The hottest Teaching Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Education Topics

2 Questions for You

The American Peasant • 2555 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Asking clear questions helps start conversations better. It allows you to understand what someone really needs right away.
  2. Understanding students' goals in classes helps tailor the teaching approach. This way, you can mix in production techniques or focus on traditional methods based on their interests.
  3. Using direct questions in any interaction makes communication smoother. It helps you get to the point without unnecessary details.

Advanced Math for Kids: Geometry and Algebra Are Secretly the Same

Kids Who Love Math • 83 implied HN points • 24 Mar 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Algebra can describe geometry: coordinates give points, equations like y = x make lines, and formulas like x^2 + y^2 = 25 make circles.
  2. Geometry and algebra are two languages for the same ideas, so switching between pictures and equations helps you understand and solve problems in physics, graphics, and engineering.
  3. A simple hands-on way to see this is to plug numbers into equations and plot the points so kids can watch shapes like parabolas and circles appear and build intuition.

The way of poetry

Silentium • 399 implied HN points • 30 Oct 24
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. The practice of poetry can invite us into moments of silence and stillness. It helps us reflect and connect with our deeper selves.
  2. One-on-one sessions and courses can enhance this experience, as they provide tailored guidance and support in exploring poetry and mindfulness.
  3. Meditations and recorded teachings can be valuable tools to return to when we need reminders to slow down and find peace in our busy lives.

AI and Academia

In My Tribe • 364 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. New AI tools that can write, run, and manage code let individual researchers build scrapers, dashboards, and analysis pipelines far faster than before, creating a big gap between code-savvy users and ordinary users.
  2. Replacing junior researchers or coding projects with AI may be efficient for supervisors but it also destroys the hands-on training that turns students into skilled practitioners, so educators must find new ways to teach those capabilities.
  3. AI will make it much easier to churn out low-value papers, so the academic reward system needs redesigning to stop incentivizing quantity over meaningful research.

Top Links 1022 NY public school maths. Unhistorical economics. Comprehension debt & Magic Flute.

Chartbook • 443 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. New York’s public school math scores are very low, showing many students are struggling with basic math.
  2. The phrase 'unhistorical economics' criticizes approaches that ignore historical context, warning this can lead to flawed economic analysis.
  3. 'Comprehension debt' refers to accumulating gaps in understanding that make future learning harder, and references like The Magic Flute are used to show how cultural knowledge and comprehension interact.
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5 Ways to Stop AI Cheating

The Honest Broker • 34143 implied HN points • 28 May 25
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. AI cheating is a big problem in schools right now, and many believe it's worsening fast. Students often use AI tools to do their work instead of learning.
  2. An old-fashioned education style, like the one at Oxford, could help stop AI cheating. This system relies heavily on handwritten work and face-to-face discussions with teachers.
  3. The Oxford method is tough and demanding, encouraging real understanding and preventing cheating. If used more widely, it could ensure students truly learn and earn their degrees.

John Carey: the Common Reader’s Professor

The Common Reader • 3685 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. Carey read and taught with military-like discipline but also strong feeling, combining deep scholarship with an open, enquiring mind.
  2. He believed criticism should be clear and aimed at the common reader, resisting obscure theory and cultural snobbery in academia.
  3. He was a sharp, sometimes ruthless critic who loved literature obsessively and pushed practical reforms, making him both influential and controversial.

My Next Decision Making Class is Launching on November 18th!

Thinking in Bets • 138 implied HN points • 11 Oct 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. A decision-making class starts on November 18th and will run for three weeks with live zoom sessions. It’s designed to help people make better decisions using a structured process.
  2. You'll learn what makes decision-making hard, like cognitive biases, and how to work better as a team when making choices.
  3. The course includes interactive sessions and projects, and past students found it transformative and beneficial for both personal and career growth.

Actually-existing UATX

In My Tribe • 744 implied HN points • 08 Jan 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Students are earnest, hardworking, and take initiative. Many land internships as freshmen, so the school suits motivated, practical learners.
  2. The school still struggles with poor coordination and frequent changes of plan that create avoidable snafus. It needs better formal communication and modest structure without turning into rigid bureaucracy.
  3. Teachers should give clearer road maps but are experimenting with AI tools like “vibe-coding,” “vibe-reading,” and “vibe-tutoring” to improve learning and writing. The plan is to have AI show suggested edits while leaving rewrites to the students so they learn.

