Pinned
Annie Abrams
@annieabrams.bsky.social
· May 28
This Year, We All Realized That Kids Aren’t Reading Books in School. Only the Right Is Offering a Solution.
Common Core and the College Board are my enemies. But the classical education movement is not my friend.
slate.com
Gift link to my argument in favor of teaching works of "serious literary value" in public schools: slate.com/life/2025/05...
"These requests would require Penn to create and turn over a centralized registry of Jewish students, faculty, and staff"
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
UPenn faculty condemn Trump administration’s demand for ‘lists of Jews’
Groups say EEOC demand for names and personal details echoes dark history and threatens safety and civil rights
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:43 AM
"These requests would require Penn to create and turn over a centralized registry of Jewish students, faculty, and staff"
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
last year some students asked me about my process and i showed them the napkin i'd covered in notes and was carrying around in a folder
Writing recommendation to students: outline, plan carefully, execute
Writing for me: jot down random paragraphs as they occur to me, agonize over them, forget I wrote them
Writing for me: jot down random paragraphs as they occur to me, agonize over them, forget I wrote them
January 14, 2026 at 1:34 AM
last year some students asked me about my process and i showed them the napkin i'd covered in notes and was carrying around in a folder
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Kudos to @insidehighered.com for giving @bakerdphd.bsky.social a column. I couldn’t be more excited for what’s she’s choosing to do with it.
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
January 13, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Kudos to @insidehighered.com for giving @bakerdphd.bsky.social a column. I couldn’t be more excited for what’s she’s choosing to do with it.
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
i found this piece disturbing and brave www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Let Faculty Have Their Say | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
Indeed, for the sake of its own mission, Harvard should want its faculty to express their viewpoints.
www.thecrimson.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:44 PM
i found this piece disturbing and brave www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
January 13, 2026 at 6:06 PM
I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
Reposted by Annie Abrams
If you haven’t already, you should be reading James Baldwin right now.
www.thriftbooks.com/w/collected-...
www.thriftbooks.com/w/collected-...
Collected Essays: Notes of a Native Son... book by James Baldwin
Buy a cheap copy of Collected Essays: Notes of a Native Son... book by James Baldwin. James Baldwin was a uniquely prophetic voice in American letters. His brilliant and provocative essays made him th...
www.thriftbooks.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:26 PM
If you haven’t already, you should be reading James Baldwin right now.
www.thriftbooks.com/w/collected-...
www.thriftbooks.com/w/collected-...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Explainer journalism has really taken some turns, as a genre
With federal agents storming the streets of American communities, there's no single right way to approach this dangerous moment. But there are steps you can take to stay safe—and have an impact. 1/
What to Do If ICE Invades Your Neighborhood
With federal agents storming the streets of American communities, there's no single right way to approach this dangerous moment. But there are steps you can take to stay safe—and have an impact.
www.wired.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Explainer journalism has really taken some turns, as a genre
Reposted by Annie Abrams
To be clear: it is perfectly possible to study Thucydides in great detail, be a massive Tolkien nerd, and still end up a leftie muesli knitter. Ask me how.
January 13, 2026 at 11:36 AM
To be clear: it is perfectly possible to study Thucydides in great detail, be a massive Tolkien nerd, and still end up a leftie muesli knitter. Ask me how.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
The column itself will be about my messy travels through the archives as I try to better understand what higher education looks like when in service of a multiracial democracy
January 13, 2026 at 2:31 PM
The column itself will be about my messy travels through the archives as I try to better understand what higher education looks like when in service of a multiracial democracy
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Annie has been raising the alarm about mandatory high school book lists for awhile, but it's time for higher ed folks to be paying attention.
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
January 13, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Annie has been raising the alarm about mandatory high school book lists for awhile, but it's time for higher ed folks to be paying attention.
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
Reposted by Annie Abrams
I've always been sort of Grateful Dead-adjacent: plenty of 'Heads friends, never took the leap myself. But some nights I listen to multiple live versions of Bob Weir singing "Good Lovin'" and remind myself that even boys who go to fancy prep schools can express love beautifully.
January 13, 2026 at 2:01 AM
I've always been sort of Grateful Dead-adjacent: plenty of 'Heads friends, never took the leap myself. But some nights I listen to multiple live versions of Bob Weir singing "Good Lovin'" and remind myself that even boys who go to fancy prep schools can express love beautifully.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
this still slaps youtu.be/ZQ_MEFVx5jM?...
January 12, 2026 at 11:45 PM
this still slaps youtu.be/ZQ_MEFVx5jM?...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Parents care! I’ve been told it’s an equity issue — you can’t require kids to read a book you don’t provide. So then it shifts to a funding issue — aren’t class book sets just an essential part of an English department budget?!? Shouldn’t they be?
January 13, 2026 at 2:04 AM
Parents care! I’ve been told it’s an equity issue — you can’t require kids to read a book you don’t provide. So then it shifts to a funding issue — aren’t class book sets just an essential part of an English department budget?!? Shouldn’t they be?
it can really seem like no one cares, and some people who ought to probably don't, but i know firsthand that there's also a lot of miscommunication and that making arguments is worthwhile
More depressingly, there's no effective way to push back on this
As far as I know, TCTELA, our professional organization in this state, doesn't even have a position statement out on this. It's the death knell of our profession, and...no one even cares all that much.
