iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I wasn’t ready…but now it’s suddenly October, my decorations for Halloween are up, and then…and then…there was a chill in the air tonight. Now, Oct 16 can’t come soon enough. (I know. I know. You don’t have to tell me.) hallmark.brightspotcdn.com/3a/70/e984e5...

Countdown to Christmas Hallmark schedule available at link in post

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I was just taking pictures of our abundance

Overflowing bowl of bright red tomatoes on a counter

cherry tomatoes on a vine - lots of vines full of them actually

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Changing offices (becoming coordinator of graduate programs/what was I thinking?!?) and came across this gem. More from it soon. 1971. $1.50. Humanizing English: DO NOT FOLD SPINDLE OR MUTILATE.

Cover of book that says Classroom Practices in Teaching English. 1970-1971 and the price is $1.50. The middle of the book has the cover design in red with what looks like a canton behind it. The title is Humanizing English: DO NOT FOLD SPINDLE OER MUTILATE This last part is in font that looks like computer script from the 1950s.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Bonus: I love this set of pull-quotes

pull-quotes from article: These wearingly familiar, recycled reform efforts echo technological solutionism. Critically interrogating platform outputs is inseparable from the relational work teachers do. Teachers asserted their professional judgement through deleberate decisions to adapt, supplement, or replace lesson outputs that conflicted with their commitments to their students' learning. Recentering young writers as the heart of instructional planning involved another powerful and interconnected humanizing move that lesson generators could not provide. Importantly, a transformative activist stance refuses the notion that the future of writing instruction should be outsourced to platform logics.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The article is Open Access: doi.org/10.58680/la2... We also center Grace Kang & Sonia Kline's critical humanizing writing pedagogy framework from their new volume Writing Reimagined: Bridging Critical Theories & Pedagogical Practices in Elementary Classrooms. www.bloomsbury.com/us/writing-r... 5/5

The cover of Writing Reimagined Bridging critical theoryes and pedagogical practices in elementary classrooms. It looks like it is on a slightly crumpled piece of lined paper with several drawings by children around including a rainbow, and airplane, a child with an envelope

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Nothing beats holding a new pub in your hands! 🔗 ↓ In this piece, we look at teachers' responses to the increased outsourcing of instructional decision to external companies. Yesterday, it was scripted programs & packaged curricula. Today it's AI. Different technology. Familiar reform logic. 1/5

cover of the journal Language Arts with a picture of alien robots and words WE ARE DEFINITELY HUMAN. The theme of this issue is Looking ahead to an imagined but not yet realized future.

open copy of the journal Language Arts with our article

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Are you seeking a postdoc position? Help make high school science more accessible to blind and low-vision students. Join Dr. Shaheen's lab at @illinoisstateu.bsky.social (also affiliated with @edunowlab.bsky.social --see above) as a Postdoctoral Scholar starting Fall 2026.

Flyer: Are you seeking a postdoc position? Help make high school science more accessible to blind and low-vision students. Join Dr. Shaheen's lab at Illinois State University as a Postdoctoral Scholar starting Fall 2026. nlshahe@ilstu.edu https://jobsearch.illinoisstate.edu/cw/en-us/job/521173?lApplicationSubSourceID=

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

The editors set such a beautiful & vital vision for vol 8. Highly recommend checking out the whole handbook! Such an honor to be invited back for Theories, Models, & Practices of #Literacies, Vol 8.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

#mamascholars in the house! I just walked in the door for #literacies chat from flag football in the fall rain!

Kid running with a football in a flag football game

Anna and her mom sitting on the sidelines at a flag football game all bundled up

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Thank you to the @writinglit.bsky.social Grad Student Board for inviting @esp-phd.bsky.social and me back to guest host tonight's #literacies chat! We hope you can join us tonight, Tuesday, October 28, 2025 5-6 PT | 7-8 CT | 8-9 ET!