Maybe a project?

In My Tribe • 151 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. An AI teaching assistant could make freshman econ students fluent by using spaced repetition and testing them in new situations.
  2. A prototype demo for production possibility frontier exercises exists online, but it currently checks answers against hard-coded solutions rather than giving live AI corrections.
  3. The plan is to add real AI-driven feedback and a wider variety of examples so students get adaptive practice and become truly fluent.

Back to Work!

Story Club with George Saunders • 60 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. Try an experiment of closely studying a less successful piece by a great writer to see what it reveals.
  2. Even beloved writers have a range of quality, so not every work will be a masterpiece.
  3. Examining lower-end works can help spot the elements that make a writer’s best pieces truly succeed.

"Wait, What Did You Just Say to Me?"

Story Club with George Saunders • 90 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. Watch out for fake social accounts; official communication will only come from the Story Club email and never from Instagram.
  2. The tour is over and, despite recent family and health scares, things turned out well; audience support helped counter the loneliness and fragility the road can bring.
  3. A blunt "change your life" admonition from a music teacher was a lightly shaming moment that prompted deep self-knowledge and shaped the approach to writing and teaching.

the virtues of the boring draft

sweater weather • 8097 implied HN points • 27 Apr 23
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. When writing, try to include boring details about character backgrounds and settings to avoid ambiguity and confusion.
  2. Clarity is essential in storytelling to create mystery and engage readers.
  3. Include mundane, surface-level details in the first draft to build a lived-in world and deepen characters before refining the story.

Top 5 Communication Frameworks for Engineers You Must Remember

High Growth Engineer • 1108 implied HN points • 16 Nov 25
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Use the PREP framework to make strong arguments. Start with your main point, explain why it matters, give an example, and restate your point to make it memorable.
  2. The GROW framework helps you set clear goals and create action plans. It breaks down where you are now and what steps you need to take to reach your goal.
  3. Use BLUF to communicate effectively by starting with your key message first. This helps busy people get to the important part right away and stay focused.

my variations

sweater weather • 4894 implied HN points • 28 Nov 23
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. Repetition compulsion and variation are key elements discussed.
  2. Reflection on personal growth and understanding of past selves.
  3. Importance of staying true to one's unique perspective in creative work.

The BIG GUIDE to teaching LITTLE PEOPLE how to sound out words

The Intrinsic Perspective • 7162 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Teaching kids to read can be done much faster at home than in traditional schools. A few minutes of one-on-one tutoring each day can help them start reading within a year.
  2. Many current reading methods are too complicated for young kids. It’s better to make learning fun and game-like instead of following strict rules and lessons.
  3. The process of teaching reading should begin with simple sounds and slowly progress to full sentences, focusing on what interests the child. This makes reading enjoyable and engaging.

Picturing my students

In My Tribe • 243 implied HN points • 26 Dec 25
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. The instructor has 34 students across three sections and used student photos plus an AI-built flash-card app to try to learn names, though the images had to be extracted manually first.
  2. AI coding tools are shifting from expecting professional toolchain knowledge to enabling "vibe-coding," letting amateurs create usable software without downloading or configuring complex developer environments.
  3. Students should learn vibe-coding, document their process with AI tools, and keep up with rapid AI coding progress so they aren’t handicapped entering organizations today.

Query to Self: Is It, This Semester Worth Incorporating in My Classes My Introductory Digression on: "The Liberal Arts, Education, & 'AI'"?

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 146 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. The liberal arts originally meant practical skills that let people without land or inherited power navigate and survive in a complex, literate society.
  2. Those arts form a modern curriculum for people whose main asset is their mind, preparing them to use knowledge as their primary form of capital.
  3. With AI becoming part of our shared intelligence, education should teach students to use AI to deepen their connection to humanity’s knowledge instead of letting it quietly hollow out human judgment and autonomy.

