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Marcus Luther

@marcusluther.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.5K following 5K posts

HS English teacher clinging to what the legendary Gwendolyn Brooks wrote: "we are each other's / harvest:" (yes, that line break feels heavier than ever these days) Also: I share writings, resources + thoughts on education at thebrokencopier.substack.com!

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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 5h
The irony here (one of many) is the episodes describe Engelmann responding to what's not working with his teaching/adjusting his instruction as core to why it works... —and then somehow leaping from that to the idea that we can design fixed scripts/plans that can succeed uniformly?
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Reposted by Marcus Luther
Jeffrey Austin @jaustinedu.bsky.social · 14h
Just a reminder that none of the so-called "miracle" states has sustained their success into 8th or 11th grade because 1) the assessments (NWEA, PSAT, SAT) are not decoding assessments and require different knowledge and skills and 2) states don't care about adolescents or adolescent literacy.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 8h
Who could have seen this coming? 🤔
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 9h
Toolkit here that we use, if helpful for anyone! docs.google.com/presentation...
docs.google.com
Literary Lenses Toolkit
Literary Theory Lenses a new way to read and understand literature a tool to deepen and expand your critical reading of texts AP Literature - Mr. Luther’s Classroom Adapted from the work of Deborah Appleman’s Critical Encounters in High School English and Trevor Aleo, PhD
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 9h
Year 2 of rolling out this introduction into literary theory based on the work of Deborah Appleman and @mraleosays.bsky.social—and once again, it is immediately a fantastic resource! (And another reason to continue reading/learning from others online!)
different literary lenses for an introductory activitytoolkit for students to explore
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 10h
This was a rough moment. (Amongst many rough moments.)
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 21h
Given the scale of Season 1 and its impact, I have a feeling this is going to lead to way more than just one more person...
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 22h
"In the United States, a lot of people don't believe that instruction matters that much when it comes to learning." Gulp. This Season of Sold a Story is going to be a lot to take in...
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
"This is the time to do something about it." The problem here, I worry, is that there is no good path towards "do something about it"—and that a trust in the words we read is being slowly and increasingly lost. This piece sits with that, which I appreciate. But I still don't hold much hope...
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
oh my, when Slow Horses is good—it is so, so good.
static.klipy.com
Oh, cry me a river, River
Alt: Oh, cry me a river, River
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Trevor Aleo @mraleosays.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
In case you’re wondering what the geniuses behind Alpha School & AEI’s Classroom Practice Project. Carl has been & continues to be an influential voice in the #ScienceOfLearning™️ movement. This is what’s coming for K-16. “Actually Socrates is annoying, so no more asking questions. Just tell them!”
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
"The tough part is getting teachers to acknowledge that they’re struggling, which requires strong relationships and sufficient face time with school leaders before issues arise." 🎯🎯🎯 From @alexshultz.bsky.social for @edutopia.org: www.edutopia.org/article/supp...
edutopia.org
What Can School Leaders Do to Support a Struggling Teacher?
Teachers often feel alone facing an issue in the classroom, and maintaining lots of points of contact can help them open the door to offers of support.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
One time an admin (not a current one!) popped in to ask me how things were going during one of my preps. "Not good at all," I said. They nodded and they walked out. So yeah, sitting down matters. It matters a lot.
excerpt from article in reply
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
“I felt challenged but in a way that makes me proud looking back at my work” Talk about the pick-me-up student reflection to read after a long Tuesday!
picture of student spiral reflection
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
I thought the first half was fantastic, though I will admit that his misreading of "timshel" and how central that was to what he was trying to do was hard for me to get past...
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Now I've got to read GoW I guess 🤷‍♂️
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Not enough people experienced what it's like, I worry, so it makes it much easier to ignore its potential or pretend like it can't happen
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I feel like the out-of-class essays are intentionally designed to be less "traditional" in structure/voice—more synthesis, more weaving of narrative, more creativity—and, as a result, tend to be more authentic. (Students at that point are more bought in, too, which takes time!)
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Given that I have the scope of the full school year, I definitely start with more in-class writing (for higher-stakes writing) in the first semester and then gradually release towards more out-of-class in the second semester. Sets norms, I get to know them/they get to know me, etc. But also...
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Very different, I know, for those of us not teaching online—but I have never used detectors as an English teacher and I feel like I've done a pretty good job promoting academic integrity, even in this AI moment (Especially in this moment?)
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Jason Gulya @jasongulya.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I think this is important for faculty to recognize. It is absolutely possible to promote academic integrity without using AI detectors, TurnItIn, or similar products. They are not the only way.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I enjoyed reading it but I don't know how I feel about it—feels like a lot of quantity with a lot of potential left on the table...and oddly underwhelming for a "masterpiece"
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
just finished and oh my I have so much to say about that ending but at the same time nothing at all... (start Of Mice and Men tomorrow with juniors, though, so timed it pretty well!)
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"there's a bunch of misinformation out there about what we're doing that's totally off-base so we are going to cave to it" —the University of Michigan (Also: university presidents just having the most disappointing decade ever, aren't they?) thehill.com/homenews/edu...
