I’m not angry; I’m disappointed. — Oh, NPR. Of all the news sources, I trusted you to be less alarmist and more science-based. This article alludes to the dopamine-addiction bunk that is currently circulating, while only talking to one self-proclaimed expert. Now, no shade to self-proclaimed experts; the lived experience of working with kids is valid…

Part 1: Dopamine Addiction Panic — In the realm of things with which I cannot, the current “dopamine addiction” nonsense is right the fuck up there. The AMA posted this article on LinkedIn: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/06/12/1180867083/tips-to-outsmart-dopamine-unhook-kids-from-screens-sweets I really cannot. First, things feel good because they have some short or long-term benefits. Something feeling good does not automatically equal…

What grooming isn’t. It’s hard to write something that hasn’t already been said about the insane spate of anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-drag, and generally anti-anyone-except-straight-white-dudes laws being passed in my state and many others. My lived experience informs how I’ve experienced these things in several ways. I’m a college professor in…

Brains need more than one thing to develop. My kid had a tough year in math class, so we sucked it up and got them a neurodivergent-friendly tutor. It was expensive. We paid $300 per month for one session a week for most of the school year — the company…

A new working theory So I wrote my dissertation on the psychodynamics of online aggression. It was published in early 2017, just in time for the Trump Twitter phenomenon to start taking over the conversation about the power of social media to influence people. …

How homophobic, transphobic, racist, and sexist misinformation persists. Photo by Alex Motoc on Unsplash The world is on fire. In some places, quite literally. When things get scary, a big chunk of the human race decides that something else is the problem, and usually, that something else is a group…

Why “let kids be kids” is not the argument you think it is. In the run-up to the election, the far right is attacking trans kids, their parents, doctors, and therapists in vile and dangerous ways. I’ve waded into some really ugly discussions on social media because I teach gender and sexuality and the amount of disinformation out there is bonkers and incredibly…

One of the most important things I’ve grappled with as a teacher is how to be empathetic, caring, and supportive to students while not crossing ethical boundaries. My work in Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (TIP) has been a big part of this, as have my studies of pedagogy, psychology, sociology, leadership, and…

Education has always been a difficult field in the US. It’s underpaid, under-resourced, and underappreciated. This differs between primary, secondary, and higher ed, but less than we often think. We hear stories about elementary school teachers having to buy their own classroom supplies because of funding shortages (or lack of…