Bringing the science of learning to parent night

The Bell Ringer • 79 implied HN points • 23 Aug 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Many teachers believe that parents are not involved enough in their children's education. They feel that more engagement from families could lead to better support for students.
  2. Parents want to learn how to help their kids succeed in school, especially through understanding learning science. This can strengthen the partnership between parents and teachers.
  3. Schools are starting to share effective learning strategies with parents, like metacognition and retrieval practices, which can help kids study better and improve their overall learning experience.

The School Bell Rings: Time for Class

Musings on Markets • 1778 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Learning finance can be accessible! You don’t need a fancy background, just some curiosity and a bit of effort.
  2. Understanding the basics, like how money flows in businesses and what financial terms mean, is super important. It sets you up for success in finance classes.
  3. There are different ways to learn. You can choose free online classes or paid ones, depending on what fits your time and budget best.

Tormented by an Urn

rachaelmeager • 535 implied HN points • 04 Jun 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. The Polya urn model, though simple at first glance, reveals the complexity of statistics and emphasizes the importance of understanding problems deeply before attempting to solve them.
  2. Teaching and learning in math are not just about facts; they require creativity and passion to engage students, much like how poets perceive deeper meanings in their art.
  3. There is a strong connection between the arts and sciences, where both disciplines can benefit from understanding each other, and students should learn foundational concepts in both to grasp the complexities of the world.

Quick Advice on Writing Essays

Niko McCarty • 399 implied HN points • 28 May 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Start your essay with a focused idea. Make sure it's specific enough to explore and not too broad.
  2. Outline your essay and list the questions you want to answer. This helps you stay organized and focused on what you need to research.
  3. Research answers to your questions one at a time, then compile your findings into a structured essay. This makes writing easier and clearer.

From the Road

Story Club with George Saunders • 77 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. French dance phrases act as small bursts of physical action that stop long interior monologue from feeling static and help the reader picture the character moving through the house.
  2. Those interjections create a staccato rhythm and audible pauses chosen by ear, giving the prose variety and little moments for the reader to gather before returning to inner thought.
  3. The technique is improvisational and ear-driven, mixing high and low diction, jargon, foreign phrases, and typographic tics to produce a controlled cacophony that makes the voice feel lively and invites the reader to lean in.

DEI Is Destroying My University

Reality's Last Stand • 1965 implied HN points • 16 Feb 23
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. The author expresses concerns about DEI initiatives impacting academic freedom and professional standing in universities.
  2. The author discusses the pressure to conform to diversity requirements in academic curricula, leading to challenges in maintaining academic integrity.
  3. The author highlights instances of intolerant behavior and ideological conflict in academia related to DEI measures.

Alan Moore: Part 1

Pizza Party • 56 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
💥 Comics Teaching
  1. A practical guide breaks the craft of comics into concrete parts like structure, plot, scripting, and scene-specific pacing to help you plan and shape stories more effectively.
  2. A philosophical perspective shows that storytelling is many interlocking disciplines and that writing functions as a technology for preserving ideas, shaping consciousness, and informing creative choices.
  3. Even dense, idiosyncratic lessons contain useful pieces you can apply; mixing practical techniques with broader ideas will strengthen your creative process.

Genius vs. Expertise

The Biblioracle Recommends • 668 implied HN points • 04 Feb 24
🎭️ Culture Teaching
  1. Genius and expertise are different - expertise is achieved through practice, while genius is often seen as innate.
  2. Expertise can be just as valuable as genius - like the skillful drum tech behind a famous drummer.
  3. Dedication to a hobby or skill can enhance confidence and ability in other areas, showcasing the value of practice and expertise.

Michael D. Smith's False Prophecy for Higher Education

The Recovering Academic • 554 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Higher education is facing challenges of scarcity in access, instruction, and credentials, leading to market power exploitation by institutions.
  2. The proposed shift towards digital education may widen the class divide in higher education rather than solving existing problems.
  3. The current trend in education, as proposed by Michael D. Smith, risks devaluing PhDs and academic jobs, leading to a potential collapse of the system.

Are Great Teachers Born or Made?

Mathworlds • 550 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Research suggests emergency-hired teachers during COVID may not differ significantly from traditionally licensed teachers.
  2. Education is complex and difficult to measure, making it challenging to understand teacher influence on student learning.
  3. Great teachers may be born, but good teachers can be made through diverse experiences and supportive tools.

