@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 6hThat lost scene of The Crucible where John Proctor is not interrogated about Abigail but about whether he attended a game of shovelboard in Salem town, or was it Salem village 110
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 7hWednesday night marking soundtrack: A terrific record that takes me right back to the start of my teaching career, working late nights at the edge of a new and different life and listening with fresh ears to a new and different Madonnayoutu.beSwimYouTube video by Madonna - Topic 020
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 27/09/2026To speak of an AI system "going rogue" is even more misguided that saying that one "wrote" something, because it implies not just consciousness but some kind of moral compass when neither of those things exist We need to combat overt illusions, but also those that are embedded in the language 261
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I'm not saying I'm middle-aged, I'm just saying that every false promise of 21st century tech reminds me of how the CD was sold to us as a perfect piece of engineering that would never, ever scratch or skip 2130
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 27/09/2026If bad things come in threes, Freo losing the #AFL Grand Final in the dying minutes follows Canada losing Olympic hockey and the Jays losing the World Series, and that means I'm done with horrific sports heartbreak, right please I know you can hear me, sports godsyoutu.beLast Two Minutes: Fremantle v Brisbane Lions | 2026 Toyota AFL Grand FinalYouTube video by AFL 140
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026"AI literacy" : see also blender literacy, toaster literacy, dishwasher literacy 1111
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Which of these is a clearer indicator of a strange world: the fact that Canada has drawn up scenarios for an American military invasion, or that when I'm teaching kids how to use an em-dash I might actually be making trouble for them lest they run up against the "AI wrote this" police 070
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Life in northern Canada: when fall arrives, you're almost relieved, because you've had your fill of summer sun and you know your soul works best in air that's just a little bit crisp 🍂 060
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I'm not saying I'm completely alienated from pop culture, I'm just saying I have not watched a single minute of 95 shows on this list, and watched some of the other 5 because I was around when others were watching 340
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I can be as cynical as anyone, but when you feel like you're falling and you are caught by nothing more than the basic kindness and decency of others, all that is washed away utterly we are good, we are good, we will make it through somehow 4270
Reposted by @ShamletWriters' Trust of Canada @writerstrust.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Hanif Abdurraqib takes the stage at the @romtoronto.bsky.social as the 2026 #HWIAward laureate. His work sings and stings, bringing bold, compassionate insight to culture and its complexities. 021
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Quite done with "of course kids use AI because school is boring and teaching practices suck" as a clever take. Is it a chance to reflect and improve our practice? 1000%. But we do our best in systems that restrain us in numerous ways, and I forcefully reject any suggestion that we are the problem. 170
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 13/09/2026When you're a decent way past the midpoint of middle age, it's exciting to feel that you are still evolving, reinventing, reaching new levels -- moving through an arc of lifelong learning that makes you feel more present and authentic than ever in your classroom 0100
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 13/09/2026It is a strangely fitting time in our national history to remember and pay our respects to a man who got into the ring with an American juggernaut, and didn't win, but went toe to toe for the duration and did not get knocked down 020
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 12/09/2026The last half of this speech is well-suited to a quick mini-lesson on effective rhetoric: how to be forceful but measured with a friend turned adversary To say nothing of how it steeled my pure Canadian heartcbc.caJean Chrétien says 'we bow to no one' in fiery 9/11 speech in Gander, N.L. | CBC NewsFormer Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien drew thunderous applause on Friday during a fiery and patriotic speech in Gander, N.L, where many had gathered at a sports arena to commemorate the 25th an... 1101
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Middle-Aged in End Times (in case anyone's writing a memoir and looking for a title) 230
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 12/09/2026This is it, the entire project Northrop Frye in The Educated Imagination: “the end of literary teaching is not simply the admiration of literature; it’s something more like the transfer of imaginative energy from literature to the student” 0343
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026A key to great teaching is keeping an active memory of all the people who helped you, believed in you, gave you a chance and perhaps even another, then making sure those memories animate your interactions with students 0285
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 10/09/2026If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis, / It shall make $5000 of honor for you. Macbeth, 2.1.34-35 (lightly edited) 160
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Teaching English more fiercely than ever, as I am charitably on the far tail end of midlife 0120
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 08/09/2026It is a truth universally acknowledged, that if the weather is bad on a long weekend, the sun will break through in the mid-late stages of Monday afternoon 0100