excerpt from linked article
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Would love an HRP episode-by-episode rebuttal series: “Don’t Get Sold Another Story” Please/thank you in advance 🙏
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
"Too many students have learned to see through these empty promises." This entire piece is gold but the reframe @mrneibauer.bsky.social arrives at in the closing? It is poignant—and it matters. adrianneibauer.substack.com/p/teaching-o...
excerpt from post linked in replies
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The second step? Holding yourself accountable to a simple equation: is the way I'm spending my time making me happier and more fulfilled? If the answer to that is a lengthy blog post telling other people how they should be spending their time, well, I think there's your answer.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
"They want action," Gruber writes. "The action is on X." I don't think people want "action"—they want approval and acceptance and belonging. And those are things that digital spaces do a very poor job of providing, then and now, and the first step is recognizing that with clarity.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
It was always a trade-off: the benefits versus the downsides. That equation changed drastically with Twitter when Elon Musk purchased it, and people responded accordingly and most, like me, have not looked back. What's worth noting: for the people who stayed, that probably feels even worse.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
And in a more-fragmented landscape with more people disengaging (a good thing?) from text-driven platforms, everything feels like "less than." Fewer likes. Fewer comments. "Viral" isn't even close to a thing, not that it was ever really worth much.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I think a lot of people over the last decade became quite attached to the "engagement" they experienced online—the number of likes, the positive comments, the potential of "going viral" It was its own type of game and a measure of value—especially if you had no better measures.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
There are easy/obvious critiques to this—and I'm sure the point of writing this was to farm off those easy/obvious critiques—but I do think there is an underlying, more-important critique to the argument this piece is trying to make around "action" with social media.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
💯 agree!
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Gotcha! And pulling repost 🙏 methodological critique seems fair to me
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
1) happy to read methodological critique—care to provide source? 2) don’t see the argument against trying to understand more about student learning?
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MathIsLife @damianmolinari.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Going to be full of strawman arguments and over-simplifications to fit the story. The trailer seems bleak.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
It is hard to put into words the impact that teaching expertise makes when people step into leadership roles in education. But I think everyone sees it and everyone feels it. And I wish it was more of a priority.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The problem with a "co-design" model is that you often get teachers involved who are not necessarily representative of the average teacher/classroom. "Co-design" sounds great on paper but in reality, I feel like it does very little to bridge any type of gap.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Haha, I'll say... (and I'm enjoying it!)
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Sort of why I get into "scoffing mode" when people are like, "how are teachers not using this!?!" on LinkedIn, etc.—there is such a chasm between those in EdTech and the classroom in 99% of cases, and this AI moment has made that even more clear.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I think it's much easier to a sandbox that feels safe as far as LLMs/chatbots (key word: "feels") compared to allowing students or even teachers to explore agentic AI and its capacities. At that point, "safety" is in the rearview mirror.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Oh, we're in 100% lockstep here! This is a reason I have stepped back from much of the agentic conversation—I don't trust my own information/access with pretty much any of this, so I'm basically sidelined as a user. (No regrets about this!) And yes: the chatbot landscape was much more inviting.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Now I'm saying this as someone who of course uses my own device quite often, and plenty of time is doing planning/design work outside of school! But the vast, vast majority of K-12 educators aren't—and unless tools/access are provided within their work hours/resources, it won't happen, imo.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
To go back to my original point, this why I used the word "equipped" and where a lot of the AI discourse is out of touch with the typical teacher who does their work for school entirely on a district device, often on the school's network. They don't have access to any of this right now.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Genuinely curious, though: what agents can be used right now on district devices?
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I feel like in almost all cases this would mean discarding student privacy laws and many district policies, unless those are adjusted quite drastically, yes? (Though right now there is already a ton of those violations happening with AI and no one is doing anything about it, so yeah...)
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
So essentially you're relying on teachers (and, potentially, students) to do this work outside of school to develop that expertise, taking on all the risk that comes with it using their own devices/information, correct? I have not seen many examples of this happening safely in schools, at least.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
In my understanding (could be wrong), very few K-12 teachers have capacity to use these tools within their systems in safe manner that does not violate district policy, etc. That goes for students, too. (To be clear: I also don't think that's a bad thing.)
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
At the K-12 level, aside from quite-rare outliers, the vast majority of us (*raises hand*) aren't even close to equipped to respond to the impact of agentic AI.
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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
If you know, you know. (Also: this season of Survivor is pure ridiculous joy and it is exactly what the doctor ordered this October!)
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