billcalhoun.bsky.social
@billcalhoun.bsky.social
High school physics teacher (MA), musician, Woonsocketeer (RI)
Writes about teaching & instructional design (www.whcalhoun.com)
Writes about teaching & instructional design (www.whcalhoun.com)
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
imagine if all that money had gone to teachers instead
January 25, 2026 at 2:37 PM
imagine if all that money had gone to teachers instead
Another school year, another attempt to control student cell-phone use. This time we went for a full ban - no cell phone use at any time during school hours, period. If a student does bring a phone to school, it must stay either in their locker or their backpack.
September 13, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Another school year, another attempt to control student cell-phone use. This time we went for a full ban - no cell phone use at any time during school hours, period. If a student does bring a phone to school, it must stay either in their locker or their backpack.
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
improve your technical skills and you can discover new, exciting ways in which to be mad at the computer, ways to be furious at the machine that laymen couldn't even comprehend.
August 21, 2025 at 12:53 AM
improve your technical skills and you can discover new, exciting ways in which to be mad at the computer, ways to be furious at the machine that laymen couldn't even comprehend.
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
"If Artificial Intelligence is getting better and better at mimicking students’ work, this development has no impact on the value of Human Intelligence – except to give us yet another reason to make sure that humans
continue to think for ourselves."
continue to think for ourselves."
August 15, 2025 at 1:57 PM
"If Artificial Intelligence is getting better and better at mimicking students’ work, this development has no impact on the value of Human Intelligence – except to give us yet another reason to make sure that humans
continue to think for ourselves."
continue to think for ourselves."
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
Favorite line:
"In short, teaching is far more than seeing children and youth as brains on sticks."
- Larry Cuban (larrycuban.wordpress.com)
From "Robo-teachers?", posted at "Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice"
(larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/06/05/r...)
"In short, teaching is far more than seeing children and youth as brains on sticks."
- Larry Cuban (larrycuban.wordpress.com)
From "Robo-teachers?", posted at "Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice"
(larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/06/05/r...)
Robo-teachers?
In the film “The Robot & Frank” (2012), an elderly Dad is slipping into dementia. His adult son and daughter debate how best to help him out: get him into an assisted care facility,…
larrycuban.wordpress.com
June 6, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Favorite line:
"In short, teaching is far more than seeing children and youth as brains on sticks."
- Larry Cuban (larrycuban.wordpress.com)
From "Robo-teachers?", posted at "Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice"
(larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/06/05/r...)
"In short, teaching is far more than seeing children and youth as brains on sticks."
- Larry Cuban (larrycuban.wordpress.com)
From "Robo-teachers?", posted at "Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice"
(larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/06/05/r...)
When designing a document for students, be careful that the design is not implying connections where there are none, or levels of organization that don't exist. All graphic elements carry information, intended or not. Arbitrary design can create confusion not conducive to learning.
www.whcalhoun.com
www.whcalhoun.com
William H Calhoun
Teaching and Instructional Design
www.whcalhoun.com
June 6, 2025 at 5:51 PM
When designing a document for students, be careful that the design is not implying connections where there are none, or levels of organization that don't exist. All graphic elements carry information, intended or not. Arbitrary design can create confusion not conducive to learning.
www.whcalhoun.com
www.whcalhoun.com
"What is the teacher actually doing and experiencing?" is a different question from "What should the teacher be doing?" The latter question refers to the teacher's professionalism & role within the school system, satisfying administrators. But who takes the time and effort to even ask the teachers?
May 23, 2025 at 5:35 PM
"What is the teacher actually doing and experiencing?" is a different question from "What should the teacher be doing?" The latter question refers to the teacher's professionalism & role within the school system, satisfying administrators. But who takes the time and effort to even ask the teachers?
A curriculum cannot teach itself. Because it is easier to design a curriculum than to actually teach it, a lot of attention is paid to curriculum development, but not so much to curriculum implementation.
