Lea Kelley
@leakelley.bsky.social
Bad at small talk. Also, teacher. she/her from Tacoma.
Reposted by Lea Kelley
Holy shit go off John Oliver youtu.be/gieTx_P6INQ?...
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
youtu.be
October 13, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Holy shit go off John Oliver youtu.be/gieTx_P6INQ?...
Reposted by Lea Kelley
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
October 9, 2025 at 4:42 AM
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
Reposted by Lea Kelley
How long have teachers been saying this? 10 years? 15? 20? I'm at around 18 years myself. Reading and writing are experiences first so if we want students to genuinely do those things we have to create the conditions under which these things are done.
HEP author Jonna Perrillo co-wrote an op-ed for @the74.bsky.social, which argues that we should "loosen the grip on standardization and let teachers recreate the sort of experiences with literature that once made us, and them, into readers."
English Teachers Work to Instill the Joy of Reading. Testing Gets in the Way
Perrillo and Newman: The top-down pressure to measure up on test scores saps the time and energy needed to promote reading for pleasure.
bit.ly
September 23, 2025 at 1:12 PM
How long have teachers been saying this? 10 years? 15? 20? I'm at around 18 years myself. Reading and writing are experiences first so if we want students to genuinely do those things we have to create the conditions under which these things are done.
Maybe systems like smaller classes and separating students who don’t do well together? But sure, let’s try rewards instead.
Behaviour for learning is no exception.
When schools invest in upstream interventions—like culture, motivation, and systems—they are less likely to see undesirable behaviours manifest.
When schools invest in upstream interventions—like culture, motivation, and systems—they are less likely to see undesirable behaviours manifest.
September 21, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Maybe systems like smaller classes and separating students who don’t do well together? But sure, let’s try rewards instead.
Reposted by Lea Kelley
Exactly, the entire argument for this narrative is that kids rarely die of COVID. That’s true, but it wasn’t the justification for the policy. Teachers *do* die of COVID and kids *do* spread COVID.
Some studies find school closures were the most effective intervention for preventing cases!
Some studies find school closures were the most effective intervention for preventing cases!
September 1, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Exactly, the entire argument for this narrative is that kids rarely die of COVID. That’s true, but it wasn’t the justification for the policy. Teachers *do* die of COVID and kids *do* spread COVID.
Some studies find school closures were the most effective intervention for preventing cases!
Some studies find school closures were the most effective intervention for preventing cases!
Awake early thinking about how much I hate the forced compliance door greeting dance-to-get-into
-class performative nonsense that is supposedly an essential part of PBIS, which I also hate.
-class performative nonsense that is supposedly an essential part of PBIS, which I also hate.
September 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Awake early thinking about how much I hate the forced compliance door greeting dance-to-get-into
-class performative nonsense that is supposedly an essential part of PBIS, which I also hate.
-class performative nonsense that is supposedly an essential part of PBIS, which I also hate.
I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more rage in PD than when they’d make us listen to talk about “self-care” while downplaying the risks of being in classrooms
New Post: Beware Self-Care
Why does "self-care" advice for teachers ring so hollow? Because it misses the point entirely.
What if instead of telling teachers to care for themselves, we created schools where we all care for each other?
Why does "self-care" advice for teachers ring so hollow? Because it misses the point entirely.
What if instead of telling teachers to care for themselves, we created schools where we all care for each other?
Beware Self-Care
I know that sounds like a strange title for a blog entry, but go with me for a minute here. I worry a little bit about how many educational organizations are preaching that educators have to engage in self-care, and the reason that I worry about that is because it feels to me that there is some organizational abdication of the need to take care of our educators when that is the message.
practicaltheory.org
August 31, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more rage in PD than when they’d make us listen to talk about “self-care” while downplaying the risks of being in classrooms
Reposted by Lea Kelley
I understand why people in education say they're turning to this technology because they have too much to do and they think it can ease the burden, but this is not an AI problem. It's a labor problem that the AI is only going to make worse over time.
