly what I'm doing in my class right now 🙂
Whole Class Reading. 📚👍🏼
schoolreadinglist.co.uk/resources/wh...
#kidlit
Whole Class Reading: how whole-class reading fixes timetable time, but needs a plan for texts, pupil reading volume, talk and decoding support, so flu...
schoolreadinglist.co.uk/resources/wh...
#kidlit
Whole Class Reading: how whole-class reading fixes timetable time, but needs a plan for texts, pupil reading volume, talk and decoding support, so flu...
Whole Class Reading
Whole Classes Reading - why it returns, how to plan lessons, raise reading volume, and support pupils who need decoding.
schoolreadinglist.co.uk
January 16, 2026 at 10:02 PM
This is exactly what I'm doing in my class right now 🙂
Reposted by Joanna Nelius-Free
Thanks to @benpatrickwill.bsky.social for the nine framings of AI in education and inviting further work to “trace out how certain constructions of AI get prioritized, build momentum, and embedded into practices and systems—and then to track the effects of these framings as they are enacted.”
Constructing AI in education
Photo by Lachlan Donald on Unsplash Most definitions of “AI in education” start from technical categories. First there was rules-based AI, followed by data-driven predictive AI, and now generative …
codeactsineducation.wordpress.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Thanks to @benpatrickwill.bsky.social for the nine framings of AI in education and inviting further work to “trace out how certain constructions of AI get prioritized, build momentum, and embedded into practices and systems—and then to track the effects of these framings as they are enacted.”
Welp, they dug it. Most chose to take notes by hand, and I had the most engagement from any class I've taught in the last 5 years. I read outloud for over 30 minutes straight and no one pulled out a phone. Analogue teaching still works if you know how to make it engaging!
Laying out my lesson plan for today's class, and have to say I'm super intrigued as to how my class of 9th-12th graders will respond to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops."
January 16, 2026 at 7:01 AM
Welp, they dug it. Most chose to take notes by hand, and I had the most engagement from any class I've taught in the last 5 years. I read outloud for over 30 minutes straight and no one pulled out a phone. Analogue teaching still works if you know how to make it engaging!
This is the main theme of Forster's "The Machine Stops": what happens if we let technology do everything for us (even breathing), to the point where we don't know how to fix it when it all breaks down.
Every example of ai being useful begins with "okay imagine you're in a situation, and you are very dumb"
January 15, 2026 at 6:51 PM
This is the main theme of Forster's "The Machine Stops": what happens if we let technology do everything for us (even breathing), to the point where we don't know how to fix it when it all breaks down.
Laying out my lesson plan for today's class, and have to say I'm super intrigued as to how my class of 9th-12th graders will respond to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops."
January 15, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Laying out my lesson plan for today's class, and have to say I'm super intrigued as to how my class of 9th-12th graders will respond to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops."