We need to make sure our coverage is rooted in enduring principles and values. We need to make sure we don’t “both sides” the issues when it comes to objective truths. We need to speak and deliver news with moral clarity. (Ben Meiselas) I would imagine that most sentient people—red- or blue-leaning—would agree with […]| Teacher in a strange land
In November of 2016, right after Donald Trump was elected for the first time, seventh graders at Royal Oak Middle School were captured on video shouting “Build that wall! Build that wall!” in the …| Teacher in a strange land
1 post published by nflanagan during September 2025| Teacher in a strange land
A few years back, I was facilitating a day-long workshop of self-identified teacher leaders in a western state. The topic: Blogging as a Tool for Change. It was a room chock-full of smart, feisty, …| Teacher in a strange land
4 posts published by nflanagan during August 2025| Teacher in a strange land
The mainstream media has been full of the bad news: new study shows that reading for pleasure has declined! Fewer people are reading for fun: From 2003 to 2023, the share of Americans who read for pleasure fell 40 percent, a sharp decline that is part of a continuing downward trend. It’s easy to feel […]| Teacher in a strange land
I am a big fan of Jess Piper, a veteran teacher from Missouri, who left the classroom to run for office, and has since reshaped the conversation around why red-staters vote against their own interests. Piper writes often about a childhood spent bouncing around the south, and the family values that influenced her. When people […]| Teacher in a strange land
It’s August. I admit that I am a sucker for the cute back-to-school photos—students holding little chalkboards, shiny floors and carefully stapled bulletin boards. Special props to veteran teachers…| Teacher in a strange land
Maureen Dowd, in a NYT article entitled Attention, Men: Books are Sexy!: Men are reading less. Women make up 80 percent of fiction sales. “Young men have regressed educationally, emotionally and culturally,” David J. Morris wrote in a Times essay titled “The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone.” The fiction gap makes me sad. A man […]| Teacher in a strange land
I’ve been more or less off the grid for the past two weeks, vacationing in Alaska and determined not to let the repellent Epstein Saga or other assorted travesties spoil the snow-capped mountain vi…| Teacher in a strange land
1 post published by nflanagan during July 2025| Teacher in a strange land
Back in the day, I used to go to ed-tech conferences, especially the Michigan Association for Computers Users in Learning (MACUL) gathering. Like everyone else, I was there to find that elusive app…| Teacher in a strange land
So—I am a Democrat. Not a surprise to anyone who regularly reads this blog. I think Democratic thoughts—Health care is a right! Fully support public education!—and support Democratic causes. And la…| Teacher in a strange land
More than four years ago, in April 2020, I wrote this ridiculously optimistic piece: A Dozen Good Things that Could (Just Maybe) Happen as a Result of this Pandemic. Every now and then, I pull…| Teacher in a strange land
I am a patriot and I love my country. Because my country is all I know. Jackson Browne Of all the things manifested by the upheaval dividing this nation politically, the appropriation of the concep…| Teacher in a strange land
I have to say this: the left side of the aisle has WAY better memes than the right side. From the bold, white-on-black “I Dissent” to the Martha Gelhorn quote–“If we mean to keep any control …| Teacher in a strange land
3 posts published by nflanagan during June 2024| Teacher in a strange land
I mostly stay out of the Reading Wars. Not because I don’t have opinions on reading instruction. I emphatically do. I avoid the controversy because—as a lifelong music teacher—expressing that…| Teacher in a strange land