This is a flyer for the upcoming #literacies Homecoming with the 2012 founders of the #literacies chat: Dr. Anna Smith at Illinois State University and Dr. Emily Pendergrass at Vanderbilt University. We will be chatting on Tuesday, October 28, 2025 (5-6 PT | 7-8 CT | 8-9 ET)

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Our first #literacies chat in 2012 was inspired by renowned critical race scholar Derrick Bell, and tonight's #Literacies Chat Homecoming is an opportunity to celebrate & deepen relationships that sustain us & make us who we are as a community of scholars striving toward more just education futures.

This flyer has gold stars at the top and is on dark blue. It reads: "I'm going to the #literacies Homecoming. October 29, 2025. 5-6PM PT|7-8PM CT|8-9PM ET. Hosted by @writinglit.bsky.social"

However self-sufficient we may fancy ourselves, we exist only in relation—to our friends, family, and life partners; to those we teach and mentor; to our co-workers, neighbors, strangers; and even to forces we cannot fully conceive of, let alone define. In many ways, we are our relationships. ― Derrick Bell, Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth (emphasis added)

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

our little pumpkin patch (thanks to @ebonyteach.blacksky.app for reminding me about #bloomscrolling tonight!)

Pumpkin next to maroon flowers with purple and orange flowers in the distance with more pumpkins

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Was closing tabs & saw this para I so admire, written by @justmaybechris.bsky.social in our new article - purposefully breaking academic form & the 4th wall, inviting in, trusting, validating, organizing...& probably answering a reviewer's Q too. Flowers, friend! citejournal.org/volume-25/is...

To this end, we invite readers to consider carefully the uses of “we” throughout the piece, which are multivocal in speaking sometime to the work of BLM@School, to the work of our author team, to the work of us all in everyday educational practice, and in meaningful ways, an invitation to you, the reader, to join us in this ongoing process of collective action and reflection. If there is confusion, as we are most always surrounded by, we invite you to consider how you might choose to resolve it by placing yourself into the address. What are we asking of you? Our individual and collective work is needed to bring about the abolitionist worlds we desire. This essay is intentionally produced as a poetic inquiry, a tool for you, the reader, to go on with your thinking (Brooks, 1991) and in due process, return to us with what your experiences and experiments may reveal. We, this wide ensemble of everyday people attempting to bring about living room for us all, need your gifts.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Need some joy & reconnection right now? Come to the #literacies Homecoming! October 28, 2025 @ 7-8 CT. Let's get together to reminisce about the ideas, projects, and most importantly, people we've been able to connect with through the #literacies chat years...and imagine forward together!

Dark background with stars and pictures of Anna Smith and Emily Pendergrass. Join the 2012 founders of the #literacies chat for a homecoming to remember! October 28, 2025 7-8 CT Hosted by the Writing and Literacies SIG

Dark background with stars and the text I'm going to the #literacies Homecoming! October 28, 2025 7-8 CT Hosted by the Writing and Literacies SIG

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Next, we're drawing from @jenr.bsky.social's critical learning futures work to think through the everyday educational surveillance data stories of our lives and imagine otherwise. Brilliant questions below from Wilson, A. & Ross, J. (2023) Surveillance imaginaries....Surveillance and Society.

Padlet with columns for the questions: Who is being scrutinised? What is being scrutinised/quantified?
Who is doing the scrutinising?
Who else might have access to the data?
Who benefits? What are the benefits?
Who is disadvantaged? What are the
disadvantages?
What technologies enable the scrutiny? Where is it taking place?
Is the scrutiny regulated or unregulated?
What is the purpose – e.g. monitoring,
audit, resource allocation, control,
comparison, correlation?
What are the motives – e.g. transparency,
distrust, care?
Are the processes hidden or in full view? Describing the visibility and scope of
processes and products of surveillance,
Are the processes targeted or all embracing?
Are the data individualised or aggregated? including how personalised and overt they are.
Are the data identified or anonymised?
What might trigger an action or
intervention?
Exploring the mechanisms of surveillance
and its potential outcomes.
What form might an action or intervention
take?
Is the scrutiny resisted, acquiesced to or
embraced?
Imagining or articulating the affective and
responsive dimensions of surveillance.
What feelings might be aroused or
associated with the scrutiny?

