In summary: - I'm new to teaching. At the time of writing, I have 2 weeks of student teaching under my belt....

So you’re building a Scratch project, and you want to include a link to a website. What can you do? <figure style="max-width: 485px; margin: 0 auto;">...

If you can, you should upload your videos to YouTube (unlisted) and then embed them in your website. It's free and easy. But maybe YouTube won't work for you. For example, I could not use YouTube alone for my family's educational website, Rocket Spelling, because some schools block YouTube for students....

I'm pretty sure this is a terrible idea with zero practical applications. But it's nagging at my brain and I need to get it out. ...

For a long time I have questioned how a teacher can be compassionate but also maintain high standards. A teacher with this combination of qualities is sometimes called a warm demander. I love that phrase, but for a long time I was confused about how to be one. I still don't have all the answers, but I think I understand better now. The trick, it seems to me, is to identify problems without placing blame or making assumptions....

It occurred to me recently that social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is a lot like smoking. It can have a lot of negative health effects, especially when overused, but it's designed to be addictive. The companies behind social media know about its negative effects but choose to promote it anyway, because it turns a profit. And using social media is just as commonplace as smoking used to be....

It is remarkably tempting to take on big projects. But the more I try, the more I fail. I had one success creating Rocket Spelling, which was—at least by my standards—a big project, which I completed in a single summer. I've been trying to replicate that success for a while, but it isn't working. And I'm becoming convinced that it was a bit of an outlier....

I spent much of my life creating Scratch projects. When I was still using Scratch, there were a few key elements that made it great:...

Spreadsheets are everywhere. They are the go-to tool for people who need to do powerful work on computers but don't know how to code....

Stephen Wolfram just presented a new fundamental theory for how the universe works that claims to unite quantum mechanics and general relativity. Here are a few...

Any time I see a system that looks broken, I always try to figure out how it could be better. What does the ideal system look...

School is fundamentally broken, far beyond what most people believe. A radical new school could be an order of magnitude more effective at helping students learn and be happy. I know this is possible because I learned as much from...

Any time I try to teach something—usually math—I am always tempted to make one fatal error. I want to explain the answer before I ask the question. This is a terrible idea. I have to stop myself every time....

Zeit just released a crazy new pricing model for the Now hosting service....

Education hasn't changed much lately. The "knowledge factory" model seen in most schools is outdated. Times have changed, but our model of education hasn't....

For as long as I can remember, I've held imaginary conversations in my head. Occasionally it's imaginary arguments — which I always win — although I've moved away from those. Now, any time I'm alone, I explain things....

The design of Basecamp is unlike anything I ever would have conceived of. When I used Basecamp for the first time, my initial thought was if I made this, I would do everything differently. But Basecamp is wildly popular! Everyone...

Writing is really hard. Despite having plenty of time on my hands, I find myself stagnating when I try to write blog posts. The problem is that I'm...

Hey folks! I'm putting together a new joshuapullen.com. You're looking at version 1.0 right now. There aren't any real blog posts yet, but I'm planning to write lots soon....