To paraphrase what Arthur C Clarke said about teachers, any writer that can be replaced by a computer probably should be.
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Review: The Shortest History of Music -- two reviews in one!
The music programme of study requires students to possess an understanding of the music they perform and that which they listen to, as well as a grasp of music history, and an appreciation of different musical styles.
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Review: The Art of Uncertainty (two reviews in one)
The Computing department would find the section on facial recognition interesting, because apart from possible ethical concerns, the fact is that even if the system has high accuracy, most of its identifications will be wrong.
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Review: The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism (two reviews in one!)
I was intrigued to discover that a popular news magazine of the sixties had been anticipated by Defoe.
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My lesson was inspected and all things tech went wrong
I have long been of the opinion that inspectors should just drop in, unannounced.
Read MoreQuick look: AI For Educators
There are some good ideas here, especially for prompts.
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Safer internet day 2025
These resources cover various aspects of online safety, including protecting oneself from scams, understanding personal information sharing, and recognizing signs of online threats.
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Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich -- Extended review
Nearly a hundred years after the Nazi phenomenon people are still asking the question: how could apparently ordinary or, in some cases, highly cultured, people commit such terrible crimes.
Read MoreEducation book reviews of 2024
This pdf contains the reviews of mine that were published in Teach Secondary magazine in 2024.
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dystopian visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian Visions: A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury (updated)
One of my favourite stories, this one by Ray Bradbury looks at the possible consequences of making a small, apparently insignificant, change in the past.
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Dystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian Visions: The Machine That Won the War (Revisited)
What really happens when a computer is invented that can make every decision in a war?
Read MoreDystopian Visions: Flowers for Algernon Revisited
One of the well-known tropes in science fiction — especially the sort of sci-fi you see in comics and superhero films — is the mad scientist.
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The 60 MInute Writer
My course at the City Lit.
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Dystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions: The Cold Equations Revisited
The potentially devastating consequences of a drive for efficiency to the nth degree are shown in this science fiction story.
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News, by Terry Freedman
A news update
Here are a few items that I hope will be of interest to you.
Read MoreDystopian visions: Disappearing Act Revisited
I especially worry about the displacement of subjects like art, drama, music, history and geography, all of which are vitally important but which seem to be treated as the poor cousins in the curriculum. Yes, STEAM is better than STEM, but it’s not enough.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
Blogging is not dead!
There is still a great interest in writing blogs. One of the reasons I know this is that my course on blogging currently has twelve sign-ups. That may not sound a lot, but many courses at the City Lit have far fewer.
Read MoreDystopian visions: My Object All Sublime revisited
What if an amazing technology like time travel were used purely and simply as a form of punishment?
Read MoreDystopian visions: Computers don't argue (Updated with reference to AI)
The writer does an excellent job of both reflecting the annoyance of dealing with a computer program that has no flexibility as well as no intelligence, and highlighting the need for programs to invite human input when the consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
Writing for blogs
Every so often I read some pundit, or usually a journalist pretending to be a pundit, suggesting that blogs are dead. What can I say? They’re not.
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