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Friends! Pencil in these dates for @edunowlab.bsky.social's Creatively Critical Tech series! #literacies 10/6 or 7 Kate Hennessy www.makingculturelab.com 10/15 6:30CT Roderic Crooks www.rncrooks.info 11/12 6:30CT Audrey Watters audreywatters.com 11/19 6:30CT Cynthia Bennett www.bennettc.com

Education Now Lab presents Creatively Critical Tech Research + Design + Practice

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

some syllabi are such a pleasure to update!

orange background with the text critical perspectives on technology in education TCH 579 Fall 2025 then there are 6 technology icons including a mobile phone, fingerprint, USB drive, eye scanner, globe, game controller

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Also, to get to the #literacies feed, go to Feeds and search #literacies. Then pin it and like it. It will then be an optional feed to switch!

#literacies Congrats! You found the feed for all things #literracies! Use the hashtag #literacies to have your posts from the last 7 days show up!

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

So many options these days, but I still love me some Zebra F-301 .7mm pens…

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

I’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s alternative activities tonight. Here’s ours: The all important “how do you do cursive” and “the difference between butt and but” conversation with the 6 year old.

6 year old handwriting trying cursive to write the bat with arrows to a picture of a hand drawn butt. My handwriting above that reads “butt” with two ts and “but” with one t. The butt with two ts has an arrow down to the hand drawn butt.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Hey #literacies chat friends, before you check out for the night. I just tried my hand at building a feed! If I did this right you can search for #literacies in Feeds and pin it for an easy way to check out all things #literacies at any time and especially and during the chat!

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

This is a fun thread. Adding a giggle and a Kapro II.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

I have been seeing some fantastic vista pictures on my feed as people are trying to punctuate the moment with some beauty. Can I humbly suggest we add Alt Text to these? In bsky, you can turn on auto-reminder for Alt Text. That has been helpful for me.

Front end of an orange kayak with a ripple of water extended out from it. Up ahead is a setting sun in blue skies just above some trees. This is all reflected in the water. The view is hazy and soft.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I am currently running the github script shared by @chanda.bsky.social (thank you!) and it's a deleting machine! About a tenth of the way. Watching the counter run is actually a bit soothing.

Screenshot of github script deleting my 27634 tweets.

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

🌟 Attention grad students heading to #LRA2024! 🌟 I'll be joining a great panel, “Preparing for LRA 2024” all about navigating the conference like a pro! 📚✨ 🗓 When: Friday, Nov 15 🕓 Time: 4 pm EST / 3 pm CST 🔗 RSVP: tinyurl.com/DSICGWebinar 📢 Spread the word & tag your friends who should join!

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

You are my people. One of my office shelves:

Shelf with at least eleven different old handheld devices including a Wii stick, flipcam, blackberry, and more

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 11/09/2024

This semester, the Education Now Lab will have the distinct pleasure of being in conversation with five wonderful scholars. Thanks to funding from our Office of Research, I am excited to extend that opportunity to you too! Free registration for the webinar series at: tinyurl.com/2024TheoryMe...

The Education now Lab presents
Theory <-> Method 2024 Research Symposium Series

Designing Conceptual Frameworks for Qualitative Research Studies
September 17, 2024 @ 6:30 pm CT
Johnny Saldaña
Arizona State University

Weaving an Otherwise: In-Relations Methodological Practice
October 8, 2024 @ 6:30 pm CT
Dr. Amanda Tachine & Dr. Z Nicolazzo
University of Oregon & University of Arizona

Methods for Community-Based Research: Advancing Educational Justice & Epistemic Rights
October 29, 2024 @ 6:30 pm CT
Dr. María Paula Ghiso & Dr. Gerald Campano
Teachers College, Columbia University & University of Pennsylvania