I Didn't Teach the "I Have a Dream" Speech

The View from Rural Missouri by Jess Piper • 537 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Dr. King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' is an important text to study, offering a different perspective than his 'I Have a Dream' speech.
  2. Dr. King's legacy and messages have been whitewashed; it's crucial to revisit his work with fresh eyes to truly understand his stance against racism.
  3. In light of current challenges like book bans and whitewashing of history, it becomes even more critical to engage with Dr. King's radical ideas to push for change.

using your memory to strengthen your memory: retrieval practice

Brain Pizza • 331 implied HN points • 19 Aug 25
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Retrieval practice is a powerful way to improve memory. Instead of just reading or highlighting, try recalling information from memory to really reinforce learning.
  2. Many people think they are learning effectively when they aren't. Simply rereading or practicing a skill over and over doesn't help as much as we think.
  3. Feeling some discomfort while learning is okay! It can actually lead to better memory and understanding when we push ourselves out of our comfort zones.

My School Experimented with ‘Education Equity.’ It Failed.

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1381 implied HN points • 10 Dec 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Mixing high-achieving and low-performing students in the same classes didn't work as intended. It led to negative outcomes for students who were doing well.
  2. The idea behind the 'multilevel classrooms' was to help students transition easily between different levels of difficulty. However, it was challenging to teach when students had very different skill levels.
  3. Though the mixed-class approach had some success in certain subjects, it struggled in STEM and language classes where a strong foundation is needed. Teachers found it hard to meet everyone's needs.

Reworlding art

Eucatastrophologist • 471 implied HN points • 20 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Teaching
  1. Good art reveals reality hidden by our distractions and vanities.
  2. Teaching art should focus on harmony, integration, and revelation.
  3. Encourage creativity by emphasizing contemplation, embracing negativity, and not providing easy answers.

Anthropomorphizing the Russell paradox

Infinitely More • 41 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
📖 Philosophy Teaching
  1. Cantor’s diagonal argument shows that for any set there are always more subsets than elements. You can see this intuitively by imagining people and their committees or fruits and their salads.
  2. Applying the same diagonal idea produces Russell’s paradox, which shows that allowing every property to define a set leads to a contradiction, so there can be no single universal set and set formation must be restricted.
  3. Modern axiomatic set theory (like ZFC) provides a robust foundation that achieves much of the logicist goal of grounding mathematics in logical principles, though there is still debate about whether every axiom is purely logical.

When the Writing Path Must Go Darker

Lit Mag News Roundup • 825 implied HN points • 12 Oct 23
📚 Literature Teaching
  1. Great writing often comes from delving into the 'dark place' within to find the most authentic material.
  2. A supportive and eager-to-learn student can sometimes inspire and push a teacher to new creative heights.
  3. Writing success isn't just about publication but also about the personal growth and journey as a writer.

This week in the science of learning, August 25, 2024

The Bell Ringer • 19 implied HN points • 25 Aug 24
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Teaching reading is a mix of art and science. Teachers need to use research but also rely on their own experience to help students learn.
  2. Meaningful knowledge helps students connect what they learn to related ideas. This makes learning more useful and encourages deeper understanding.
  3. Building strong relationships between teachers and parents can help support students. Parents should talk to their kids about learning and current events to strengthen this connection.

Who Needs a Professor?

UnfairNation by Ehsan Zaffar • 6 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. AI can answer many questions, so traditional lectures and the professor-as-knowledge-delivery model are becoming obsolete. Teachers now need to change how they assess and teach.
  2. AI democratizes access to tutoring and expertise, giving students without elite resources personalized, always-available help.
  3. Humans still matter for mentoring: teachers can push students, model changing your mind, and evaluate real understanding in ways AI can't. That makes mentoring, judgment, and assessment design the new core roles for educators.

Should a Workshop Be a Safe Space?

The Recovering Academic • 534 implied HN points • 28 Nov 23
🚌 Education Teaching
  1. Workshops should be places of respect where the focus is on the work itself, not personal attacks or fears.
  2. Creating in a workshop may not always be comfortable, but it should be a space of caring and deep respect for the work.
  3. Balancing belief in the work and constructive doubt can help writers grow without falling into extremes of pure praise or relentless criticism.