As far as I know, TCTELA, our professional organization in this state, doesn't even have a position statement out on this. It's the death knell of our profession, and...no one even cares all that much.
January 13, 2026 at 2:00 AM
it can really seem like no one cares, and some people who ought to probably don't, but i know firsthand that there's also a lot of miscommunication and that making arguments is worthwhile
Reposted by Annie Abrams
From a practical standpoint alone, nothing can be assigned for homework, so Great Expectations would need to be read aloud in class. That's 25+ days of class listening to the audiobook.
These lists are meant to strangle what little reading/thinking/writing they currently do.
These lists are meant to strangle what little reading/thinking/writing they currently do.
January 13, 2026 at 1:38 AM
From a practical standpoint alone, nothing can be assigned for homework, so Great Expectations would need to be read aloud in class. That's 25+ days of class listening to the audiobook.
These lists are meant to strangle what little reading/thinking/writing they currently do.
These lists are meant to strangle what little reading/thinking/writing they currently do.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
We know we can't stop it. If they want to do it, they'll do it. It hasn't taken too long to go from districts banning The Glass Castle from classrooms to this.
And of course they'll read, F451, but for what? Obviously, not to understand that books matter. Only that the books the state decides do.
And of course they'll read, F451, but for what? Obviously, not to understand that books matter. Only that the books the state decides do.
January 13, 2026 at 1:38 AM
We know we can't stop it. If they want to do it, they'll do it. It hasn't taken too long to go from districts banning The Glass Castle from classrooms to this.
And of course they'll read, F451, but for what? Obviously, not to understand that books matter. Only that the books the state decides do.
And of course they'll read, F451, but for what? Obviously, not to understand that books matter. Only that the books the state decides do.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Yeats was cool like that
January 12, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Yeats was cool like that
for cultural literacy
Why are they reading the Federalist Papers and de Tocqueville in an English class? And ugh Ayn Rand and Thomas Sowell...
January 13, 2026 at 12:03 AM
for cultural literacy
the problem with TX’s book list is and is not the specific selections tea.texas.gov/academics/in...
tea.texas.gov
January 12, 2026 at 10:42 PM
the problem with TX’s book list is and is not the specific selections tea.texas.gov/academics/in...
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Academics - if you are expert in the history of the fourth amendment, today is a day you could pitch your favorite news outlet with a piece about it. If you're interested, do a little writing, then email me lollardfish at gmail and I'll give you some free op-ed coaching.
What’s this old thing
January 12, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Academics - if you are expert in the history of the fourth amendment, today is a day you could pitch your favorite news outlet with a piece about it. If you're interested, do a little writing, then email me lollardfish at gmail and I'll give you some free op-ed coaching.
Reposted by Annie Abrams
This is what I heard checking in on friends yesterday. People are in hiding, or aren’t but are agonizing over whether they should be, or are trying to reassure terrified parents who want them to be
The scale of this doesn’t seem to be known to even newshound NYC friends w/o Minneapolis connections
The scale of this doesn’t seem to be known to even newshound NYC friends w/o Minneapolis connections
"The logical outcome of ICE’s siege is the fear that now grips Minneapolis immigrants, even those with U.S. citizenship, about sending their kids to school, going to work, buying groceries, or seeing a doctor when they’re sick." www.liberalcurrents.com/return-of-th...
Return of the Silver Shirts
In ICE's invasion of Minneapolis, an echo of a dark past.
www.liberalcurrents.com
January 12, 2026 at 2:46 PM
This is what I heard checking in on friends yesterday. People are in hiding, or aren’t but are agonizing over whether they should be, or are trying to reassure terrified parents who want them to be
The scale of this doesn’t seem to be known to even newshound NYC friends w/o Minneapolis connections
The scale of this doesn’t seem to be known to even newshound NYC friends w/o Minneapolis connections
Reposted by Annie Abrams
timely reminder heading into the new semester
'read complicated, difficult, interesting things and ponder through them thoroughly in dialogue together' is a way better and more effective lesson plan than it has any real right to be.
January 12, 2026 at 9:09 PM
timely reminder heading into the new semester
Reposted by Annie Abrams
'read complicated, difficult, interesting things and ponder through them thoroughly in dialogue together' is a way better and more effective lesson plan than it has any real right to be.
January 12, 2026 at 8:52 PM
'read complicated, difficult, interesting things and ponder through them thoroughly in dialogue together' is a way better and more effective lesson plan than it has any real right to be.
requires a little faith to just read something difficult in class with students and trust they'll find it interesting
January 12, 2026 at 7:47 PM
requires a little faith to just read something difficult in class with students and trust they'll find it interesting
Reposted by Annie Abrams
And I have similar concerns with scripting as I do with choosing books: it makes it easier to force censorship and introduce propaganda.
January 12, 2026 at 2:38 PM
And I have similar concerns with scripting as I do with choosing books: it makes it easier to force censorship and introduce propaganda.