A. Smith
@smitheng.bsky.social
English teacher (2008-) & department chair (2018-) in public education. Mostly [re]posts on education, policy, & the humanities. Not here representing my employer etc.
Reposted by A. Smith
Here's an example of how useless and frustrating internet laws to "protect kids" are in practice: When I'm in Ohio, where I am during the holidays, I can't use my Bluesky DMs—unless I hand over my ID to a company owned by Epic Games. Why? To protect kids, of course!
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-have...
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-have...
Why I have to give Fortnite my passport to use Bluesky
Age verification laws are as ineffective as they are dangerous.
spitfirenews.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Here's an example of how useless and frustrating internet laws to "protect kids" are in practice: When I'm in Ohio, where I am during the holidays, I can't use my Bluesky DMs—unless I hand over my ID to a company owned by Epic Games. Why? To protect kids, of course!
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-have...
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-have...
Reposted by A. Smith
while i am not an academic i did see this coming and post about it on bluesky, which is why i am quoted in this article
December 17, 2025 at 8:17 PM
while i am not an academic i did see this coming and post about it on bluesky, which is why i am quoted in this article
Reposted by A. Smith
Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.
We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars.
An AI agent ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI.
www.wsj.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.
Reposted by A. Smith
Reposted by A. Smith
The answer is seizing the means of curricular production, not abandoning individuals to fend for themselves. My last district ran summer sessions where teacher/admin volunteers developed curriculum & assessments for the whole district. ALWAYS optional, but always an option, especially for new Ts.
Been seeing a lot of HQIM posts on my TL today… and I find this is worth noting:
I think we’re ignoring that for many overwhelmed novice teachers, they’re not choosing between teaching books or using “HQIM” — it’s some curriculum they inherit and things like TPT. That reality has to be dealt with.
I think we’re ignoring that for many overwhelmed novice teachers, they’re not choosing between teaching books or using “HQIM” — it’s some curriculum they inherit and things like TPT. That reality has to be dealt with.
December 15, 2025 at 4:45 PM
The answer is seizing the means of curricular production, not abandoning individuals to fend for themselves. My last district ran summer sessions where teacher/admin volunteers developed curriculum & assessments for the whole district. ALWAYS optional, but always an option, especially for new Ts.
Reposted by A. Smith
A comment we've been getting a lot is "How does extending enhanced premium tax credits affected ME if I have employer insurance?" Quite a lot actually.
SC, ask leaders to extend enhanced premium tax credits today: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
SC, ask leaders to extend enhanced premium tax credits today: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
December 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
A comment we've been getting a lot is "How does extending enhanced premium tax credits affected ME if I have employer insurance?" Quite a lot actually.
SC, ask leaders to extend enhanced premium tax credits today: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
SC, ask leaders to extend enhanced premium tax credits today: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
Reposted by A. Smith
Cutting insurance for thousands will have both an immediate and long term implications as more and more South Carolinians face health challenges without any healthcare options available to them.
Urge Congressional leaders to EXTEND enhanced premium tax credits: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
Urge Congressional leaders to EXTEND enhanced premium tax credits: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
December 4, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Cutting insurance for thousands will have both an immediate and long term implications as more and more South Carolinians face health challenges without any healthcare options available to them.
Urge Congressional leaders to EXTEND enhanced premium tax credits: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
Urge Congressional leaders to EXTEND enhanced premium tax credits: www.votervoice.net/SCJustice/Ca...
Reposted by A. Smith
This piece gets at one of the underlying reasons students turn to LLMs - because they think it makes them sound like they belong in a university setting. It's the same motive that had students overusing the thesaurus pre-ChatGPT. theimportantwork.substack.com/p/chatgpt-an...
ChatGPT and "Inventing the University"
What we can learn from the em dash debate
theimportantwork.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:21 PM
This piece gets at one of the underlying reasons students turn to LLMs - because they think it makes them sound like they belong in a university setting. It's the same motive that had students overusing the thesaurus pre-ChatGPT. theimportantwork.substack.com/p/chatgpt-an...
Reposted by A. Smith
Entering the US public domain in 2026: Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter.
More info behind window 5 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026
More info behind window 5 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026
December 5, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Entering the US public domain in 2026: Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter.
More info behind window 5 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026
More info behind window 5 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026
Reposted by A. Smith
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
December 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Reposted by A. Smith
“Whoever wrote this episode should die!” Good actors playing bad actors becoming better people through acting and life. @oliviarutigliano.bsky.social has written the Galaxy Quest paean I’ve longed for: crimereads.com/galaxy-quest/
“Whoever Wrote this Episode Should Die”: Galaxy Quest Is Personal, and it’s Personal to Me
I once read a book review in which the reviewer, the professor and critic Benjamin de Mott, expressed anxiety about effectively conveying the impressiveness of the work at hand: “I find myself nerv…
crimereads.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:41 AM
“Whoever wrote this episode should die!” Good actors playing bad actors becoming better people through acting and life. @oliviarutigliano.bsky.social has written the Galaxy Quest paean I’ve longed for: crimereads.com/galaxy-quest/
Reposted by A. Smith
‘Abbott Elementary’ star Quinta Brunson launches fund to provide free field trips to thousands of Philly students
‘Abbott Elementary’ star Quinta Brunson launches fund to provide free field trips to thousands of Philly students
“Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson is teaming up with the School District of Philadelphia to create a fund to provide free school trips to students.
www.phillytrib.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:02 AM
‘Abbott Elementary’ star Quinta Brunson launches fund to provide free field trips to thousands of Philly students
Reposted by A. Smith
In Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press), coeditors and English professors Sinykin and Winant seek to redefine the technique as a way to make and understand arguments, with uses beyond literary studies.
