Low & Slow Learning
Just like a good brisket, the best ideas need time...
"If summer had one defining scent, it'd definitely be the smell of barbecue." –Katie Lee
Greetings Starfighters,
As May transitions into June this weekend, spring's final traces yield to the swelter and humidity of a Kentucky summer. We'll escape to the mountains for a few days to savor quiet evenings by the fire, lazy mornings with coffee on the porch, and maybe a round or two of Hillbilly Golf.
For the first time in ages, I'm free of summer classes—leaving time for house projects, spinning vinyl, and catching up on non-dissertation reading.
And yes, there'll be movies and TV shows too. My wife and daughter are heading to a Heart concert, and I'm hoping to persuade my kid to join me for the Dave Matthews Band in the Queen City.
Though summer isn't my favorite season, it offers a chance to recharge. As the school year winds down, we find ourselves ready for a break—while we'll miss our students and the work, we need this time to explore our corners of the world and replenish our spirits. I hope you can find the time you need this summer and do whatever it is that fills your soul.
And yes, sitting on the couch doing nothing is perfectly acceptable behavior.
Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing with you this week…
“At the end of every school year, when I say goodbye, once again, I sit in my empty classroom and wonder if I could have done more. I reflect and question the thousands of interactions I had with them, wondering if I did right by my students.” - Adrian Neibauer’s thoughts on ending a school year.
Summer reading is, quite possibly, the best kind of reading. My list of summer reads includes this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Ray Bradbury’s Stories, LeGuin’s The Language of the Night, the third book in Andy Peloquin’s Darkblade series, Lonesome Dove, and many more. Here are some ideas for your summer reads from Literary Hub, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker.
If you’re spinning vinyl this summer—or just streaming— Mt. Joy and Budos Band just dropped new albums today. Also coming or already out for the summer are new drops from Caamp, Stereolab, Brian Eno, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and more.
Tubi is quickly becoming my go-to choice for streaming movies and TV shows, mainly because they have a decent library of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror titles. I’m four episodes into Hammer’s House of Horror anthology series from 1980 (gloriously ridiculous) and watched 80s cult classic Krull a week or so ago. Please, please, please don’t be afraid to binge your favorite movies/shows this summer. You create content every day in your classroom, take a break.
On the topic of reading, when we show our kids and students that we enjoy reading, they read more. Funny how that works. Maybe we should do more to combat the collapse of reading.
I don’t always agree with Audrey Watters, but I read her work to keep me honest about all things educational technology. However, I agree with her that to keep “the AI” from overtaking all of education, we must invest in humans who understand how to use tools to help us flourish and not succumb to the demands and desires of the technocratic elite.
Some slightly rude notes on writing (damn that Wadsworth Constant thing…)
Harvard, the current leader in the battle to maintain educational freedom, has 130+ courses you can take for free.
Change can be very uncomfortable, but for some, it’s downright deadly…
When you’re feeling down, watch old episodes of The Great Space Coaster and enjoy the updates from Gary Gnu’s Gnews.
That’s it, gang. See you next week.
MP