But in recent months, Horner has found the fake-news ecosystem growing more crowded, more political and vastly more influential: In March, Donald Trump’s son Eric and his then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, even tweeted links to one of Horner’s faux-articles. His stories have also appeared as news on Google.
Lately I’ve been noticing that more and more authors seem to be adapting their adult nonfiction books for younger readers (typically for the middle grade set, ages 8-12). The young readers editions are shorter and often contain more illustrations, photos, graphs, and charts than their adult counterparts, distilling the story and information down into what…
In 1999, an English solicitor named Sally Clark went on trial for the murder of her two infant sons. She claimed both succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome. An expert witness for the prosecution, Sir Roy Meadow, argued that the odds of SIDS claiming two children from such an affluent family were 1 in 73…
There is so much mediocrity in the world, and mediocre things can, and are, popular. Why try harder? Every author secretly thinks their books are uniquely special, but the vast majority of books don’t sell. I haven’t been blogging regularly for eight months, and I still get urgent emails from authors, wondering why their sales…
During this year’s series of Love Island, contestant Chris Hughes revealed that he often wears his boxers three days in a row because he didn’t know how to use a washing machine. Most Brits take for granted the fact that they know how to work the washer, and may be horrified to hear that the 24 year-old…
I’ve made a promise to myself and my students: I have decided this year that I am making over my classroom into a “21st century” classroom. “What is a 21st century classroom?” you ask. 21st century classrooms include flexible seating, 1:1 technology, and student-led learning—in my opinion. But as in all classrooms, moving into the…
When schools try to innovate, they often take a traditional top-down approach: devise a strategy, roll it out to teachers and support a high-fidelity implementation. The end result is often one that lacks teacher support or genuine enthusiasm — initiatives putter along and change is sporadic or modest.In education and beyond, innovation is usually the…
