Michael Pershan

This is all I ever wanted to hear.

Some ideas (like strictly scripted curricula) certainly rub teachers the wrong way, but overall it’s simply not true: math teachers are fully comfortable with explanations, practice, and drill. pershmail.substack.com/p/direct-ins...

This post about "Fussy Teaching" reminds me of what good Comprehension-Based Communicative Language Teaching looks like: directed by the teacher, but personalized through questioning, and teaching for mastery for all by way of MASSIVE amounts of questioning: pershmail.substack.com/p/in-defense...

I like plot. I like characters.

So, I chose 3 pieces which were all much more rooted in real schools and real problems. First up, I was recently introduced to the writing of @mpershan.bsky.social and this week, he produced a great piece of writing on what's actually happening in US schools... substack.com/home/post/p-...

Meander Spiral Explode is a really cool book, check it out.

I have taught in both private and public in three states before retiring early b/c the system broke me down. This is absolutely correct. Most instruction is pretty bland. IMO, this is largely due to the pressures that make consistent, engaged instruction incredible difficult, not ideology.

This really resonates with me. I’m in a lot of classrooms and this is largely what I see. (Even as early as) 2nd grade through high school!

"American teaching is not dominated by inquiry. But Yglesias/Hanford are right about one thing: everyone kind of talks as if it is."

“it’s the sort of mistake you make if you try to critique education while standing outside of schools, never really understanding how teaching works.”

Awwwwww shit michael found where they hid the "publish" button on his substack. pershmail.substack.com/p/direct-ins...

Gavin Grant and Kelly Link of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet are doing a campaign to help pay down the mortgage on their new and used bookstore. This is an awesome couple who support the writing community, so please support them! I donated & got some awesome stories & Blackwing pencils!

"A funny thing happens when you actually start to visit classrooms with regularity, rather than talk at conferences about education, or (ahem) listen to podcasts about education. You find that the amount of direct instruction just isn’t that important to meaningful student learning."

Not unpopular here! @mpershan.bsky.social & I once co-authored an essay on this very topic, nodding to our friend @dylanpkane.bsky.social. "We need more teaching – and less preaching – to influence the beliefs of educators. We should replace scientific misconceptions, rather than debunk them."

This is awesome! I love Does It Have Pockets! Like, check out this story by Matthew Kasper from their latest, "Bodie Has Abs": www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/matt...

☠️ 🎃 👻 call for spooky stuff tomorrow, from Aaron & Crow 👻 🎃 ☠️ • 800 words or fewer • for micros & poetry, up to 3 pieces (<800 total) allowed • open to all genre • Subs will open on Thursday, October 15 @ 4pm ET • Submissions capped at 200 havehashad.submittable.com/submit/37089...

I'm pretty unabashaedly a fan of direct instruction for teaching procedures. The JUMP books do a fantastic job breaking skills down into manageable chunks for kids, which actually makes it easier to teach kids how/why the procedures work (which in turn supports the procedural learning).

Good song! www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbK0...

First in a new series: great mathematicians and their even greater hats. Today: David Hilbert.

When I worked at the White House, we constantly had to correct the speeches and memos that started with "The cost of college is rapidly rising." It's one of those zombie ideas that is hard to kill. College can be expensive, and moreso than it was for our parents, but let's get the facts right.

I can't wait for the new story Chris read last night to be published. I've been thinking about it nonstop since.

Happy to have three haiku up in @havehashad.com today!

I love that the area of a parabolic arch is 2/3 of base times height. It's so simple.

Hey now!

Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’ came out 50 years ago today. An anniversary tour celebrating the double album masterpiece begins next month, and today Wonder shared four previously unreleased tracks from the sessions. stereogum.com/2512942/stev...

"One must imagine Sisyphus naked." — Albert Camus, giving advice on how to overcome stage fright

Good story alert!

Your regular reminder, which I always do late at night so as to not bother anybody, that my novel’s cover rules.

Very important new one from me

I have a new micro about DYING in the latest @identitytheory.bsky.social. Thanks to @vicnogaywrites.bsky.social for selecting this, and to you for reading it! It's very short.

What really upsets me about all this is Alpha calling a pattern of bad academic actions an "anti-pattern." It's a pattern.

Anarchist Hebrews Made Sport of Yom Kippur With Dancing

This is (more obviously) a Yom Kippur song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=piqK...

Can't elaborate on this any further right now, but this is Phase 1

20 y/o me was an idiot and would probably think I'm doing great.

Where are my Graham Greene people at, "The Quiet American" is awesome.

Headline news: -built on human ideas -involves a counterexample -very expensive -very impressive

Does Anyone Really Want Tech-Enabled 'Personalized Learning'? www.edweek.org/teaching-lea... is new @edweek.org post by @mpershan.bsky.social n