Andrew Duval
@andrewduval.bsky.social
Layer enthusiast. Teaching middle schoolers to write at Frankenstories.org.
Haha it’s one of my favourite memes
October 31, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Haha it’s one of my favourite memes
Yes of course, and I wasn’t meaning to imply this part represents the whole. I was just wondering about who likes journaling and why (because I don’t think it’s 100% divided by writing ability—it’s more like what makes some students want to *reflect* and not others?)
October 17, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Yes of course, and I wasn’t meaning to imply this part represents the whole. I was just wondering about who likes journaling and why (because I don’t think it’s 100% divided by writing ability—it’s more like what makes some students want to *reflect* and not others?)
Haha I was going to ask, the good kind of lost?!
I think one thing about all this is that it’s about valuing the long term relationship between student and subject. Like, your ability now is not as important as your long term feeling that this domain/subject/method is good & meaningful & worthwhile
I think one thing about all this is that it’s about valuing the long term relationship between student and subject. Like, your ability now is not as important as your long term feeling that this domain/subject/method is good & meaningful & worthwhile
October 17, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Haha I was going to ask, the good kind of lost?!
I think one thing about all this is that it’s about valuing the long term relationship between student and subject. Like, your ability now is not as important as your long term feeling that this domain/subject/method is good & meaningful & worthwhile
I think one thing about all this is that it’s about valuing the long term relationship between student and subject. Like, your ability now is not as important as your long term feeling that this domain/subject/method is good & meaningful & worthwhile
Also I think it’s really nice to celebrate the value of list, notes and fragments in their own right, not merely as an evidentiary step in some mandatory writing process.
October 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Also I think it’s really nice to celebrate the value of list, notes and fragments in their own right, not merely as an evidentiary step in some mandatory writing process.
Is it popular with all your students or are there some who don’t respond to it? If so, what’s different about the ones who like it and don’t? The example you’ve shared looks like a high-ability student; is ability the only determiner of interest?
October 17, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Is it popular with all your students or are there some who don’t respond to it? If so, what’s different about the ones who like it and don’t? The example you’ve shared looks like a high-ability student; is ability the only determiner of interest?
Though my session is the least assessment-oriented of the bunch. It'll be me arguing for why narrative writing should be taken seriously in school, and a way to think about narrative that might reframe how teachers assess it. Plus some practical writing activities that emerge from this perspective!
October 10, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Though my session is the least assessment-oriented of the bunch. It'll be me arguing for why narrative writing should be taken seriously in school, and a way to think about narrative that might reframe how teachers assess it. Plus some practical writing activities that emerge from this perspective!
*Running govt like a business* except they mean *a dysfunctional family-owned small business*
September 28, 2025 at 2:25 AM
*Running govt like a business* except they mean *a dysfunctional family-owned small business*
Idk as a policy proposal this feels like fighting managerialism with more managerialism. And for an ecological model, it's very chunky and static: big edtech cos dominating schools without acknowledging the school/admin/parent-side demands that reinforce big edtech behaviour and dominance.
September 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Idk as a policy proposal this feels like fighting managerialism with more managerialism. And for an ecological model, it's very chunky and static: big edtech cos dominating schools without acknowledging the school/admin/parent-side demands that reinforce big edtech behaviour and dominance.
Yeah, this is a tangent but I think we’re suffering the effects of an education system that devalues *value*. As in, demonstrating the skill of ‘close reading’ is more important than a student valuing reading, analysing literature is more important than valuing literature. Etc, across all subjects.
September 21, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Yeah, this is a tangent but I think we’re suffering the effects of an education system that devalues *value*. As in, demonstrating the skill of ‘close reading’ is more important than a student valuing reading, analysing literature is more important than valuing literature. Etc, across all subjects.
“most obviously in the CCSS emphasis on a narrowly-defined form of “close reading” that tries to eclipse the reader’s impressions/moods” — can you give some examples?
September 21, 2025 at 1:35 PM
“most obviously in the CCSS emphasis on a narrowly-defined form of “close reading” that tries to eclipse the reader’s impressions/moods” — can you give some examples?
But the middle has problems too: if you’ve ever spent any time working in govt you know how easily that middle management layer becomes a thicket of self referential rules that confound service delivery and become the landscape for hostile territorial disputes among the feudal bureaugoise
September 21, 2025 at 1:32 PM
But the middle has problems too: if you’ve ever spent any time working in govt you know how easily that middle management layer becomes a thicket of self referential rules that confound service delivery and become the landscape for hostile territorial disputes among the feudal bureaugoise
Loved “buffering”
September 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Loved “buffering”
Oh my god you’ve made me realise I’ve become too digital tunnel-visioned and forgotten The Power of the Wall. I’m doing this on Tuesday.
September 5, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Oh my god you’ve made me realise I’ve become too digital tunnel-visioned and forgotten The Power of the Wall. I’m doing this on Tuesday.
I’ve been thinking a lot about analytical writing and brick metaphors lately, mostly in response to students over-using connective devices. Building evidence is like stacking bricks: most of the work is done by selection and placement. If you do that well, you can build a wall without mortar/glue.
September 2, 2025 at 10:45 PM
I’ve been thinking a lot about analytical writing and brick metaphors lately, mostly in response to students over-using connective devices. Building evidence is like stacking bricks: most of the work is done by selection and placement. If you do that well, you can build a wall without mortar/glue.
I like the steganographic ideogenesis label, but wonder if what you’re describing is what satire has always been about: rallying support for an idea but wrapping it in defensive layers while also gaining more attention with a comedic style?
August 31, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I like the steganographic ideogenesis label, but wonder if what you’re describing is what satire has always been about: rallying support for an idea but wrapping it in defensive layers while also gaining more attention with a comedic style?
Lol I love that you’re reading this story with 5th graders. What a way to inoculate kids against being assholes when they get older!
August 27, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Lol I love that you’re reading this story with 5th graders. What a way to inoculate kids against being assholes when they get older!
That was a lot of fun. I forgot to say thanks! It was nice to just hang out and riff on poems, plus got lots of ideas for a future poetry unit. 🙏
August 23, 2025 at 12:13 AM
That was a lot of fun. I forgot to say thanks! It was nice to just hang out and riff on poems, plus got lots of ideas for a future poetry unit. 🙏
And one with a moire pattern in the bg to mimic the scan lines on your book cover (though I can't find a similar straight line pattern, and I'm not making one 😂)
August 18, 2025 at 1:35 PM
And one with a moire pattern in the bg to mimic the scan lines on your book cover (though I can't find a similar straight line pattern, and I'm not making one 😂)
I meant to post this earlier, but I was thinking your graphics could use a little less-is-more streamlining. Here are some alts.
August 18, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I meant to post this earlier, but I was thinking your graphics could use a little less-is-more streamlining. Here are some alts.
I don’t know why this particular idea strikes me as so good; I think it’s the combination of whimsy and gravity? (These are all really important values!) What keeps the kids taking nominations seriously (and not trying to ‘get em all’ with trivial nominations)?
August 15, 2025 at 2:34 PM
I don’t know why this particular idea strikes me as so good; I think it’s the combination of whimsy and gravity? (These are all really important values!) What keeps the kids taking nominations seriously (and not trying to ‘get em all’ with trivial nominations)?