August 28, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I understand why people in education say they're turning to this technology because they have too much to do and they think it can ease the burden, but this is not an AI problem. It's a labor problem that the AI is only going to make worse over time.
Friends, this is why I didn’t sign up for your newsletter (or why I cancelled) if it’s on Substack.
"This is not what Substack set out to be, but it is what Substack has become: a reactionary incubator where bigots of varying stripes can meet and collaborate, then take their work into the world, laundered with a tech unicorn’s imprimatur."
Substack’s extremist ecosystem is flourishing
The app's recent swastika push alert was just the tip of the iceberg.
www.thehandbasket.co
August 7, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Friends, this is why I didn’t sign up for your newsletter (or why I cancelled) if it’s on Substack.
Reposted by Lea Kelley
Why is public media important? Turn on KEXP and you’ll see why, 24 hours a day, human curation, humanity, creativity and never ever compromising. Right now, the station is all Ozzy all day. Anyone who isn’t should shut down.
July 22, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Why is public media important? Turn on KEXP and you’ll see why, 24 hours a day, human curation, humanity, creativity and never ever compromising. Right now, the station is all Ozzy all day. Anyone who isn’t should shut down.
Nobody wants this. Lived in Chicago when he was mayor and he never got my vote.
elect rahm for president, for when you need someone to cover up the summary execution of a teenager by police www.wsj.com/politics/who...
Rahm Emanuel, Teasing a White House Bid, Says Democratic Brand Is Weak
The pugilistic Democrat isn’t hiding his political ambitions, openly considering a presidential run as the party struggles to find a way out of the wilderness.
www.wsj.com
May 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Nobody wants this. Lived in Chicago when he was mayor and he never got my vote.
This week my students spent two days taking the state math test and one day planting huckleberries and weaving cedar ropes and clearing land for a food forest, and I’ll let you guess which was actually a good learning experience and which was a total waste of time.
May 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This week my students spent two days taking the state math test and one day planting huckleberries and weaving cedar ropes and clearing land for a food forest, and I’ll let you guess which was actually a good learning experience and which was a total waste of time.
This teacher NEVER goes out on a Friday, but I made an exception for the @djjohnrichards.bsky.social hosted tribute to Charles Cross last night, and it was totally worth it.
May 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
This teacher NEVER goes out on a Friday, but I made an exception for the @djjohnrichards.bsky.social hosted tribute to Charles Cross last night, and it was totally worth it.
Reposted by Lea Kelley
Can we please do to Amazon what we are doing to Target?
You really can decide to stop giving your money to a man who uses his billions to send Katy Perry to space, kill independent journalism, and fund the end of civilization. You really can stop.
You really can decide to stop giving your money to a man who uses his billions to send Katy Perry to space, kill independent journalism, and fund the end of civilization. You really can stop.
May 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Can we please do to Amazon what we are doing to Target?
You really can decide to stop giving your money to a man who uses his billions to send Katy Perry to space, kill independent journalism, and fund the end of civilization. You really can stop.
You really can decide to stop giving your money to a man who uses his billions to send Katy Perry to space, kill independent journalism, and fund the end of civilization. You really can stop.
Today’s petty complaint: If you’re going to call it STAFF appreciation week, don’t schedule it during TEACHER appreciation week. You are not appreciating the labor of teachers if you’re lumping everyone together. And all those other groups deserve to be appreciated for their own work.
May 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Today’s petty complaint: If you’re going to call it STAFF appreciation week, don’t schedule it during TEACHER appreciation week. You are not appreciating the labor of teachers if you’re lumping everyone together. And all those other groups deserve to be appreciated for their own work.
Same.
Re: LRT there are people whose work I respect where I would subscribe but…it’s substack.
Please consider switching to another platform. IIRC there are people who have written explainers about how to do it relatively seamlessly while retaining Stripe as the processor.