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026First day of class: as I expect you to steer clear of AI as you do your work, you have my promise that I will do the same, from preparing course handouts to reading and assessing your work. It just has to be a two-way street. 170
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Moving away from the #CFL as it prepares to Americanize, but it still warms my heart to hear a crowd of Ticat fans on TSN chant "Argos suck" 🏈 🤣 120
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 06/09/2026For the 73rd but likely not the last time, I am not afraid of AI. Students must do authentic work in the English classroom; AI short-circuits that in fundamental ways; thus its use is banned. Having students use their brains is the best preparation for an unknown future. Why does this need saying. 14510
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 05/09/2026There are many political dimensions to sports, and one that should not be underestimated is the sense of normalcy that America derives from college and NFL football: there are games every weekend, so everything must be just going along as usual, right 150
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Saturday school work soundtrack: As it wasn't a single, and on the album it's squeezed in between the twin titans "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", this track does not get its due as a masterpiece of 80s pop. The intro is just magnificentyoutu.beThe Working HourYouTube video by Tears For Fears - Topic 120
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 05/09/2026💯 x 💯 The word brainstorming itself reminds us that the process is powerful precisely because of the brain's messy, associative, electric, intricate, stormy power. Take the brain out of the brainstorming, and you may get something neat and tidy, but completely drained of vitality and value. 0101
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 05/09/2026The English classroom: everything from practical writing skills to helping young people refine their rough-hewn souls 3223
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 05/09/2026More Canadians watched the deciding game of the Summit Series in 1972 than the moon landing in 1969canadiangeographic.caThe Greatest Comeback – Remembering the ’72 Summit SeriesBest-selling author and journalist, John U. Bacon discusses the 1972 Summit Series and how Team Canada radically changed the game 020
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 01/09/2026To think that when I was younger I would head into a new school year as if they would go on forever Now, at the age where guarantees are waning, I head into each one with bottomless gratitude and a sharp need to savour all its wild swings and small pleasures and deep joys What a gift, teaching 1100
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 31/08/2026For the classically inclined, quite enjoying this performance of Dvorak's Ninth on a Sunday night before school 🎻 🎶bbc.co.ukBBC Radio 3 - Through the Night, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducts the Gstaad Festival Orchestra in Dvořák’s Ninth SymphonyDvořák’s Ninth Symphony and Gabriela Montero’s “Latin” Concerto. 020
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Saturday morning, heading to Canadian Tire first thing, I got problems to solve, I'm Weekend Odysseus 030
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Life in Canada: going into a store where you need to buy a product that you're sure will be American and you'll have no choice, and then it's not, and you're like yessss 🍁 050
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Tending to a book collection is a special kind of gardening 1102
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 28/08/2026For generations, students have memorized the names of the Great Lakes with the acronym HOMES. Now I guess American students can use SHAME 1143
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Life in Canada: feeling like every purchasing move you make in the grocery store is an act of patriotism is both strangely exhilarating and undeniably strange 🍁 190
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 26/08/2026The whole thing, of course, but the intro and the first 90 seconds are always thrilling 🎻 Going down well as I settle back into school workyoutube.comDvořák: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53, B. 108: I. Allegro ma non troppoYouTube video by Hilary Hahn - Topic 030
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Algorithms as an outgrowth of capitalist efficiency, applied to a vast market to mine and juice for profit: our inner lives and emotions 020
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him / Do call it valiant fury. But for certain / He cannot buckle his distempered cause / Within the belt of rule. Macbeth, 5.2.15-19 071
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 25/08/2026As a teacher and student and lover of language, it saddens me to be reminded once again that we are not exactly living in an age of soaring political rhetoric 050
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Make a novel smaller (Canadian 🍁 culture edition) Barometer Staying Level 041
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 24/08/2026When Wordsworth wrote "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers," could he have imagined how far we were going to take that 551
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Seeing her live was such a great pleasure 🎹 🍁youtu.beJanina Fialkowska | Frédéric Chopin: Waltz in A flat, Op. 42YouTube video by CBC Music 042
@Shamlet @shamlet.bsky.social · 24/08/2026To all the teachers, who have started a new school year or are on the edge of one: Thank you for taking on work that gets more challenging as it gets more vital. Proud to be in this joyful fight with so many dedicated, brilliant colleagues. Hope your year holds no small share of fun and magic. 🙏 0444