Breaking It Down: PW Talks with Dan Sinykin and Johanna Winant
In Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press), coeditors and English professors Sinykin and Winant seek to redefine the technique as a way to make and understand…
buff.ly
December 3, 2025 at 5:03 PM
In Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press), coeditors and English professors Sinykin and Winant seek to redefine the technique as a way to make and understand arguments, with uses beyond literary studies.
Reposted by A. Smith
Thanks to Champagne for linking to another article of mine, which offers further justification as to why telling students to audit a ChatGPT essay for errors is also ill advised. bsky.app/profile/mich...
These assignments encourage people to become DIY detectives, exacerbating a boom in conspiracy theories. The “permission structure of doubt” normalises suspicion as a default setting and suggests that another algorithm (like Google’s search) can discover the truth.
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
AI-Generated Images Are Spreading Paranoia and Misinformation. Can Art Historians Help?
An art historian argues that provenance research—rather than connoisseurship—is our best tool for authentication.
www.artnews.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Thanks to Champagne for linking to another article of mine, which offers further justification as to why telling students to audit a ChatGPT essay for errors is also ill advised. bsky.app/profile/mich...
Reposted by A. Smith
Adding alt text to this because this is fucking amazing and everyone deserves to read it.
December 2, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Adding alt text to this because this is fucking amazing and everyone deserves to read it.
Reposted by A. Smith
What makes something data? Some thoughts on that question, and how answers to it help us understand AI hype:
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
What makes something data?
This is a question I posted on BlueSky on Friday 11/21/25, inspired by a talk I recently attended about evaluation of “AI” systems. I think…
medium.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:55 PM
What makes something data? Some thoughts on that question, and how answers to it help us understand AI hype:
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
Reposted by A. Smith
Intriguing piece. Author argues OpenAI's decision to include ads is a sign the business model for #GenAI is failing. An ad-revenue-driven #GenAI future is ripe w/ perverse incentives & intentional distortions that benefit advertisers & damage users, all baked into black-box models we cannot inspect.
Why Ads on ChatGPT Are More Terrifying Than You Think
6 huge implications for the future
www.thealgorithmicbridge.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Intriguing piece. Author argues OpenAI's decision to include ads is a sign the business model for #GenAI is failing. An ad-revenue-driven #GenAI future is ripe w/ perverse incentives & intentional distortions that benefit advertisers & damage users, all baked into black-box models we cannot inspect.
Reposted by A. Smith
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by A. Smith
Quite an opening.
November 20, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Quite an opening.
Reposted by A. Smith
“Adversarial poetry.”
Love this. Obvs.
Love this. Obvs.
November 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
“Adversarial poetry.”
Love this. Obvs.
Love this. Obvs.
“Unless we offer those higher ceiling opportunities, we won't ever know how far a kid can go..."
www.postandcourier.com/education-la...
www.postandcourier.com/education-la...
Charleston School District taps gifted and talented data to boost learning for all students
Charleston schools are using gifted and talented test data to help students of all backgrounds build on their strengths and improve learning outcomes.
www.postandcourier.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:21 PM
“Unless we offer those higher ceiling opportunities, we won't ever know how far a kid can go..."
www.postandcourier.com/education-la...
www.postandcourier.com/education-la...
Reposted by A. Smith
Happy 40th birthday to Bill Waterson’s ‘Calvin and Hobbes’. A work of consummate, stubborn, human, and more-than-human art.
November 18, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Happy 40th birthday to Bill Waterson’s ‘Calvin and Hobbes’. A work of consummate, stubborn, human, and more-than-human art.
Reposted by A. Smith
We have thoughts about the #WutheringHeights trailer but we have to stop laughing first before we can express them
tomandlorenzo.com/2025/11/we-h...
tomandlorenzo.com/2025/11/we-h...
We Have Thoughts About the WUTHERING HEIGHTS Trailer - Tom + Lorenzo
Here's the trailer for Emerald Fennell's upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights. We should tell you that we laughed uproariously through the whole
tomandlorenzo.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM
We have thoughts about the #WutheringHeights trailer but we have to stop laughing first before we can express them
tomandlorenzo.com/2025/11/we-h...
tomandlorenzo.com/2025/11/we-h...
Reposted by A. Smith
“I was both astounded and mesmerized."
Carl Sandburg’s ‘Chicago’ poem finds fresh relevance in a city occupied by ICE.
From @ericathompson.bsky.social via @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Carl Sandburg’s ‘Chicago’ poem finds fresh relevance in a city occupied by ICE.
From @ericathompson.bsky.social via @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Carl Sandburg’s ‘Chicago’ poem finds fresh relevance in a city occupied by ICE
Known for praising the city with “big shoulders,” the beloved 1914 composition recently was recited in a ruling addressing federal immigration agents’ use of force. Literary scholars say they were “as...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:43 PM
“I was both astounded and mesmerized."
Carl Sandburg’s ‘Chicago’ poem finds fresh relevance in a city occupied by ICE.
From @ericathompson.bsky.social via @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Carl Sandburg’s ‘Chicago’ poem finds fresh relevance in a city occupied by ICE.
From @ericathompson.bsky.social via @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Reposted by A. Smith
The children’s picture book, “Strega Nona, An OldTale,” celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Author and illustrator Tomie dePaola penned the book about the Italian “grandmother witch.” (via @mprnews.org)
Strega Nona turns 50 — and her art lives in Minneapolis
The University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Collection is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Tomie dePaola’s beloved picture book “Strega Nona,” showcasing the original illustrations and highlighting Minnesota’s unique role in preserving the warmth, artistry and enduring cultural impact of this classic story.
n.pr
November 12, 2025 at 7:26 PM
The children’s picture book, “Strega Nona, An OldTale,” celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Author and illustrator Tomie dePaola penned the book about the Italian “grandmother witch.” (via @mprnews.org)