For good or for ill, the teacher always makes the final curricular decisions.
For good or for ill, the teacher always makes the final curricular decisions.
May 11, 2025 at 11:26 PM
A curriculum cannot teach itself. Because it is easier to design a curriculum than to actually teach it, a lot of attention is paid to curriculum development, but not so much to curriculum implementation.
For good or for ill, the teacher always makes the final curricular decisions.
For good or for ill, the teacher always makes the final curricular decisions.
A student needs to see things from different angles if there is to be any chance for learning. If the different angles are too different, as in the tale of the blind men trying to understand an elephant, or if the angles are mostly the same, the student has little to work with.
www.whcalhoun.com
www.whcalhoun.com
William H Calhoun
Teaching and Instructional Design
www.whcalhoun.com
May 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
A student needs to see things from different angles if there is to be any chance for learning. If the different angles are too different, as in the tale of the blind men trying to understand an elephant, or if the angles are mostly the same, the student has little to work with.
www.whcalhoun.com
www.whcalhoun.com
The Problems that Accountability Metrics Pose for Schooling davidlabaree.com/2025/04/17/t...
The Problems that Accountability Metrics Pose for Schooling
This is a piece I wrote as the foreword to a book by J. M. Beach — Can We Measure What Matters Most? Why Educational Accountability Metrics Lower Student Learning and Demoralize Teachers R…
davidlabaree.com
April 17, 2025 at 2:48 PM
The Problems that Accountability Metrics Pose for Schooling davidlabaree.com/2025/04/17/t...
The young student learns; this process is largely under the student's control rather than the teacher's. But the teacher sets up the environment that allows the student to learn effectively. The student cannot see how the teacher is really doing this, that's why the student needs a teacher.
April 17, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The young student learns; this process is largely under the student's control rather than the teacher's. But the teacher sets up the environment that allows the student to learn effectively. The student cannot see how the teacher is really doing this, that's why the student needs a teacher.
davidlabaree.com/2025/04/14/l...
Thanks to Dave Labaree for the link:
larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/04/11/a...
Thanks to Dave Labaree for the link:
larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/04/11/a...
A College Professor Teaches High School Classes
In 1960, a university professor volunteered to teach social studies at a high school for a semester. It was a rare event then as it would be in 2025. Edwin “Ted” Fenton, a history profe…
larrycuban.wordpress.com
April 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
davidlabaree.com/2025/04/14/l...
Thanks to Dave Labaree for the link:
larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/04/11/a...
Thanks to Dave Labaree for the link:
larrycuban.wordpress.com/2025/04/11/a...
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
College: What Is It Good For?
This post is the text of a lecture I gave in 2013 at the annual meeting of the John Dewey Society. It was published the following year in the Society's journal, Education and Culture. Here's a link to the published version. The story I tell here is not a…
This post is the text of a lecture I gave in 2013 at the annual meeting of the John Dewey Society. It was published the following year in the Society's journal, Education and Culture. Here's a link to the published version. The story I tell here is not a…
College: What Is It Good For?
This post is the text of a lecture I gave in 2013 at the annual meeting of the John Dewey Society. It was published the following year in the Society's journal, Education and Culture. Here's a link to the published version. The story I tell here is not a philosophical account of the virtues of the American university but a sociological account about how those virtues arose as unintended consequences of a system of higher education that arose for less elevated reasons.
davidlabaree.com
April 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
College: What Is It Good For?
This post is the text of a lecture I gave in 2013 at the annual meeting of the John Dewey Society. It was published the following year in the Society's journal, Education and Culture. Here's a link to the published version. The story I tell here is not a…
This post is the text of a lecture I gave in 2013 at the annual meeting of the John Dewey Society. It was published the following year in the Society's journal, Education and Culture. Here's a link to the published version. The story I tell here is not a…
Teachers need to engage to be effective. The key is understanding how a teacher's stagecraft and presence can help students interact with instructional materials. Instructional materials cannot teach themselves. Without an engaging teacher, any student is simply self-taught, for better or worse.