Free Registration: tinyurl.com/2024TheoryMethod
Hosted by Dr. Anna Smith & the Education Now Lab
Funded by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at Illinois State University

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 13/02/2024

Hi! What are you doing this fine Tuesday afternoon? I got to work with Cherise McBride and Remi Kalie on an article in the special issue of ETPC: Playful Literacies and now the editors are getting the group back together to chat. Join us! 5pm EST mizzou.us/journaltalk24

Flyer for the Journal Talk with editors pictures and a link provided in the post

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 16/11/2023

Don't miss our Education Now Lab Creatively Critical Tech final fall session "Innovation from Below: Building Infrastructures for Transformative Education" on 11/29 at 6:30pm CT/11:30pm UTC with Phil Nichols and Samuel Reed! Register at tinyurl.com/edunowlab

Don't miss our final fall session "Innovation from Below: Building Infrastructures for Transformative Education" on 11/29 at 6:30pm CT/11:30pm UTC with @philnichols of @Baylor & @sriii2000 of the @PhilWP86 @writingproject! Register at https://tinyurl.com/edunowlab

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 27/10/2023

Please join the Education Now Lab for "Elevating Undocumented Voices through La Cuenta" with Dr. @anterobot & Alix Dick! November 8th at 7:30pm CT/12:30am UTC Register for the series: tinyurl.com/EduNowLab Check out La Cuenta: lacuenta.substack.com

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 09/10/2023

Teachers, admin & everyone grappling w/evolving tech & the multiple demands of innovating toward more equitable schooling, this one is for you! Pls join us & share! Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools Dr. Justin Reich October 18, 2023 @ 6:30pm CT/11:30pm UTC Register: tinyurl.com/EduNowLab

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 25/09/2023

Help me share? TY! Next up in the Education Now Lab speaker series: Can Cyborgs Teach Us: Speculative Pedagogies & the Sociopolitical Imagination w/ Dr. Arturo Cortez & Dr. José R. Lizzárraga on 10/4 at 7:30pm CT. Register to imagine possible futures through video game-play! tinyurl.com/EduNowLab

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 07/09/2023

It's here! Our Creatively Critical Tech: Research + Design + Practice symposium series kicks off later this month. Register for any of these amazing sessions at tinyurl.com/edunowlab Please join us & share!

Creatively Critical Tech: Research + Design + Practice
A Virtual Speaker Series hosted by Dr. Anna Smith & the Education Now Lab at Illinois State University

Register for sessions at tinyurl.com/EduNowLab

Speaking with the Creators: Screening Surveillance
September 21, 2023 @ 6:30pm CT
with Co-Producer Dr. sava saheli singh, Co-producer Lesley Marshall, and Co-writer Tim Maughan

Can Cyborgs Teach Us? Speculative Pedagogies & The Sociopolitical Imagination
October 4, 2023 @ 6:30pm CT
Dr. Arturo Cortez, University of Colorado Boulder & Dr. José R. Lizárraga, University of Colorado Boulder

Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools
October 18, 2023 @ 6:30pm CT
Dr. Justin Reich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Elevating Undocumented Voices through La Cuenta
November 8, 2023 @ 6:30pm CT
Dr. Antero Garcia, Stanford University & Alix Dick, Filmmaker and Researcher

Innovation from Below: Building Infrastructures for Transformative Education
November 29, 2023 @ 6:30pm CT
D

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Anna Smith @anna-phd.bsky.social · 08/08/2023

Pls share! *Due date extension: Articles now due 8/20!* English Teaching: Practice & Critique Special Issue: Artificial Intelligence & Composing Just Education Futures. Co-editors: Anna Smith (me), Jenni Higgs, José R. Lizárraga, and Vaughn W. M. Watson. CFP here: tinyurl.com/AIandComposing

Extension! English Teaching: Practice & Critique CFP for the special issue: Artificial Intelligence and Composing Just Education Futures. Guest co-editors include Anna Smith, Jenni Higgs, José R. Lizárraga, and Vaughn W. M. Watson. Now due August 20, 2023

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