Please consider switching to another platform. IIRC there are people who have written explainers about how to do it relatively seamlessly while retaining Stripe as the processor.
March 22, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Same.
Reposted by Lea Kelley
Hey, this is your regular reminder that “capitalism” does not mean “people trying to make a buck to survive in this economy.”
“Capitalism” means that the means of making a buck, and the decisions about who gets to do it, are all owned by conglomerates rather than the workers.
“Capitalism” means that the means of making a buck, and the decisions about who gets to do it, are all owned by conglomerates rather than the workers.
March 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Hey, this is your regular reminder that “capitalism” does not mean “people trying to make a buck to survive in this economy.”
“Capitalism” means that the means of making a buck, and the decisions about who gets to do it, are all owned by conglomerates rather than the workers.
“Capitalism” means that the means of making a buck, and the decisions about who gets to do it, are all owned by conglomerates rather than the workers.
The way I IMMEDIATELY bought this book when I saw a review
I had not heard of this book but now I am going to read it tonight.
WaPo's Ron Charles, in his Book Club newsletter, on Meta's repeated questions about his plans to review Sarah Wynn-Williams's "Careless People":
"In my 27 years of reviewing and editing newspaper books sections, no company has ever done this with me."
"In my 27 years of reviewing and editing newspaper books sections, no company has ever done this with me."
March 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
The way I IMMEDIATELY bought this book when I saw a review
Reposted by Lea Kelley
Gen Z cultural exchange: they all know Rick Astley, and now he's done a cover of Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club.
(A banger, I might add)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vF2...
(A banger, I might add)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vF2...
Pink Pony Club (Chappell Roan Cover)
YouTube video by Rick Astley
www.youtube.com
March 5, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Gen Z cultural exchange: they all know Rick Astley, and now he's done a cover of Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club.
(A banger, I might add)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vF2...
(A banger, I might add)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vF2...
He was always garbage
Rahm Emmanuel admitting he was a piece of shit as early as 7th grade.
Ex-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel spouts transphobic talking points to Bill Maher.
"Look, in seventh grade, if I had known that I could have said the word ‘They’ and got in the girls bathroom, I would have done it."
"Look, in seventh grade, if I had known that I could have said the word ‘They’ and got in the girls bathroom, I would have done it."
March 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
He was always garbage
I have been trying to booktalk more consistently in class. I coincidentally read three books close together that dealt with themes of mental health and bullying and friendship, and it gave me space to talk with my students about some things they needed to hear without it being another lecture.
March 1, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I have been trying to booktalk more consistently in class. I coincidentally read three books close together that dealt with themes of mental health and bullying and friendship, and it gave me space to talk with my students about some things they needed to hear without it being another lecture.
I read a small but mighty collection of books last month.
March 1, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I read a small but mighty collection of books last month.
Reposted by Lea Kelley
#blackhistorymonth is winding down, but don't forget about the fantasy, the science fiction, the afro-futurism that you need to add to your bookshelf for the rest of the year.
I've collected 250 books by Black authors featuring Black main characters #booksky #tlsky
bookshop.org/wishlists/3a...
I've collected 250 books by Black authors featuring Black main characters #booksky #tlsky
bookshop.org/wishlists/3a...
February 26, 2025 at 1:52 PM
#blackhistorymonth is winding down, but don't forget about the fantasy, the science fiction, the afro-futurism that you need to add to your bookshelf for the rest of the year.
I've collected 250 books by Black authors featuring Black main characters #booksky #tlsky
bookshop.org/wishlists/3a...
I've collected 250 books by Black authors featuring Black main characters #booksky #tlsky
bookshop.org/wishlists/3a...
Feeling very justified in my longtime loathing of Emanuel
Very serious Democratic strategists advise the party to allow Trump to illegally dismantle USAID -- a decision that will result in the unnecessary deaths of people around the world.
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
February 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Feeling very justified in my longtime loathing of Emanuel