April 6, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Teachers need to engage to be effective. The key is understanding how a teacher's stagecraft and presence can help students interact with instructional materials. Instructional materials cannot teach themselves. Without an engaging teacher, any student is simply self-taught, for better or worse.
What teachers often share with each other is the craft of teaching; the employment of techniques and the solution to problems.
Teachers rarely discuss what teaching itself actually is. It is like asking a fish what swimming is: "I don't know, I just do it."
www.whcalhoun.com
Teachers rarely discuss what teaching itself actually is. It is like asking a fish what swimming is: "I don't know, I just do it."
www.whcalhoun.com
March 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
What teachers often share with each other is the craft of teaching; the employment of techniques and the solution to problems.
Teachers rarely discuss what teaching itself actually is. It is like asking a fish what swimming is: "I don't know, I just do it."
www.whcalhoun.com
Teachers rarely discuss what teaching itself actually is. It is like asking a fish what swimming is: "I don't know, I just do it."
www.whcalhoun.com
(Sad trombone sound) woke at 2:30 but too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse
March 14, 2025 at 8:53 AM
(Sad trombone sound) woke at 2:30 but too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse
The teacher leads by example, establishes trust, presents to students interesting topics or skills, and provides instruction and assessment.
The rest is up to the student. Or is it?
Is successful teaching only measurable by the extent to which a student is somehow induced to learn?
www.whcalhoun.com
The rest is up to the student. Or is it?
Is successful teaching only measurable by the extent to which a student is somehow induced to learn?
www.whcalhoun.com
William H Calhoun
Teaching and Instructional Design
www.whcalhoun.com
March 9, 2025 at 8:20 PM
The teacher leads by example, establishes trust, presents to students interesting topics or skills, and provides instruction and assessment.
The rest is up to the student. Or is it?
Is successful teaching only measurable by the extent to which a student is somehow induced to learn?
www.whcalhoun.com
The rest is up to the student. Or is it?
Is successful teaching only measurable by the extent to which a student is somehow induced to learn?
www.whcalhoun.com
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
NEPC just published my essay on Teacher Persona as its blog post of the day.
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
Blog Post of the Day
nepc.colorado.edu
January 2, 2025 at 6:15 PM
NEPC just published my essay on Teacher Persona as its blog post of the day.
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
NEPC published my piece -- Progressivism and Ed Schools: An American Romance -- as its blog post of the day.
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
Blog Post of the Day
nepc.colorado.edu
March 7, 2025 at 6:16 PM
NEPC published my piece -- Progressivism and Ed Schools: An American Romance -- as its blog post of the day.
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
nepc.colorado.edu/blog
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
I have called this Billionaire's Disease. Because, while Musk is a current extreme example, the inequality expressed by Silicon Valley has been distorting the whole University system for 15 years. It's warped a generation of students, and their choices have wrecked havoc on the academy.
February 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I have called this Billionaire's Disease. Because, while Musk is a current extreme example, the inequality expressed by Silicon Valley has been distorting the whole University system for 15 years. It's warped a generation of students, and their choices have wrecked havoc on the academy.
Reposted by billcalhoun.bsky.social
👇
This is horseshit. If you fear protests will lead to martial law then you already live under martial law — and you’re the one who declared it.
Plus, it *won’t* lead to a declaration of martial law and the fear misconstrues the nature of the threats we face.
Plus, it *won’t* lead to a declaration of martial law and the fear misconstrues the nature of the threats we face.
"activist leaders have told him and colleagues that they fear protests against Trump might eventually be used as a predicate for declaring martial law. Other House Democrats echoed this privately"
Something something in advance
www.cnn.com/2025/02/16/p...
Something something in advance
www.cnn.com/2025/02/16/p...
February 16, 2025 at 3:22 PM
👇