or Thomas Joseph Wilson's Blog
An English teacher’s renegotiating of our view of the learning and the classroom. In the face of AI–always in the face of AI, we are not allowed to write about something else!–here is an oddity I have been thinking this summer: Humans are DIY-ish. I’m not arguing that humans, from the get-go, develop by putting…
This summer, in lieu of so many complications in education in the 2024-2025 school year, I’m finding myself wanting to be grateful for what I know I have. My job is endlessly fulfilling, and it is only when I care too much that things are in danger of sparking and igniting, an energy-consuming path to…
I wrote a piece about the other side of what writing brings, that other side of control and grammar and communication: noise. Afterward, more evidence of such noise kept coming. And in this age of the AI writer, it makes sense. When things seem so logically together, so effortless, we are drawn to the opposite….
I have attempted to get through this essay without mentioning the reason why I am writing it. I won’t have to. You’ll know. A Rediscovery of a Book Before the pandemic, I lent my copy of The New Analog by Damon Krukowski to a friend. A couple weeks ago, he gave it back. Though it’s been five…
What can teachers really accomplish with the class sizes of today? Efficiency-Minded It took me a long time to finish my last piece of writing (“On Teacher Exhaustion”). It was difficult to really communicate what kind of exhaustion is hitting ELA teachers in 2025 without seeming like I’m outright kvetching or lamenting nebulous “good ‘ole…
How do teachers let go of a new and consequential thing we can’t control? The Profession Most teachers get the opportunity to teach their own generation at the beginning of their careers. I remember it being an exciting moment, as if I had come back to save my fellow Millennials from the obliviousness of Gen…
I have been doing a lot of listening to Huey Lewis and the News lately. It’s not just that they are a great band or because I’ve always loved “The Power of Love” and “If This Is It.” And it’s not because the songs of Huey Lewis and the News and my own human body…
I remember it was elementary school when someone first brought up the idea–with a kind of knowing air that fascinated me, like the first time you realize the world is really up for debate–that what I see through my eyes might not be the same exact thing someone else sees. To be more specific, my…
1 I was on my way out of the house to workout when I got a text message from our neighbor: our large backyard oak had shed a thick branch that spanned the intersecting lines of four properties. In the backyard, a pile of small leaves showed where my neighbor had done some cleanup, but…
While visiting family in Sevierville, Tennessee, my wife and son stopped by the McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture in Knoxville, a quaint if rather small museum with a very interesting human evolution exhibit. As someone who procrastinates with productivity tools, most likely due to family genetics (my father is an industrial engineer) and…